Bits, pieces and a chicken out of control

I think it was Baller over in the comments section of this little piece of the cyber world that wondered about twos and threes and scoring.

So, with a wee bit of time on my hands yesterday (it’s amazing what not having to fly to Atlanta from Charlotte can do to do to open up a day), there was a chance to do some ciphering.

AP and Jamario average, combined, 21.2 points per game from the shooting guard and small forward position. There are 19 teams in the league whose starters at those spots average more than 30 points per game.

Figuring as best I can since some teams float guys in and out of those spots at this time of year, only one team – San Antonio with Mike Finley and Bruce Bowen – averages fewer. And the Spurs have the Ginobili dude coming off the bench to provide more than 20 a night.

At least as interesting is that the difference between Toronto’s top scorer (Bosh, 22.5) and its second best (Parker, 12.6) is greater than only one team – Cleveland, which has this LeBron James guy averaging more than 30).

Telling numbers? You tell me.

Not sure if those facts mean everything or nothing, you know I’m not a hard numbers kind of guy, but it is sort of interesting. And I know it’s something the Raptor coaches pay attention to because one of ‘em mentioned it to me.

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This is what happens when stuffed animals run amok.

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There were 56 personal fouls called in the Phoenix-Denver game I saw from the comfort of the couch last night. What’s shocking? Apparently not a single one of them was legit. Never seen such whining on every single whistle.

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Terence G in Mississauga wants to change the jump ball rule:

Here's a follow-up question regarding ball possession at the beginning of each quarter. Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't seem to make too much sense, and I'm hoping your superior basketball IQ can shed some light on it.

At the start of a game, a tip-off determines who gets first possession - I get that. The opposing team then gets it for the 2nd and 3rd quarters (and it goes back to the other team in the 4th) - that I don't get i.e. the possessions basically even out. Doesn't it make sense to reward the team that 'won' the tip-off?

The NHL holds a face-off at the beginning of each period; wouldn't instituting a similar rule in the NBA be more fair?

The only reason I can think of why the NBA doesn't do this is maybe because the high number of possessions and the dynamic nature of a game means each possession isn't really that important. But if this were the case, they should simply award the team that won the tip-off with first possession at the beginning of every quarter.

As it stands, winning the first tip-off is kind of meaningless

You watch the way officials often botch the toss for jump balls on a regular basis and it makes you wonder why they do it even once. Not sure if there’s another way to start quarters. This works pretty well.

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Sam may get his asterisk soon.

No, not beside is name in the list of coaches of the year).

Indy’s passed Jersey for ninth (and I’m pretty sure a couple of you are happy about the Nets demise) and a win by the Raptors in Atlanta tonight and a Pacer loss in Boston sews up a playoff spot for Toronto.

Whenever we talk to him about the impending playoffs, Sam seldom wants to get drawn into the conversation because no spot is clinched until there’s an asterisk beside the team’s name in the standings.

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Mail, of a different sort:

Q: When they inevitably do a Dancing With The Stars all-star edition who would you like to see on the roster? I'm going to go with Stacy Keibler, Drew Lachey, Emmitt Smith, Mel B., Mario Lopez, Jennie Garth and possibly Kristi Yamaguchi and I have Stacy Keibler to take it

Ron Y, Markham

A: All good choices but leaving out Laila Ali is shameful. And, I’m not a big Cheetah Girls fan but Sabrina Bryan has some moves and I’m not sure you can have an all-star show without John O’Hurley.

And if they don’t bring Edyta as the female dancer, it’s not worth going.

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Check out today’s Hawks yarn from cousin Sekou.

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I’m scalping this from Arun over in the comments section this morning:

I was wondering what you meant about Andrea losing some of his shooting technique. Are there any specific signs that we can look for in his shooting form to confirm this?

Check out his legs. Specifically how straight-legged he shoots sometimes. Flat-footed. He got his legs into the shot a lot more last year. And watch the arc. He’s firing line drives.

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A final dip into the mailbag

Q: Just a thought on the Division Banner. I think putting the banner up is fine but they put it up during the playoffs, which I thought was bush. It was a clear statement that they knew they would not be putting a conference or league champs banner up that year.

Now a quick question. In the game (Monday) night, Delfino dunked the ball, it popped back out and another Raptor tipped it back in. The refs stopped play and did not award the Raptors the points or the ball. Why not?

James V, Toronto

A: Before you go calling people names, get your facts straight. They raised that banner before the playoffs began, before the final game of the regular season.

Delfino’s play? Blown call. That’s all it was. Happens sometimes.

