HOOPLOG: Eddy Curry

SIMULBLOG SONICS V. KNICKS

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 10:56:07 -0800

Sonics 55 Knicks 53 with 2:50 left in the 2nd Quarter
Sonics are 7of 11 from 3
Nate the great is on fire – 8 straight points for the Knicks
Vlady commits back to back terrible turnovers and then doesn’t grab a rebound and gives the Knicks another two points. He has the jumper going today, but he is making it tough on Coach Hill to keep him on the floor.
Once again the Sonics struggled with Ray off the floor.

Sonics 44 Knikcs 39 with 6:54 left in the 2nd Quarter
Petro gets his 3rd foul – he really is having a tough time today.
On the other hand, Swift is playing very well
Sonics lead by as many as 10
Reminder – Allen and Marbury were traded for each other on draft day
The Knicks have brought in Trevor Ariza to guard Ray Allen who is on fire

Sonics 35 Knicks 25 at the end of 1 Quarter
Great offensive quarter from the Sonics
Swift and Collison are setting very good picks.
Jerome James has quickly reminded me of why he drove us batty. Does I. Thomas actually watch the NBA or have anyone who watches the NBA before he signs players?

Sonics 26 Knicks 21 with 2:33 left in the 1st Quarter
Robert Swift is holding his own in the post.
He hit a really nice 9 foot turnaround jumper. He shot the same shot the other night and in the simulblog I mentioned how nice it looked. It really could be a dynamite move.
Jerome James is in the game to guard Swift.
Sonics are hitting the three’s – 4 in the Q

Sonics 19 Knicks 14 with 5:46 left in the 1st Quarter
Not a lot of stops in the early going. Knicks have scored on 7 of the first 8 possessions and the Sonics have scored on 7 of their first 8.
Eddy Curry is crushing Johan Petro. Curry has beat him deep in the block and they have crushed the Sonics on the high pick n roll
Swift replaces Petro at the 7:00 who committed two fouls.
Sonics are without Danny Fortson and Vitaly Potapenko

Weiss v. Hill
• Effective Field Goal % defense, which weights 3 pts shots, has gone from 30th in the league at 54.2 to 2nd in the league at 45.9 almost a 10% difference.
• Offensive rebounding has disappeared from 32.7 % 3rd in the NBA to 26.4% of offensive rebounds
• Sonics aren’t shooting under Hill, their effective field goal % is 44.3 which would be last in the NBA
• Under Hill Sonics defense has been entirely making the other team miss, they are not rebounding and not forcing turns

On Artest

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 09:39:13 -0800

I’ve been waiting at least a week now to write about Ron Artest. The idea would be to wait until he got moved, and then go over the plusses and minuses for each player involved and a couple of ancillary guys as well. Then last week came and went with no deal. Now it looks like we’re still a little bit away from a deal. And while Artest isn’t on any NBA courts near you, he’s still filling up a precious roster spot for an owner in your fantasy league. And the longer that Donnie Walsh waits to move him, the longer Artest will contribute nothing to your fantasy squad. However, just because Artest isn’t playing doesn’t mean that he can’t have value for your fantasy team – even if he’s not on it.

Let’s get back to the basics for a second: when you’re playing fantasy sports, you’re gambling (like I needed to remind you). Even if you’re not in a pay league, you’re still gambling. You’re betting that over the course of the season, the players on your roster will combine to play better than everyone else’s players. And the way to do that is to accumulate the best talent – based on YOUR analysis - over the course of the year. What that means is that a certain player can have vastly different value according to each owner in your league.

Now, most of the time, a player’s value will be perceived pretty similarly across the board. No one is going to mistake Dirk Nowitzki for a second-round value, and no one would consider, say, Eddy Curry as a third-round-value kinda guy. So every time you see trades involving those players, both owners involved in the trade are pretty aware of what the other guy is thinking.

Still, there are some players where one owner will vastly disagree with another. You see this a lot on draft day, as you see owners reaching high for picks that they clearly value higher than other owners. But usually after the first couple of weeks shake out, everyone is pretty much on the same page.

