Comments on: We know experience matters in the NBA, but the question ‘Why?’ lingers

By: dysraw1

dysraw1 — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 23:29:15 +0000

that’s what i loved about Bird & Magic they both figured out how to be dominate early an pulled their mates right in

By: Matthew Hunt

Matthew Hunt — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 19:52:45 +0000

If you look at the chart, the younger teams have plenty of wins too…but plenty of losses, whereas the older teams don’t. So the real thing I draw from this isn’t that more experienced teams win more often…they just don’t lose as much.

By: nycalldayz

nycalldayz — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 23:29:57 +0000

You’re wrong about Kobe and Lebron. Kobe was a talent in the making that was surrounded with great players and great coaching. Lebron, like Garnett were franchise superstars, played in small markets, but never had the surrounding talent to help get them over the edge. When both Lebron and Garnett paired up with other superstars (Pierce, Wade, Allen, Bosh), then both LBJ and KG got their rings, just saying.

But the superstars pairing in 2′s or 3′s doesn’t work for all. Take the Knicks for example. Don’t get mad Knicks fans it’s the truth. lol

By: nycalldayz

nycalldayz — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 23:17:24 +0000

We know experience matters in the NBA, but the question ‘Why?’ lingers.

Veteran teams and players that’s been through playoffs runs, experiences wins and loses that better prepares them for the next upcoming seasons or post-seasons. There’s a difference between veteran players, great veterans and great teams. Over the past 7 yrs we’ve the seen great veteran teams make deep playoff runs and win championships.

Pistions(Billups, Hamilton, Wallance, Prince)
Spurs(Duncan, Parker, Ginobili)
Mavs(Dirk, Terry, Kidd)
LAL(Kobe, Gasol, Odom, Bynum, Fisher)
BOS(Garnett, Pierce, Allen, Rondo)
MIA(James, Wade, Bosh)

Since 2004, the teams listed above are the only teams that made deep playoff runs and won a championship, just saying the facts.

By: itsonlyaspeedbump

itsonlyaspeedbump — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 20:07:36 +0000

interesting study, although I wonder how we define “experience” ie Kevin Durant is “young” (I dont think hes more than 23) but he already has several years of playoff experience.

I guess the question is: Would plain old talent overcome lack of experience?

By: thestudiokida

thestudiokida — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 19:57:00 +0000

My second theory involves Isiah Thomas’s The Secret. In Bill Simmons The Book of Basketball he said,

“The art of winning is complicated by statistics, which for us becomes money. Well, you gotta fight that, find a way around it…. We got 12 guys who are totally committed to winning. Every night we found a different person to win it for us.”

So that’s it. I’m reading The Jordan Rules now and it’s incredibly obvious that Jordan didn’t get The Secret until the 1991 playoffs when he realized that railing against his teammates wasn’t the way to a championship. Kobe has never totally grasped it although Phil Jackson helped keep him committed for long enough to win 5 championships. LeBron has always understood the secret but he still tends to take too much on himself and get down about a loss… but look out now that he has a near perfect off season under his belt. Anyways, it takes guys a while to grasp the secret. That’s why young players don’t win championships.

By: katra2logic

katra2logic — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 19:46:30 +0000

‘We know experience matters’

Hopefully, with a little experience, the author will be able to see the obvious a little quicker…

By: thestudiokida

thestudiokida — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 19:43:31 +0000

My theory is that you have to learn resilience. Losing year after year in different ways teaches you about your flaws and ideally teaches you how to bounce back after a heartbreak. Maybe after the first heartbreak it takes a whole season to bounce back, then it only takes the offseason and eventually you learn how to bounce back after only a heartbreaking loss or even a bad quarter.

Jordan lost to the Pistons 3 straight post seasons before finally kicking their ass in 1991. LeBron lost to the Celtics twice before he learned enough resiliency to beat them in last year’s brilliant game 6 (after losing 3 straight games). I just think losing toughens a guy up… unless he’s the type of guy who folds in which case he probably isn’t in the NBA or on a winning team late in his late 20′s/early 30′s.

By: redwards29a

redwards29a — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 18:24:56 +0000

There’s an inherent survivorship bias that it sounds like you’re missing here. Older players will tend to be better players simply because when young players don’t pan out, they wash out of the league very quickly. A guy who’s still playing in the NBA at age 30 was good enough to stick around for many years.