Video of the Day: Lebron Hits Another Underhanded Half-court Shot

Lebron James is definitely ‘The King’ of the NBA these days. To prove that last month’s half-court underhanded shot he made in warm-ups was no fluke, he hit another one with the camera’s rolling from the other side of the court at the same distance. What a guy, how can you not love ‘Bron? He’s a machine even before the tip. Check out the video:

The Nextology of Michael Jordan: Part VIII – Kobe Bryant

The Hoop Doctors love Michael Jordan. That’s got to be pretty obvious to everyone by now. So in honor of Michael, and to discourage the media from pretending to be clairvoyant in the future when it comes to comparing young ballers to the greatest to ever play, every week I will be shining a little light on each of the media’s shortcomings when it has come to these ridiculous and presumptuous predictions.

These posts are not intended to disrespect any of the players compared to Jordan in any way. They all had excellent careers and were or are tremendous basketball players. It is not your fault someone with very little knowledge of the game or even the skill to play this game decided to call you the “Next Jordan”. Part VIII to my series called “The Nextology of Michael Jordan” will be looking at Kobe “Black Mamba” Bryant:

But to take a good look at how different their careers were, I think you always have to start off by taking a birds eye view of the comparison by checking out their individual career stats. Here is the statistical comparison below in this chart:

K.B. Stats:	25.2 ppg	5.3 rpg	4.6 apg	1.5 spg	0.5 bpg	.455 FG%	.340 3P%	.840 FT%
M.J. Stats:	30.1 ppg	6.2 rpg	5.3 apg	2.4 spg	0.8 bpg	.497 FG%	.327 3P%	.835 FT%

 
From the feedback we have received thus far on this series it seems everyone reading is anxiously awaiting our final installment, the comparison to Kobe Bryant. We can make this as simple or as complicated as we want. The simple question is ‘who would win in a game of one-on-one between Michael and Kobe? Curiously, this exact question was asked recently of Jordan at a development camp he runs. This link has his answer…..I tend not to argue with the greatest ever, so i’ll take that as fact. Let’s move on to the more complicated version then, shall we?

Statistics:

When looking at the on-court statistical comparison between the two, it is quite simply not even a contest. Quite a few Kobe fans (many of which were not old enough to watch and appreciate Jordan in his prime), will try and tell you that the statistics are an unfair comparison since Kobe came into the NBA straight out of high school and in his first couple of years did not receive the same playing time as Michael did. While I will grant them that fact, it must be duly noted that Kobe has been in the league for 13 years now, and has only had 3 seasons where he averaged over 30 points per game. Jordan on the other hand had 8 of his first 13 seasons averaging over 30 points per game. Let’s forget point scoring for a minute though, because regardless of how it plays out, Michael and Kobe are both prolific scorers. Kobe has proven that fact by scoring 81 points in one contest against the Toronto Raptors in January of 2006. In that same season of 2005-06 Kobe also put up huge scoring numbers of 35.4 ppg on the year, which was quite close close to Jordan’s phenomenal 37.1 ppg in 1986-87.

So where else is Kobe trailing Michael statistically? A lot of fans would probably key in on the fact that Michael Jordan was a better passer and outperformed Kobe quite a bit in the assists column, or they might notice that Jordan had a better field goal percentage therefore saying he was a better scorer. But where I would like to focus is on the defensive end. Kobe is a great defender, and he proved as much the last two summer’s playing for Team USA often taking it upon himself to shut down the opposing countries biggest scorers. But has it translated for Kobe to his defensive play in the NBA? We all know Michael Jordan was a 9 time NBA All-defensive First Team selection and in 1988 was voted in as Defensive Player of the Year, and for good reason. Kobe has great numbers defensively, but if you look at how Kobe trails Michael significantly in defensive rebounding, steals, and blocks you start to get a flavor for the intensity Jordan brought to both ends of the floor. Kobe is a good defender, but he definitely is a much better offensive player, and on some nights leaves nothing to be desired on the defensive end. Michael Jordan was probably one of the most offensively and defensively balanced players to ever play the game. He rarely, if ever, took a night of defensively.

