New Project and a New Feature

So I have had a lull in posting anything new, but I finally have come up with something to work on and I am sure it will take me a while to figure out. I have often wondered what makes one team better than another when it comes to winning championships. Growing up a fan of Utah, I saw the Jazz win 60 games a couple of times, have the best record in the league once or twice and still come up short. Some say, that if it hadn't been for Michael Jordan, they might have won a championship or two in the mid-90's. Others will contend that Stockton and Jordan simply didn't have what it takes to win on the biggest stage. Which of these two opinions is right? I am not sure we will ever be able to answer the question in the past, but we can look to the past to see what the future may hold. For example, before the playoffs started this year, I ran some numbers and saw that the Jazz had shots blocked well above the league average. There may be a number of reasons for this, but they struggled with it over the course of the year. So looking over the possible playoffs match-ups, one definitely stood out as a terrible match-up; the Los Angeles Lakers. They blocked well over the league average of shots. You put these two things together, take away one of our lengthiest players in Mehmet Okur and you have a nightmarish four games.

So here is my objective: Determine what qualities past champions have had in common? What are some key characteristics should you look for? The goal will be to look past and see if there are some defining qualities that a team must have to be able to win. Hopefully the information will provide a valuable insight to helping choose which teams will fare better in the playoffs. Initially I plan to look at 3 different aspects: Regular Season Team Performance, Regular Season Player Performance, Playoff Player Performance.

The other thing that I will be blogging about is my progress of NBA 2K10. I have started a My Player career and unfortunately did not get invited to an NBA Training Camp right off the bat. I was in the Nets summer league and performed quite well. 12 ppg, 8 rbg, 3 apg, 1 spg, 1bpg. Not to shabby for a 6'6" shooting guard. I managed to play both back court positions and then also logged a few minutes at small forward. Alas, I ended up playing in the D-League for the Reno BigHorns. We'll have to see how it goes, but I am through my first game and hopefully starting soon. It will take some patience, but I want to see just how far I can get on this on. Stay tuned for more updates.

CopyCat

So I was told by a friend today that someone has decided to copy my idea of a Re-draft. To be fair, he claims that he has done it five times before this year and it's in a different league, but I still feel a little cheated. There are some interesting things that I noticed while reading over his version of the re-draft.

One thing that it made me realize is that I truly know very little about the NFL and I am no longer as familiar with it's personnel. In reading the top 32 players that he would draft, I realized that I don't know much about them period. I should make it clear that I manage to watch at least part of an NFL game most Sunday's that they are on. Still I was completely unaware of the names of several of this writer's top players. Not only that, but when I tried to look at the stats to see what makes them special, I could even really see anything too great about them. I don't know how respected the writer is but it did worry me that he had Jake Locker in the first round of this mock draft and Jake Locker has decided to return for his senior season at Washington. Anyway, in the off-season I have decided to become more familiar with the NFL. This should hopefully help occupy my time that I would normally spend watching sports as there won't be very many on this summer (once again, I'm not a baseball fan).

Just a few other things that I feel I need to comment on. The first being Harvey Unga. It really did put a damper on a otherwise great night on Friday when I discovered that he had withdrawn from the school. I do have to say that I admire that he nipped it in the bud and decided not to wait and see if the school found out and then had to punish him. It will be hard to replicate the success that BYU has had in recent years with such a high amount of turnover from last year. The record recruiting class that they had hopefully is up to the task because I do feel that BYU fans have been spoiled lately, and because of this have certain expectations. It's hard to believe that these expectations will be met.

Last but not least, the NBA playoffs are upon us. I was able to catch quite a few of the games on Saturday and I was impressed with what I saw. There were definitely some close games that I didn't expect to be close. It will be interesting to see how the suspension of Kevin Garnett plays into all of this. I have to admit I was little bit happy about him losing his cool. There is just something about him that I don't like. One thing that truly made me sad was the injury of Mehmet Okur. Yes, he's a Jazz player so I might feel more strongly about this than other fans in the league, but he was an all-around good guy. Even when he endured a shooting slump earlier this year, I never wondered if he was giving it his all. He insisted on playing in the final games of the year even though he was already hobbled with an Achilles tendon injury, and in the end, that determination to play is what may have cost him another five years or more in the league. I wish him the best and hope that he's able to make a full recovery.

