The Boxscore Geeks Show: The Bearded Picasso

Playoffs, playoffs, and more playoffs!

Hosts

Dre Alvarez (@nerdnumbers)
Produced by Brian Foster (@boxscorebrian)

Sources

You can watch us live at twitch.tv/nerdnumbers; we usually go Tuesday or Wednesday at 9:30 pm EST. Follow us on Twitter, and we'll keep you posted!

Please subscribe to Channel NerdNumbers on YouTube and like us on iTunes!

You can download the show direct here.

Video Show

Show Notes

Magic Johnson says the Lakers don't currently have a star, we agree.

We discuss Paul George. If Magic Johnson thinks he's the star the Lakers need, we disagree. We think Paul George is currently overrated. We thought he looked great young but has not come back strong since his injury.

We talk the Wins Produced formula, namely comparing players to their position, and to league average.

Paul George's raw numbers may look similar to when he was younger. Bad news is the average NBA player has gotten better meaning Paul George has lost ground due to "inflation."

Our recent update to the Wins Produced position adjustment.

I was impressed by LeBron James' excellent play in the Cavs sweep in round one. That said, it took LeBron playing over 40 minutes a game and putting up heroics to down a 42 win team. Compare that with the Warriors, who rest Durant two games and still swept.

What is going on with the Spurs? They are a "Moneyball team" in that they have underperformed a few times in the playoffs despite being a great analytics team.

We discuss my article on how the Eastern Conference is the weakest it's ever been and how Boston is the worst team to ever win a conference.

Losing Rajon Rondo hurts the Bulls. Despite being on a poorly constructed team, he played above average this season and was playing great in the playoffs. Funny note, I think Paul George is the "missing piece" for the Bulls.

We review an argument in the comments section over if Danny Ainge is an above average GM. Our thoughts are that he's clearly above average for an NBA GM, but outside of the Spurs and the recent Warriors, we don't think much of most NBA front offices. Despite some good moves out of Ainge, he's made a fair number of mistakes, meaning Celtics fans are right to be upset.

We talk Jazz/Clippers for a bit. Tune in! Conversely, if you wanted us to talk Wizards/Hawks, we don't talk them at all. Brian does take a second to note Markieff Morris is bad.

While we were recording the Rockets were wrapping up their series with the Thunder. Some things we didn't discuss but deserve credit. The Lou Williams trade clearly worked out very well for Houston. Also, major props to Patrick Beverly noting that Westbrook's high playoff scoring came at a cost.

We also talk Patrick Beverly incident in getting into an argument a fan. We run into the odd mentalities fans expect athletes to have and also the tradeoff between commerce and competition in sports.

Shout Outs

Brian shouts out Bart Hubbuch over at Deadspin for his great piece on Robert Kraft's casino holdings and more NFL hypocrisy.

Brian shouts out Trevor Ariza for an article he penned titled: "Bearded Picasso is the MVP."