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Grizz: Raps in the clutch

Posted by LX on 14 May 2012 | Comments: 0

A topic that has been gaining quite a but of press around the league in the last few seasons is clutch play. It's a topic that blends the lines of stats and narrative to create constant debate among sports fans. Such a complex category can cause quite a bit of disagreement among basketball experts, ...

Thriller's NBA Season Preview: the West

Posted by LX on 25 Dec 2011 | Comments: 0

Northwest Division: Utah Jazz Projected Starters: Devin Harris, Raja Bell, Gordon Hayward, Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson Rotation players: Earl Watson, Alec Burks, CJ Miles, Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter Key Additions: Alec Burks, Enes Kanter OUTLOOK: The Jazz are in a rebuilding year with ...

Thriller's NBA season preview: the Atlantic

Posted by LX on 24 Dec 2011 | Comments: 0

Atlantic Division: Boston Celtics Projected Starters: Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O'Neal Rotation players: Keyon Dooling, Marquis Daniels, Jeff Green, Brandon Bass, Chris Wilcox Key Additions: Keyon Dooling, Brandon Bass, Chris Wilcox OUTLOOK: This is ...

Thriller's NBA Season preview: the Central Division

Posted by LX on 18 Dec 2011 | Comments: 0

Chicago Bulls Projected Starters: Derrick Rose, Richard Hamilton, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah Rotation players: CJ Watson, Ron Brewer, Kyle Korver, Taj Gibson, Omer Asik Key Additions: Richard Hamilton OUTLOOK: If Rip Hamilton is healthy, the Bulls have a very good shot at ...

Thriller's Season Preview: the Southeast Division

Posted by LX on 15 Dec 2011 | Comments: 0

Atlanta Hawks Projected Starters:Jeff Teague, Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, Al Horford Rotation players:Kirk Hinrich, Tracy McGrady, Vladimir Radmanovic, Zaza Pachulia Key Additions: Tracy Mcgrady, Vladimir Radmanovic (if you consider him key) OUTLOOK: Atlanta stayed with ...

Spent

Posted by LX on 27 Oct 2011 | Comments: 0

I would ordinarily watch all 82 Raptors games in some form or another. Considering that this season might have been fairly unwatchable, I have to think that there would be fewer games watched live and more viewed on fast forward on my PVR, or in the game-in-an-hour format. Let's say I would have ...

All locked out and no place to go, Part 5: Conclusions

Posted by Danh on 18 Oct 2011 | Comments: 0

... or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Lockout Well. It seems like the players have been winning CBA negotiations for decades now, and it might be time for them to lose one. The players' pay has been increasing with time, but somewhat faster than league revenues have been - ...

All locked out and no place to go, Part 4: End Game

Posted by Danh on 17 Oct 2011 | Comments: 0

So what does this mean? The revenue split was always meant by both the owners and the players to be 50-50 (or thereabouts). It was implemented incorrectly. So now the owners finally have a situation where they can make it right. Of course, they want a 46-54 split, but greed has ever been the ...

All locked out and no place to go, Part 3: The 2005 Agreement

Posted by Danh on 16 Oct 2011 | Comments: 0

So the system had to be fixed. The owners saw that even with their escrow system, the salary cap structure and exceptions were driving spending (in a competitive environment) up beyond their control. So, in the negotiations in 2005, the owners took steps to control salary growth. The owners ...

All locked out and no place to go, Part 2: The Beginning of the End

Posted by Danh on 15 Oct 2011 | Comments: 0

Finally, we get to the meat of the CBA history. The last decade and a half has defined these negotiations in several ways, and it started in 1998 when the owners saw that the revenue split had grown to 58%. This was caused by the ever-growing team salaries described earlier and was well over the ...