The Weekly Mog: Friday, March 30, 2007

HEADLINES

Sergio Garcia Spits Into Cup, Sums Up Career

Pat Tillman Investigation Update: He’s Still Dead

CBS’ James Brown Proclaimed “The Godfather of Dull”

Lakers to Start Kobe Bryant, Four Pass-Back Devices



Roy Williams the New Roy Williams?
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – Following North Carolina’s collapse in the Elite Eight against Georgetown, critics of the fourth-year coach Roy Williams have been positing that he may be following the career path of former Kansas coach and dismal tournament-performer Roy Williams.

“I think you hear this sort of criticism for a reason,” said Sports Illustrated columnist Dave Parker. “This game that [UNC’s] Williams just coached is literally the exact kind of letdown that typified [KU’s] Williams’ tournament meltdowns.”

“The unfortunate thing is that it seems that [UNC’s] Williams was carried to the [2005] national championship by his team, and not the other way around,” continued Parker. “Sadly Kansas never had that luxury when [KU’s] Williams was there.”

After Kansas’ equally devastating loss to UCLA on Saturday, current head coach Bill Self has been lauded for carrying on his predecessor’s legacy.

Cubs’ Prior to Work in Kinks in Minors, Hopeful for Quick Call-Up to DL
MESA, AZ – The Cubs sent Mark Prior to Triple-A Iowa this week in hope that he can regain some doubt in his game. Chicago hopes for a quick call-up to the DL .

“Mark’s a great kid and we know he can get his form back,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella told reporters after Wednesday’s decision to move to the minors. “We know Mark’s got some really exciting things to work with. He could re-aggravate his shoulder, elbow, or Achilles. We’re hoping it’ll be all three and we’ll the see the old Mark real soon.”

“I think it’s a tough thing for him to accept because he’s got such high expectations for himself,” continued Piniella. “He’s lost a lot off his fastball and, believe me, our eyes kind of lit up when we saw that for the first time this spring. And when he’s on, he can really paint the middle of that plate. We’re think he’ll be ready for the DL soon.”

Prior’s career hit a low in 2003 when the Cubs almost qualified for the World Series and he was selected for the All-Star game following his 18-6 regular season record. However, he and fellow Cubs stalwart Kerry Wood have steadily loosened their shoulders and piled up walks over the past few seasons. Chicago needs both Prior and Wood to fill out key spots on the DL if they hope to seriously contend for fourth-place in a stacked NL Central that features DL-fixture Ken Griffey and the Cincinnati Reds.

“Zekeball”: Isiah’s Tenth-Place Knicks Inspire Forthcoming Book
NEW YORK, NY – Knicks general manager and coach Isiah Thomas will be the inspiration for a book outlining player evaluation and strategy to be published early this summer. It will be titled Zekeball: The Art of Outdoing Yourself.

Author Chris Polston has stated that his primary purpose for the book is to document how Thomas has propelled the historic franchise back into national consciousness with his unorthodox methods.

“What Isiah has done is truly remarkable,” Polston told reporters at a joint press conference with the Knicks organization and his publisher, McFarland Publishing. “Things like shooting-percentage and assist-to-turnover ratio are relics from a game that doesn’t really exist anymore. These are measures that were being used in the same breath as archaic and woefully inexact terms like ‘unselfish player.’ I think when you consider the situation in that light you see that the way scouts evaluate players was long in need of an update.”

Thomas has often contradicted NBA dogma by taking on players long forsaken by their former teams only to see them with a huge upswing in contracts. In fact, the Knicks have the highest dollars-to-wins ratio in all the NBA this season, a telling statistic according to Polston.

Polston outlines in his book the “outdated but widely accepted” practice of building through the draft, a method Thomas has shunned time and again. Thomas will often accomplish his goals of signing the biggest contracts and not taking on young players by trading draft picks for big contracts.

“At the end of the day, it’s not just about giving the biggest signing bonus or the most years on a contract,” Polston explains in an excerpt of Zekeball. “Many so-called pundits are too conservative for today’s brand of game. For example, Thomas was initially lambasted for acquiring three shoot-first point guards in Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, and Jamal Crawford. Yet when dissected it merely comes down to simple math: Bringing the ball across the half-court line and shooting a three-pointer is in actuality a much more sound strategy than a plodding half-court offense or ‘easy’ transition points. To wit, a three-point shot counts for more than shots within the arc and shooting with 18 seconds left on the shot-clock guarantees more possessions. This in turn allows for more long-range shooting. It’s a positive-feedback loop.”

Following Thomas’ lead, Knicks ownership recently awarded their general manager and head coach a contract extension that was virtually entirely decided upon by the Knicks organization because of “a good hunch.”


Email the BlogMogger team at blogmogger@yahoo.com