Matthew Yglesias » Endgame

Nov 12th, 2009 at 6:15 pm

Endgame

I remain a Giant and you’re Jeremy Shockey:

— Katha Pollitt on Bart Stupak.

— Brian Beutler on the practical impact of the Stupak amendment.

— Sharon Lerner on womens’ large non-abortion-related stake in health reform.

— Carbon offsets good for farmers.

— No link, but does anyone have a theory as to why the Suns are so good? I’m stumped.

— Unsafe streets in Fairfax County.

— Forget how many troops go to Afghanistan, what should they do?

I’m liking local favorite Wale’s debut real album, Attention: Deficit. The “Chillin’” video features extensive footage of my old neighborhood around U Street, including a brief shot of my favorite DC landmark, the hilarious Cardozo High: Home of the Clerks sign.

Comments
19

19 Responses to “Endgame”

roger Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
MY – after your excellent Kaplan putdown, I was hoping you’d spare a few words for Peter Galbraith, the liberal “hawk” on Iraq whose patriotism and devotion to the cause of, well, starting a civil war in Iraq that would favor the Kurdish side, has resulted in a well deserved hundred million dollar payout -which is what you get for representing an oil concern when you have those ties to the Kurdish government!

The sad thing is that this will again animate the old “blood for oil” thing. To think that people would impugn the motives of Cheney, Galbraith, Chalabi, Perle – how sad for America.

Interestingly, one of the war’s big propagandists, Christopher Hitchens, is friends with every corrupt person involved in the war – from Galbraith to Wolfowitz to Chalabi. I wonder if he got a taste from Galbraith’s stash – or whether it is chance that all his friends are either convicted frauds or mere peculators who defied laws in Middle Eastern countries (and thus don’t count as frauds).
Sam Penrose Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
A quick look at their stats:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/2010.html

reveals they are shooting .475 on 3s while taking ~22/game. Drop that to a still-excellent but sustainable .400 and they lose about 5 points a game. They are currently outscoring opponents by 7 points a game. Take exactly 5 points from their total in each game so far, and they drop to 6-3, with a couple of the wins by tiny margins i.e. luck.

They aren’t so good.
Ev Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
“I spit engine, I’m lyrically a Piston, I’m playin my position like Billups ni**a get some, listen, they still politician, while I ignore Bush like the Texans, yup” Wale- Daytona Squared

No one has ever spit better sports punchlines than Wale.

The Nash, J Rich, Hill, Frye, Stoudamire line-up is likely to continue being productive and hard to match up against. I think their future success depends on the unlikely proposition that Frye will keep this pace up for a whole season (esp. the 3’s). The introduction of a second mobile big man who can open up the guts of a defense with shooting range has helped free up Amare a great deal. Also, I think that is one of the most injury prone groups of 5 in the league. If (when) they get interrupted, the most harmful implication could be the shake up of the bench rotation. Barbosa is so effective as a 6th man and Dudley seems to have a good thing going with his current role.
Mac Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
I think a lot of it is also that Amare is actually trying this year.
Aaron Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Nash and Stoudlemeyer are still good, and they don’t have either Shaq or Marion to drag around anymore.
One wonders how far they can go. When they were good in the past they always used to match badly against the Spurs, but Bruce Bowen isn’t around to stop Nash anymore. They always used to match up well against the Lakers, but having Gasol seemingly gives the Lakers a substantial talent advantage.
emma Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
yet again yglesias song/album of the day. bravo. “TV in the Radio” is gonna blow up for the new year.
TRIATHLON Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
MATT ASKS: Forget how many troops go to Afghanistan, what should they do?

TRIATHLON REPLYS: Put up a short timers calander, don’t volunteer, tell those in command to keep any promotions, medals, or ideas that may get them killed to themselves, if single desert, and head to any country but the Empire, like Brazil, or Germany, Sweden, the Empire is simply not worth dying for, there is a great big wonderful world out there with sandy beaches and hot women, and your choice warm or cold beer. Kid keep your life and limbs life is good, dying for the Empire and Wall St. is a very bad idea.
Colatina Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
#1 reason is that they gave up on the absurd Kerr-Porter plan of running the offense through Shaq.
2. They have guys that can let it fly from the three point range, and they’re letting them do it. (Channing Frye, for the first time, is shooting threes.)
3. Grant Hill is now earning some of the money he was paid under his Orlando contract
4. Stoudamire never stopped being a very good player.
5. Jarron Collins is only being allowed on the court for about 5 minutes per game.

This team merely proves how much of a world-historical disaster the trade for Shaq was. It made a decent playoff team in the West look like a bunch of washed-up losers.
Max424 Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
MY “No link, but does anyone have a theory as to why the Suns are so good? I’m stumped.”

No you’re not. You just pointed yesterday exactly why they so are good: they shoot lots of threes and they shoot em at a high percentage. You’re a goofball, I swear.

