With Phil Jackson returning to the NBA as president of the New York Knicks — his first front-office job — there’s one move he can make to greatly improve the Knicks’ chances at success: Hire himself as coach. I’m not saying that the Knicks’ players are a perfect match for Jackson’s “triangle” offense, or that […]
With Phil Jackson returning to the NBA as president of the New York Knicks — his first front-office job — there’s one move he can make to greatly improve the Knicks’ chances at success: Hire himself as coach. I’m not saying that the Knicks’ players are a perfect match for Jackson’s “triangle” offense, or that […]
The “short or long but never midrange” theory of NBA shooting has been popular in analytics since at least the early 2000s. Statistically, 3-point shots have long been more efficient than long 2-point shots: The reward — an extra point — has outweighed a slightly lower completion percentage. So, the theory goes, teams should eschew […]
The “short or long but never midrange” theory of NBA shooting has been popular in analytics since at least the early 2000s. Statistically, 3-point shots have long been more efficient than long 2-point shots: The reward — an extra point — has outweighed a slightly lower completion percentage. So, the theory goes, teams should eschew […]
On Thursday, after LeBron James and the Miami Heat won their second consecutive N.B.A. championship, I noted on Twitter that James was on the same pace as the Chicago Bulls great Michael Jordan. Both James and Jordan won their first championship at 27 and their second at 28, I wrote. Jordan went on to win four more N.B.A. titles, for a total of six. Mike Segar/Reuters LeBron James and Michael Jordan were about the same age when they won a second championship. My statement depended on a technicality, I later discovered: Jordan’s biological age was 28 when he won his first championship, in 1991, and 29 when he won his second, in 1992. However, basketball statisticians generally define a player’s...
