Saturday, November 29, 2008
FD in the Flesh
Since Monday, the only basketball I've taken in is a nightly check of my fantasy team, which means I'm aware of Westbrook's tideswell and Garcia's return. Still, next week commences the FD East Coast tour—turns out most of it's around NYC, which I like to think makes it a special limited engagement by three psychopaths. You can catch the calendar here, but I thought I'd break it down a little more gradually, especially if any Philly people (sorry dudes, we tried) were planning to make a trip up.
12/2: Vassar College
All-out kid, no turnbacks. Full presentations from myself, Big Baby with the art, and Silverbird's stats. Then question and answer. Then watching some ball at a bar. You will never be more sick of us than after this night.
12/3: KGB Radio Hour with Mark Jacobson
Interview show at legendary literary hangout. We're a low priority, but will share the stage (and the eventual airspace) with Jules Feiffer and Steve Earle. If people show out for this one, it will impress these dudes of note.
12/4: Varsity Letters
Gelf's series that you probably know already. Fifteen minutes of us plus Q&A.
12/5: Georgetown
For D.C. and its assorted folks. Like Vassar, a thousand endless hours of estrangement. I'm counting on Steinz to get this party started.
12/9: Sugar Lounge
Just chill with us in Brooklyn if you hate readings. Originally the plan was to watch the Knicks but I suspect that might change.
12/10: Charles O. Dewey Middle School
Wherein we give back to the community.
UPDATE: If you need motivation to attend one of these events, consider that you might find yourself caught up in a fascinating conversation with Shoals about "single game indicators," such as the one that ultimately led to this post from Kevin Pelton at Basketball Prospectus. Can you really allow yourself to pass up that opportunity?
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Lost Wonder
As usual, Ziller beat me to it, in officially blogging a sigh of relief that Kevin Durant has been moved to Small Forward. Gee, ya think? This was something I pined for back in the beginning of the season and something you would think wouldn't take this long to figure out. Gee, PJ, do you think one of the best freshman forwards in college history should be forced to play two-guard? Hell no.
The bottom line is that the Thunder already look and feel better under Scotty Brooks, who I must namedrop, as one of the few NBA guys I actually made friends with during my few years working for the Timberwolves. When I was 11 years old and working my first game, Brooks hit me with a $20 bill and actually chatted with me -- I felt a connection with him ever since that point. He was one of the true nice guys in the league, and also was a tough little bastard -- someone that Barkley would go to war for in their Sixers days and someone who played some key stretches during the Rockets' mid-90s title runs. Brooks has been city-hopping for a while, and may in fact be the next great coach. He provides the toughness of Scott Skiles, but also knows when to loosen his grip. Quoth Durant (again via Ziller):
"Not taking anything away from P.J., he wanted the best out of us," said Durant. "But Scott did a great job of giving us a little bit of room for error. Once we messed up he just told us what we needed to do better and told us that play was over. I think that kind of made us feel a little better. We just got to continue to build on it."
I can't think of a better situation for Brooks as a first-time coach, and for these Thunder players. Plus, when Brooks took over, they actually played like they were going to win a game, and because I fell asleep for the last two minutes of the Thunder/Suns game last night, I'm going to pretend they did. I could see an extreme sense of levity and comfort amongst these guys. And at very least I have seen in Westbrook and Durant, a potential small-big power-duo that by midseason will be competitive with D-Williams/Boozer, Nash/Amare, and Chris Paul/David West as far as these duos go. Not to mention next year, when Westbrook establishes himself as the official Deron Williams to Derrick Rose's CP3. Westbrook just has insane Dwyane-Wade-like upside and is fast becoming my favorite player in the league.
Now if the Thunder could only dump their supporting cast for better three-point shooters, we would have a serious team on our hands. Westbrook can get in the lane with the best of them, and Durant is JUST STARTING HIS CAREER NOW. In an email to Shoals and the Recluse last night, I officially proclaimed him "freed." Screw Glenn Robinson and Shareef Abdur-Rahim. This is the bizarro-KG-Dirk-assassin that we all were watching at Texas. It will take a year still for that player to emerge, but I could finally see the remnants last night, beginning to be reassembled.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Hamann Volcano Based on Mercedes Mclaren SLR
The Hamann Volcano is a supersized version of what is already one of the world's most renowned supercars - the Mercedes McClaren SLR. Hamann technicians were able to boost the Mercedes Benz 5.4 liter, 626 hp, 780 Nm V8 and take its performance to 700 hp and 830 Nm of torque at 3,300 rpms; giving the Hamann a 0-100 km/h time of only 3.6 seconds.