Re-Draft 5: Recap

This will be the last post for the Re-Draft Series. Looking back at the whole process I really didn't think that it would take as long as it did, but there are some things that I learned or confirmed in my mind.

1. Star Power reigns. There are very few legitimate stars that can simply carry a team when the rest of the team is down. That is extremely valuable and extremely rare. As soon as we got 10 to 15 players in the draft, you were definitely out the stars and into the players that many players consider to be stars but simply can't fill the role. Often times this leads to frustration.

2. Big Men - One of the things that I am so frustrated about with my NBA team, the Utah Jazz, is that they just don't have the reliable, athletic, big man who can truly change the way the game is played. In years past, I have just asked myself, "why don't they just sign one". This really opened my eyes to the fact that there really are only 10 or so centers in the league that you would be really happy to have land on your team. As I look at the upcoming draft and the drafts from recent years, there just aren't that many coming out either. It now makes more sense why when one comes out, they get so much publicity.

3. GM's have much harder jobs than I thought, and I was just drafting a team, not evening worrying about the other personnel issues that they have. There were teams that I was confident would be great and now when I look back at them, I have failed them.

In the end, this was a great exercise to help someone better understand the league in it's present stat and to better understand just a small handful of the challenges that it faces.

Re-Draft 4: The Simulation

So why did we do all this drafting? Well, the simple answer, other than being bored and wanting to spend hours thinking about stats, is that we wanted to see what would happen to the league if a re-draft did occur. So at the end of all this, we decided to put the teams together on NBA 2K10 and see how a season would turn out. This wasn't easy, but after a couple of hours and of roster moves, we were able to simulate one season. So without further adieu, here are the results.

Standings

Eastern Conference

Toronto 57-25, Charlotte 55-27, New York 54-28, Boston 53-29,Indiana 50-32, Cleveland 49-33, Chicago 44-38, Orlando 54-38, Miami 42-40, Detroit 38-44, Atlanta 36-46, Philadelphia 29-53

Western Conference

Minnesota 54-28, Dallas 53-29, Oklahoma City 53-29, LA Lakers 53-29, Portland 52-30, San Antonio 52-30, New Orleans 51-31, Phoenix 48-34, Houston 48-34, Utah 47-35, Denver 40-42, Golden State 29-53

Playoffs

West First Round

1 Minnesota defeats 8 Phoenix 4-3

4 Oklahoma City defeats 5 San Antonio 4-1

3 LA Lakers loses to 6 Portland 4-3

2 Dallas defeats 7 New Orleans 4-1

East First Round

1 Toronto loses to 8 Orlando 4-3

4 Indiana is defeated by 5 New York 4-3

3 Boston is defeated by 6 Cleveland 4-2

2 Charlotte is defeated by 7 Chicago 4-1

West Semis

Oklahoma City defeats Minnesota 4-3

Portland defeats Dallas 4-2

East Semis

New York defeats Orlando 4-1

Cleveland sweeps Chicago 4-0

West Finals

Oklahoma City defeats Portland 4-1

East Finals

New York defeats Cleveland 4-3

NBA Finals

New York defeats Oklahoma City 4-2

Awards

MVP - Dwyane Wade (27.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 7.2 apg, 3.2 spg, 1.7 bpg)

Defensive POY - Dwight Howard (18.5 ppg, 12.9 rpg, 0.9 apg, 0.5 spg, 3.2 bpg)

ROY - Stephon Curry (18.9 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.7 spg, 0 bpg)

6th Man - Tracy McGrady (14.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 6.2 apg, 0.8 spg, 0.3 bpg)

