And not just because the Lakers got a quality win on the road. This may be the best news for fans of good NBA news in a long time — Kelly Dwyer has a blog.
KD is a friend of this site, and one of the most insightful and clever NBA writers out there. SI.com had him and didn’t know what to do with him, classic old media stuff. Now he’s blogging like the madman he is at Yahoo and, trust me, you’ll feel smarter after you read it.* Yahoo is making some great moves lately — they are going to be a major blog player sooner rather than later.
(Also, local blog news, LAists’ Tony Pierce going to the LA Times is a great smart step by the big paper to get in the modern game. I hope the older guard listens to him.)
*Bearing on actual IQ scores unknown. Studies have been inconclusive.
Kurt says
No, this isn’t the “trade” post, just a little something I’ve had done for 24 hours but couldn’t get up. Now, go read KD.
ryan says
This is pretty funny.. from the Dwyer blog Kut linkned too.
Players who … have more or as many blocks as Zach Randolph
By Kelly Dwyer
Thursday, Dec 6, 2007 4:24 pm EST
The list is self-explanatory and culled from the Western Conference alone:
Dan Dickau
Tony Parker
Antoine Walker
Earl Watson
Steve Blake
Beno Udrih
Mike James
Anthony Carter
Sasha Vujacic
Jason Terry
tony says
thanks for the love!
the other Stephen says
who the hell was the first writer to declare so confidently that jason kidd wanted to be traded? i think it was facking adrian wojnarowski. i dunno, that’s the first one that i read. when i heard that junk, it didn’t make sense to me. he’s been doing so well, and apparently that’s how he feels too.
JoeM says
I apologize for being off topic, but I’ve been trying to get an overall sense
of where we might be about a quarter of the way thru the season. Of the 29 other teams we have played 15. Of those 9 have winning records and
we are 6-6 against them. 7 of them have better records than us and we
are 3-5 against them.. Of the 14 teams we have not played, only 3
have winning records one of which (Dallas) is better than ours. In summary
Better record Over .500 .500 or under
Teams played 7 9 6
Teams not yet played 1 3 11
This analysis is admittedly simple minded compared to things like
power rankings, but it gives me hope.
Exick says
5) If nothing else, John Hollinger’s power rankings are a good indication of how teams have stacked in terms of strength of schedule. His rankings are basically a measurement of strength of schedule and margin of victory, with a little more weight given to the most recent 10 games and a bonus for road-heavy schedules.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerranking
Right now, the Lakers are 8th on that list. They’ve been as high as 3 this season.
Bobby Smith says
Exick, I’ve noticed that the Lakers have been very high on Hollinger’s power ranking most the season despite not having the best record. They are usually ahead of several teams with better records and I presume that has a lot to do with the tough schedule for the Lakers.
My question: Does Hollinger’s power ranking take into account injures and/or back to back situations, both of which have helped us so far?
Just curious.
Rob L. says
I won’t discount back-to-back games being tough on teams. However, we’re still in the first quarter of the season. That’s a little different than when teams are playing back-to-backs in April.
kwame a. says
I’m happy where the team is at, both record and wise, and chemistry wise. For the most part, the team looks like it is enjoying playing together, is improving and is in a position to make a run at that #4 seed. I think we have to maintain contact with Dallas and New Orleans, which is what we’ve done, and hope that at some point when one of those teams goes on a run, we can match it.
Renato Afonso says
The problem is that Hollinger’s rankings don’t measure inconsistency, and that’s our major fault.
I can see the Lakers beating Dallas and Phoenix and SA, but I also see them losing to Memphis or Atlanta.
Oh, anyway, I now officially hate Simmons… Weren’t the rumors enough and gone?
PS: Kurt, will you set up a link for KD’s blog?
Warren Wee Lim says
As I said in the last post, the @Denver win comes as an atonement for the games we feel we should have won yet lost. All is right with the world…
Kurt says
10. Soon, just haven’t gotten in to play around with the sidebar yet.
JoeM says
Renato, the most anguish I felt last year was losing to teams that
were horrible. So far this year we are 5-2 against teams under .500.
The 2 losses were to NJ and Mil, both of whom are only one game
under .500. We are 4-0 against teams with really bad records.
It’s early, but just maybe it will be different this year.
Warren Wee Lim says
Harold from the other post…
Bynum earns 2.1M this year and the Lakers picked up his final team option (4th yr) for next year which is at 2.7M. You’re right, that cannot absolutely be beat.
Farmar earns even less, 1.1 this year, 1.1 next year and 1.9 the following year. Talk about economical, this one’s better.
Ronny Turiaf earns 700k this year, but we might have to extend him next year. I think he is a restricted FA and I am certain we will be able to get him next year for on the 3-4M range.
If we might have to consider one more player, Trevor Ariza earns 3.1M this year and around the same next year. That salary is quite economical as well.
harold says
Stopped to think how players earning 4~10 times what I make are considered ‘economical’ and made me feel really bad for a second.
Warren Wee Lim says
LOL but if you considered the NBA, these aren’t even real money. Real money starts at 5M, that’s why some players stop playing after nabbing that MLE-sized contract.