But performance is also improved by aerodynamics, with the addition of new lift-reducing wing extensions in both the front and the rear as well as new side skirt attachments and sheathings.
Interiors also get yet another luxurious do-over. It includes aluminium pedals, foot-rests, door sills, head-rests and floomats with the Hamann logo and the use of the top-quality material Alcantara for custom center console and dashboard parts.
Subaru Forester Mountain Rescue Concept at SEMA
Co-developed with Detroit-based Specialized Vehicles the Mountain Rescue Forester Concept is based on the Forester 2.5XT turbo crossover and features 14 inches of ground clearance (8.9 in. standard) via an Air Lift custom adjustable ride height air suspension system. Increased traction is provided by Yokohama Geolandar MTS 30 x 9.5-in. tires on custom-reversed 15-in. Subaru steel wheels.
Other features include custom front and rear skid plates, grille guard, fender flares, lower door cladding, a rear gate guard and tail light guards, LED emergency lighting package, 9500-lb. winch, remote rear door openers and external quick-access utility compartments, Yakima ski carriers and rescue toboggan.
AC Schnitzer X6 Falcon
Tthe X6 Falcon has been painstakingly 'adapted to its habitat', undergoing numerous laps of Nurburgring testing by engineers, namely to fine tune the set up of the AC Schnitzer springs. The result: traction even at speeds only achievable by a falcon in 'nosedive'. The styling package was designed for 'downforce instead of lift' and includes front and rear skirt, moved fog lamps and a contoured spoiler edge.
Instead of protection to the underbody and 'submarining', a rear diffuser and spoiler has been added, while skirts are now body-coloured so as the body appears more drawn down. We'll avoid calling the alloy wheels the 'legs' of the falcon like AC Schnitzer, but nonetheless it is AC Schnitzer 22-inch alloy wheels Type Vll, available in black or silver, that complement this new look.
AC Schnitzer Racing Design have given the Falcon an exhaust system to shout about, providing excellent resonance for its equally well-performing range of engines, enhanced by Control Unit. Two diesel units, the 30d and 35d, are enhanced from 235 hp and 286 hp to 272 hp and 310 hp respectively.
GTstreet R based on Porsche 911 Turbo by TechArt
The GTstreet R comes fitted with TechArt's performance kit TA097/T3, which sounds like something out of a science-fiction movie. What all those letter and numbers mean is 660 hp and a maximum torque of 860 Nm at 4,600 rpm for this re-imagined 911 Turbo. Coupled with Porsche's Tiptronic S transmission, it takes the GTstreet R a mere 3.4 seconds to reach 100km/h.
TechArt takes the 911 Turbo's standard 3.6 liter turbocharged engine and boosts its performance with new turbochargers, special intercoolers and a host of other technological tidbits that make this horse run a lot faster.
Top speed: 345 km/h (214mph).
TechArt Aerokit I for Porsche 911 MY 2009
As always, TechArt wind tunnel tests everything, even for the slightest of changes like this modest facelift.
Other changes include chrome trim on the front bumper air inlets, newly designed decorative trims for the exterior mirror – varnished, in carbon fibre or a new chrome finish – as well as headlight trim.
Aston Martin DB7 by Alchemist
Alchemist’s creative director and modern day ‘Goldfinger’, Jacques Blanc, said: “Forget the everyday optional extras offered by car manufacturers, this is the King Midas of customization and the gold standard of luxury.”
The 24-carat DB7 makes its debut at MPH The Prestige and Performance Motor Show featuring Top Gear Live at London’s Earls Court among 200 other supercars on display.
Tuning Kits for New 2009 Honda Odyssey JDM by Mugen
In synchronized form, closely related Honda tuner Mugen announced body styling kits for the new Honda Odyssey the same day it launched in Japan. Available in two styles - one for the standard M, L, Li trim levels and a second for the top sporty Absolute, the aero kits consists of grille, front and rear bumper fascias, side skirts and rear roof spoilers. Other add-ons include sport exhaust, brake pads, floor mats, two styles of aluminum wheels and intelligent Tire Condition Monitoring System (i-TCMS). Price for both kits is expected to be approximately €2000 in Japan.