All NBA 1st Team

PG Chris Paul

SG Dwyane Wade

SF LeBron James

PF Dirk Nowitzki

C Dwight Howard

All NBA 2nd Team

PG Deron Williams

SG Brandon Roy

SF Kevin Durant

PF Kevin Garnett

C Yao Ming

All NBA 3rd Team

PG Rajon Rondo

SG Kobe Bryant

SF Caron Butler

PF Antawn Jamison

C Marc Gasol

All Defensive 1st Team

PG Rajon Rondo

SG Dwyane Wade

SF LeBron James

PF Kevin Garnett

C Dwight Howard

All Defensive 2nd Team

PG Jason Kidd

SG Francisco Garcia

SF Shawn Marion

PF Emeka Okafor

C Joel Anthony

All Rookie Team

PG Stephon Curry

SG James Harden

SF Derrick Brown

PF Blake Griffin

C David Anderson

RE-DRAFT PART 3: BEST TEAMS

After drafting we stood back and took a look at our teams and there were some definite successes and there were some utter failures.
To start with the successes, we (Jon and I) picked the three teams that we were most proud of drafting. I’ll start with Jon’s.
DALLAS MAVERICKS
Starting Line-up: Yao Ming, Carlos Boozer, Danny Granger, Vince Carter, Mo Williams
Reserves: Shane Battier, Wesley Matthews, Channing Frye, Glen Davis, Steve Blake, Grant Hill, Eddie House
Jon’s Comments: This is my most skilled, balanced team. They show all the qualities that a championship team should have. There is no big ego’s on this team and they should continue to be contenders for years if healthy. By having the best starting line-up in the league (Mo Williams, Vince Carter, Danny Granger, Carlos Boozer, Yao Ming) along with a good backup core group (Steve Blake, Wesley Matthews, Shane Battier, Grant Hill, Glen Davis, Channing Frye) it will keep the defense honest and also will show a great defensive force. This group of guys also shows quickness, toughness and height. Another huge asset they have is their three-point shooting. Mo, Vince, Danny, Steve, Wesley, Shane, Grant, and Channing all are great three point shooters and shouldn’t have a problem running up the score board. Overall, this is an elite team.

OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
Starting Line-up: Greg Oden, David West, Stephen Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Jose Calderon
Reserves: Louis Williams, Marcus Thornton, Taj Gibson, Jonas Jerebko, Anthony Parker, Hilton Armstrong, Terrence Williams
Jon’s Comments: This team is also skilled like my Dallas team with a strong starting lineup. With Kobe Bryant leading the way, you always have a chance to be the best team in the league. But if you add Stephen Jackson, Jose Calderon, David West and Greg Oden to the mix… that’s deadly. This team isn’t quite the shooting team like my Mavericks team but they do however show more athleticism and have a bigger lineup. The bench is solid with young talent (Lou Williams, Anthony Parker, Marcus Thornton, Terrence Williams, Taj Gibson, Jonas Jerebko and Hilton Armstrong). This team should continue to become better over the years even with a declining and aging Kobe. The Thunder also show qualities for making a championship run when healthy.
PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS
Starting Line-up: Chris Anderson, Kenyon Martin, Gerald Wallace, J.R. Smith, Monta Ellis
Reserves: Al Harrington, Allen Iverson, Rasheed Wallace, Deshawn Stevenson, Eddy Curry, Larry Hughes
Jon’s Comments: This is a very unique team that I tried to experiment with. This is considered my “Jail” Blazers squad. I have tried to come up with a team with the mix of some of the worst thugs in the league with some decent talent still left in them. I guess you could say it’s also a mix of the Golden State Warriors type of play style with some Denver Nuggets. I have tried to create this team to be the highest scoring in the league as well… but with high scoring usually comes no defense. Luckily the video game doesn’t keep track of off the court issues or else this team could have some serious problems. I also feel bad for the GM’s/owners of this team because they have to deal with a $124 Million dollar payroll which would well put them over the luxury tax along with major loyalty problems. Monta Ellis & Allen Iverson lead the point guard spot. They will always continue to run and gun. Some other high-flyers they are able to play with are All-Star Gerald Wallace, old scoring champion Tracy McGrady, with role players such as J.R. Smith, Al Harrington, Kenyon Martin, Chris Anderson, Rasheed Wallace, DeShawn Stevenson, Larry Hughes and Eddy Curry. In real life, this team should and would fail. Too many ego’s… too much selfishness. Luckily they will be playing on a video game simulation and should be able to score, score and score some more!

Now we are on to my teams:
UTAH JAZZ
Starting Line-Up: Marc Gasol, Kevin Love, Trevor Ariza, Kevin Durrant, Ty Lawson
Reserves: Robin Lopez, J.J. Hickson, J.J. Redick, Chris Duhon, Darren Collison, Ronny Turiaf, Sasha Vujacic
My Comments: Terribly Young Team with a ton of potential. They have great rebounders who give a ton of effort each and every night and aren’t slouches on offense either. Durrant and Ariza will provide great length that will give opposing teams nightmares. Durrant still hasn’t reached his full potential and already could be a scoring champion. Ty Lawson is speedy and hopefully develops into a great point guard. Their weaknesses could be their bench. They don’t have a lot of depth in their backcourt and their guards are really small. When facing a larger backcourt, they could be bullied. Overall, I like the type of team that I have drafted and I think that the players will mesh well and lead to continued success.

