Life After Kobe

By Eric Pincus

Once the lockout resolves, ideally before the 2011/12 season is cancelled,  Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers will be headed into his 16th season.   With his birthday on Tuesday (August 23rd), Bryant is now 33 years old . . .  which in basketball terms might already be considered over the hill.

How long can Kobe remain an elite player, capable of giving his team a chance  to win an  NBA title?

For the Lakers, they’ve got an $83.5 million investment that says the answer  is three years.  Bryant will make $25.2 million this coming season  (if it comes to pass) ramping up to $30.5 million in his final season under  contract (13/14).

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Structuring An NBA Coaching Staff

By Anthony Macri

As the lockout continues, forward-thinking and opportunistic organizations will be wise to focus on internal processes.  With coaches unable to communicate with players, their time would be best spent communicating about how to structure the staff in a more optimal and efficient way.  By better defining roles and responsibilities, head coaches can make assistants feel more valuable. This inclusiveness and enhanced communication can have a tangible effect in the short-term (i.e., wins and losses) and the long-term (organizational pride).

There’s more to being on an NBA coaching staff than what happens in practice, the film room, and on the sideline at games.  However, this article will look at the way an NBA coaching staff can be structured when dealing with these basketball-specific operations.  This particular model is not the only one employed by successful NBA teams, though I think in today’s game role compartmentalization makes best use of the entire staff.

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2004 NBA Draft Lottery: Re-Drafted

By Tommy Beer

With the league in lockout mode and the number of legitimate basketball-related topics worth discussing drying up quickly, I have been pouring over previous drafts and “re-drafting” the first round. (Of course, I have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, based on all that we now know of everyone that came into the league years ago.)

Here is how we’ve been approaching this project: Every pick will be made pretending each organization is a first-year expansion franchise and has no other players on its roster, so roster needs as of June 2004 will not be factored into the equation. Selections will be made simply based on pure production – i.e. best player available.

I’ll list each pick, and then post the player that was actually selected in that original draft slot.

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Top Five All-Time Boston Celtics

By Joel Brigham

There’s not going to be a harder one of these to do. Here’s the reality: Boston has retired 21 numbers (22 if you count Jim Loscutoff’s #18, which was kept active so Dave Cowens could wear it and eventually have it retired for the both of them).. That doesn’t even include Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo, and here I am, trying to narrow this list down to five guys with only five or six honorable mentions.

Let’s be real about this: there’s no way everybody is going to be completely happy with this list. It’s just not going to happen.

That said, we’re looking to narrow this down to the top five players in Boston Celtics history, and that means finding the players who did the most with their careers while playing for the Boston Celtics. Just because Shaquille O’Neal retired a Celtic, for example, doesn’t mean he’s anywhere near the greatest Celtic of all time.

Bill Russell and Larry Bird, though? Those guys are up for the top spot, for sure. Here’s the rest:

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NBA’s Most Cost-Efficient SGs

By Jason Fleming

There is always much debate in professional sports about which players are overpaid or underpaid, which ones are the most efficient on the floor, and which ones are simply the most productive. But what about a marriage of all of those? Which NBA players are the most cost-efficient?

This is the second piece in a series looking at the starters at all five positions (check out the PGs), one at a time, in an attempt to determine which players are the most cost-efficient players, taking into account their production and salary. The assumption is there should be a general correlation between a player’s production – and for this purpose we will use John Hollinger’s Player Efficiency Rating – and his salary.

Will that hold true? Take a look at the list of starting shooting guards below, with their 2010-11 salary and PER, plus a final column dividing their salary by PER to give a simple dollar amount of how much each point of PER cost their team.

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What Does The Compromise Deal Look Like?

By Eric Pincus

The NBA is currently embroiled in a lockout with no clear end in sight.

A new bargaining session is expected to take place prior to Labor Day but the chasm between the owners and players is so wide, there doesn’t appear to be much hope for a deal any time soon.

Unfortunately that probably means a delayed, shortened or cancelled season.

What will it take to reach an agreement?  Where will a compromise look like?

Unless the players find some form of leverage, they may have no choice but to accept a smaller piece of the pie.

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