Comments on: The Best Bench in the NBA and Serious Thoughts on the Earl Lloyd Story

By: Taking a Test from Pistonscast « The Wages of Wins Journal

Taking a Test from Pistonscast « The Wages of Wins Journal — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 20:02:13 +0000

[...] Deven Khrucell of Pistonscast. A few weeks ago I made my first appearance on the Pistons podcast, discussing the greatness that is Amir Johnson and the productivity of Detroit’s bench. This week the topic was Rodney [...]

By: don

don — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 05:37:41 +0000

Whatever his scoring efficiency, Earl Lloyd had a beautiful gliding underhand layup. He and Sweetwater opened up to a certain 7 year old white boy that basketball could have a fluid grace.

By: Tom Philpott

Tom Philpott — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:09:54 +0000

This typically great post makes me think of great Detroit benches of old — specifically back when Chuck Daley could call the likes of Vinnie “The Human Microwave” Johnson and the great Dennis Rodman off the bench.

That got me thinking of other benches of the Golden Age–Michael Cooper/Bob McAdoo (Lakers), McHale/Walton (Celtics), Bobby Jones (Sixers). any chance of a benches of the Golden Age post?

Also, I’d love to get your take on the post-Marion Suns. Thanks!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:17:19 +0000

Manu Ginobili is a sixth man. Crap thinking like that is why he hasn’t won a sixth man of the year award yet. He comes off the bench in the majority of games, hence he is a bench player.

By: nakki naama

nakki naama — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:51:03 +0000

What if the black players were asked to focus on rebounding, etc. instead of scoring simply because they were better at it?

By: Animal

Animal — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:38:43 +0000

(That means it’s good .)

By: Animal

Animal — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:38:23 +0000

No snake mittens in this post.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:46:59 +0000

In the article about Amir Johnson you said “Flip Saunders is considered an offensive-minded coach, so it is possible he has done something to change how these players perform. Yes, coaching can impact performance and this might just be an example of this phenomena (then again, maybe it isn’t).” I’m guessing that’s your answer to the coach-of-the-year question. Flip Saunders and some other coaches have players who are playing above expectations. Coaching can impact performance. Perhaps these coaches are impacting performance. Then again, perhaps they are not.

If that’s your answer, can you just tell us which coaches, in addition to Flip Saunders, fit into this category? Which teams, besides Detroit, are performing better than you expected, and not just better than conventional wisdom expected?

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:31:28 +0000

Another great article, thanks.

This is a non-sequitor, but I saw an article today about who should be coach of the year in the NBA, and I wondered what you would say about that. There are teams doing better than conventional wisdom expected (i.e. Philadelphia), and then there are teams doing better than you expected (i.e. Detroit), but can anyone determine how much of that has to do with coaching? You’ve hinted from time to time that your research shows coaching matters, but perhaps not as much as most people think. Is it even possible for you to statistically determine the coach of the year?

By: John W. Davis

John W. Davis — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:20:00 +0000

Good working with you Prof. Berri. We will definitely have you on again! To the point of Black Magic I am glad they didnt just air this is in February because it was Black History Month. This is a story that is about basketball just as much as African-Americans. I would argue that with March Madness the month of March is the biggest month for basketball. So Kudos to ESPN Executives for airing it in March!