September | 2009 | Wages of Wins Journal

Browsing All Posts published on »September, 2009«

The Jazz Play the Same Tune

September 30, 2009 by dberri

In describing the last three seasons of Utah basketball one would not be tempted to use the word “progress.” In 2006-07 the Jazz finished with 51 victories and an appearance in the Western Conference Finals. Two years ago the team improved to 54 wins, but was bounced in the second round. Last year, the Jazz […]

The NHL Salary Cap and Competitive Balance

September 29, 2009 by dberri

The following was lifted from Hawkonomics, the blog maintained by Stacey Brook (co-author of The Wages of Wins). Although everyone is encouraged to read and enjoy Hawkonomics, Stacey’s blog is primarily written for his students at the University of Iowa. In today’s USA Today, there is an article stating that a salary cap leads to […]

KG and Boston Try One More Time

September 28, 2009 by dberri

The Boston Celtics 2008-09 season officially ended when the Orlando Magic defeated the Celtics in the second round of the 2009 playoffs. Boston’s drive to defend their title, though, actually ended when Kevin Garnett’s season ended. As Table One indicates, on a per-minute basis KG was the Celtics most productive player (by a very, very […]

The NFL Seeks to Changes Sports in America

September 27, 2009 by dberri

The Detroit Lions – my team – have finally won. And although this makes Lions fans very happy (and I am one of these), I want to spend some time today drawing attention to a more serious issue. Specifically, there’s a case involving the NFL currently before the Supreme Court. As Lestor Munson of ESPN.com […]

The Knicks Lost Season

September 25, 2009 by dberri

The Knicks have finally re-signed David Lee and Nate Robinson. As Table One indicates, these two players were responsible for nearly two-thirds of the Knicks victories last year. So without Lee and Robinson in 2009-10, the Knicks season could look fairly bleak. Table One: The New York Knicks in 2008-09 The Knicks in 2009-10 The […]

Two Perspectives on the Top 10 across the Past Decade

September 24, 2009 by dberri

This past week, Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo! Sports constructed a list of The top 10 individual statistical seasons of the last decade. Dwyer introduced the list with the following statement: “….let’s go cold. Best statistical season. Pure production. I don’t care if a player’s wife gave birth to triplets in the same season he was […]

The Historical Nets Return

September 22, 2009 by dberri

A few weeks ago Scott Howard-Cooper of SI.com penned the following: Nets are putting the pieces in place. The article focuses on why fans of the New Jersey Nets should be optimistic. Here is part of Howard-Cooper’s story: Suddenly, there is a lineup of the future: PG — Harris, 26 years old, an All-Star, good […]

Two Announcements

September 21, 2009 by dberri

The big news for today is that “the next book” is finished!!! Actually, it was finished on August 30. At that point all the chapters were completed. Since then, though, we had to write a preface (which includes acknowledgements of the many people who helped us) and organize the references. All of this was completed […]

Buying and Selling Losers in Professional Sports

September 20, 2009 by dberri

Matthew Yglesias – in The Trouble With “Redskins” – reveals how he came to follow Washington’s NFL team. When I realized I was most likely going to stay in Washington, DC and write about politics forever and ever and ever, I decided to abandon my New York sports heritage and adopt DC’s teams. I know […]

Steve Nash for the Hall?

September 17, 2009 by dberri

Henry Abbott – of TrueHoop – linked to an article on Wednesday that argued Steve Nash might be considered by some a Hall-of-Fame player, but a full examination of his career reveals a different story. The article led me to think about where Nash ranks relative to current Hall-of-Fame players. Complete data on NBA players […]

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