Sunday 26 May 2013

North Melbourne vs Adelaide

North Melbourne vs Adelaide
Most Disposals Group 1
Swallow, Bastinac, Harvey, Wells, Thompson, Dangerfield, Sloane, Douglas
My Pick Brent Harvey, he has one of the biggest tanks in the game and I see the tag going to Swallow so for a bit of value I like either Harvey or Douglas
Most Disposals Group 2
Gibson, Ziebell, Cunnington, Mullett, Reilly, Vince, Van Berlo, Mackay
My Pick Jack Ziebell it’s going to be between Ziebell and Vince and I give Ziebell the edge in this one as it’s at Etihad
Most Goals
Thomas, Petrie, Black, Daw, Harvey, Ziebell, Adam, Jenkins, Dangerfield, Lynch, Porplyzia, McKernan, Douglas, Kerridge, Any other Player
My Pick Jason Porplyzia, as long as he doesn’t get the vest I don’t see who North will put on him, and needs a big game to retain his spot
1st Adelaide Goal Scorer
Jenkins, Dangerfield, Lynch, Porplyzia, McKernan, Douglas, Kerridge, Sloane, Lyons Any other Player

My Pick Any other player, North’s defence is in great form so I expect someone like a Van Berlo or Thompson to run down and kick the 1st

Collingwood vs Sydney

Collingwood vs Sydney Betting Analysis
Bets
Most Disposals Group 1
Swan, Pendles, Kennedy, O’Keefe, Jack, Hanneberry, Sidebottom, Ball
My pick is Dane Swan the blokes a ball magnet and will always get around the 30 touches mark expect tonight to be no different
Most Disposals Group 2
O’Brien, Dwyer, Blair, Seedsman, McViegh, Goodes, Parker, Malcheski
My pick Adam Goodes, expect Goodesy to run the pies around tonight with it being indigenous round he will stand up for the occasion
1st Collingwood Goal Scorer
Cloke, Lynch, Krackouer, Elliot, Lynch, Swan, Sidebottom, Dwyer, Blair, Pendles, Any other player
My pick Andrew Krackouer, again with it being indigenous round I expect krack to have a massive game, first goal will be important to him as well
1st Sydney Goal Scorer
Reid, Goodes, Pyke, Morton, Kennedy, Bolton, McGlynn, Jetta, Hanneberry, Any other player

My pick Adam Goodes the bloke is a star, and like mentioned previously will shine in indigenous round will start up forward and is a great chance at first Sydney goal 

Port Adelaide vs Geelong

Port Adelaide v Geelong Betting Analysis round 9
Bets
Most disposals group 1
Cornes, Boak, Ebert, Hartlett, Johnson, Stokes, Selwood, Corey
My pick is Kane Cornes since being relieved of his tagging duties he has been the best player at Port Adelaide this year even though it’s a tough group I believe Cornes will again stand up and do Port fans proud
Most Disposals group 2
Wingard, Wines, Gray, Moore, Enright, Bartel, Motlop, Christensen
My pick is Steven Motlop with Bartel playing more as a forward and the power young midfielders running out of steam Motlop is the pick of the bunch here.
1st Port Adelaide goal scorer
Schultz, Wingard, Boak, Westhoff, Gray, Broadbent, Monfries, Moore, Hartlett, Any other player
My pick is Chad Wingard will start up forward before drifting into the middle and has heaps of tricks in his bag to be Ports first goal scorer
1st Geelong goal scorer
Hawkins, Johnson, Bartel, Podsiadly, Christensen, Bliclavs, Motlop, Stokes, Duncan, Any other player

My pick is Matty Stokes indigenous round will ignite all three of Geelong’s small forwards but Stokes has been the most damaging of the three so far this year and I expect tomorrow to be no different

Richmond vs Essendon

Richmond v Essendon Round 9
Bets

Most Disposals Group 1
Cotchin, Deledio, Martin, Ellis, Watson, Goddard, Zaha, Stanton

My Pick is Jobe Watson, the reigning Brownlow medallist and always performs on the big stage