Comments

[Zack]

My God, what happened to KG? He used to be a good guy, a player you could look up to for his prfessionalism and at the same time his personality. I can see Posey crying over the mascot fiasco but KG? C'mon guys, you make millions of dollars a year and you are upset cuz Benny the Bull pulled a little prank? I hope Boston never wins a championship, these guys don't deserve it.

[Shrugz]

that scoring differential between no.1 and no.2 only says how much they rely on bosh and lebron offensively (which is entirely true) you take lebron off that team they'll win through defense though. you take bosh off our team what happens? offence? defence?

[Naz I.]

Zack,
Your comments are a little over-the-top, don't you think? Certainly, I didn't hear of anyone crying and it doesn't sound as if it was a serious matter - it's not like techs were handed out or anyone scolded. Instead of hating the Celtics, maybe you should appreciate the 20-game lead they have over your "genteel" and "well-behaved" Euraptors.

[bballer]

thanks for answering the question doug. i'm also wondering how many of those teams are playoff bound. usually there are calculations, much like baseball, that teams can use to construct teams. this can be done in line with the philosophies most teams carry - scoring wing man, defensive wing man, scoring big, defensive big and pg. plus, off the bench you will have to have at least once scoring wing and one scoring big, along with your pg and either a big or another wingman in accordance to the style your team plays. if your starting wings and starting bigs both avg 30 ppg and you have a bench wing and big that can avg 9ppg each the team will have a good chance at being successful.

the raptors starters do not have that balance at the wing position. this allows teams to double bosh without fears of other players consistently beating them. cleveland is successful when ilgauskas plays well since lebron is always guaranteed for 20 plus per night. cleveland is also better with a big man rotation of ilgaga, varejao and joe smith since varejao and smith are bigger offensive threats than wallace.

basically, if you look up and down the lineups of various teams in the league and apply a few statistical rules it is easy to understand the success and failures of each team. the exceptions are milwaukee since they play no defense whatsoever as well as seattle. knowing the personnel beyond the numbers will give additional insight to each team. the spurs win not only because of their defense but tony parker is more like a shooting guard in their system which negates the need of having one of the wing men score 15 + ppg.

if you go up and down the teams rosters, it will be easy to see how teams are constructed and what is needed for them to advance in upcoming years. ie. toronto, a wing man avg 15 plus points per game to make it a complete team. point guard and big men controversies are just useless distractions. they are not the problems for the raps.

[Amanda]

"I feel a little sore in one spot. I might have to get treatment." haha, soft words for a guy who pretends to be so tough. Sorry, I've never liked Posey.

[RaptorMike]

I'm fully convinced after yesterday that what the Raptors need to win in the playoffs is Parker's toughness. Before you crazies start beating me up, I'm not talking about Anthony Parker, but his little sister Candace who separated her shoulder TWICE last night and stuck around to play and score 26 in Tennessee's win over Texas A&M.

[Paulino Nunes]

It just occurred to me: I get that the refs blew the call on the dunk Monday night, but if they thought the ball had hit back rim and bounced out, why did they call the play dead, why not play on? Sorry to prolong this one, but what exactly was the call they made?

cheers,
Paulino

Blogger's note: Referees don't make themselves available to answer questions and I wasn't there so it won't be until tomorrow that I can even ask a player or coach. Sorry

[Doug S]

If I ever see a Dancing with the Stars-specific Q&A in the mailbag again I'll quit reading.

[kt]

What you don't seem to know about KG is that he's a bit of joker...

[junior odeneho]

lol KG is the next gangster.

[brad]

I thought that missed ref call was weird too. Delfino definitely put it through the rim and Okafor popped it back out again....but regardless if they missed that, Moon got the direct rebound and had the put back dunk. So even if they missed Okafor's goaltending they should have counted Moon's put back? Not sure how three ref's missed that, and in a 4 point game that basket could have meant a lot.

[Dallas]

I think that stat is very telling. Many criticize Bargs for not being able to consistently score, and I think his lack of numbers cause him to force to live up to the expectations which adds to the issues, but no one outside of Bosh is able to. so what about our offensive systems inability to get anyone else going either. I read a Sam quote on this yesterday to give his point of view, which was that Pat Riley, not the best year to name drop that one, told him it's never the system, always the execution. I think it has a lot to do with our bread and butter plays and Sam's prerogative, for whatever reason, not to add or run plays for others. Outside of bosh and Jose with their pick and roll, our players get by, in the vein of Rasho and Parker, by knowing where to be, or others, like hump and moon scrapping for the scraps of misses or late shot clock shots. Only TJ and funny enough Bargs, try to create their opportunity, or a play for others by driving. Maybe that structure is not the best for guys like Bargs and Kapono, or to encourage a guy like Moon, to do more than shoot the shot the d give him. Seems we run that parker curl early but get away from it later.

