By Will McMillan In the middle of the 2002-2003 NBA season, the league made a decision to switch the first round of playoff series from a best-of-5 to best-of-7 format. This was a puzzling move at the time, with the most cited...
Tag - NBA
By John Ezekowitz and Alex Koenig Before the start of the latest NBA season, NBA superfan and ESPN columnist Bill Simmons wrote a column ranking all NBA teams in order of “must-see.” Simmons has his personal...
By Alex Koenig and Michael Owen The Dunk is as elusive as it is tantalizing. Itâs been described as the ultimate athletic feat, combining size, speed, agility and strength. And unlike hitting a hole in-one or throwing a tight...
Letâs try a thought experiment. Imagine that we still have a salary cap, but no maximum salary (similar to the NFL). Would LeBron, Bosh, and Wade be so willing to take A LOT less money to play together? True, they may...
By David Roher More than half of the teams in the NBA make the playoffs year. This makes a lot of the drama at the season’s conclusion about seeds. Having a 3 instead of a 4 or a 6 instead of a 7 could dramatically alter...
By David Roher Had an incredible time at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference yesterday. I got to tell so many people how long I’d been reading their books and blogs, or how important they were to my becoming interested in...
By Ben Blatt See the updated math below the original post. Thereâs no shortage of ways to describe Michael Jordanâs greatness. But hereâs a particularly astonishing one: MJ was never part of a three-game losing streak from...
By Neil Curran Spud Webb over Dominique Wilkins. Jordan from the free throw line. Dwight Howard as Superman. The NBA Slam Dunk Contest is a place where legends are both made and made greater. Itâs the appeal of the act itself:...
By Professor Carl Morris The Sacramento Kings came back to win on Monday night (Dec 21), when down by 35 points against the Bulls in Chicago with 20 minutes and 50 seconds (20:50) left.  When two even NBA teams play the...
By Daniel Adler Today, we will examine two industries. Neither produces a tangible product. Both have close ties to the government and receive billions of dollars in government assistance. Both pay their top performers...