Most Disposals Group 2
Grigg, Vlastiun, Foley, Houli, Heppell, Hibbard, Dempsey, Howlett

My Pick is Dyson Heppell in my opinion is a class above everyone else in this group and will be playing a floating role through half back and the middle

1st Richmond Goal Scorer
Riewoldt, Martin, Deledio, King, McGuane, Cotchin, Vickery, Edwards, Grigg, Any other Player

My Pick is Shane Edwards, indigenous round and he won’t take a key defender expect him to be around the ball even if he’s not the one kicking it

1st Essendon Goal Scorer
Crameri, Winderlich, Jetta, Hurley, Zaha, Watson, Bellchambers, Ryder, Goddard, Any other player

My Pick is Leroy Jetta he’s quick agile and always gets into the right positions

1st to 15 points
My pick Richmond

At the line

This game will be close with both teams bringing their A game for it, so for that reason I like Richmond +24.5

Wednesday 21 November 2012

Weekly MVP candidate prediction



Top 5 Leading MVP candidates as at 22/11/2012
1.       Lebron James, he is averaging great numbers and he is doing this on a consistent basis and helping his team win game. Also having played under a sickness and still managing a 20pt night and dishing out some sweet passes the man is no doubt leading the way.
2.       Kobe Bryant puts up his 18th career triple double at age 34 recording 11rebounds and 11 assist to go with his 20+pts and helping his team out of an early season slump that saw Mike Brown get fired Kobe is currently my 2nd pick for MVP
3.       Kevin Durant notched his first career triple double with 25pts 13 boards and 10 assists the man responsible for most of OKC wins this year as Westbrook has been doing nothing but putting up bricks Durant had to be featured in my top 5.
4.       Carmelo Anthony has finally broken out of the bad shooting night equals poor performance from Carmelo by having a night where he only shot 3-12 but managed to pull down 12 boards against the spurs leading the Knicks to be the major threat to the Heat going back to back at this stage of the season.
5.       Zach Randolph leading a resurgant Memphis team that is the currently the most underrated team in the league is not an easy thing, knocking off teams such as Miami and Knicks, leads the Grizzles to have the best record in the league and the big man is performing out of his skin, averaging double digit rebounds and points. How long can this continue, if the Grizzlies stay up there expect Randolph to do well in All Star voting as well as the MVP vote.

Wednesday 29 August 2012

Kobe vs MJ

Kobe vs MJ


Those who say Kobe is better than MJ are seriously wacked out on something, but I’m yet to determine what that something is. Kobe has 5 rings Michael has 6, people say that when Kobe gets his 6th he will be the greatest ever. Some people, one of my class mates included say that Kobe is already the greatest to step onto a basketball court. So going on a statistical analysis and a championship basis also compared to who they had to play against in the same era I will now look at who is the better player.

The following video shows a comparison between the game style of both superstars http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v27Hk5OIe-k&feature=player_embedded

To start with I will look at Michael Jordan’s era and who he faced along with who he played alongside during the years he won his 6 rings.

In 1991when Michael Jordan won his first NBA championship they came up against the show-time Lakers which included Magic Johnson arguably the greatest point guard in NBA history. It also included Vlade Divac and Big game James Worthy. In the playoff series Michael averaged 31.1 points per game, 6.4 rebounds per game and 8.4 assists per game. He did this while shooting at 52.4% from the field, 38.5% from three point range and 84.5% from the free throw line as well as pulling in 40 steals. The bulls won this series 4-1. The team that Jordan played alongside include Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen and big man Horace Grant in this series Pippen averaged 21.6ppg, 8.9rpg and 5.8apg.

In 1992 when Jordan won his second ring he had to beat the Portland Trail Blazers in the finals, the Trail Blazer had Clyde the glide Drexler who went on to be a Hall of Famer and Centre Kevin Duckworth. They defeated the Trail Blazers 4- .In the 1992 playoffs Jordan averaged 34.5ppg, 6.2rpg and 5.8apg whilst shooting at 49.9% from the field, 38.6% from three and 85.7% from the free throw line. Jordan also gained 44 steals. Again in this series he was the leader of a team that comprised of Pippen and Grant. In these playoffs Pippen averaged 19.5ppg, 8.8rpg and 6.7apg.

