Pompous words from Kblaze volume 422: If you can prove it you are probably wrong.

[insidious301]

Numbers have always been a great indicator of how 'special' a player is.

Hubie Brown may have a bone to pick with you. Back during the Chamberlain ERA, stats were a way of life in basketball. People cared about STATS just like they do now. You don't think fans were in awe of Wilt's huge double double's, colossal scoring etc? Don't belittle a generation for doing the same things you, I, or any fan did back when collecting basketball cards(too see their stats) were in like flynn.

[Real Men Wear Green]

I did actually read most of the first post before skipping down to the pictures. I was hoping for a video. Oh well.

I miss that Vince:

I don't. That guy could actually lead Orlando past the Celtics. If he existed.

[dutchguy]

Nice
I have to say I also agree with insidious### that stats are a part of fandom too, but it shouldn't be the be-all end-all in a discussion about basketball.

On a more pompous, pretentious note: if you're concerned with numbers dictating a big part of our life, and you like long sentences, you should read "the philosophy of money" by Georg Simmel. It's an old dude (1900) writing about how we want to grasp everything in numbers, but in the process loose an appreciation for quality. It's a real book, not on the internet

[Brandon Roy]

Nice post.

I have read articles from sociologists who say that this (the dumbing down of thought into bite-sized bits) is a problem in all of current society, not just sports.

We went from reading books that were hundreds of pages (as a norm) to being limited to a few lines of text on Twitter. Only so much thought can be displayed on four lines of a Tweet/Facebook status, or even 20-something minutes of a television program; likewise, only so much can be learned and experienced from a line of numbers put on a screen. The quality of thought and life has been dumbed down.

Yeah, I'm getting old.

[ZeN]

We went from reading books that were hundreds of pages (as a norm) to being limited to a few lines of text on Twitter. Only so much thought can be displayed on four lines of a Tweet/Facebook status, or even 20-something minutes of a television program; likewise, only so much can be learned and experienced from a line of numbers put on a screen. The quality of thought and life has been dumbed down.

QFT

[Chalkmaze]

The Clippers being a joke/themselves




=

I missed it at first... man... that is hillarious!!!

[pete's montreux]

What do you think of win-share, and defensive-win-share?

[Samurai Swoosh]

KBlaze on his soap box. He's that guy at a bar with your friends who doesn't shut up because he comes off as a psuedo intellectual or elitist, and simply just loves to hear himself talk. Or in this case ... type. I mean really, dude just wrote an essay on a state of the union address for a basketball message board.

[Kblaze8855]

I do plan to answer most of the thingsi n here at some point but I just got up and dont feel like putting 2 hours into itat the moment....

Couple things caught my eye though...

And I'm one of the most self centered people I know... lol...

Shogun? Not sure if thats you or not. You seem to change names every couple years.

I know a lot of old school fans like to talk about the beauty of the mid range game, but mostly it's just that, beauty, it's not really what wins you basketball games, coaches and players have adjusted to this, you should too.

I was wondering about that recently. How much the teams that make a lot of threes win when it matters. And while ive only checked the last 11 years so far....its not looking good. Im gonna wait till ive checked all 30 to confirm what I assume is the case. I'll tll you this though...

The 04 Pistons made only 333 threes. Of the 7 teams to make 365 and under...4 of them were in the conference finals. Of the 6 teams to make 500+...5 of them were either lottery teams or out in the first round.

I'll get back to you when ive looked into that a little more fully...but unless the Suns or Magic win it all im not sure there has ever been a team that was top 5 in made threes and won the title(least lately...back when 100 threes was a lot for a team perhaps). Not sure where the Lakers and Celtics were this year though. Since im not done I wont say for sure. Just been glancing through the years....

[Kblaze8855]

KBlaze on his soap box. He's that guy at a bar with your friends who doesn't shut up because he comes off as a psuedo intellectual or elitist, and simply just loves to hear himself talk. Or in this case ... type. I mean really, dude just wrote an essay on a state of the union address for a basketball message board.

Actually...I dont think ive had much of anything to say here for some time. Not a lot interest me. Partly for the reasons listed in here....but I dont say a tenth of what I used to. I think the last" real" topic I made was probably months ago. And I cant even remember what it was about.

[Samurai Swoosh]

Actually...I dont think ive had much of anything to say here for some time. Not a lot interest me. Partly for the reasons listed in here....but I dont say a tenth of what I used to. I think the last" real" topic I made was probably months ago. And I cant even remember what it was about.

The point I'm making is you still come across as being ego-centric, self serving in the vast majority of your posts.

I'm not talking about the numbers of posts you make.

[Kblaze8855]

You think if I cared about coming off "ego-centric" id write 4,000 word posts to a bunch of people who for the most part are gonna scoff and not read it? And who isnt self serving? Who should I be serving? You? The difference between me and many others is that I preface my opinions by letting you know I think im smarter than everyone. But everyone thinks the same thing. If people didnt think their opinions were right and others were wrong...they wouldnt have them to begin with and be on a basketball forum arguing about them.

Im just much more straight to the point. Im also something of a parody of myself. Sometimes im a little suprised how serious I can be taken when clearly not being serious.

[GOBB]

I'm the type who looks for something to argue. Play Devils Advocate a bit. I cant do that here because too much makes sense and I agree with. Long read no doubt. But much better than sifting thru crap pages 1-3 pgs lookin for something to reply/bump. And less annoying than seeing another Kobe thread created "Does Kobe get enough credit for the 3peat" in 2010.

[joe]

Something else you must watch the games to notice: there's a difference between good 3's and bad 3's. The championship Spurs took good 3's. Manu attacks the defense and kicks it out to Bowen in the corner.. Splash. Duncan finds Brent Barry out of the double.. Splash. Baron Davis spotting up off the dribble with a guy in his face? Not so much.

And good 3's aren't just about how open you are. Or coming in the flow of the offense. It's also your teammates awareness to get back on defense and stop the fast-break.

I wouldn't be surprised if few championship teams led the league in 3's. Those teams play great defense and have multiple stars. Still, a team with a great defense, multiple stars, and great 3-point shooting would be even better.

That's why I'd take those championship Spurs over these Lakers or Celtics - they had all 3.

[pete's montreux]

Something else you must watch the games to notice: there's a difference between good 3's and bad 3's. The championship Spurs took good 3's. Manu attacks the defense and kicks it out to Bowen in the corner.. Splash. Duncan finds Brent Barry out of the double.. Splash. Baron Davis spotting up off the dribble with a guy in his face? Not so much.

And good 3's aren't just about how open you are. Or coming in the flow of the offense. It's also your teammates awareness to get back on defense and stop the fast-break.

I wouldn't be surprised if few championship teams led the league in 3's. Those teams play great defense and have multiple stars. Still, a team with a great defense, multiple stars, and great 3-point shooting would be even better.

That's why I'd take those championship Spurs over these Lakers or Celtics - they had all 3.

Boston and San Antonio had virtually the same three point shooting numbers during their championship years. I didn't look at LA, though. Boston was slightly better at defending the three as well.