CHARLOTTE BOBCATS
Starting Line-Up: Emeka Okafor, LaMarcus Aldridge, Wilson Chandler, Eric Gordon, Deron Williams
Reserves: Boris Diaw, Marcin Gortat, Brandon Bass, Nick Young, Eric Maynor, Jrue Holiday, Sasha Pavlovic
Taylor’s Comments: Great blend of defense and offense on the front court. The offense of the other players will take pressure off Okafor and allow him to do what he does best. Aldridge will get plenty of opportunities to score with D-Will feeding him the ball. Eric Gordan, although small can produce big numbers. There are plenty of different options off the bench and there is a good blend of veteran presence and young developing talent. This truly might be the deepest team that I have.
* * * *
For my last team I really struggled. I have two teams that are very evenly matched and probably would produce one heck of a 7 game series. One team is even all around, but doesn’t really have a breakout star that seemingly could take over a close game and ensure a victory. The other is a little weaker on the bench but has that it-guy who they could give the ball to in the clutch and he can take over the loan.
So now, I am going to leave it up to the readers. Which would you rather have? Here are the rosters and submit your comments to which you would choose.

Denver Nuggets
Starting Line-Up: Roy Hibbert, Al Jefferson, Michael Beasley, Andre Iguodala, Russell Westbrook
Reserves: Anderson Varejao, Shawn Marion, Shannon Brown, Delonte West, Chase Buddinger, Josh Boone, Ronnie Price.

Boston Celtics
Starting Line-up: Spencer Hawes, Al Horford, Rashard Lewis, Dwyane Wade, Jameer Nelson
Reserves: Troy Murphy, George Hill, Andres Nocioni, Jose Barea, Brandon Rush, Darko Milicic, Amir Johnson

Re - Draft Part 2

So here is the way that the first round played out, along with comments by my guest writer (Jon Dahl) and myself.