The three peat, in 1993 when the bulls managed the three peat they had to defeat a Phoenix Suns team comprising of Charles Barkley, Kevin Johnson and Kurt Rambis. They defeated the Suns 4-. In the 1993 playoffs Jordan averaged 35.1ppg, 6.7rpg and 6.0apg whilst shooting at 47.5% from the field, 38.9% from three and 80.5% from the free throw line. Jordan also grabbed 39 steals. Again during this season he played alongside Pippen and Grant however Grant was nearing the end of his career and hardly put up amazing numbers. Pippen however averaged 20.1ppg, 6.9rpg and 5.6apg, showing that Jordan again was the leader of this team.

In 1996 after two years away from the game Jordan returned to lead his team again to an NBA championship, this time they had to beat a Seattle Supersonics team that included Hersey Hawkins, Shaun Kemp, Nate McMillan, Gary Payton and Detlef Schrempf. They defeated the Supersonics .In these playoffs Jordan averaged 30.7ppg, 4.9rpg and 4.1apg whilst shooting at 45.9% from the field, 40.3% from three and 81.8% from the free throw line and getting 33 steals. In these playoffs Jordan had a surrounding cast of Pippen and Rodman. Pippen averaged 16.9ppg, 8.5rpg and 5.9apg indicating again that this was Jordan’s team.

In 1997 when going for his 5th ring in 5 playing seasons Jordan and the Bulls had to defeat Karl Malone, John Stockton, Jeff Hornacek and the Utah Jazz. They defeated the Jazz 4-2. In these playoffs Jordan averaged 31.1ppg, 7.9rpg and 4.8apg while shooting at 45.6% from the field, 19.4% from three and 83.1% from the line; he also grabbed 30 steals and played game 5 with the flu to help win the championship. Again the supporting cast was Pippen and Rodman, Pippen averaged 19.2ppg, 6.8rpg and 3.8apg again indicating it was Jordan’s team and not someone else’s.

The second three peat, and Jordan’s 6th ring in as many seasons. This time around they would have to overcome the same Utah Jazz team of the previous season, again it took them six games and they won the series 4-2. In these playoffs Jordan averaged 32.4ppg, 5.1rpg and 3.5apg again with a shooting percentage of 46.2% from the field, 30.2% from the three and 81.2% from the line. He also gained 32 steals. Jordan again was the leader of this playoff series with Pippen and Rodman as his sidekicks. Pippen averaged 16.8ppg, 7.1rpg and 5.2apg.

Add these playoff numbers mentioned above with the 6 finals series MVP’s 5 regular season MVP’s, 14 All Star game appearances, 10x Scoring Champ, 3x Steals leader, 9x NBA All Defensive first team and 10x All NBA first team, just shows how much of an all-round player that Michael was. He changed the game for the better and will be forever remembered for this.

Now I will have a look at the teams Kobe has had to defeat and who was on his team for the 5 championships he has to his name.

Kobe’s first ring came in 2000 when the Lakers played the Indiana Pacers in the NBA finals, the Pacers line-up included Reggie Miller and Chris Mullen. The Lakers won this series 4-2. During the 2000 playoffs Kobe averaged 21.1ppg, 4.5rpg and 4.4apg while shooting at 44.2% from the field, 34.4% from the three and 75.4% from the line. Kobe also achieved 32 steals for the playoffs. In these playoffs Kobe played alongside Shaquille O’Neal, Robert Horry and Derek Fisher. Shaq averaged 30.7ppg, 15.4rpg and 3.1apg making this Shaq’s team not Kobe’s. Meaning that Kobe was Shaq’s sidekick like Pippen had been for Jordan.

In 2001 when Kobe was going for his 2nd ring the Lakers had to get past the Philadelphia 76ers team that was made up of Allen Iverson and Dikembe Mutombo. The Lakers won this series 4-1. In the 2001 playoffs Kobe averaged 29.4ppg, 7.3rpg and 6.1apg whilst shooting at 46.9% from the field, 32.4% from three and 82.1% from the line; he also reeled in 25 steals. Again Kobe had the same players with him but with the addition of Horace Grant. Shaq averaged 30.4ppg, 15.4rpg and 3.2apg making this once again Shaq’s team with Kobe as his sidekick.