However, every once in awhile, in the middle of a season, a player’s value will come into question, and we’ll see that disparity in owners’ opinions that is usually reserved only for draft time. That’s what’s happening right now with Artest. We’re getting plenty of questions about him, meaning that his perceived value is all over the table.

With all that in mind, let’s get back to how to handle Artest. The first thing you need to do is figure out how YOU value Artest. For me, I’d say he’s about a fifth round pick, with the following reasoning: He’s generally a late second/early third round value. However, because we don’t know when he’ll actually return to the court, or what sort of situation he’ll be in, I’m going to dock him 2-3 rounds of value. But that doesn’t mean that you or other owners in your league don’t see him as still having 2nd round value, or that others don’t believe he’s worth more than a 7th rounder right now.

Now, it’s time to take that opinion and put it to work. If you’ve got Artest, and have a relatively low value for him (i.e. 4th rd or lower) you should be offering him around the league right now to as many people as possible. If another owner in your league is valuing Artest as a third rounder, you’ll get him to bite.

If you don’t have Artest, and you have him valued relatively high, then by all means make an offer for the guy. You’ve got to gauge how his owner values the troubled star, and the only way to find out is to go after him. And if you get him – well, you know what you’re in for. Good luck.

Oh, those Knicks

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 07:57:04 -0800

I feel bad for Mike over at Knickerblogger, but as a Bulls fan the Knicks' losing streak is too funny:

Normally this would be acceptable for a rebuilding team. I can watch the Jets because I can find a silver lining whether they win or lose. If they win, well it should be obvious why that would be a joyous occasion. However, if they lose, at least I can console myself knowing the Jets are getting a better position in next year's draft. Unfortunately the Knick have denied me even that. New York is tied for the 4th worst record in the league, and as the Bucks showed last year it's entirely possible to win the draft lottery from that position. However the Knicks have already traded their first round pick unconditionally to the Bulls in the Eddy Curry deal. I can't take solace that they could grab the top pick in the 2007 draft, because they've given the Bulls the option to swap those picks as well.

::giggles::

First look at Curry may have to wait

Mon, 28 Nov 2005 23:27:52 -0800

The big reunion, sure to draw mixed feelings, is set for Wednesday. Bulls players will see former teammate Eddy Curry for the first time since he was traded Oct.

Phil Jax: Knicks media are snakes

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 09:40:52 -0800

Lakers coach Phil Jackson said it was too early to judge the Knicks' trade for Eddy Curry, however. "You can't tell in basketball for a half-dozen years or so whether the move was correct, because there's always other things that...

The Knicks best center is umm Jackie Butler?

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 10:21:51 -0800

Last season, the Knicks ended the season with undersized Kurt Thomas at center. Since then, they’ve spent close to 90 million hoping for uprades with Jerome James and Eddy Curry. So naturally, it’d be considered an uprade. But there’s a few problems, James has been hurt and Curry is still out of [...]