It's fine in Bosh can play 82 games a season. But not so great when he misses time. Last year we were more effective when we out becasue the team themselves defaulted to more of a team style of ball, that involved the extra pass that it was often said was ingrained from their euro league backgrounds. What happened to the extra pass?

Thoughts Doug?

Blogger's note: They do run a lot of curls for AP, usually it's the first play they run each game, so there are other plays available.
And this year, they don't seem to be swinging the ball as often as they did last year in Bosh's absence. It might have to do with some different personal or, as Sam has pointed out on a couple of occasions, everyone's attempt to do "everything" instead of playing within the system when Bosh is out.

[Seb]

Quote from James Posey in that article: "I feel a little sore in one spot. I might have to get treatment."

And later: "First, I thought it was a teammate just tapping me"

So does he get treatment every time a teammate taps him? What a whiner.

[voislav]

Maybe do a coin flip at the start at the game. Neither the refs nor the players seem comfortable with the tip-off. Maybe do a college style possession arrow for jump balls too, which would reward hustle on defence.

[Jouissance]

I think that the scoring stats for the 2 and 3 spot are very significant. However, I have some hope as I think AP is more suited to playoff basketball than the brand of regular season ball that the Raps play...I don't know, but I think he must have averaged close to 20ppg in last year's series.

Blogger's note: Parker averaged 15.2 points a game in the playoffs last year.

[Shawn]

That Boston article is great. Posey must really be a wimp if he needs treatment for "a teammate tapping (him) on the back" as Garnett compared the feeling to.

[Ted S]

Interesting stats. I bet the addition of a Mike Redd or Corey Magette could make the Raptor scoring averages more impressive. As for San Antonio's duo, if only we had defenders like that. That's probably worth 20 points a game, even without the infusion of Ginobili's offence off the bench.

A rare question: What would the All-time Raptor All-Defence team be?

Blogger's note: I'll move that over to the mailbag

[Jamie]

awww, I wish the Raptor would hit me with a t-shirt

[Alan]

About those jump balls -- way back in the day when I played ('60's) there was a jump at the start of every quarter. We had jump ball plays we ran and shifts to make, depending on whether we thought we'd win the jump or not. May as well have a coin flip, now. I kinda miss those days...

[jk]

As for the stat you posted: duh..that is what I have been saying for 2 years...
It is going to take another All Star type player besides Bosh before this team is a contender...(and yes, Ginobili may come off the bench, but he is an All Star)....you don't get the needed consistency if you rely on role players...I said it before and got slammed for it...if you are going to only have one All Star, it had better be LeBron, Bosh alone ain't going to get it done.

[Steve]

About that blown Delfino call. What exactly did the refs think happened? Even at full speed, I can't see how they possibly thought it was Delfino who was the one who touched the ball.

[Eric]

I'm wondering about the Delfino play myself. Why wasn't video brought in? Was it not allowed to be checked for that play the same way they verify whether buzzer beaters should count?

If they weren't permitted to check it, fine. If they were and the Raptors just didn't do an honest job of persuading the refs to pull up the video, I then have a problem.

Blogger's note: It is not a reviewable call. Only plays at the end of quarters are.

[TMF]

Imagine if the blown Delfino dunk call happened in Toronto, and the Raps finished the game with 98 points? That would probably be a record-setting mailbg.

[Zack]

To Naz I. instead of wasting your words maybe try reading the article:

"I felt threatened," said Posey, who is considered a villain among Bulls fans for his tough fouls when he played for Miami, and was booed every time he touched the ball last night. "They already don't like me here already.

"Two T-shirts were thrown at me and KG. I don't feel safe. The T-shirts were fired out of that gun or whatever.

"I feel a little sore in one spot. I might have to get treatment.

If that isn't crying, I don't know what is.

[Ellie]

Re: needing treatment -- it's called sarcasm, boys and girls. As for KG, if a chicken hit me in the back with a a T-shirt, I would glare at it, too.

Ironic parallel: the closest I've ever come to catching a T-shirt was being hit in the face with one. It bounced off someone's hands above me, knocked the lens out of my glasses, and kept falling to the seats below me.

The person who caught it unfolded it and it was like a XXL men's, so I didn't feel too bummed out.

I did find the lens, thankfully.