The three peat, in 2002 for the three peat the Lakers had to first defeat the New Jersey Nets and with them Jason Kidd and Brian Scalabrine. The Lakers swept the Nets to record the three peat. In the playoffs Kobe averaged 26.6ppg, 5.8rpg and 4.6apg whilst shooting at 43.4% from the field, 37.9% from three and 75.9% from the line. Kobe also had 27 steals during the playoffs. Alongside Kobe again stood Shaq, Robert Horry and Derek Fisher to help the Lakers seal the championship. Shaq averaged 28.5ppg, 12.6rpg and 2.8apg again making this Shaq’s team not Kobe’s.

7 years after Shaq had left the Lakers, Kobe finally had his 4th ring in 2009. To get this they had to defeat the Orlando Magic and Dwight Howard. They won the series 4-1. In the 09 playoffs Kobe averaged 30.2ppg, 5.3rpg and 5.5apg, shot the ball at 45.7% from the field, 34.9% from three and 88.3% from the line. Kobe also netted 38 steals. During the 09 playoffs the Lakers also had Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Derek Fisher and Andrew Bynum. This was the first championship that Kobe had led a team to with Gasol averaging 18.3ppg, 10.8rpg and 2.5apg.

In 2010 the Lakers came up against the Boston Celtics that comprised of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins. The Lakers won this series in 7 games 4-3. Kobe again led the Lakers to a championship averaging 29.2ppg, 6rpg and 5.5apg, shooting at 45.8% from the field, 37.4% from three and 84.2% from the line. Kobe also stole the ball 31 times during these playoffs. The Lakers that year included Pau Gasol, Ron Artest, Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum. Pau averaged 19.6ppg, 11.1rpg and 3.5apg.

To me I believe that Kobe only has 5 rings because he had Shaq leading the team for three of them the other two he was the team leader.

Kobe’s other achievements are that he is a 2x NBA Finals MVP, 1x Regular season MVP, 14x All Star appearance, 4x All Star MVP, 2x Scoring Champ, 9x NBA all defensive first team and a 10x All NBA first team.

Comparing the two of them like this makes me believe that Michael Jordan is the greatest player ever, however they both play a very similar game, in fact Kobe’s game is almost identical to Michael’s. Michael came first and changed the game. Kobe is playing like a ghost of Michael Jordan. If I were to say who is the greatest I would say Michael Jordan with Kobe not far behind in 2nd when he gets a few more rings leading a team then and only then can he be equal with the great Michael Jordan.

Friday 15 June 2012

Does Lebron James deserve the hatred he is getting


Does LeBron James deserve all the hatred he is getting?
LeBron James love him or hate him the man has skills. Is he better than Michael Jordan however is yet to be known, the stats can sort themselves out for that one.
LeBron James is for some reason hated by half of the world’s population and is loved by the other half, the majority of this hatred has only recently occurred when the former Cleveland Cavaliers star declared his interest in moving and taking his talents to the Miami Heat, this was in order to play alongside fellow Olympians Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.
When arriving in Miami LeBron bought the hatred upon himself with a welcome party where he stated that they would win “not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six and you know where this is going” championships. So from that point of view yes some of the hatred is deserved.
But when you take in the simplicity of all of this and come round to the fact that at this present time he is the greatest player currently in the NBA, I’m not saying greatest ever, but currently the greatest. The hatred is not deserved.
The stats that LeBron has averaged over the current season are jaw dropping the man averaged 37.5 minutes per game, he shot 53.1% from the field, he backed that up by shooting 36.2% from behind the three point line and shooting 77.1% from the free throw line. To add to his amazing shooting percentages he also average 7.9 rebounds per game with 1.5 of them being offensive and 6.4 being defensive, he averaged 6.2 assists per game not bad considering he averaged 27.1 points per game and was the 3rd leading scorer behind Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant. All this whilst also guarding a bigger man and only giving up 1.5 fouls per game and not fouling out during the regular season.
LeBron James won the NBA’s most valuable player award for the 3rd time this year out doing Oklahoma City’s young gun and scoring champion Kevin Durant. The two have now come face to face in the NBA finals to try and be crowned World Champions.
How can anybody say that the hatred towards LeBron is deserved? People say that LeBron James isn’t clutch and that they wouldn’t choose to give him the ball when the game is on the line, I say to these people you guys are crazy. The table 1.0 below shows the number of clutch shots in the last 5 minutes of games to be taken and made by players since 2006. Clearly this table shows that the person with the best percentage and the guy you should want taking the clutch shots is in fact the same guy that so many hate because he is apparently not “clutch enough”, and that man is LeBron James.



