While NBA success evaded all three KU players who made their debuts Wednesday night, there can be no doubt that KU represented itself and its championship well in the League. One guy started and filled the stat sheet whilst outdoing the #2 overall pick (MC: 17pts 7rbs 8asts). Another posted a 2x2 in his debut en route to incredible efficiency (DA: 11pts 15rbs). And the final dude had more conventionally rookie number but still good (BR: 7pts 3-5 FGs).
In all it was a successful debut for KU ’08, not so much for the respective teams.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Wildcat
This is a great development in Professional football: doing away with the notion that you need to have a single play calling focal point in an offense. Ronnie Brown taking direct snaps a sizable portion of the time forces reevaluation of the schemes used by defenses. Players who were previously content with playing defensive defense, dropping into a short zone to read the QB, indecisively reacting to play actions, &c, are now being called upon to react in time with the offense. Every offensive player has a role that can account for every defensive player, up to and including the back responsible for beating one man.
Base conceptual changes are rarely successfully executed and thus rarely tried, but the proliferation of deep backfields suddenly offers a chance to wreak incredible change upon defenses.
Imagine a league where Jerious Norwood and Michael Turner line up on the FAstlanta turf with the singular goal of beating one or two men. I mean you would Vick back! And Ldt, a known aficionado of the thrown ball, lining up with Sproles at his flank. The list goes on and on, and, fundamentally, there is no reason that a team should artificially sequester its top talent solely by convention.
Base conceptual changes are rarely successfully executed and thus rarely tried, but the proliferation of deep backfields suddenly offers a chance to wreak incredible change upon defenses.
Imagine a league where Jerious Norwood and Michael Turner line up on the FAstlanta turf with the singular goal of beating one or two men. I mean you would Vick back! And Ldt, a known aficionado of the thrown ball, lining up with Sproles at his flank. The list goes on and on, and, fundamentally, there is no reason that a team should artificially sequester its top talent solely by convention.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
AlphaOmega
Not to gloat but I think I nailed it when I talked about speed being the ultimate arbiter of success this year and in the future. We saw the emergence of Chris Johnson, Desean Jackson and Eddie Royal, the continued dominance of the Giants speed based pass rush and the delayed yet foundational birth of Reggie Bush.
We also saw the sad reality of the NFL and injuries; but we pay to see cause so cannot deny effect.
What really did this first weekend tell us outside of beginning the narrative of speed? I think it is clear that the myth of parity is just that. Coming out of the weekend we can clearly place the Eagles, Cowboys, Giants(maybe the exception), Steelers and Bears as teams that will vie. While the Patriots, Chargers and Colts are coming off sub-par performances they will almost certainly the three of them make the playoffs. On the other hand I think there are exciting things coming out of Buffalo and Arizona (Finally), and definite sleepers in Atl, Tennessee and Denver.
A final note: the emergence of Special Teams, long the domain of sparse yet stellar constellations, as a skill position certainly warrants a mention. Not only do we here have a another instance of the speed narrative, but more and more often we are seeing guys who do, or could, play a substantial offensive role fielding kicks. Desean Jackson, Eddie Royal, Devon Hester, Dante Hall, Darren Sproles, Hightower, Roscoe Parrish are all guys who you have to watch out for everytime they touch the ball, whether on an end around, an out, a kickoff, punt or fly, these guys are almost singlehandedly deconstructing the standard classifications of the NFL.
We also saw the sad reality of the NFL and injuries; but we pay to see cause so cannot deny effect.
What really did this first weekend tell us outside of beginning the narrative of speed? I think it is clear that the myth of parity is just that. Coming out of the weekend we can clearly place the Eagles, Cowboys, Giants(maybe the exception), Steelers and Bears as teams that will vie. While the Patriots, Chargers and Colts are coming off sub-par performances they will almost certainly the three of them make the playoffs. On the other hand I think there are exciting things coming out of Buffalo and Arizona (Finally), and definite sleepers in Atl, Tennessee and Denver.