Carlsson CK63 S
Power jumps from 457 hp to 565 hp, while peak torque climbs 85 Nm (63 lb-ft) to a total of 685 Nm (505 lb-ft). This enables the CK63 S to accelerate to 100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds, compared to 4.5 seconds in the standard C63 AMG. The car also features a sports air filter, a carbon fiber Carlsson motor cover, sport rear muffler, and an electronic speed limiter which kicks in at 300 km/h (186 mph).
Helping to control all this power is a new Carlsson RS coil-over kit which features step-less height adjustment and adjustable damping. The company also suggests that owners install a limited slip differential in order to improve traction and increase driving stability. The CK63S is also available with ultra light wheels which weigh 38% less than the standard wheels and allows for improved driving comfort.
No tuner car would be complete without a styling kit and Carlsson is happy to oblige. Both ends of the car get special spoilers to improve high speed stability, and can be made of either high-quality polyurethane or carbon fiber. For the interior, customers can choose from a variety of options in order to make their car truly unique.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Donnie Walsh/D'Antoni = Evil Obama/Biden ??
Ok, I finally get what basketball players mean when they use the cliche "It's a business" to respond to questions about trade rumors, contract extensions, and free agency. The recent overhaul of the New York Knicks by Donnie Walsh has been praised by those such as Stephen A. Smith as a spectacular deal for the Knicks, giving them cap relief and prime positioning for the LeBron-centered free agent market in 2010.
I understand that. For all intents and purposes, this was the right move. Clear out Isiah's trash and start fresh. Plus, give your franchise hope for landing an established young player instead of some crapshoot like Galinari that you can only acquire through draft picks. Textbook rebuilding.
But as a fan of basketball, this concerns me. The Z-Bo-Crawford-D'Antoni mashup was something extremely strange and a spectacle to watch. They were putting together solid games. Randolph was finding some redemption, and Crawford seemed like he would have the best year of his life. Plus, D'Antoni was really having to prove his worth. Make 7-seconds-or-less-ball work with Isiah's castaways, all the while keeping Marbury on the bench and keeping the NY media in check. For the first time in years, the Knicks fans I knew tasted the audacity of hope.
Now, the plan I guess is "wait a couple more years." If I were a six-year-old Knicks fan I would be confused as hell. "Dad? Why did the team get rid of its two best players for a couple of has-beens and Al Harrington's withering soul? It's just like little Minnesota kids having to wonder why Randy Moss, Kevin Garnett, and Johan Santana disappeared from my great home state in the blink of an eye. And the dreaded answer, of course, is that "[sports is] a business."
This whole way of doing things leaves a bad taste in my mouth--not just for "think about the children" reasons.
1) It makes the Knicks less fun to watch. I pretty much covered this above. Also, peep the world's ugliest boxscore:
2) It allows Mike D'Antoni to be completely free of accountability. Screw up this year, and it's , "What did you expect? We're rebuilding." That type of Charlie Weis good-ole-boy-ing will lead to nothing but complacency and lowered expectations.
3) It allows gets Donnie Walsh off the hook. Say the Knicks suck this year AND don't get some dream free agent in 2008 -- Oh well, he tried! And Shoals wisely brought up some quote from an ESPN article that I don't have time to search for where one team exec said a lot of teams are pulling the "we're going after LeBron" trick when it's really just an excuse to cut cap--this very well might be what's going on.
This whole situation recalls this Onion article , with Isiah of course playing the W. role. The Knicks hitting rock bottom means that anything that Walsh does is automatically an improvement.
4) It again puts the lunging for Lebron back into the spotlight. This sucks for Cavs fans who have suffered enough during LBJ's short time in the league. It also comes at a time where FINALLY Danny Ferry has made a serious positive addition to the team: Mo Williams on the Cavs is an infinitely better move than any of that Larry Hughes/Damon Jones/Donyell Marshall/Wally Szczerbiak garbage in the past.
This is just another chance for a smaller-market team to get screwed out of a prized possession, with the help of media-maggots who love to see good players in big markets.
I feel for Toronto fans (Bosh), Phoenix fans (Amare), and to a small degree Miami fans (Wade) as well.