Overall Rankings: 91 to 120

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 17:00:35 -0800

1 to 30
31 to 60
61 to 90

91. Jamaal Tinsley – The ultimate tease; few can match his 3s/steals/assists combo, but he plain cannot shoot or stay healthy.
92. Eddie Jones – Certainly on the downside of his career, but can handle lots of minutes and hit 3s with the best.
93. Al Harrington – Won’t ever have a huge breakout like some had hoped, but should be solid as long as minutes are there.
94. Morris Peterson – See above.
95. Gerald Wallace – His big numbers (for his position) in steals and blocks will do a lot to offset his seriously lackluster shooting.
96. Ricky Davis – He’ll start, yes, but averaged 33 mpg last year and wasn’t anything all that special.
97. Sam Cassell – Could be a disaster, but Livingston is young and injury-prone; can’t forget how consistently awesome Sam was the three years before last.
98. Mike James – As long as he’s starting, he’ll be well worth using.
99. Mike Sweetney – Needs to lock down starting job, but will be a rebound/FG% monster if he does.
100. Sebastian Telfair – If he could shoot the 3 he’d be better, but 6.7 apg and 1.4 spg in April make him an OK option.
101. Mehmet Okur – As always, potential is there, but he’s usually frustrating to own with Sloan getting much of the blame.
102. Joel Przybilla – Ask the folks who drafted Mark Blount and Samuel Dalembert last year how reliable big men who finish strong are.
103. J.R. Smith – Hasn’t shown he can do anything but shoot a bunch of 3s; don’t go crazy with the kids.
104. Troy Murphy – We’re never too high on non-hustle stat guys, but if the Warriors run enough he should have some value.
105. Ben Gordon – Have to think he’ll break into the starting lineup eventually; still is a pretty one-dimensional player.
106. Raja Bell – Someone will probably jump the gun thinking he’ll replicate JoeJohn’s numbers from last year; that’s quite unlikely, but he should be solid.
107. Al Jefferson – Pick him up in January after the guy who drafted him too early gets frustrated and drops him.
108. P.J. Brown – Keeps on plugging away; needs to get that FG% back up to around 47%, but will be underrated as usual.
109. Wally Szczerbiak – His strong percentages make him worth having around, especially if he can get back up to 15 shots per game.
110. Nenad Krstic – Another one of those strong-finish big men to be wary of, especially since he doesn’t block many shots.
111. Brendan Haywood – OK, a bit of a homer pick, but it’s not unreasonably to expect 2 bpg with very nice boards and FG%.
112. Erick Dampier – He might be interested, he might not. His 12/12 with 2 blocks from a couple years is hard to ignore, but honestly, you probably should.
113. Eddy Curry – All of the big men in this batch have major questions, so just pick one you like. Could be an offensive force, but don’t expect any rebounds or blocks all of a sudden.
114. Jameer Nelson – He seems to be buried right now, just can’t understand why; 14.9/4.0/4.6 with 1.5 spg and 1.2 3pg after the break shows he’s more than ready.
115. Bonzi Wells – Is slated for lots of PT, but doesn’t have the greatest game and can get on coaches’ bad sides quickly.
116. Theo Ratliff – Even in a very off year averaged 2.5 bpg; if Przybilla isn’t for real should get a chance to reclaim his starting job.
117. Darius Miles – Perennial tease, but Portland is very thin this year and he does get a decent number of steals and blocks for his position.
118. Eddie Griffin – Yet another perennial tease, but he can be very effective with only 25-28 mpg.
119. Raymond Felton – We think he’ll get there eventually…
120. Brevin Knight – But until then, these two are going to hurt each other’s value.

2005 Fantasy Basketball Busts

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 14:58:04 -0800

Knowing who to draft, obviously, is important. Equally important is to know who (whom?) NOT to draft. The guys listed below are guys that we feel might be over-valued, which isn’t to say that they shouldn’t be drafted, but you should let them slide past their “projected” spots for a few rounds. Most of these guys are long-time veterans who are losing these luster – others are overhyped young’uns. Each are dangerous.

PG: Sam Cassell, LAC – Cassell was no doubt a disappointment last year both for fantasy owners and his real-life owners. Now that he’s been shipped to the Clippers and handed the starting job over Shaun Livingston, some might expect a rejuvenated Cassell. Don’t be fooled – he’s simply holding the spot for Livingston, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see the youngster starting by Thanksgiving. Other potential busts: Jamaal Tinsley, Mike James.

SG: Eddie Jones, Mem – This is it for Eddie Jones as far as fantasy value goes. In an ideal situation last year, getting 35 mpg as a third/fourth option with plenty of outside looks, only his three-pointers really kept him off the waiver wire. This year, expect no more than 25-27 mpg, and a spot on your bench until he proves himself worthy. Other potential busts: Michael Finley, Ben Gordon.

SF: Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Sac – Back in his heyday, Abdur-Rahim was probably overrated as a fantasy player, putting up some of the emptiest 20 and 10 seasons this side of Zack Randolph. Now that he’s getting older, on a team where he’s no better than the fourth option, and competing for playing time with Kenny Thomas and Corliss Williamson, we’re very happy to wait until the 6th or 7th round before considering him. Other potential busts: Mike Dunleavy, Darius Miles.