A final note: the emergence of Special Teams, long the domain of sparse yet stellar constellations, as a skill position certainly warrants a mention. Not only do we here have a another instance of the speed narrative, but more and more often we are seeing guys who do, or could, play a substantial offensive role fielding kicks. Desean Jackson, Eddie Royal, Devon Hester, Dante Hall, Darren Sproles, Hightower, Roscoe Parrish are all guys who you have to watch out for everytime they touch the ball, whether on an end around, an out, a kickoff, punt or fly, these guys are almost singlehandedly deconstructing the standard classifications of the NFL.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Our Heroes are Human
Super Nintendo and DA met up to relive some good times from the Jayhawker towers. Unfortunately, they didn't put a towel under the door.
If anything, this just endears them to me even more.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3567481
If anything, this just endears them to me even more.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3567481
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Spreading the Wealth
People have alternatively decried and celebrated the increasing use of the spread offense in the college game, and there can be little doubt that this use has had a powerful impact on the pro game. A much bandied about stat has been that NE used the shotgun on more than half its plays last year and every team employed a shotgun three WR set. This is all fine and good, but aside from pulling offense away from the center (to the left I suppose), what has been the effect of the spread in college on the pro game.
I believe that what we have seen, more than anything else, is a revolution in the RB position. A back who would have been considered by every measure a speed back only 5 years ago, AD, is now planted firmly in the soil of the power game. More tellingly though, is the increasing presence of guys who would have been tracked as DBs in college, or from RB to DB in the college to pro transition. Jonathan Stewart, Steve Slaton, Chris Johnson have far more in common with Pacman than last wave of great backs from Bettis to Eddie George. Now an argument can certainly be made that backs like Marshall Faulk and Barry Sanders argue against this as a new trend, yet these guys are known far more for shiftiness than breakaway speed. Even the top guys, with bigger builds, in this past draft, McFadden and F.Jones, thrived not in pound it out style but rather as turn the corner guys in college.
In terms of strategy I think this trend will have the effect of eliminating the FB from the game, with the blocking back being aided by offensive deception teams will employ running threats as blockers out of one back sets, and spread offenses and check downs as the hedge against stacking the line in short yardage situations.
Not much of this is entirely new thinking, but the trend is important to identify, and my prediction is that this year will be the year that speed out of the backfield becomes a major talking point.
I believe that what we have seen, more than anything else, is a revolution in the RB position. A back who would have been considered by every measure a speed back only 5 years ago, AD, is now planted firmly in the soil of the power game. More tellingly though, is the increasing presence of guys who would have been tracked as DBs in college, or from RB to DB in the college to pro transition. Jonathan Stewart, Steve Slaton, Chris Johnson have far more in common with Pacman than last wave of great backs from Bettis to Eddie George. Now an argument can certainly be made that backs like Marshall Faulk and Barry Sanders argue against this as a new trend, yet these guys are known far more for shiftiness than breakaway speed. Even the top guys, with bigger builds, in this past draft, McFadden and F.Jones, thrived not in pound it out style but rather as turn the corner guys in college.
In terms of strategy I think this trend will have the effect of eliminating the FB from the game, with the blocking back being aided by offensive deception teams will employ running threats as blockers out of one back sets, and spread offenses and check downs as the hedge against stacking the line in short yardage situations.
Not much of this is entirely new thinking, but the trend is important to identify, and my prediction is that this year will be the year that speed out of the backfield becomes a major talking point.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Anamesos
I’m ramping up for the NFL, and detesting this coming weekend when I’ll be busy studying for an exam while college football unrolls. So, in what is by now a personal tradition, I’m taking between lecture breaks to jot shit down in the hope of coherence at worst and insight at best.
There is so much to say about Olympics basketball, how sweet it is that that final game was competitive, how sweet it is that the Basketball seems to be on track for a European Football like international groundswell, how sweet it is that in that rosy future the ones playing the beautiful game come not from the South but from our own fertile soils, or maybe how sweet it is that we will see the best players from the USA play together more than once a decade.
But I don’t want to discuss any of that. What I want to do is use the Olympics as a lens through which posturing and the unbearable weight of career expectations are filtered out, leaving only the stark, naked reality of individual ability and basketball acumen; in the context of playing with the best I think we can see more clearly now than ever before what each player means. With no further ado:
Kobe: This guy is stone cold killer, the way he dominated, and successfully, at the end of the second Spain game was memorable. But the deeper truth is that it may very well be that Kobe is nothing more than an assassin, an ace to be played when kings are showing. Kobe requires a cast to put him in position to unleash his arsenal, while in ordinary circumstances he struggles to chain his indomitable offensive potential to the shackles of a team game.