Awards:

One of The Hoop Doctors readers last week when we did the Dwyane Wade comparison was kind enough to point out that of all the players compared to Jordan in this series, Dwayne Wade was the only player who has won an NBA Finals MVP Award. I would like to point out that Jordan has 6 of them, but regardless the point was well taken. Performing on the NBA’s greatest stage, the NBA Finals, and winning an award recognizing your achievement towards your contribution to your team’s success is the ultimate praise given out by the league. So to be clear, Kobe Bryant has three NBA Championships but due to the fact he played alongside the Diesel, Shaquille O’Neal, he doesn’t have any NBA Finals MVP awards as Shaq back then was clearly the dominant force driving the Lakers success. Kobe does however have a long list of awards and achievements during his career worth noting. Here is a comparison of the two player’s accolades:

Awards	Bryant	Jordan
Championships	3	6
MVP	1	5
Finals MVP	0	6
Defensive Player	0	1
Rookie of Year	0	1
All-star	11	14
Scoring Title	2	10
All-NBA First Team	6	10
All-Defensive First	6	9
All-star MVP	3	3
Slam Dunk Title	1	2

 
I realize that Kobe’s career is far from over, but after 13 seasons in the league I think the above table of awards, really speaks for itself when you are looking to compare Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan. Kobe is a great player with many accolades, however Michael Jordan is in a whole other universe, as the greatest player to ever play this game.

Intangibles:

Lately there has been a lot of talk about how Kobe Bryant is the only player in the game today that has the same level of fierce competitiveness that Michael Jordan had. You know that feeling you got watching Michael play that told you he hated to lose more than anything in the world, and would do whatever it took to make sure he was a winner. Although Kobe early in his career was often labeled as selfish and only concerned with his own personal glory, over the years he has taken some huge strides towards involving teammates, and putting the team winning games before his own personal success. But regardless of how fierce a competitor Kobe is, I can’t help but think about how he ran Phil Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal out of LA a few years ago. At the time Phil was still the best Coach in the league, and Shaq was still the most dominant center and arguably the most dominant player in the league. When you really get down to comparing Kobe’s competitive edge with that of Michael Jordan you have to wonder, would MJ have ever turned away Phil Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal, regardless of his off-the-court relationships with the two? I highly doubt it. Michael loved to win too much.

The other comparison I often hear with Kobe Bryant in the last two seasons since L.A.’s rejuvenation, is that Kobe makes his team better like Michael Jordan. As far as intangibles go, I think this is a ridiculous statement. Michael Jordan in his prime was a leader that players wanted to follow. He was a guy that lead by example and his teammates followed. He was a player that did make everyone around him better, regardless of the quality of his supporting cast. When Michael did have a good supporting cast they set the record for most wins by any team ever in an NBA season at 72 wins. Kobe on the other hand is more often than not criticized by teammates after they leave LA about being a tough teammate to play with, both on and off the court. People often neglect the fact that when crunching the numbers throughout Kobe’s career the Lakers lowest winning percentages have come when Kobe averages more than 30 points a game.

So that is it for the series “The Nextology of Michael Jordan”……for now…..Why? Because the media has proven one thing over the years…although I cringe at the thought of another player being compared to Michael Jordan in the future by the media, it is bound to happen. I just hope to hell they at least wait until his career is over and done with before they pull out their lab coats and start dissecting his performances.

Tell us your thoughts below on Kobe Bryant being called ‘The Next Jordan’…..Thanks for tuning in…

Links to Previous ‘Nextology’ Posts:

• Part I – Jerry Stackhouse
• Part II – Grant Hill
  
• Part III – Anfernee ‘Penny’ Hardaway
• Part IV – Harold Miner
• Part V – Vince Carter
• Part VI – Tracy McGrady
• Part VII – Dwyane Wade
• Part VIII – Kobe Bryant

Alvin Gentry Grooming Goran Dragic to take over for Steve Nash

This is the first post on The Hoop Doctors by ‘Dr. Casper’ a.k.a. Ben York from Phoenix’s Fanster.com fame, who also was the founder of Ben’s Suns Blog. Ben will be bringing you analysis of league wide issues for The Hoop Doctors, but fittingly in his first post with us, he will be covering an issue that hits close to home for him:

Suns fans, and to some extent NBA fans, had it made for the past 5 years. They’ve been lucky enough to see Steve Nash, one of the greatest point guards ever to play the game, on a consistent basis. We’ve seen what Nash can do to defenses and game plans virtually shredding any hope of containment. Unfortunately for all of us, the Steve Nash era will inevitably come to an end at some point, and the new future point guard for the Suns is a rookie from Slovenia named Goran Dragic.

