Anthony Davis is a Magical Basketball Beast
Swish Weekly - March 2nd
We're into March and it was a pretty slow week this week in terms of NBA content, but we still parsed out the best of the best to give you some solid stuff heading into the weekend. Most notably, there are two pieces about Anthony Davis and the unbelievable tear that he has been on since Boogie's injury. Those are definitely worth a read. Let's jump right in!
Take That for Data: Takeaways From the Sloan Conference - The Ringer - Kevin O'Connor
The Sloan Conference has been a hub for basketball statistical junkies for 12 years and each and every conference has expanded and built upon conferences of years past. This year's conference was no different. In this piece by the Ringer's Kevin O'Connor, you'll get the most important takeaways from the conference without having to sit through talks of z-score distributions and statistical formulas. One of the ideas for trade-reform is spectacular and could revolutionize the way trades in the NBA are conducted.
LeBron Becomes First Player in NBA History to Have 30,000 Points, 8,000 Rebounds, and 8,000 Assists in a Career
This isn't so much about a great play by LeBron, but rather the achievement that this play represents. With this assist to Larry Nance Jr., LeBron James became the first player in the history of the league to have 30,000 points, 8,000 rebounds, and 8,000 assists in a career. Last week we saw a bunch of different arguments for the LeBron vs. MJ debate, but there's no debating these stats. LeBron has done something that no player in the history of the league has ever done before and to attempt to water down his accomplishments is naive and not fair to LeBron.
Adam Silver Warns Teams About Tanking, Says NBA Will Closely Monitor Their Play - Bleacher Report - Tim Daniels
On Wednesday, it was reported that commissioner Adam Silver sent a memo to teams stating that the league would be monitoring the play of all teams for the rest of the season. Tanking has been an issue in years past and will be until a significant change to the lottery system is put in place. If the league incentivizes teams to lose games to get better draft picks, then how can you expect teams not to do what is in the best interest of their organization, which in this case means losing games. There's a simple solution though. Change the lottery system to something that doesn't incentivize teams to lose and maybe the league will get rid of it's tanking issue.
http://theundefeated.com/features/the-most-disrespectful-nba-plays-of-all-time/
The Most Disrespectful NBA Plays of All Time - The Undefeated - Jesse Washington
This piece was inspired by James Harden's absolute destruction of Wesley Johnson's ankles (that video is at the top of this article in case you missed it). It's a pretty spot on representation of the most disrespectful plays of recent memory, but there were plenty of far more disrespectful plays in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. Hell there was overt and blatant racism back in those days so the level of disrespect from some of these plays is simply not on the same level as back in the day. Regardless, there is some real shade being thrown here.
The Rise of Anthony Davis - The Ringer - Bill Simmons
Any article that begins by talking about Tim Duncan as the greatest power forward of all time is going to make Swish Weekly, that's just a simple fact. But this piece is actually a great look at what Anthony Davis has done to revitalize the Pelicans franchise. Sure, you might be able to say that it's a little early to crown Davis as the second-coming of Jesus, but if you had to choose a guy to win a game based on the last ten games of the year, Davis is easily near the top of that conversation. Since DeMarcus Cousins went down, Davis has taken it upon himself to single-handily carry the Pelicans to the playoffs. They're a legitimate contender for a top four seed right now and are a matchup nightmare. Hopefully, it continues and we finally get to see the Anthony Davis in the playoffs that we've always wanted.
Ten things I like and don't like, including the brilliant Brow - ESPN - Zach Lowe
You thought you would get away with only one article applauding Anthony Davis' recent play? Well you were sorely mistaken. I'm not going to get into the Anthony Davis talk simply because I think Simmons does a great job in the prior piece, but Zach Lowe brings more variety to the table and that's what you want from this article. His talk about the awful lineups that teams that are tanking is hilarious. You just can't play three big men in this day and age of the NBA, but the Grizzlies will find a way to rationalize it in order to get a better pick. Makes total sense...
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/22607733/nba-schedule-alert-20-games-tired-teams-lose-march
Schedule Alert: Every game that tired teams should lose in March - ESPN - Baxter Holmes
I always find this monthly article by ESPN's Baxter Holmes to be quite insightful. One stat that stands out about this list, is that the teams in schedule alert games have lost by an average of 13.1 points per game. That's a ridiculously high margin for such a subset of games and it really should be looked at. If you're of the betting ilk, this could be one of the most important articles you read this week.
That's it for this week. I know it's a bit shorter than usual, but we only want to give you the highest quality content and this week was just a bit of a down week. If you have any suggestions on how to improve Swish Weekly, feel free to reach out to us and let us know what you think would make Swish Weekly better. We're all about giving you the highest quality NBA content and are always open to new ideas.
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