Lebron: Although it is the ultimate injustice to Lebron to say that Mo Williams might be the one to prove me right, King James is the most gifted player on earth and can elevate the talent of anyone, anyone, around him. To be able to make the best players in the world better is the ultimate compliment. He’ll get his when it’s needed, but he had more astonishing passes over the course of the tournament than Paul and Kidd combined. And when the dude drives, there is quite literally no comparison to it in the sport. Maybe Ali or Jim Brown, but it is poetic domination, brute force constrained. This brings me back to James. He doesn’t need any specific player, he just needs a guy who knows he’ll be a hell of a lot better on the floor with James (see Boozer vs. Ilgauskas).
Wade: Maybe better than Kobe? Maybe the guy who doesn’t need the world to think he can’t in order to can. He has the interior game to match, maybe not the shot, yet, but I think he was the most impressive defender on the ball and in the passing lanes. And while Kobe seemingly put the game on ice with a four point play, there was heat, and it was Wade who popped the cork. And the look he had was pure.
Melo: The world is not his, but oh what multitudes the future may hold. Think about Rasheed and the endless horizons of potential. How many moons glowing before the sun engulfs them. There are ideals and there are shadows in caves, and Anthony dances in the light of that fire. Melo has the game right now to go from 2 to 4, not in a crowing defiance of humanity like Lebron, but rather more like a chameleon inhabiting niches as it pleases nature. Think Rasheed.
Kidd: Hard to place this guy, maybe just a guy who understands his place. I don’t believe he missed a shot for the duration. But with age, like a Washington insider, his edge has waned and only a few passes go off the backboards. The real question is whether the Mavs provide the kind of fireworks that can survive such a dim flame.
CP3: This is probably the toughest call out here. I think he might be Spanish. He is clearly a different player coming off the bench than starting. And the type of chemistry you see from Navarro and Gasol is the type of fluidity that would have come with Tyson Chandler on the team. In the absence of this well developed and flourishing connection Paul was reduced to a blind man clawing for vision, Monet wishing for his youth . He would endlessly direct the best players on the planet to fulfill his vision of a living offense. If he stays with team USA then one day the four horsemen will have a challenge stouter than God.
Derron: He is not a point guard, though his talent his enough to fool you. Were it that he were, Boozer would have been playing. But this is not a libel, he turned out to be the purest combo guard out there (well, let’s be real, the purest combo not named Kobe or Dwayne), he probably had the purest will to drive and some of the best creation out of the zone.
Bosh: KG with an inside game? Not a dominant player though, not Duncan or Olajawon, but sufficient to be great. Dude needs to develop the midrange jumper and he will elevate.
Howard: I wasn’t too impressed, he needs to learn to put the ball on the floor. As it is, he’s Shaq without the girth or the instinct. A needless waste of resources Dwight should be busy redefining the alley oop, rather than committing rote memorization of the put back.
Prince: One of my favorite players, Durant minus the hype or the mean streak. I am endlessly satisfied that Prince was the guy hitting the threes in the early games, playing D in the late games, and filling in as needed when it mattered. Detroit isn’t Detroit without Tayshuan.
Boozer: Vindication for the masses, never should have been on this team. Further he is a testament to the greatness of Lebron and Derron, having been fortunate enough to play with two guys who understand creation.
There is so much to say about Olympics basketball, how sweet it is that that final game was competitive, how sweet it is that the Basketball seems to be on track for a European Football like international groundswell, how sweet it is that in that rosy future the ones playing the beautiful game come not from the South but from our own fertile soils, or maybe how sweet it is that we will see the best players from the USA play together more than once a decade.
But I don’t want to discuss any of that. What I want to do is use the Olympics as a lens through which posturing and the unbearable weight of career expectations are filtered out, leaving only the stark, naked reality of individual ability and basketball acumen; in the context of playing with the best I think we can see more clearly now than ever before what each player means. With no further ado:
Kobe: This guy is stone cold killer, the way he dominated, and successfully, at the end of the second Spain game was memorable. But the deeper truth is that it may very well be that Kobe is nothing more than an assassin, an ace to be played when kings are showing. Kobe requires a cast to put him in position to unleash his arsenal, while in ordinary circumstances he struggles to chain his indomitable offensive potential to the shackles of a team game.