PF: Juwan Howard, Hou – I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know with Howard. His value is borderline at absolute best. He might go in the last couple of rounds but I wouldn’t even spend a pick on him there. His health and playing time are both in doubt, and there are much better risks to take late. Other potential busts: PJ Brown, Keith Van Horn.

C: Michael Olowokandi, C – We’ve got a saying here in Washington: Fool me once, shame – shame on you. Fool me twice … uh … I won’t get fooled again! Olowokandi has been fooling fantasy players just about every year, and now, with a rotation at center and a coach he’s off on the wrong foot with, Kandi man has finally given us a reason not to draft him this year. Thanks, Mike! Other potential busts: Eddy Curry, Joel Przybilla.

Anyone else out there that some of you guys think are overvalued?

Doc: Bulls made a mistake trading Curry

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 09:29:00 -0800

A Los Angeles heart specialist who tested Eddy Curry in August on behalf of the Bulls believes Chicago GM John Paxson blew it by giving up on the 6-11 phenom center for health concerns. Speaking for the first time since...

Curry at Knicks camp?

Thu, 06 Oct 2005 08:59:32 -0800

Eddy Curry touched down in Charleston early last night, strolling into the team hotel at 8 p.m., a strong indication he received passing grades on his battery of heart tests. Curry is expected to continue his physical today with a...

Bulls Wash Their Hands Of Curry

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 10:14:51 -0800

Well, the Chicago Bulls finally solved their Eddy Curry problem the way NBA executives like to solve problems: Trade him to the Knicks! Isiah Thomas will always take in your tired, your poor, your congenital heart defected. The Bulls receive wide-butt Michael Sweetney, occasional malcontent Tim Thomas, frequent cause of Davis-related confusion Antonio Davis and a draft pick.

The Knicks are not expected to require Curry take the oft-debated DNA test, though since the deal hasn't officially been announced yet, no one knows for sure. Since they're the Knicks, they've already offered him a six-year, $40 million deal. Hope the ticker hangs in.

Bulls Trade Curry To Knicks [Blog-A-Bull]
The Eddy Curry Problem [Deadspin]

Marty Burns: Curry deal poses risks for all

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 10:11:20 -0800

The wisdom of trading center Eddy Curry to the Knicks is sure to raise as many questions in Chicago as the young center's health will in New York, writes SI.com's Marty Burns.

Will Bulls trade Curry today?

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 09:31:22 -0800

Eddy Curry should know Monday how badly Isiah Thomas wants him. Thomas, president of the Knicks, has been trying to find a way to land Curry for at least a year. He is Curry's only suitor but apparently is having...

The Eddy Curry Problem

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 08:59:46 -0800

You wouldn't know it from "Around the Horn," but sometimes in sports, an issue is too complicated and full of too much subtlety to get much of a handle on. You understand both sides, recognize every viewpoint and struggle to come up with a solution that's fair to everyone. (Weird, for sports, we know.)

We absolutely cannot get a handle on this Eddy Curry situation. To recap, the Chicago Bulls want their portly but potentially dominant center to take a DNA test to check for congenital heart problems before they let him play this year; Curry says that it's an invasion of privacy and that allowing teams to test players' DNA for potential problems opens up a whole big nasty bag of worms.

The Chicago Daily Southtown points out that the Bulls need to make sure Curry isn't going to arrest right on the court, and that makes sense. But the Sports Law Blog points out that not only does the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement not allow for such testing, many doctors consider it unethical. That makes sense too. And when you throw a contract dispute on top of it, the whole thing is just maddening. And kind of sad.

We have no side on this, because sometimes both sides are right, and both sides are wrong.

DNA Contractual Showdown Looming? [Sports Law Blog]
Let The Lawyers Have It [Blog-a-Bull]
Curry Can't Afford To Be Wrong On This [Daily Southtown]

Curry to Knicks, Griz or Nuggets?

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 09:44:03 -0800

Some possible trading partners for Bulls center Eddy Curry: New York Knicks. Tim Thomas and a No. 1 pick for Curry, Eric Piatkowski and Othella Harrington. Thomas has just a year left on his deal and is a serviceable player,...