hate to say it because he's one of my favorite people and players, but dirk nowitzki against gs the year he won the mvp. of course, gs was basically allowed to foul him with impunity, so... yeah, used to say the same about wade, too. it's not just that every whistle turns a turnover or missed shot into 2 points on zero FGAs (btw, this is HUGE for efficiency stats--this happens twice a game and you go from being totally inefficient to wowzers efficient!), it's the confidence you have knowing that you can take risks and are likely to get bailed out. most players don't have that luxury and thus can't push the envelope, either. the ref bias just seeps in everywhere. the fascinating question for me is why? why does every once in a while the league decide one guy is going to get "the treatment"? in each case, it's been a star scoring guard with some sort of unique style to their game and a weird kind of charisma that casual fans go bananas for. who's going to be next? we should draft that guy! if you ask me the archetype is like young ron harper but more charismatic. if keaton wagler had more heft, it'd be him, lol.
^I would guess it's for controversy purposes, which generates interest. Same as why SAS, the entire First Take squad and the likes are still around and are actually making lots of money from spewing nonsense. It riles some people up which in a way is good for the NBA, unfortunately. It stopped being about the quality of the product a loooong time ago. My brother used to say the NBA is just like the WWF. Sadly, there may come a day when he's proven right.
SGA isn't in Luka tier as an offensive player .. This series has been dissapointing after Game 1 . I hope Game 7 will be a close one but I think OKC will win it by 15+
Depends on what you mean by "just like." But to some degree, he's already been proven right, by Silver's own admission. I posted this yesterday in another thread: Silver is manufacturing outrage in order to get you and me to be mad and be engaged. He says "it's part of the theater of the game" and that people getting mad and chanting "F*** you!" is part of "what fans come there for.” Silver is intentionally WWE'ing the league for "engagement." It is no longer a conspiracy theory, he admits it.
^That’s exactly what I meant. I was actually thinking specifically about the information you posted. We’re heading in the direction of WWF, but we haven’t gotten there yet—let’s hope the people in charge come to their senses in time.
Furthermore, shooting efficiency stats are going to look pretty high when defenders have their hands at the waists or are jumping out of your way because they’re scared to pick up fouls.