Good old Stevie Nash, 53 years old and still shooting .500 from behind the arc. And those aren’t catch and shoot threes. Nash takes his threes either off the dribble or after completion of a high pick and roll. They are tough threes, often off-balance, but he nails em.

You could make a case that Nashy is the best pure shooter of all time. You certainly could make a case (and I would and do) he is the best pure passer ever. He is completely ambidextrous, which means he is better with his off hand, his left hand, than almost any passer ever to play game.

Nash is underrated, big time. And I don’t buy into the the theory that there is an innate prejudice against him in NBA circles because he is a Canadian. No sir. I believe Nash is looked down on because…he loves soccer.
thedavidmo Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 1:33 am
does anyone have a theory as to why the Suns are so good? I’m stumped.

Statistical anomaly? They got completely crushed by the Pau-less Lakers tonight.
pseudonymous in nc Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 2:51 am
No sir. I believe Nash is looked down on because…he loves soccer.

Kobe loves soccer. Pau and Manu and Kidd and Barbosa too. There are lots of soccer fans in the NBA. Still, there’s half a point there: Nash plays the point like a midfielder, and his tactical vision when passing — his sense of space and movement — is very slightly alien to the game. (The other sport with those kinds of transitions? Hockey.)

You can certainly make the case that Nash (esp. w/ the Suns under D’Antoni) made basketball watchable for soccer fans.
Thlayli Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 4:59 am
There are lots of soccer fans in the NBA.

And vice versa. A lot of the big European soccer stars are major NBA fans. The Beckham Experiment tells how Becks was able to connect with his new American teammates by talking about the Lakers.
Angellight Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 8:12 am
Democrats must not be “hoodwinked and fooled” into an abortion fight that does not really exist! We should know that Speaker Nancy Pelosi would never let abortion go by the wayside. We should be smarter than that… AND, we must keep our “eye” on the Prize — and the long awaited and wished for Goal of healthcare for all Americans and lower premiums for those who are already insured. Democrats have a chance to lead by actually doing something good for Americans — like health care, which is tied to the deficit and the bankrupting of businesses and families. We must keep our “eye” on the Prize and not be labeled with the title of another “do nothing Congress”!
GOP politicians and operatives continue to dishonestly and deceptively say that they cannot support a public option, they claim that they want to keep costs down for the American people! Really? This they claim all the while knowing that a public option/competition is the only way to really control cost and to bring about true reform thereby putting a definite Halt to the “out of control” medical costs and premiums crippling people and businesses today, making it harder and harder for average Americans and young people to realize and take advantage of the slowly, slipping away American Dream. One could ask themselves, If you happen to lose your job today or tomorrow in these unstable economic times and at a time when we currently do not have healthcare reform for all, who would pay you or your familiy’s health care costs, that is, if you are lucky enough to be able to see a doctor without insurance? This American Dream, now being called Socialism by the GOP has slowly been slipping away, and is in the last throes of dying, if we do not forge a new path onwards toward inclusion and cooperation for all. This dream of America will die to be replaced with just another third world country — only to go into the history books as another failed experiment.
Again, let us not be fooled by the GOP Trojan Horse “abortion” to distract us and divide us while they laugh gleefully behind our backs as to how they have beat us once again on a myth and an illusion!
daklute Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 8:32 am
Sam Penrose says:

If you take the Suns stats and then change them for the worse, then you can conclude the Suns aren’t a very good team.

Duh?!?!

The Suns are a good team this year b/c they put five guys on the court who move with and w/o the ball, play facing the basket, can catch Nash’s passes, can score and Steve Nash is playing out of his mind. If you haven’t yet watched them, do. They just destroyed a very bad NO team the other night. But, as last night’s game shows, they aren’t the best in the West.
Al Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 9:11 am
does anyone have a theory as to why the Suns are so good?

Easy schedule.
ostap Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Funny how little you know about Virginia. It is illegal to walk in Fairfax County. Drivers are encouraged to run over pedestrians. Therefore, unsafe.
Sam Penrose Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
@daklute: I was writing quickly and not as clearly as I might have. When I said “Drop that to a still-excellent but sustainable .400″, my point was that their current performance on 3-pointers is too good to be sustained over the course of a season. For example, last season the best team in the league (BOS) shot a hair under .400:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2009.html
The year before that the Suns led the league at .393, etc. The Suns have started 8-1 because they’ve had really good luck on 3-pointers. At some point during the season they will shoot ~.300 on 3s for a 9 game stretch and go 3-6 or 4-5, but they won’t suddenly have different skills, they’ll just have bad luck instead of good.
trivia Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Ran into Barbosa at the Adidas store in Santa Monica last year.
He was sporting a subtle Liverpool jacket. We talked briefly about the Champions League.
matt w. Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Besides good shooting, their bench is actually bringing something to the table instead of being a huge drag on performance. Gentry really focused on rebounding (where they used to be totally atrocious) this preseason, too.

Matt Yglesias

Endgame

19 Responses to “Endgame”

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