According to Dave Berri, an economics professor at Southern Utah University NBA players reach their peak at 24 years old and then everything from there is downhill. In an examination of every player from 1977-2008 Berri found that the average 24-year-old who plays 35 minutes a game is equal to 6 wins per season,
After that point, the player’s productivity dips. There are exceptions of course, Kobe peaked at 24 (he was worth 15.5 wins a year) but at age 31 this year he’s still worth 14.3 wins. Then there is LeBron, last season he played 2/3 of his games at age 24 and was worth a fabulous 27.7 wins for his team. He’s already shown that he’s over the hill; this season he’s worth a mere 24.2 wins. Pathetic.
I wonder if after having hit so many game-winning shots if they start to get old for a player like Kobe Bryant. When he crushes the Milwaukee fans’ hopes of beating the Lakers in overtime Kobe seems awfully ho-hum, like it’s just another day in the office. Which, technically, it is.
At least the Bucks broadcasters are despondent proving SOME emotion.
The voting for the NBA All-Star game is underway and most of the usual suspects are leading the way so far. Kobe Bryant has already garnered over 692K votes, about 20,000 more than Dwyane Wade the next highest vote getter.
And, showing that NBA fans don’t care or pay attention, Houston Rocket Tracy McGrady is also on pace to start the All-Star game; no big deal except that because of a knee injury he hasn’t played a single game this season. That hasn’t stopped him from receiving over 9,000 votes more than Steve Nash at this point. Reportedly, large swaths of votes for McGrady are coming from China where he is helped by his teammate Yao Ming’s popularity.
One of the reasons why I dislike Kobe Bryant is that, like with Alex Rodriguez, he comes off as fake and his public persona seems totally forced and manufactured. Having said that, (nod, Larry David) he is absolutely SICK at basketball, take these two plays from Sunday’s Lakers/Thunder game, Kobe may be a giant douche but the man has skills.
Derek Fisher patiently waits so that he can get a fist bump from his coach prior to tipoff for the Lakers’ title defense run, his patience is rewarded by Phil Jackson giving him an enthused bump. Phil takes a seat and Kobe walks by, assuming that Kobe would want to acknowledge his coach and get the season started on a good foot Jackson anticipates the bump but there is none forthcoming. Phil recovers though and acts like he never even went for the bump in the first place, but we know what actually happened.
Since she was so dead-on with her prior doppelganger suggestions, here is commenter The Sister offering another one for all you doppelganger maniacs out there.
A former star at UConn, Ben Gordon hasn’t been quite as stellar in the NBA, while there is no doubt that he can score, the other aspects of the NBA game seem to be sometimes beyond him. Once a building block for the Chicago Bulls, now Gordon is more of a strong complementary piece, with the team moving to build around the dynamic Derrick Rose instead. Accused of, and acquitted, of rape charges, Kobe Bryant is also one of the best players in NBA history. Another championship this year w0uld elevate him into the pantheon of the top 5 of all-time. What do you think, did my sister from the same mother find a good doppelganger of brothers from another mother?
The fellas over at The Big Lead came up with this great photo of the US men’s basketball team taking some time off to watch Michael Phelps go for gold medals number 10 and 11. Lebron doesn’t seem to be paying too much attention to the action on the water though, seemingly distracted by something else… It’s nice to see that even after being an international superstar and having had NBA groupies hanging off him for years that Lebron maintains a healthy appetite. He truly is a phenomenal athlete.
In other news the Olympics organizers have stocked 100,000 condoms in preparation, the US basketball team has so far gone through 64,453. There are 11 days to go.
T.J. Simers is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times sports section who gets paid to bloviate, and so I can understand why he’d get angry when other people do it for free and are better at it than he is. That said, his column today is in reference to Curt Schilling who wrote a post on his blog, 38Pitches, about his experience sitting courtside next to the Lakers bench at game 2. TJ though didn’t take too kindly to Schilling’s admittedly uninformed statements. Schilling’s main point was that he was completely astounded by the fact that Kobe was a petulant whiny little girl throughout the game, glaring angrily at his teammates and generally being the uber-douche that everyone claims him to be. Curt was surprised by how poor a teammate Kobe was being, particularly in contrast to the other members of the team.
I have no idea how the guys in the NBA play or do things like this, but I thought it was a fascinating bit of insight for me to watch someone in another sport who is in the position of a team leader and how he interacted with his team and teammates. Watching the other 11 guys, every time out it was high fives and “Hey nice work, let’s get after it” or something to that affect. He walked off the floor, obligatory skin contact on the high five, and sat on the bench stone faced or pissed off, the whole game.
That’s not exactly the work of a team leader is it? But TJ Simers doesn’t think that is a fair assessment at all, starting out his article with the words of a man who wants to cross the divide:
Curt Schilling is gutless.
He sits courtside in Boston for Game 2, eavesdropping on the Lakers’ bench — and how would he like someone listening to what they have to say in the Red Sox dugout, and then makes it appear on his blog, “38 Pitches,” that Kobe Bryant is some kind of jerk who berates his teammates.
Well, I have two things to say, regarding both of those statements.
Does this look like a man who is “gutless?”
Yeah, Kobe would never be a complete asshole to his teammates, that’s ridiculous!
So, that’s a good start to an article. I mean, both of your points are wrong, and you’ve resorted to cheap insults to boot. WOW! What expansive and beautiful writing! I’m sure the Los Angeles Times is overjoyed to have a man who can write such uplifting and carefully crafted phrases on the payroll. H.L Mencken would be glad to see that a strong newspaper tradition continues, especially in Los Angeles where television and film can so easily otherwise overshadow. Continue reading ‘TJ Simers is Where the LA Times Keeps the Douches’
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According to Dave Berri, an economics professor at Southern Utah University NBA players reach their peak at 24 years old and then everything from there is downhill. In an examination of every player from 1977-2008 Berri found that the average 24-year-old who plays 35 minutes a game is equal to 6 wins per season,
The Slanch Report 
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