1. New York – LeBron James – – Best player in the world. No brainer pick. Young, entering his prime (we tend to say this every new season), extremely athletic… Awesome teammate! Just needs the ring.
2. Utah Jazz – Kevin Durrant – When I was looking to make a pick for the Jazz, I considered the following items:
a. I wanted a young and versatile player who could lead a team for years to come.
b. I wanted a one of a kind talent that would create match-up problems for opposing defense. I have always learned that you should impose your will on others, not simply try to beat them at their game.
c. I wanted a team guy that would play with other players for the better of the team regardless of what they had to do to win.
When looking at Kevin, I feel that he best met all three. Kobe possessed one or two, so did Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony, but when I am looking down the pipeline years from now, I think that Durrant will be the one standing. I have watched him dominate on all levels so far and he’s only 21. He can play multiple positions and creates matchup nightmares for other teams. He’s too quick for forwards, too big for guards and there isn’t a spot inside halfcourt that he can’t shoot from.
3. Oklahoma City Thunder – Kobe Bryant – Most clutch player in the league. Big debate on whether LeBron or Kobe is the best player in the world. A proven winner (4 championship rings). Has been a leading league scorer for multiple seasons. Starting to mature more and more and becoming a better teammate.
4. Boston Celtics – Dwyane Wade – When I look back at my life in watching basketball, there have been few times when I have looked a player and thought that they were truly unstoppable. Dwyane Wade in the ‘06 Finals was unstoppable. Then I started to have doubts about his health, but then I remembered the Olympics when he seemingly completely re-invented his game and became a dominant defender. All in all, he’s one of the most complete packages in the NBA. I often have to remind myself that he’s only 6’4” because he plays so much bigger. I don’t think he’ll last 15 years in the league because of his reckless style of play, but even 5-6 years of Wade will be better than 10 from a lot of players.
5. Orlando Magic – Dwight Howard – There simply isn’t another center that has the potential to dominate the league the way that Dwight Howard does. I don’t think that he’s reached his full potential and I wish that he would develop a shooting touch, but even where he is, there aren’t many players than contribute to a team winning in all the ways that he does.
6. New Orleans Hornets – Carmelo Anthony – With his talent and ability to play multiple positions, I felt like he was the next best player in the draft. When he is focused, he verges on unstoppable.
7. Phoenix Suns – Chris Paul - One of the best, if not the best, point guards in the league. I believe he has the best ball handling ability in the league and is very fast. Also has a sweet stroke. Has led the league in assists the past 3 years.
8. Charlotte Bobcats – Deron Williams – He plays with a chip on his shoulder and that causes him to always play his hardest. It gives him an edge over his opponents that few have. He’s a big, powerful, quick point guard that can take it to the whole shoot from deep and in the end will do whatever it takes to win.
9. Chicago Bulls – Chris Bosh - Very underrated player. People were able to see his skills by seeing the recent all-star game as well as the Olympics. He is very versatile and has great range. Great rebounder and shows enthusiasm with a will to win. Needs to get out of Toronto.
10. San Antonio Spurs – Dirk Nowitzki – I have had a love hate relationship with Dirk over the years, but I can’t deny his talent. He can score like no other big man in the game today and his shooting technique makes his jumpers very difficult to block.
11. Cleveland Cavaliers – Brandon Roy - Another underrated player. Shows excellent shooting ability and one of the best drivers in the league. Is able to create his own shot.
12. Los Angeles Lakers – Derrick Rose - young and talented. Very quick and is quickly improving his jump shot. One of the best “up and coming” players in the NBA.
13. Indiana Pacers – Tim Duncan – Really wrestled with this pick. He’s old, but I think that he could probably twilight for a few more years when surrounded by the right team. Young players could really learn from him, but I may have drafted him to high.
14. Denver Nuggets – Al Jefferson – Double-double machine that hopefully recovers from his knee injury and comes back to full strength. There just aren’t that many that possess his ability and he’s still really young.
15. Golden State Warriors – Brandon Jennings – This could either turn into a genius pick, or it could be a disaster like drafting Kwame or Darko. Only time will tell. Definitely drafted on potential here.
16. Dallas Mavericks – Carlos Boozer - 20/10 guy. Will most likely give you these numbers every night. Excellent rebounding ability and great low-post moves. Also shows great 15 foot jump shot range. Only problems are a little bit undersized power forward (in height) and might give you off the court issues & is injury prone.
17. Houston Rockets – Joe Johnson - Awesome player. The starter for the Eastern All-Star team should be able to keep any team competitive and has a sweet shooting stroke.
18. Portland Trailblazers – Monta Ellis - Quick shooter that can score in a variety of ways. A very non-efficient player that uses possessions bad! But great scorer.
19. Atlanta Hawks – Tyreke Evans - Rookie of the year. End of story.
20. Philadelphia – Pau Gasol – Pau “KUNG PAU” Gasol was a tough choice. There are some nights that I feel like he should be higher, when he obliterates my Jazz team, but then there is the whole first part of his career in Memphis. I think this team will allow him to succeed.
21. Miami Heat – Andrew Bynum – Big men who score and rebound are a true commodity. There just aren’t that many and he’s really young still.
22. Toronto Raptors – Amar’e Stoudamire - Athletic center that can throw down dunks. A little bit full of himself.
23. Minnesota Timberwolves – Brook Lopez - Still haven’t been able to see him play really but stats are great! 20/10 player who is one of the best centers in the league.
24. Detroit Pistons – Chauncey Billups – I wonder if he could take a team of scrubs and make them look good the way that Steven Nash does. He’s got less mileage than Nash and is younger so that is ultimately why he was picked higher.

So there you have it. Check back later in the week for our favorited drafted teams!

Re-Draft 2010 Part 1- Guidelines

After conducting the contraction draft a couple of weeks ago (see previous post) I was speaking to an co-worker and he gave me the idea of doing a re-draft for the whole league. The idea behind this was to create a league where the overall talent was more evenly distributed. There are some teams that seem so poorly managed that it just doesn't seem fair that they are competing on the same level as a team like the Lakers for example. After mulling over the idea for a couple of days, I finally wrapped my head around how we were to do it. The draft was conducted under the following guidelines:

1. There would only be 24 teams in the draft. I briefly describe the reason for this concept in a previous blog, but in short, it's to ensure that all teams will have the same level of talent and it will be a better overall product throughout the league.