After the 2007-2008 season, Suns GM Steve Kerr understood that in order for the Suns to go anywhere in the post-season, they couldn’t rely on Nash to do everything for an entire season only to have him wear down in the playoffs along with the entire team. This was Kerr’s main objective during the past off-season – get Nash a respectable backup point guard whom the players, coaches, and fans trust. Their immediate target during the draft (at their position) was Goran Dragic. In short, Kerr & co. were able to obtain Dragic’s rights from the Spurs and worked out a deal with Tau Ceramica (Dragic’s team in Europe) to get Goran here. With the work put in to get Dragic on the team for 2008-2009, expectations were immediately raised.

Needless to say, following a two-time MVP is certainly no easy task. Under former head coach Terry Porter, Goran lacked confidence and tenacity which translated into an extremely rough start to his rookie season. Porter was more of a disciplinarian and would pull Dragic out the game quickly after a mistake, turnover, or ill-advised shot. Those mistakes began to become more frequent as Goran would play not to lose, instead of playing to win. Fans were left wondering what the Suns front office saw in Dragic and questioned his future in the NBA.

However, under new Suns coach Alvin Gentry, Goran is finding a rhythm and slowly blossoming as a capable back-up. Gentry has helped Goran relax, have fun, and trust his abilities. Under Porter, Dragic didn’t have a single game where he scored in double digits. There were many games where Goran saw no minutes at all. Now, with the support and encouragement of Alvin Gentry, Goran has managed to put together several games of double digit scoring while limiting his turnovers (the most he’s ever had in a single game since early February was 4). He is also shooting a solid 50% from the floor in February and March while averaging a very low 1.5 turnovers per game. More importantly for the Suns, the staff is comfortable playing him when Nash needs to rest and players are starting to trust him.

There is no doubt that Goran Dragic has an extremely long way to go before being remotely compared to Nash. But in his first season away from Europe when all players typically struggle in their first year, Goran is beginning to find his stride and regain the confidence he once lost under Terry Porter.

You can believe with Nash’s leadership, coupled with Alvin Gentry’s support, guidance, and encouragement, Dragic will continue to improve and get better and better each game.

Daily Dimes: Where Tim Duncan is an Unathletic Athlete?

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Prescribed NBA reading from all over the world wide web

Two NBA Players made this list….you know Tim Duncan now….but check who else…
10 Professional Athletes That Don’t Look Very Athletic At All

We can’t wait to see Curry in the ‘L’…
Is NBA Drooling Over Curry, Mills?

These pics will have you laughing…..
Creighton Blue Jays Girls Love B-Jays

This questions needs answering sooner, rather than later….
How valuable is Dwyane Wade?

These questions on Kobe make sense…you hate playing against him…but also hate playing with him…
Kobe Confuses NBA Players

If you’ve got stories you think our readers should know about for our Daily Dimes links, please email them to us at (admin@thehoopdoctors.com)

We have a Winner of the March Create-a-Cap Contest!

Carlos Delfino: “Chris, you sure this is what you want for your next YouTube All-star campaign?” Noah Schwartz

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The Hoop Doctor’s want to congratulate Noah Schwartz on winning our latest contest for a prize package that included an adidas Toronto Raptors Hat, and an adidas Hoops Shirt. Noah has won the contest with the caption for the photo above of Toronto Raptors Star Chris Bosh and former Raptor Carlos Delfino.

The Hoop Doctor’s would like to thank everyone who entered the contest for your participation and innovative caption’s to the selected photo. Keep your eye on our contests page for the April Create-a-Caption where we will be giving away more great hoops gear and gift certificates from adidas.