Table 1.0 (Clutch shots since 2006)
Player
FG
FGA
FG%
3PM
3PA
3P%
Ast'd
%Ast'd
Best
Worst
LeBron
333
714
0.466
74
231
0.320
79
0.237
55%
42%
Roy
166
371
0.447
24
71
0.338
26
0.157
48%
36%
Vince
185
420
0.440
42
117
0.359
72
0.389
50%
38%
CP3
187
430
0.435
23
73
0.315
22
0.118
50%
37%
Dirk
235
541
0.434
34
107
0.318
107
0.455
48%
40%
Melo
193
447
0.432
23
72
0.319
84
0.435
52%
42%
Rose
168
401
0.419
4
31
0.129
23
0.137
44%
40%
Kobe
317
769
0.412
58
185
0.314
69
0.218
46%
39%
Wade
205
507
0.404
27
101
0.267
34
0.166
47%
32%
Iggy
158
394
0.401
24
112
0.214
28
0.177
48%
31%
Durant
191
479
0.399
40
123
0.325
103
0.539
47%
35%
Pierce
167
430
0.388
32
97
0.330
60
0.359
44%
21%
JJ
174
449
0.388
40
114
0.351
47
0.270
46%
32%
R.Allen
151
391
0.386
78
215
0.363
105
0.695
44%
34%
Russ
150
403
0.372
13
56
0.232
23
0.153
42%
30%
Avg.
199
476
0.415
36
114
0.300
59
0.300
47%
35%

To add to my statement that LeBron is in fact a big time player let’s take a look at a further three tables that compare LeBron’s shooting in Playoffs to Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade.
Final 24 Sec (Playoffs since 2000)
Player
FG
FGA
FG%
3PM
3PA
3P%
Ast'd
Ast'd
Kobe
6
21
0.286
1
8
0.125
1
0.167
LeBron
5
12
0.417
1
3
0.333
1
0.200
Wade
2
5
0.400
0
2
0.000
0
0.000
Final Minute (Playoffs since 2000)
Player
FG
FGA
FG%
3PM
3PA
3P%
Ast'd
Ast'd
Kobe
10
31
0.323
2
10
0.200
2
0.200
LeBron
10
20
0.500
1
3
0.333
1
0.100
Wade
3
10
0.300
1
5
0.200
1
0.333
"Clutch" (Playoffs since 2000)
Player
FG
FGA
FG%
3PM
3PA
3P%
Ast'd
Ast'd
Kobe
81
203
0.399
11
41
0.268
12
0.148
LeBron
70
154
0.455
17
48
0.354
10
0.143
Wade
39
102
0.382
4
15
0.267
5
0.128
These tables show me that in every aspect of being a big time player in the NBA playoff that I would prefer to have LeBron James taking the clutch shots and trying to win me the match than having either Kobe Bryant or Dwayne Wade taking them.
LeBron being ringless, what does that have to do with him not being good enough? I’ll tell you, it has absolutely nothing to do with him not being able to perform it has to do with the players he has around him being substandard or that they came up against a better team, notice I said team not player because a team wins rings not an individual. Lebron’s teams in Cleveland were average to say the least and he still got them to the finals of the Eastern Conference.
I believe that he does not deserve all the hate he is getting and that the current Miami team he is with will either win the playoffs this year or next year but when they do they will then win a few in successive years.


Reference List