2. The draft was conducted by myself and one of my co-workers Jon.

3. A coin was flipped and we each picked 12 teams that we would represent.

4. We were awarded each 12 spots in the first round randomly. We then could pick which of our teams would occupy those spots for the first round.

5. The second round was a "snake" of the first round (same order only in reverse).

6. Rounds 3-12 were randomly selected using a free online fantasy draft generator. This was to add a certain randomness to it, almost like a lottery.

We were not limited on time for each pick due to the time constraints that each of us faced, and thus the draft took us roughly 2-3 weeks. Although I will not be going over the full draft tonight I will preview a couple of the items that we discovered during the course of the draft.

• There really aren't that many centers in the league right now. Of those centers, very, very few have polished post moves. After drafting the first 6 centers in the first round, we really were left with tough picks being forced to take someone with size even though there wasn't as much skill. I feel that this explains to some degree why the Jazz don't have a dominant center. Frankly, we might be lucky to have two guys like Millsap and Boozer for how polished they are down low.
  
• Regardless of how unbiased we tried to to be, unfortunately we began to favor teams. We also began to feel bad for some teams. Overall the teams are fairly even but there were some mistakes made and it took us a while to realize this.
  

Overall, I am pleased with how it turned out. Over the next couple of weeks, I will post a couple of different times about this project so please check back in. The ultimate goal will to be to use NBA 2K10 to simulate several seasons to see how this all plays out. It will also help us to determine the overall quality of the draft. So keep checking back for more updates!

The State of Boxing

It all started about five years ago. It was a nightly ritual for my dad and I to sit down and watch ESPN classics with dinner. The six o'clock hour was always boxing and I got to see some of the greatest fights of all time. Naturally the the most exciting ones centered around the biggest stars, but there were two in particular that always grabbed my attention no matter how many times I saw.

The first fighter was Mohammed Ali, formerly Cassius Clay. With Ali, it wasn't just about the fighting, but it was about the entire package. I don't believe that we have since seen an athlete that has combined such swagger and confidence with the actual skills to back it up. He had the skills and speed of a lightweight in the body of a heavy weight. He could dodge a punch or simply take it in such a way that it didn't hurt him. He would allow his personality to get in the head of his opponents to the point where they were ineffective. In the 1996 documentary When We Were Kings, it details the fight Ali had with George Foreman, the Rumble in the Jungle. In the movie it talks about how Ali looked to the people of Zaire to help give him an advantage. Ali purposely went down their early to insight the people to be on his side. Eventually the people in the streets began to chant in their own tongue, Kill Foreman. Foreman and his trainers became fearful for their lives and didn't leave their hotel rooms or eat food prepared by natives. Inside the ring, Ali used one of the strangest tactics ever seen in boxing, the rope-a-dope. He simply leaned against the ropes and allowed Foreman to hit him. Young Foreman was known for one thing, his incredible power that decimated so many before him. Ali simply took the punches and waited for the perfect moment. During the 8 round, Ali came alive, landed a series of punches and laid out Foreman. Although the punches weren't the most powerful you had ever seen, the exhaustion from the first 7 rounds of non stop had power punches had taken it's toll on Foreman and he never did get back up.

The other fighter was Mike Tyson. He was never the best technical boxer. He was never the biggest, but his punches certainly packed the most power that I have ever seen. He was explosive putting his entire body behind some of the punches. Growing up from a rough background, Tyson had a certain killer instinct that you didn't see in many. From the time the opening bell rung, he was looking to take his opponents head off, and a couple of times he nearly did. Cuts aren't something unheard of in boxing, the the time that I saw one of Tyson's punches nearly rip a man's nose off, I new I was watching something different.

There is one fight in particular that stands out in his career and it's not one fight that he won. Twenty years ago yesterday, February 11, 1990, Tyson flew to Tokyo to take on Buster Douglas, a top contender at the time. Buster has often been viewed a lazy fighter. He never trained particularly hard for his fights. He often showed up a little overweight and a little out of shape. Everyone in the sporting world expected it to be a quick fight. No one could have predicted the outcome based on the events before the fight though. A short time before the fight, Douglas's mother passed away and there was a questions of whether or not he would even fight. That death motivated him in a way that no one could imagine. The Douglas that showed up in Tokyo was lean, mean and ready to fight. The rest is history. Douglas looked a step ahead the whole night and eventually knocked Tyson out with a series of vicious combinations.