Lebron: Although it is the ultimate injustice to Lebron to say that Mo Williams might be the one to prove me right, King James is the most gifted player on earth and can elevate the talent of anyone, anyone, around him. To be able to make the best players in the world better is the ultimate compliment. He’ll get his when it’s needed, but he had more astonishing passes over the course of the tournament than Paul and Kidd combined. And when the dude drives, there is quite literally no comparison to it in the sport. Maybe Ali or Jim Brown, but it is poetic domination, brute force constrained. This brings me back to James. He doesn’t need any specific player, he just needs a guy who knows he’ll be a hell of a lot better on the floor with James (see Boozer vs. Ilgauskas).
Wade: Maybe better than Kobe? Maybe the guy who doesn’t need the world to think he can’t in order to can. He has the interior game to match, maybe not the shot, yet, but I think he was the most impressive defender on the ball and in the passing lanes. And while Kobe seemingly put the game on ice with a four point play, there was heat, and it was Wade who popped the cork. And the look he had was pure.
Melo: The world is not his, but oh what multitudes the future may hold. Think about Rasheed and the endless horizons of potential. How many moons glowing before the sun engulfs them. There are ideals and there are shadows in caves, and Anthony dances in the light of that fire. Melo has the game right now to go from 2 to 4, not in a crowing defiance of humanity like Lebron, but rather more like a chameleon inhabiting niches as it pleases nature. Think Rasheed.
Kidd: Hard to place this guy, maybe just a guy who understands his place. I don’t believe he missed a shot for the duration. But with age, like a Washington insider, his edge has waned and only a few passes go off the backboards. The real question is whether the Mavs provide the kind of fireworks that can survive such a dim flame.
CP3: This is probably the toughest call out here. I think he might be Spanish. He is clearly a different player coming off the bench than starting. And the type of chemistry you see from Navarro and Gasol is the type of fluidity that would have come with Tyson Chandler on the team. In the absence of this well developed and flourishing connection Paul was reduced to a blind man clawing for vision, Monet wishing for his youth . He would endlessly direct the best players on the planet to fulfill his vision of a living offense. If he stays with team USA then one day the four horsemen will have a challenge stouter than God.
Derron: He is not a point guard, though his talent his enough to fool you. Were it that he were, Boozer would have been playing. But this is not a libel, he turned out to be the purest combo guard out there (well, let’s be real, the purest combo not named Kobe or Dwayne), he probably had the purest will to drive and some of the best creation out of the zone.
Bosh: KG with an inside game? Not a dominant player though, not Duncan or Olajawon, but sufficient to be great. Dude needs to develop the midrange jumper and he will elevate.
Howard: I wasn’t too impressed, he needs to learn to put the ball on the floor. As it is, he’s Shaq without the girth or the instinct. A needless waste of resources Dwight should be busy redefining the alley oop, rather than committing rote memorization of the put back.
Prince: One of my favorite players, Durant minus the hype or the mean streak. I am endlessly satisfied that Prince was the guy hitting the threes in the early games, playing D in the late games, and filling in as needed when it mattered. Detroit isn’t Detroit without Tayshuan.
Boozer: Vindication for the masses, never should have been on this team. Further he is a testament to the greatness of Lebron and Derron, having been fortunate enough to play with two guys who understand creation.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Redeem? more like reDream!
First of all word to Nathan on his post. Excitement well founded.
There really isn’t anywhere to go on the dominance of the dream team; anyone who has watched these guys play understands that this team is playing a different game. What is really striking though is how incredible the draft of 2003 was. I mean Lebron and DWade are by all accounts the top two performers on this team, the crazy thing is that ‘Melo and Bosh are probably in the top 6 or 7. That is phenomenal.
I haven’t really got into a writing flow so I’ll end with moment of silence for the 5’11 sprinter. R.I.P.
There really isn’t anywhere to go on the dominance of the dream team; anyone who has watched these guys play understands that this team is playing a different game. What is really striking though is how incredible the draft of 2003 was. I mean Lebron and DWade are by all accounts the top two performers on this team, the crazy thing is that ‘Melo and Bosh are probably in the top 6 or 7. That is phenomenal.
I haven’t really got into a writing flow so I’ll end with moment of silence for the 5’11 sprinter. R.I.P.
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