Look, I understand how this goes. I suppose the way the salary cap/free agency system is set up is helpful in that it rewards teams that are smart (Pistons, Spurs) and has done a pretty good job of preventing dynasties from forming over the past few years. At the same time, I hate how it has made teams so future-oriented. Like, every year you can mentally eliminate the 10 or so teams that are building toward a future that may never come, and the Knicks added themselves to this group far too early in the game this year. The East is wide open. Marbury could have provided a valuable chip at mid-season. But no, let's all pat Donnie Walsh on the back and praise him for positioning the Knicks for 2010. Also, Knicks fans don't get too excited by the possibility of LeBron. I have a feeling Bron's going wherever he thinks he can get that ring. Even Phil Knight money isn't worth that much.
Friday, November 21, 2008
The Best of Everything and Its Discontents
Please, do spend some time with the links post I put together earlier today.
But hold up and stop the virtual presses, even if it means sticking your hand in there until it's pulped and spewing blood everywhere. Crawford for Harrington. Knicks officially dead, my trip to the Garden possibly postponed. The 2007-08 Golden State Warriors become my favorite team of all time and we start a Wiki on them, just like this bullshit local NPR show is telling me to do.
Knicks thinking to the future, Crawford not a true point, blah blah. Bring him to Nellie—and this might be the difference between this current incarnation of D'Antoni-ball (training wheels, system will guide you) and the all-out psychedelic meltdown happening in Oakland—and you're looking forward to a back court of Monta and Crawford, with Maggette at PF, Stephen Jackson somewhere, that Latvian guy whose name I can't spell at center, and a bench of Turiaf, Wright, and He Whose Name Is Not Spake. And Azubulke. Oh, and the net result of the Anthony Morrow experience. Nelson will have to dream up all sorts of treats, instead of just letting them play loose, because they're not good enough for that. And then they will anyway. This team is so bizarre, so mismatched, and so lacking in any kind of internal coherence, that it will be like burning down a forest for the trees, or whatever the saying is.
Truly overwhelmed right now. I just know that we rarely get to see such a perverse need for both desperate coach-ly imagination and players taking themselves to their barely comprehensible limits because there's just no other option. This is not a celebration, or an affirmation, it's deep, dark, and even in failure will have the power to scar us for life. In a good way, like that one on your arm or hand that tells a story unto itself.
Friday Super Challenge
I love this guy. On so many levels, he's like the missing other half of Barbosa. Moves weird, mild and yet aggressive in the most slippery way imaginable, by all accounts a lovable ingenue on these shores. But as of now, you see it mostly off the ball and on defense.
-Here's something to ponder: Read this TSB column of mine on a proposed overhauling of the NBA salary system, and explain to me where it lands me on the political spectrum. I truly have no idea.
-New Quotemonger, where the comments section gets especially silly.
-Share your favorite Harrington/Bender memories in the comments section.
-Also, at the Launch Thing on Wednesday, I was badgering Kevin Pelton about what I deemed "the single game indicator." As in—off of the Anthony Morrow phenomenon, of course—are there any one-night performances that can definitively mark a player as of lasting worth? The caveats here are Anthony Johnson and Tony Delk; they'd seem to throw scoring out the window, unless maybe you set the bar over 60 or something. That's pretty rarefied air.
My suggestions were a little more sneaky: The Hakeem triple-double and Kirilenko's 5x5. I don't have the data to back this up, but I just don't think a player reaches one of these statistical benchmarks—however fleeting—unless there's real substance there. And you? Any new submissions?
UPDATE from DR. LIC: Our old friend and FD affiliate, Emynd, has blazing remix of Paper Route Gangstaz' "Woodgrain"
It appears on the new Fear and Loathing in Hunts Vegas project. COP here.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
The Word Is Out
Artist Formerly Known as Miss Gossip, you're a national treasure. This is pure gold. I especially like the look on Sheed's face when he hears the phrase "Free Darko" for the second time.
Also, the whole damn gang comes together for a very special New York Times Q&A. Tragically, they edited out the part where we revealed that high-top Wallabees are the FD uni.
Thanks to everyone out who came out to the Redwood. The games were atrocious, but the company was good, conversation was at a high level, and I can only hope all our events go this well. Only basketball thought from tonight: Like I said, Oden's a work in progress. But things are happening. Fast. That's what I'm picking up on: A rumble too deep to ignore or nit-pick with human hands. Quoth Ben: "Crystallizing talent beats raw promise every time."