It turns out that that night meant more in the boxing world than just a knockout of the current champion. It marked what I consider to the be the end of one of the most entertaining sports in history. Boxing has never been the same and newer more exciting sports have come to fill it's place. The heavy weights the 60's, 70's and 80's are now gone, replaced by overweight fighters who stand in one place and exchange punches. And none of that particular quality that made both Tyson and Ali so exciting to watch. When you saw a fight of theirs, you could feel that something great was going to happen. Since then, that feeling has been gone, and the boxing world has died because of it.

Which Would You Choose?

I have lived in Utah most of my life and I have been a fan of the Utah Jazz for as long as I have watched professional sports. I have known one coach, Jerry Sloan, and one type of offensive system, the pick 'n roll. Up until last year, there was one owner, Larry H. Miller, and one commentator, Hot Rod Hundley. You could say that I at least know what to expect when I watch the Jazz. I know that they will win more than 40 but less than 60 games. I know that they will be in the division race most of the year. I know that they will sometimes frustrate me with their steadiness and I will often clamour for change when I become frustrated. But in all of the this, I know that they will have moments of brillance where they will leave me feeling as if they could beat any team on the planet. What I life we lead as fans.

I recently was in a discussionwith a co-worker where the discussion inevitable came around to the fact that the Jazz had never won a Championship. We came close two years, being stopped by Jordan both times, but we have never won it. In researching something else though, I came across a statistic that peaked my interest. Over the last 25 years, from 1984 - 2009, what teams are the winningest teams during the regular season? I was slighlty shocked by what I discovered. The usual teams bounced around in my head, the Lakers and the Bulls were the top of my list, but I was surpised by two of the top three.

1. Los Angeles Lakers - 65%
2. San Antonio Spurs - 61%
tie - Utah Jazz 61%

That is right! Over the last 25 years, the Jazz are the second winningest team in the league. In fact if I include the game fom this season so far, the Jazz have taken over sole possession of second place. Then I realized just how fortunate I have been. Now before you try to criticize this, I do understand that they haven't won the ultimate prize, but for nearly my entire life, I have had the opportunity to watch an amazing franchise go to work and consistently be one of the top in the league. And as I thought about it more, not too many franchises have won a title during that same time period. Here is the list of teams that have won.

Chicago - 91, 92, 93, 96, 97, 98
Los Angeles - 84, 87, 88, 00, 01, 02, 09
Houston - 94, 95
Boston - 86, 08
Detroit - 89, 90, 04
San Antonio - 99, 03, 05, 07
Miami - 06

That is all! Only seven teams have won the NBA championship during that span, and one of those teams and a one year peak where they won (Miami) and nearly didn't make the playoffs in the years surrounding it. That leaves 23 teams that have not won the championship. Of the teams that have won, San Antonio had a couple years where they were down right awful. The Bulls have not been able to come close to greatness since Michael or even during his baseball hiatis. The Celtics, even though they are one of the games greatest franchises probably would wish to forget the 22 years in between their championship years. Detroit had 2 good teams that each spanned a couple of years, and were fortunate to win as much as they did, but they still had a rough run in the late 90's. Los Angeles was not relevant until Shaq graced them with his present and they were forutnate to land of the most talented shooting guards ever in the game. Miami has certainly had it's fair share of miserable seasons.

During that span, the Jazz have experienced 24 winning season. Their only losing season consisted of a roster of role players and was during the years after Stockton and Malone retired. That is pretty incredible!

So how do you feel? Would you want the teams that wins but never wins it all, or the team that might come close, but then doesn't for many years. I think that I'll stick with my Jazz!

Contraction Draft

During the last week, I finished reading The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons. One of the concepts that he touched on more than once during the book was the fact that the NBA was currently over-expanded and that because of this, the overall product of league was diluted. He mentions that during the eighties, there were only 24 teams in the league. He often argues that the this was the most competitive era in basketball. Unfortunately, I was not old enough during this era to really follow basketball and so now the only way I can see this is through the stories of others or when I happen to catch a replay of a game on ESPN Classics.

