Monday, June 27, 2011

First Thoughts The Challenge: Rivals

I have yet to outgrow my odd fascination with the MTV reality/game show The Challenge, thus I must blog and analyze the silly show. The newest season premiered last week. Teams compete in challenges for money and prizes while trying to avoid being eliminated from the show. This season the twist is that the teams are made up of two "rivals" who dislike each other for some reason. I'll summarize the rules briefly and give my thoughts on optimal strategy in this post.

Friday, June 10, 2011

NBA Amnesty Clause: Worst Contracts

If the NBA Amnesty Clause is to be re-enacted, the NBA owners and players' union have to agree to it. I believe the players would largely be in favor of it. Eliminated contracts still get paid in full and teams would then have more money to spend; either from having more salary cap room or from not having to pay luxury tax. However there are many NBA teams that would not benefit from the Amnesty Clause. The following 10 teams hardly stand to benefit from the Amnesty Clause: Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City, Sacramento Kings. I doubt the owners of those 10 teams would like to see the Amnesty Clause enacted. If those teams agree to the Amnesty Clause they would be agreeing to give their opponents a large competitive advantage. Also, if the luxury tax remains those teams receiving luxury tax money would stand to earn even less money if the teams over the cap could cut some of their luxury tax causing contracts.

*Clever Segway*. Here are the top 5 best uses of the Amnesty Clause:

5. Travis Outlaw, New Jersey Nets. 3 years and $21m remaining on his contract. The dollar amount is small compared to some of the other potential targets, but Outlaw has been awful these past two seasons (under 1 WS each season, 8.8 PER last year).

4. Rashard Lewis, Washington Wizards. 2 years and $46m remaining on his contract. Yes, he only has 2 years remaining on his deal but $46m for his lack of production on a rebuilding team is a ridiculous waste of cap space.

3. Ben Gordon, Detroit Pistons. 3 years and $37m remaining on his contract. I am not a huge fan of volume scorers and neither is PER or WS. If Detroit cuts Gordon's deal and trades Richard Hamilton, then the Pistons could get a great start on rebuilding.

2. Brandon Roy, Portland Trailblazers. 3 years and $49m remaining on his contract. Not Roy's fault as his pre-knee injury play was deserving of this contract. After multiple surgeries and the scary rumors about the condition of his knees, the Trailblazers could use the Amnesty Clause to move on.

1. Gilbert Arenas, Orlando Magic. 3 years and $62m remaining on his contract. Arenas has been awful since his knee injuries and arrest on gun charges. If the Magic jettison him and move another deal in a trade, they could have some cap space.

Honorable Mentions: Brandon Heywood, Dallas Mavericks (4 years, $35m), Richard Jefferson, San Antonio Spurs ( 3 years, $30m). Cutting either deal could give these contending teams a chance to reload for another title run.

Monday, June 6, 2011

NBA Amnesty Clause: Atlantic & Central Divisions

Wrapping up hypothetical targets of the NBA Amnesty, clause let's take a look at the Atlantic and Central Divisions. For some background see my original post on the clause.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

NBA Amnesty Clause: Southeast Division

Next up for discussion, the contracts of the Southeast Division. See my first post on the Amnesty Clause for a little background.

Friday, June 3, 2011

NBA Amnesty Clause: Southwest Division

The analysis of a potential NBA Amnesty Clause now turns to the Western Conference Southwest Division. See my first post on this for some background. Basically I am looking for the worst contract on each team, with "worst" being decided by criteria particular to what the Amnesty Clause will likely be.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

NBA Amnesty Clause: Northwest Division

Continuing the analysis of the Amnesty Clause on NBA contracts, which contracts in the Northwest Division are most fitting for elimination?