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Other People’s Words

Other People’s Words: Shaky Ankles Looks at Paul George’s Performance in Dallas

by Tim Donahue on February 4, 2012 at 4:36 pm · 0 comments

With the Pacers playing so well, we can expect more and more people to notice them – and write about them. From time to time, we at 8p9s will highlight Other People’s Words about the Pacers.

Today, Michael Pina of Shaky Ankles breaks down Paul George’s amazing performance in Dallas last night in Analyzing The Anomalous: Paul George vs. Dallas  He highlights one of the little things that both Jared and I had noticed and just loved:

Holding onto a seven point lead midway through the first quarter, George attempted three straight pick and rolls with David West…on a single possession. As the shot clock neared zero, neither Pacer panicked and the result was a wide open mid-range jumper, which, of course, West nailed. The patience and chemistry the two shared on this particular play was a symbiotic work of art.

Though I recall a similar fourth quarter possession. Mr. Pina finishes by showing that he expects big things from Our Mr. George:

Two years from now it won’t be like this. Two years from now George won’t be taking any prisoners. Two years from now performances like this might make us cover a yawn.

Big words that I’m sure we all hope prove true. Please click on the link above to read the whole piece, and give Michael a follow @ShakyAnkles.

 

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Other People’s Words: The Basketball Post Looks at the Ceiling for This Year’s Pacer Team

by Tim Donahue on February 1, 2012 at 8:04 pm · 2 comments

As we are wont to do, we periodically opt out of writing in favor of pointing our readers towards works that show both great writing  and great insight. Tonight, I’m pleased to direct you towards Carlos Alberto Petry, Junior’s discussion of the potential of Frank Vogel’s team this year.

Carlos and I had a tweet-versation on the subject, and he provides a great outsider’s perspective. Of particular interest – given the recent bad news on George Hill – was his third, and biggest, concern.

- Will the team be able to survive the season without injuries to their main players?

This is the biggest question, in my opinion. The team’s depth looks fragile as it is, so an injury to any starter could mean a big drop-off in terms of performance. Yes, Hill and Hansbrough are very capable of stepping into a starter role, but what happens to the bench if they do? This is where I think this team is behind the other top teams in the East, and the main reason why I don’t expect them to contend for the title — yet, at least. After some key additions next offseason (which they should be able to make, since cap space will not be a problem), the Pacers could position themselves as a contender for years to come.

There’s plenty more where they came from, so please, head on over to The Basketball Post and enjoy.

You can also follow Mr. Petry, Jr. on Twitter @Siga_NBA. It should be noted that Carlos devotes a good portion of his tweets to his Brazilian followers, so if you don’t speak Portuguese (like me) there will be a lot of tweets you simply won’t understand. However, don’t let that deter you. It’s well worth it, because you can never have enough bright, friendly basketball fans in your timeline.

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The Lowdown on ABA Pacer Don Buse

by Tim Donahue on January 13, 2012 at 12:10 pm · 0 comments

From time to time, we like to point our readers in the direction of some worthwhile writers and posts around the NBA blogosphere. Today, we bring you Curtis Harris of Hardwood Paroxysms and The Lowdown: Don Buse.

It’s hard to pluck just a few lines from such a great piece (just one of a great series of Lowdowns), but this is a nice microcosm of a guy’s career who deserves to be remembered far more than he is. Harris excerpted this passage on Buse from a Sports Illustrated piece in 1977

In Boston, the public-address announcer had to ask Don Buse how to pronounce his name. In Milwaukee, a sportswriter burned out his typewriter criticizing the Bucks’ guards for being victimized by a “nonentity” named Don Buse (Boo-See). In Atlanta, Lou Hudson, a 10-year veteran, said he had “never heard of him” before playing against Buse for the first time. New Orleans’ Pete Maravich had “heard of him but never seen him.” Presumably that held true the night Buse swiped the ball from Maravich four times.

Then he further explains the road Buse took from obscurity to mild fanfare.

Over the next three seasons, Buse would team with Paul Westphal, Walter Davis, Truck Robinson and Alvan Adams for a high octane Suns team that won 49, 50 and 55 games. His assists totals took a hit as everyone but Robinson was a superb passer and averaged over 4 a game, but his skills remained undiminished as he fit like a glove into their defense-leads-to-offense scheme.

I must admit that I appreciate Boo-Boo more retroactively than I did when I was watching him – but I’ve got an excuse. Don’s first stint with the Pacers spanned from my 6th year on the planet to my 11th. I was just a touch more fascinated with Dave Starsky’s red-and-white Gran Torino than professional basketball at that point in my life.

Another thing that prevented me from “getting” Buse was that, at my tender age, he wasn’t much more to me than “not Billy Keller” at that point. Billy, you see, was my first favorite Pacer.

But, it’s never to late to give a really good player his due, and it’s always the right time to give yourself the gift of reading the work of a guy like Curtis. Enjoy.

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Other People’s Words: Matt Moore Responds

by Tim Donahue on July 27, 2011 at 11:06 am · 1 comment

After publishing The System, Not Stupid Contracts, Creates Wasted Payroll yesterday, I was fortunate enough to have it featured on several great NBA sites.  However, Matt Moore at HP had a bit of a problem with it:

The owners aren’t upset because they woke up one day and were all “Holy crap, we’re giving the players too much money! This offends me on an ideological level! I daresay we should stage a lockout simply so that this group of human beings will not earn so much! RABBLE RABBLE.” No, they’re upset because they’re losing money. That’s all this is about. “Wah, I bought a sports team and it’s losing money and I don’t like that. Wah.” The end. Instead of seeking out alternative options, rethinking their business model, fixing their revenue sharing, or bucking up and living with the reality of the capitalist system that has provided them with so much worldly wealth, they decided “Hey, let’s punish the players! We have leverage and they’re typically stupid as a union! (Not as much as the NFL’s, but still!)” and locked out the players. If you can’t think of a way to fix your problems, blame someone else and then extort what you want from them. The American Way.

My point here is that if the revenue covered their losses, we wouldn’t have this problem. Well, we’d have one, because everyone is greedy, but not as big of one. But the owners simultaneously managed to ratchet up their non-player-salary-costs and not generate enough revenue to fail to cover the 57% they hand over to the players. And that’s genuinely effected by their decisions.

Matt and I view this situation from very different backgrounds.  You should see both.

Head on over to Hardwood Paroxysms to read the rest, and make sure you bookmark the site.  Besides Matt, they’ve got plenty of other great writers like Jovan Buha, Danny Chau, Scott Leedy, Sean Highkin, and Curtis Harris.

Matt’s a handsome devil, isn’t he?

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