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Tag Archives: Dwyane Wade
Game of the Week: Miami Heat at Boston Celtics
Hello again, Hickory High. Sorry I wasn’t around last week. I was in Istanbul. And the first thing I saw when I got out of the airport was a giant poster of Hedo Turkoglu, the Turkish Michael Jordan. Hedo gets a pretty bad rap because we feel he hasn’t reached his potential. There were moments when he was in Orlando when it seemed like he could be a key player on a contender, but … Continue reading
Game of the Week: Memphis Grizzlies at Miami Heat
The trade deadline has passed. The guys on the roster will be there for the stretch run. There’s nothing left now but playoff positioning. Did you know? These teams were inconsequential trade partners last week, one of many boring matches made during a lackluster trade deadline. Miami traded Dexter Pittman, who plays in the D-League, and for Ricky Sanchez, who plays in Argentina. Luckiliy, neither of these players will matter when they play on … Continue reading
Evaluating Team Shot Selection
A few weeks ago I shared a new metric I had been working on called Expected Points Per Shot (XPPS). The idea was to create a metric that would allow the objective comparison and evaluation of the quality of a player or team’s shot selection. When I first shared XPPS we just looked at the numbers for individual players. The visualization with player data is now a permanent feature here, one that I’ll keep updated … Continue reading
Daily Dribble for December 12, 2012
The Daily Dribble is a somtimes-daily feature here at Hickory-High. Matt Cianfrone offers his thoughts on a handful of the previous night’s NBA games, and then turns to Twitter to fill in the gaps. We had some close games, but the action last night wasn’t nearly as gripping as Monday or Tuesday. Warriors 97- Heat 95: This was an incredibly fun game and it came down to the last play. Basically all anyone can ask for. … Continue reading
More On Shot Selection
Last Thursday I put up a post unveiling a new way of evaluating shot selection. The system is called Expected Points Per Shot, and it uses the expected point value of shots from different locations to calculate an expected per shot average for each player. We know that three-pointers on average are more valuable than long two-pointers. We also know exactly how much more valuable on average; 0.280 points per shot. Using that kind … Continue reading
Daily Dribble – November 29th, 2012
Editing Transparently: Last Night’s Numbers is no more and we’re still searching for a daily format that works here at Hickory-High. Matt Cianfrone is trying out this new (sometimes) Daily Dribble thoughts/storify set-up. Let us know what you think, what works and what doesn’t. What would you like to see added? Now, back to Matt: Spurs 100- Heat 105: Obviously I am disappointed Gregg Popovich decided to send his stars, and Danny Green, home but in … Continue reading
Game of the Week: Boston at Miami
Why You Should Watch Because you can! I started looking forward to this game as soon as the Olympics ended and I was confronted with the harsh reality of being a New York Jets fan. Nothing makes me miss basketball like watching Mark Sanchez throw a football. Wednesday marks the beginning of the LeBron James victory party. I’m a proud hater but even I have to admit that we’re witnessing greatness every time he’s … Continue reading
The NBA Anti-Anti-Awards
Yesterday, Ian released his annual pre-season picks for the NBA Anti-Awards. Those awards recognize some of the most negative achievements in professional basketball. I wanted to take things in more of a positive direction which is why I created the Anti-Anti-Awards. These awards are the positive, mirror images of the Anti-Awards. Today I’ll introduce you to each award, note the defending champion, and project the 2012-2013 winner. You can get MVP predictions anywhere, but … Continue reading
The Previews Of The Roundtable: Southeast Division
Exhibition games have begun and the regular season is fast approaching. The staff here at Hickory-High has been previewing the entire league, taking a stab at answering the big questions, division by division. We’ve already looked at the Northwest, the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Central and the Southwest. In today’s final edition we’re looking at the Heat, Magic, Wizards, Bobcats and Hawks in the Southeast Division. ________________________________________________________________________________ 1. What is the most intriguing storyline in the Southeast Division? Ian … Continue reading
Making Change
Last week, I laid out a theoretical experiment at Hardwood Paroxysm for the basketball laboratory of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. Prompted by Wade’s somewhat bizarre assessment of his own jumpshot, I put some numeric value to what both he and James accomplish in the paint compared to what they accomplish from the outside. Both players pair incredibly efficient finishing at the basket with a lengthy history of shaky outside shooting, an assessment that was … Continue reading
