Re: Gasol is in!

["j.hironaka" <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

At 17:20 20/06/01 -0400, Kestutis Kveraga wrote:
>I wonder what 'Toine's pre-draft physical results were - his vertical,
>wingspan, actual height etc. We know he's not a leaper, although that might be
>because of his typically carrying extra fat and avoiding weight training, but
>does he also have shortish arms?

I think he has very short arms, but except in truly freakish cases (KG) I 
think long arms are a major disadvantage for ballhandling. Antoine is a 
spectacular dribbler in part because he's built so "normal". If you shrunk 
most NBA players down to average height (say 5-11), they would look 
freakishly scrawny. Antoine would look astonishingly normal. Even his head 
would be normal size.
;-)

>If it seems like hair-splitting, consider that the measure of wingspan 
>incorporates bi-acromial
>width, or how wide the shoulders are, while vertical reach doesn't.

Very interesting. You would think that the Chicago NBA pre-draft camp would 
incorporate "vertical reach" measurements, given that Chicaco is known as 
the "city of broad bi-acromial width". ;-)

>Which reminds me: does anyone know if NBA teams do any kind of data analysis
>from available past and present player data to see what predicts success 
>in the
>NBA?

I have a feeling if someone did do that kind of analysis, they would not 
uncover much useful data to better predict success. I'll bet there are more 
variables involved than goes into any quantitative analysis to predict 
stock prices (none of which work consistently enough to be useful).

If I had a time machine the first thing I'd do is jump ahead five years to 
watch some NBA games, then come back and try to tell Wallace who he needs 
to draft to build the next Celtics dynasty. That's how much I love the 
Celtics organization. I put them ahead of solving world hunger, making a 
killing on the stock market, all that stuff...

>Or is it all qualitative, seat-of-the-pants stuff - you know,
>such-and-such player put on a helluva workout for us, scored 20 points a game
>in college, measured out at 6-10, and seemed like a nice-enough guy, so we'll
>take him?

If I were going seat-of-the-pants, I would avoid nice, well-adjusted guys 
like Sidney Wicks, Curtis Rowe etc. I'd even say the dorkier, uglier and 
anti-social you are, the better I'd feel about drafting them to play 
winning Celtics basketball with a vengeance. Granted some of the older 
Celtics teams were full of good looking, articulate and well-adjusted 
players, but they were mostly black guys and America was a different 
society then. Give me a hick like Larry Bird or a frankenstein-chested 
McHale any day.

Joe

p.s. Gasol is in right?