Digging this up from the archives after last night's debacle. Has anything really changed? Look at the poll. Would you change your vote now?

The draft is over. So, what happens now? Eventually there will be another season, assuming the CBA issues are resolved (I think that will be sooner rather than later, the NBA is near an all-time high in popularity, after all). Today, I'm going to play virtual GM, and give one possible scenario for re-building the team. Many, if not most of you, will not like this vision. Well, I should say, you will not like the immediate future of the vision. But the long-term goal is to build a contender - not just a team that makes it to the first round and quickly exits, but a real contender that is a threat to go deep into the playoffs every year. Keep reading to see what I think it would take, and then take your best shot at me in the comments.

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Latest Update:

SpearsNBAYahoo GState GM Riley says in statement @StephenCurry30 has no structural damage to sprained RT ankle & can play when he passes functionality test 1/10/12 4:53 PM

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Most of the folks I follow on Twitter are for "basketball reasons", and most of those are so-called "statheads".

I follow Brian McCormick (@brianmccormick) because he has very interesting insights into player development and coaching, and judging by the fact that he has 2,245 followers as I'm writing this, many other people feel the same way.

Brian runs a website called "Brian McCormick Basketball" (http://developyourbballiq.com) whose tag is "The Science Behind Basketball Coaching and Player Development". He has published numerous basketball-related books and has had numerous assistant and head coaching stints at various levels of player development (you can check out his full basketball bio here: http://developyourbballiq.com/about/).

Besides his expertise in on-court skills development, Brian also is a strength and conditioning expert. In fact, not only does he have a Masters degree in Sports Science, he is working on his PhD dissertation on the topic of agility and lateral movement in basketball. He even has a paper coming out in the Strength & Conditioning Journal on task complexity in strength training for injury prevention.

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Think he'll shimmy on the Warriors sidelines? (pic via i.cdn.turner.com)

JUMP for the annual Golden State of Mind season preview for the Golden State Warriors!

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I made some modifications to my play-by-play (PBP) tracking code to compile stats on different shot types. Basically, every shot can be classified into the following categories: dunks, layups, tips, hooks, mid-range jumpers, and 3-pt shots. According to my calculations (insert mad scientist grin here), it appears that the shots Hoopdata counts as 0-3 ft from the basket most likely include the dunks, layups, and tips that I track in the PBP code. Hook shots are most likely being included in the 3-9 ft "bin". As per a discussion that started up in one of my posts last week, it seems to make more sense to include hook shots as being inside shots rather than mid-range ones. If we agree on that, then I can neatly categorize "inside" shots (dunks+layups+tips+hooks), mid-range shots (all non-inside 2-pt jumpers), and 3-pt shots using just my PBP code, without needing to utilize Hoopdata. The final article of my new scoring metric series (see inside ratings and mid-range ratings) is taking a bit longer, because I've been incorporating these changes. Expect it some time this weekend. Also, I should note that in the future this will enable me to create some new defensive statistics (for example, which teams or units or players got dunked on the most/least, etc.)

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Next up in my series of introducing my marginal scoring rating metric is the mid-range shot. And yes, Dirk Nowitzki is the best. But wait there's more. You may find it interesting to know that Andrea Bargnani is the second highest rated center. Ooohh. If you think that's fascinating, then read on after the jump.

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Got the lockout blues? I find that a soothing dose of new stats can help alleviate some of the symptoms. I've created a new stat for assigning value to inside scoring, so I wanted to share it with you guys, and see what you think. There are actually two versions of the stat, one that adjusts for position, and one that doesn't. Both could be useful or interesting depending on the context.

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Ok, folks. I teased you a few days ago with some preliminary data that suggested Dorell Wright shoots spot-up jumpers more efficiently when receiving a pass from Monta Ellis, as opposed to David Lee or Stephen Curry. There are over 300 comments on that short post last I checked, so I shudder to think how many this one will generate. In this post, I'm going to give the complete story of "potential assists" on spot-up plays last season, or at least, a more complete story.

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For my first front page story on GSOM I want to delve into (what else?) some hardcore stats. This is not going to be an ezPM post. Instead, I want to look into Synergy offensive stats for the Warriors this past season (the defensive story will be featured in a sequel). For those who are unfamiliar with Synergy, it is a service that breaks down game film and records statistics for every play that ends in a shot, turnover, or free throw attempt. The hope is that these stats can help give us a deeper insight into the strengths and weaknesses of our favorite NBA team. 

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