One Room to Another
Tonight is the Seattle launch party for the Almanac. I know it's unrealistic to ask all of you to come out here for it, but for those of you in the Northwest, here's the info:
FD Northwest Book Launch Thing
Redwood
514 East Howell Street
Capitol Hill
6-10PM
Early game is Rockets/Mavs, which should be okay, I guess. Second game is the far doper Blazers/Bulls. I'll have books for sale, our friends at Sports Northwest Magazine will be in the house, and there will hopefully be a lot of people drinking and talking ball.
Speaking of which, that was Greg Oden's coming-out party tonight. I can't stop making the Bill Russell comparison, which is obviously a style thing, not a prediction of 21,000 rings for Portland. Plus, only an idiot would not see the miles of implied qualifier in front of that. A few hours ago, I referred to him as "the richest man in the world's Tyson Chandler," which might be a little easier to stomach. Why am I flipping out? Because, at the risk of jinxing the PDX, the pop in his legs, in fact in his whole body, was astounding. I saw umpteen plays, some of them routine, that reminded me of a certain missed dunk. I don't want to say I suddenly find Dwight Howard less impressive, but he's definitely got to be redefined as a genre, not the only lineage going forward.
Also, these Warriors are simply ridiculous. Even weirder than I could've imagined. In retrospect, the 2006-07 team seems so. . . mainstream. Instead of churning out highlights, half of the playmaking or moves leave you totally confused, and the structural Nellie-logic is like a feral Moebius strip trying to chew off its own foot. Anthony Morrow only touches the ball with his fingertips. They are truly the Third World pirates of the NBA (that's not obvious, or racist, it's synchronicity).
UPDATE:
-My TSB two cents on Knicks/Celtics.
-Face revealed in a Seattle Weekly profile.
Oh, and also:
This should provide about 55 months of discussion right here. I, for one, was shocked to discover that swag could be swag, but also have negative characteristics. Yes, I am white and 30.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Original Crooks, Original Heads
We already knew that J.A. Adande was pretty much the coolest sportswriter out, but were still moved by the mid-90's hip-hop knowledge he flashed in his latest ESPN chat, especially this nugget: "Enta da Stage is an underrated album." Really, though, the singles off that album are where it's at. He also makes a really good point about the double standard in how NBA fights are perceived compared to those in other major sports.
We're just about done gassing ourselves up about the book, but you know we had to link to Gil's blog, since it's not every day that happens. Also, Silverbird5000 wanted to follow up on Gil's comments about the "No Conscience" chart, featured on page 53 of the Almanac, which illustrates the peculiar relationship between the distance and accuracy of his 3pt shooting. Arenas writes:
There's a stat in there that the further I get from the basket, the higher my shooting percentage goes up. It's true, but it's one of those stats where I don't take a lot of shots from that far (I think they say I'm 20-for-46 from wayyyy downtown for my career or something) so it's not like I've taken 100 shots from there.
The data in question is actually from the 2006-2007 season - the last before his injury - but the point about the small sample size (just 46 shot attempts) is well taken. HOWEVER, when we expand our sample to include all four seasons before his injury (2003-2007), it remains the case that Arenas shoots a ridiculously high percentage from Way Down Town. In those four seasons, Arenas took 116 shot attempts from the 28ft-40 foot range and shot 35.34%. That's basically equal to his normal-distance 3pt%, and far more accurate than the other two players who took 100+ shots from that range - Kobe and T-Mac - who clocked in at just 30% and 25%, respectively. Indeed, among players with at least 40 shot attempts, Arenas ranked a impressive 3rd in FG% from 28ft+, with only Mike Miller and Baron Davis ahead of him.
The fact that Arenas has never even cracked the top 50 in overall 3pt% makes his performance from the outer galaxies all the more compelling. 2006-2007 may have been his long-ball high point, but Gil's swag has always been phenomenal.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Basketball
Note for those of you who have ordered a shirt: There has been a delay with the screen printing, so none of the new shirts will be sent out for at least a week or two. Thank you for your patience. Carry on.
First, make sure you check out Shoals and Ziller's psychoanalysis of the NBA in The Ziller Sessions: Edition 8.
Today’s guest lecture courtesy of Mark Pike, law student and author of “Green Building Red-Lighted by Homeowners’ Associations”, 33 Wm. & Mary Envtl. L. & Pol'y Rev. Vol. 3 (forthcoming Spring 2009). He is a DJ at WCWM 90.9FM and sometimes plays Free Darko’s “The Macrophenomenal Anthem” on his show.
