I think he is an okay help defender but not a great Man defender. I also think he gambles a bit too much going for help blocks. All in all I'd say he is better than average defender.

Tim Duncan is 33, Pau is 29. I'd take Pau.

I think APM is good if done properly and context is properly accounted for, it definitely has its flaws but its the best one number metric of anything in the public domain.

I'd take a bunch of guys over a healthy Oden including LeBron, Durant, Dwight, CP3, Dirk and on and on.

I bet some prior to the start of the season and some in around first week of the season. Kobe was injured for the first X games (can't recall) and I remember betting more before he returned to action.

No clue.

How do you keep track of your massive database on the NBA? I'm sure you have some type of software specialized for it; did you hire someone to make it?

- Everyone values Shane Battier because of his intangibles, defense, bb iq, etc etc. Can you name a few more players along the same vein?
- Most overrated player?
- Most humble NBA player?
- Best defenders in the league other than dwight?

- (most important question) can you give me a sense of how the league in terms of coaching, GM'ing, etc etc. has changed philosophically over the last 10-20 years or so (if at all?) Like have you seen that the emphasis on defense or halfcourt diminished? How has offensive and defensive philosophies changed? etc etc.

Questions like the Ginobili vs Joe Johnson question are tough to answer unless you are really specific. Do you mean right now for this current season? Do you mean for the future? JJ is younger so obviously more valuable long term. But right now there are very few 2s in the league who are playing better than Manu, JJ isn't one of them.

The George Hill vs Tony Parker question is similar, Hill is young and playing quite well. He isn't nearly as good as Parker was in his prime on offense but a better defender. I'd say they are pretty close to a wash right now, it also depends on who they are playing. If they are playing a team with a PG like Westbrook I'd prefer Hill, against a guy like Kidd who doesn't do much scoring you can probably get by playing Parker and having a slight offensive edge.

Hill also gives you the ability to have him guard the 2 which is something TP can't do - I dunno. If I had to choose for right now and going forward I'd take Hill.

If I was the spurs I'd probably start unloading some of my assets and attempting to rebuild some. Duncan, Ginobili and TP still have a lot of value and might be pawns in this years Free Agent class in a sign and trade. I think its unlikely this team will ever sniff a title again so I'd probably try and get some pieces for the future. They have done a great job extending this core groups run for a number of years now but realistically its hard to argue that they'll ever get back to the Finals without making some major changes.

Mysql, its free and pretty easy to scale.

Not to be a prick or anything but what's the deal with this video? Is Lansing usually this annoying/bitchy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HyBwFXgnL0

Hey these are good questions but I am really not into naming undervalued players, or players who are good at X. sorry guys - you'd be shocked how often I get people in actual decision making positions (including GMs) email me asking me questions like this and I just see no upside to answering them.

Most Humble NBA player? maybe Duncan or Durant. Not sure.

I think the number one change in the NBA over the last few years has been the better teams adopting the 3 point shot more liberally. There are still a few dinosaurs coaching who don't emphasize the 3 as much as they should but for the most part teams do.

One of the things that made the Spurs so good for a number of years was they understood the importance of the corner3 point shot both on offense and on Defense, they were definitely ahead of the curve.

How did it work making an all in bet that you had to wait >6 months to cash in on. Did you have to just ensure you didn't lose much money during the bball season and pay up after the lakers got eliminated, or did you have to leave your entire bankroll escrowed all year?

What's your opinion on the idea that if a team is >50% on 2 point conversions, they should go for 2 point conversions almost 100% of the time (Unless going for 1 will put you up by 9 or something late in the 4th quarter).

Wow what a cow, was lucky Bob didn't own her even harder, clearly didn't want battle of wits with unarmed presenter.

What are your thoughts on rondo? you think hes a solid jumpshot away from being a top 5 player in the nba?

I lived in my brothers basement and worked around 40 hours a week while going to University. I set aside enough money to pay for my tuition and books for the year (it was around 5k Canadian universities ftw).

Not really a football guy - I think aside from super low scoring games where you are going to have too much variance, going for 2 if you are greater than 50% seems like a no brainer.

can you say roughly what your win % is betting the NBA?

I can't think of a PG in the league I'd rather have over Rondo if he could actually shoot.

His shooting is so horrid though, I generally don't like having PGs who can't stroke the 3, he can't stroke the 10 footer or the FT so its tough sledding.

ROI is much more important than win percentage, I may have a high volume of plays that hit 54% and another subset of plays where I bet more $ that hit > 58%.

If I was still betting I'd probably shoot for (and surpass) an ROI of around 8-9%

this. pretty sure i listened to circuit interview many times

ginobili is better than jj but jj plays a ton more minutes. and not even counting ginobilis injuries. just per game ginobili is always limited.

how impressed would you be by a 86-52 mark betting the spread without being able to name 10 players in the league by someone who claimed he could beat the system before he started betting?

can you list a few of your favorite books?

also, any other stories like the jaguar one?

This was a cash game at bellagio and I repeatedly flashed the 5 card at you over and over again.

I seem to remember you taking several mins to make up your mind and I was just jabbering non stop and flashing my 5 to you over and over again.

The way you described it I would call it an angle but this isn't how it went down. I do this a lot (flash one card at people when they are thinking of calling) especially if there is a flush on board and I have the Ace of that suit.

Either way you probably should have folded. I almost always have it.

+1 on this. Also, cool thread. Thanks!

I used to be a bit more of a prick when I was younger so stories like the Jaguar story were more common. I'll try to think of some, I think I am a much better story teller in person than in writing so I'll probably try and dredge some up and save it for a podcast.

The story where I got Ashman to irritate Aaron Katz into picking a fight with him was a pretty good story. I think someone might have mentioned it on this site somewhere.

As for books -

The Fountainhead
Grapes of Wrath
The Zahir
Moneyball (really like Michael Lewis).
Lucky or the Lovely Bones by Alice Seibold.

And although I am embarrassed to admit this Eat Pray Love is a good book and one I have read a few times.

Not impressed at all but I am a pretty big skeptic.