Video of the Day: Charles Barkley Wears Miniskirt and Panties

Did you think Dennis Rodman was the only ex-NBA star to wear a dress? Well apparently not, as the TNT Crew last night were ribbing Charles Barkley about his old school playing days, and how some of his short shorts and long jersey’s would look like he was wearing a mini-skirt and panties. Chris Webber really seems to be getting into the joke too, which is probably because he is the only one of the TNT crew that is big enough or strong enough to defend himself if they push the Chuckster over the edge! HAHA. Poor Barkley.

I’m sure to deal with his embarrassment he’ll just go out tonight and get tanked, drive to red-light district, then get arrested.

H/T to NESW Sports for the Video:

‘Skool’ 4 Ballerz: Free Throws and Skills Development

Each week in The Hoop Doctors “Skool for Ballers” we will bring you tips, analysis, or drills on various aspects of the game to help guide your training to be the best damn baller you can be! Don’t forget, being a GREAT baller takes as much work off the court as it does on!

Free Throws and Skills Development - By Brian McCormick – 180 Shooter

Many veterans believe that today’s players lack fundamentals, and free throws are deemed the ultimate fundamental skill. Every Joe watching a game on TV thinks he can make the free throw that an NBA player missed.

However, free throw percentages have remained the same for the better part of 50 years.

Since the mid-1960s, college men’s players have made about 69 percent of free throws, the unguarded 15-foot, 1-point shot awarded after a foul. In 1965, the rate was 69 percent. This season, as teams scramble for bids to the NCAA tournament, it was 68.8. It has dropped as low as 67.1 but never topped 70.

In the National Basketball Association, the average has been roughly 75 percent for more than 50 years.

Our perceptions of free throw shooting are negative because it is a shot that we expect to make. Therefore, we pay attention to the misses more than the makes because a miss does not meet our expectation. A game-winning free throw typically leads to relief, while a game-losing miss creates a very negative emotional reaction, and we remember the emotional reaction. Therefore, we over-exaggerate misses and underestimate shooting percentages.

That being said, the lack of improvement over 50 years is interesting. “It’s unbelievable,” Larry Wright, an adjunct professor of statistics at Columbia, said as he studied the year-by-year averages. “There’s almost no difference. Fifty years. This is mind-boggling.”

Ray Stefani, a professor emeritus at California State University, Long Beach, is an expert in the statistical analysis of sports. Widespread improvement over time in any sport, he said, depends on a combination of four factors: physiology (the size and fitness of athletes, perhaps aided by performance-enhancing drugs), technology or innovation (things like the advent of rowing machines to train rowers, and the Fosbury Flop in high jumping), coaching (changes in strategy) and equipment (like the clap skate in speedskating or fiberglass poles in pole vaulting).

The only one of the four that is applicable to free throw shooting is coaching.

“A lot of coaches don’t want to spend time on it in practice,” said Blake Ahearn, a former Missouri State player who is the N.C.A.A.’s leader in career free-throw percentage (94.6) and now leads the N.B.A. Development League as a guard for the Dakota Wizards. “They want to work on defenses and offenses and schemes.”

Some teams spend a lot of time on free throws and others do not. Some believe in their new free throw drill. However, as I have written several times in the Hard2Guard Player Development Newsletters recently, I believe the way we practice, poor technique and a player’s approach contribute to stagnant free throw percentages. Players and coaches do not pay attention to small details – like hand positioning at the set position – and these details impact the repeatability of the player’s shot technique.

I do not think that players suffer from a lack of practice time. I think that there is a lack of deliberate practice on the free throw line and an acceptance of average technique rather than aiming for perfect technique.

If we believe that 70% is good free throw shooting, we are going to have 70% free throw shooters. Only when we raise our expectations, which influenced our approach, technique and practice will we see free throw percentages improve.

To check out The Hoop Doctors other ‘Skool for Ballers’ posts click here.

Will the Phoenix Suns Make the Playoffs?

The Phoenix Suns this year are the exact polar opposite of the definition of ‘consistency’. Unless you consider them to be consistently inconsistent of course. Hell, I might even let you have them pegged as inconsistently consistent. But that’s a stretch. There have been a number of factors away from the court which have contributed to this inconsistency. Early in the season they were having an offensive/defensive identity crisis, then Coach Terry Porter announced they would give Shaq a night off on back to back games, then they weren’t giving Shaq enough touches, then Terry Porter got fired, then Steve Nash’s back started acting up again, then Amare Stoudemire needed eye surgery and was lost for the season.