During a recent Local Government Law class my brain started short-circuiting information I had just read on ESPN. I began fusing basketball recaps with the concepts of zoning, land use, architectural review boards, etc. It’s not too difficult to gently stretch the metaphor.
If the Sonics departure from Seattle was, more or less, a repudiation of the principles of publicly financed stadiums (cf. CLEAN v. State of Washington), is David Stern essentially concurring with Kennedy's opinion in Kelo, crafting the NBA's version of eminent domain for private benefit? Is the rise of guard-forward hybrid players, such as Kevin Durant, indicative of a larger movement which mirrors architecture's increasing acceptance of mixed-use facilities as an example of progressive efficiency? Could Brandon Jennings and Josh Childress' exodus to Europe be comparable to the "Offshoring Audacity" of "starchitects", lured to the desert of Dubai to pad their resume or just build their own empire? Is Gilbert Arenas, a geometric savant known for his unique expressions through populist mediums, ostensibly the athletic incarnation of Antoni GaudĂ?
As I marinated on these thoughts, I decided to run it by Matthew Yglesias, a basketball fan who happens to frequently write about transportation and city planning issues. He responded with:
Surely there's something about building height and player height. Skyscrapers and big men. DC with its height limit is like Don Nelson's small ball lineups -- Andris Biedrins is the Washington Monument. Maybe that works?I would counter that Don Nelson strikes me more in the mold of a Western-libertarian reaction to restrictive contemporary city planning: if a player of any given height is best for utility, efficient breach theory suggests a Coach should insert them into the lineup instead of following the traditional G-SG-F-PF-C architecture that GM’s dictate by covenant and contract. Yglesias’s reference to Andris Biedrins as the Washington Monument is particularly insightful. Many citizens criticize the DC height-restriction as crippling to the city’s ability to obtain critical mass while artificially boosting rental prices due to limited space. The height-restriction is legislated proportionally to the width of the roads and not to the symbolic Obelisk, nevertheless resulting in both wide lanes and epic aerial vistas (i.e. dunks). Not surprisingly, a negative externality of this civic decision is that DC has some of the country’s heaviest traffic congestion.
Once again, if we superimpose this logic upon the discipline of basketball management, it counterintuitively suggests that teams spreading the lane with small ball lineups will end up having increased traffic in the paint, resulting in maximum points off of inside shots. Would you be surprised to learn that the Warriors lead the league in this statistic last year? Thanks, 82games.com! Daniel Burnham, father of the City Beautiful movement and architect of DC’s Union Station is famously quoted as saying: “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will not themselves be realized.” As applied to athletics, focusing on statistics while ignoring the aesthetic is simply hemostatic.
As a discipline that focuses on human interaction with spatial and social elements, it is no surprise that the concepts of urban planning and architecture translate quite well to basketball. Accordingly, a few more brief attempts to synthesize these ideas might yield some interesting results and help us understand the continuing evolution of the League. But, first, we should familiarize ourselves with some historical context to better understand the juxtaposition.
In its infancy, basketball was actually a low-scoring (9-3!) game played in armories, smoke-filled halls, and barns. There were no 7-footers. Interestingly, the 3-point line was first introduced in a college game in 1945 in order to limit the effectiveness of taller players. The rule adjustments were voted on by the crowd at halftime. In general, the rules, though basic, were applied inconsistently from court-to-court, thereby discouraging interaction on a wide-scale basis. Basketball had not yet become civilized, but rather existed like isolated hamlets. Such inefficiency significantly thwarted the transcendent communal aspect of the sport, and caused an alarming number of injuries to players. Theodore Roosevelt was concerned about this and suggested the formulation of a governing body in 1910 to standardize the rules, thereby giving birth to the modern basketball era. The parallel developments of architecture and basketball in the early twentieth century, though somewhat non-euclidean, suggest that we could possibly anticipate future movements of the sport by analyzing the history of innovative building schemes.
Le Corbusier, a founding father of the modern architecture and urban planning movement, actually enjoyed playing weekly games of basketball as early as the 1920s, suggesting that the game had begun to go global. When he planned cities, he envisioned towers. He once proposed razing much of Paris and replacing it with 18 sixty-story buildings. He disliked congestion and preferred hyper-focused, specialized, regimented zones. Le Corbusier would have drafted Shawn Bradley.