So in an effort to see how it would affect the current league, I decided to conduct an experiment. What would happen if we cut 6 teams out of the league and re-distributed their players to the remaining teams. Would it make the overall product of the league better? Would it make the teams more even. Would some of the players even want any additions to their team. With most teams at a full roster, adding two players would almost certainly mean that players would have to be cut. Would teams want to cut these players?

The first item to be decided is which teams would we cut? My first thought was that the teams with the lowest attendance should go because they would be missed the least. Also, the attendance, the more likely a team would be to have financial troubles in the near future. Upon looking at the teams with the lowest attendance, there were a few teams that I didn't feel belonged because they were having relatively good years this year. For example, Memphis is currently the 11 best team in the league, yet they have one of the lowest attendance averages. Until this year, they have not been the best team and so it would make sense that their attendance figures would continue to rise.

With that in mind I decided to take the average of where a team ranked in overall record and attendance. The final number was what I called their average position. Looking at the final numbers, I noticed that the 6 teams that placed at the bottom were not in the top 20 in either category. Considering that determining which teams would be cut wasn't the end game and therefore, I felt this method was sound enough to proceed. The teams that finished last were:

Sacramento
New Jersey
Philadelphia
Indiana
Minnesota
Washington

After taking these teams and their players out of the league, I determined the order for the contraction draft. Since the overall point is to make the league more competitive, the first pick should go the last place team. That way, they would have a chance to improve greatly and the teams with better records could still add a solid role player but aren't going to get a star.

With out further delay is how the distribution draft played out. Teams are listed by their order in the draft and then with each teams first and second round draft pick.

Golden State: Danny Granger, Ryan Gomes
Detroit: Al Jefferson, Brendan Haywood
New York: Brooks Lopez, Mike Miller
Milwaukee: Tyreke Evans, Omri Casspi
LA Clippers: Andre Iguodala, Allen Iverson (I figured this would be a good fit for the Answer)
Charlotte: Kevin Martin, Tyler Hansbrough
Chicago: Antawn Jamsion, Nick Young
Miami: Kevin Love, Ramon Sessions
Toronto: Caron Butler, Marreese Speights
Houston: Devin Harris, Beno Udrih
Oklahoma City: Jason Thompson, Samuel Dalembert
New Orleans: Thaddeus Young, Randy Foye
Phoenix: Troy Murphy, Terrance Williams
Portland: Jonny Flynn, Andray Blatche
San Antonio: Elton Brand, Mike Dunleavy
Utah: Roy Hibbert, Jason Kapono
Dallas: Gilbert Arenas, Corey Brewer
Orlando: Courtney Lee, Wayne Ellinton
Atlanta: Yi Jianlian, Sergio Rodriguez
Boston: Louis Williams, Jason Smith
Denver: Dahntay Jones, Willie Green
LA Lakers: Andres Nocioni, TJ Ford
Cleveland: Chris Dougas-Roberts, Jrue Holiday

So how did it turn out. I am fairly confident that every team would want to keep their first round draft pick. Not every one will keep their second round pick, but overall, I really feel that it would make the league more competitive. I will give a few examples of where I really feel that it paid off.

Oklahoma City: They get a big man with good length and great post moves, someone who has potential to contribute for a long time. Jason Thompson might never be a star, but he won't need to be if he's playing next to Kevin Durrant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook. For a backup, they get a defensive presence that will fortify their second unit. He can be a stopper.

Detroit: With a true low post presence, they will be allowed to balance out their offense.

New York: Brooks Lopez will be a good fit in D'antoni's system. Mike Miller gives a good three point threat with solid defensive abilities.

Utah: Roy Hibbert might not be an all-star, and might never be the top man on any team, but if he can provide interior defense with a variety of offensive low post moves, It would make Utah that much more difficult to guard.

San Antonio: Elton Brand would be a huge addition for San Antonio. When healthy, he's a double-double machine and he would prolong the career of Tim Duncan. Think of him as a very good upgrade from the other post players they have had, like Antonio McDyess.

There are two teams that I don't feel this would really benefit at all, and that happens to be LA Lakers and Orlando Magic. There rosters are fairly stacked and so they might not even want the drafted players.

Overall, I do feel that it would make the league more even and would allow for a more competitive product. Don't sit still though, tell me what you think.