I would hate to make excuses for the Suns (even though I clearly just did, see above) but as of about a week and a half ago everyone, including myself, gave up hope on the Suns making the playoffs. But wait, not so fast! The Suns have reeled off four straight wins and are facing a fairly light schedule the remainder of the season for their final 13 games. Could they do it?

Given the fact that they are battling the equally inconsistent Dallas Mavericks for that 8th and final playoff spot in the West, i’d have to say they still have hope. But it won’t be a cakewalk, as Dallas has a 3 game advantage on Phoenix right now in the loss column, and Dallas has an equally light schedule the remainder of the season. Suns fans must have been seething with anger last week as the Mavericks won 2 of their last 3 games by only one basket on last minute/second heroic plays by their star player Dirk Nowitzki.

When teams get into situations like the Phoenix Suns are in right now you start schedule watching and try and go out and win every single game that you have remaining to try and keep your playoff hopes alive. For some teams that turns disastrous with a string of losses, but for other teams that is the exact sort of pressure they need to excel on a nightly basis. A great example of the latter was the Golden State Warriors a couple of years ago when they closed out the season hot to take the 8th and final spot, and carried that momentum forward into the playoffs when they took down the #1 seeded Dallas Mavericks. So now is the time to see what teams are made of under pressure.

To add to the pressure on the Phoenix Suns, if the race to that 8th spot comes down to a tiebreaker after the 82 games are wrapped up it is decided by which team won more games in the head to head match-ups. As it currently stands the Suns are trailing the Mavericks 1-2 in the season series between the two clubs. But there is one game left in their season series, and it is imperative for the Suns to win that one to tie the season series and also to gain a valuable full game on the Mavericks in the W and L columns.

For both the Mavericks and the Suns, the most important game of their season’s thus far is scheduled for Sunday, April 5th at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC. The Mavericks will be hosting the Suns, and depending how the team’s perform leading up to that game, it could be quite a claw it out battle for that ultra important heads up match. Mark your calendar’s.

Daily Dimes: Where Dwyane Wade Bombs One From Three-Quarter Court…

Monday, March 23, 2009

Prescribed NBA reading from all over the world wide web

Dime has the scoop on the fight between these two ‘me first’ guards…
TJ Ford and Jarrett Jack Fight

Although it didn’t count, was amazing shot to watch!
Wade hits shot from opposite free throw line

NGNG had some major let downs in the tourney already….here are his thoughts
Open Letter to those of you who let me down…

We love Gentry’s response to Shaq’s twitterin’…
O’Neal Halftime Tweets

Toronto fans must be shaking in their boots….
Will this be the summer of Bye-Bye Bosh?

If you’ve got stories you think our readers should know about for our Daily Dimes links, please email them to us at (admin@thehoopdoctors.com)

‘Sneak’-a-Peek: Nike Hyperdunk “March Madness” Editions

Well this week in ‘Sneak’-a-Peek we are giving you a heads up on some shoes we were checking out on the website NiceKicks.com. Instead of our normal review or sneak peek, we will just be giving you a look at some of the Nike Hyperdunk Special “March Madness” Edition College Team PE’s that will debut during NCAA College Basketball Championship Week. Our contact at Nike hasn’t gotten back to us for yet for pics and details so we gotta thank Nicekicks.com for the pictures.

Apparently the basketball players and college programs themselves have teamed up with Nike designers to create this special PE designs. Let us know your thoughts on these babies. Most of the Hoop Docs are sold on the Memphis colorways with these special edition Hyperdunks, but for some reason Doc J-Water is insisting the Gonzaga edition are too hot to ignore. We think he’s biased.

In the top post picture from left to right are editions for Duke, Gonzaga, and Michigan State. Below the team edition’s are as follows:

Oklahoma Hyperdunk’s

Memphis Hyperdunk’s

UConn Hyperdunk’s

For a listing of shoe release information on the latest kicks check out our “KICKS” section.

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