Ebenezer Howard had a vision at the beginning of the 20th century for “Garden Cities”, which essentially lead to the conceptualization of suburban society. (As an aside, Howard enjoyed giving speeches in Esperanto, an invented universal language—which seems extremely Free Darko. Although, that might kind of be like if Phil Jackson insisted that the Lakers played FIBA-rules basketball just because). Howard illustrated his idea in a famous diagram titled “Three Magnets.” These “Town-Country” cities would combine the benefits of Town (opportunity, crowds, amusement, wages) and Country (beauty, fresh air, low rent, lack of society). Similarly, the NBA features a triangular tension between purists, innovators, and hybrid strategies. I would venture that the attributes of both Town and Country translate fairly well when describing basketball.
An imprecise proximation of the embodiment of Town, Country, and Town-Country for those subscribing to the Free Darko ethos might be transliterated a bit like the following:
TOWN: Kevin Garnett, New York Knicks, Vince Carter, Los Angeles Lakers, Baron Davis, Allen Iverson
COUNTRY: Kevin Durant, Memphis Grizzlies, Tyrus Thomas, Portland Trailblazers, Gerald Green
TOWN-COUNTRY: Amare Stoudemire, Chris Paul, Phoenix '04-'05, Josh Smith, Gerald Wallace, Dwight Howard
At the very basic level, both basketball and city planning are typically governed by rules— limitations agreed upon by lawmakers. Some rules are functionally utilitarian (e.g. green lines and 3-point arc placement, the 3-second rule and rent-control, the hand-check rule and city bonds), while the excessive arbitrariness of other rules can frustrate and undermine the very purpose of the establishment (e.g. the NBA dress code and Post-Giuliani Times Square). Nostalgia persists throughout many circles of NBA fans, a zeitgeist for consistent and stylized triple-digit scoring. A livable city. A productive society.
Progress has been made. The previously mentioned 3-second rule and the hand-check rule have been tremendous innovations for the League and enabled not just a transformative style of play, but statistical efficiency as well, thereby pleasing traditionalists and basketball modernists. In an extremely informative 2007 interview with Stu Jackson, Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations for the NBA, he explained precisely how such rule realignments calibrate the entire system:
Because our rules are more focused on keeping the middle open and offering more opportunities for players to cut and penetrate the basketball in the middle of the floor, the quality of our perimeter shots has gone up and we’re also getting more higher-percentage shots inside.Field Goal Percentage increased steadily from 2003-2007, and we assume there was a direct correlation to these executive planning decisions. The logical extension of this analysis into the realm of urban planning and governance would be to consider rule changes like fuel-efficiency standards, building code regulations, tax breaks for developments achieving LEED standards, etc. In an artificial market, being an early adopter to such progressive innovation before government dictates your competitors to comply significantly decreases your overall potential for success; however, if you can foresee sudden shifts in the market, you sometimes stand to win as a first-mover. I would contend that teams like the Memphis Grizzlies and the Atlanta Hawks that have focused on an untraditional and potentially cost-effective approach of versatile and athletic players could benefit greatly if their vision of the League materializes; otherwise, pictures of their rosters could appear on paleofuture.com.
(photo: Jill Allyn Stafford)
It doesn’t take a social scientist to figure out that the way in which Howard’s vision was applied in reality was extremely flawed. Le Corbusier’s “modern” architectural work, in retrospect, has been criticized as isolating and monolithic. New urbanism is on the rise, and coaches will continue to experiment with lineups to achieve pareto optimal results. This is not the death of the big man, nor is it the birth of a new guard.
This is athletics as architecture. Sport as city.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The Ziller Sessions: Edition 8
Firstly, please, look below for details on our Chicago and Seattle launch events.
I spend a lot of the day chatting with Tom Ziller about basketball. Sometimes, once of our conversations is so eventful, I decide to take it's basic structure, write a bunch of big words around it, and pretend I thought of the whole thing. This is one such post. Hence the title, and the occasional quotes from TZ.
Last night, when I decided to stop watching Facts of Life and go to bed, my thoughts immediately turned to yesterday's description of O.J. Mayo. I stand by the Joe Johnson comparison, but looking back at it, there's something a little too generic, or porous to what I wrote. It could describe anyone who "plays within the flow of the game but will step up." That could, to some degree, describe not only Mayo and Johnson, but also Kobe, Durant, and LeBron James. It's especially the addition of Bron to this list that rubs me the wrong way; the first four make it imprecise, he makes the characterization empty.
Searching for hope and direction, I was saved when my girl handed me last week's New Yorker, which had a long article on psychopaths/sociopaths (apparently one is either the PC term, or the one that makes the most clinical sense). It was then that, in reference to the above question of on-court assertiveness, I started kicking around that old cliche "killer instinct." This is, of course, a good thing. Unless you're reading an article about sociopaths, and then, the relationship between a man and his killer instinct starts to take on a more ambivalent connotation—especially if you think of "the flow of the game" and "team" as some version of polite society, and see Kobe as 1) epitome of killer instinct; 2) someone for whom it's not always a positive on the court; and 3) a person once suspected of being a low-grade sociopath.
I think the best description for what I see some of in Mayo, and defines Joe Johnson, is an especially powerful strain of cool. That takes it a step beyond "respecting the flow of the game," since there isn't that tension between their killer instinct and the flow of the game. Their insides are, for lack of a better word, flow, which is why there's no a clear disturbance when they assert themselves. Johnson doesn't struggle against circumstance, look to dominate, or even—to throw another cliche out there—"wait for the game to come to him." He's not envisioning opportunity in advance, or laying back one step, all predatory and reactive; he's right there with it, seeming just to know. There's a confidence to him, but you'd hesitate to even call it "steady." And when Johnson explodes for 20 in a quarter, it's about as naturalistic as these things get. Mayo's not quite there yet, but as Ty Keenan put it, "even when he seems to be forcing it he acts like he's supposed to."
Durant, possess no such mystical qualities. Barkley, I think, compared KD to Gervin, in terms of piling up points without anyone noticing. And it's true: Unless Durant hits five threes in a row and follows it with an especially acrobatic drive (which, with his length, he rarely resorts to), his style is impressionistic. Not understated—a 6'9" jumble of arms and legs that rises up for threes like he's floating is still an extraordinary sight. But between the lack of emphasis in his game, his build, and those limbs just seem to trail off into the rafters on every play, Durant can get pretty ethereal at times.
You can tell he's embraced this, perhaps because it suits his outward mildness, maybe since he knows he's not an intimidator. But we've all seen glimmers of unspeakable intensity from Durant, and some of his epic scoring bursts shatter all this, mistaken by some as complacency. Ziller: "Durant's eyes are always kind of frantic, like he wants to scream but bottles it up." There's a killer instinct there for sure, perhaps—remember the Jordan comparisons—one that borders on unnerving. That he gets the best of both worlds, instead of being torn about by the tension or overcome by his passion, is one of the greatest signs of his maturity. That doesn't mean, though, that he's always easy to watch, or ever feels entirely stable. More Ziller: "He makes the league uncomfortable."
In a way, Durant's closer to Kobe than he is Joe Johnson. It's not really worth going over Bryant's struggles with ego, and the ways in which his various instincts have been both incredibly productive and seriously destructive. When we talk about the mature Bryant, it's of a player who keeps himself under wraps until called upon. Certainly, he's internalized this good behavior, and Kobe does have the pure ability to play well with others without completely reforming. But that Kobe is always there, just beneath the surface, by design. Durant's at his best amidst the interplay of extremes. Kobe's an either/or headcase just waiting to steal the keys.
The missing element in all this is LeBron. This exchange says it all:
TZ: LeBron doesn't actually care. Like there isn't tension. Because he doesn't care if he's 2-for-14 or if he's scoring 55. Not that he's detached, but, well, he sort of is.
BS: I also don't think LeBron feels disappointment. He's above it all.
TZ: Exactly
BS: TRANSCENDENCE.
TZ: That's because he can never let his team down.
BS: You mean, no matter what he does, he can't let them down?
TZ: He could have his worst night ever and his team is better off in the immediate with him on the court. His worst is better than any teammate's best. That's not quantitatively correct. But spiritually, that's the case I think
BS: I think it's true. Like, when does LeBron actually hurt that team?
TZ: Never! Even Team USA, in 2004 and 2006. I don't remember him hurting the team ever.
Let me ask again: Who among us is really human? And when exactly did we decide that mattered so?
(diagram by Ziller)