“Warriors hope Lee, new philosophy mean return to playoffs - NBA” plus 2 more |
- Warriors hope Lee, new philosophy mean return to playoffs - NBA
- Android's Open Philosophy Repairs Its Biggest Flaws - Motley Fool
- Jets stay true to philosophy on Favre pick to seal win - NFL
| Warriors hope Lee, new philosophy mean return to playoffs - NBA Posted: 13 Oct 2010 11:32 AM PDT The Warriors will be better on defense and rebounding this season because the front office delivered much-needed roster upgrades, because Keith Smart has made improving the underlined priority of his first season as coach and because the players say it will be different this time. In other news, the check's in the mail. Talking about it is one thing and actually doing it is quite another, and they've got a good debate team in Oakland. As one of the starters then and now, Stephen Curry, said, "Every team who's struggled defensively the year before is going to say, 'OK, we're going to focus on defense this year.' We said that last year." So not so fast. But there has been a noticeable steer toward grit, enough that it constitutes at least a start on the new mission statement. General manager Larry Riley said he came to the conclusion around midseason 2009-10 that he had to ditch the fun-and-gun approach of the Don Nelson years once and for all, eventually to be followed by the decision to ditch Nelson himself. Nellie undoubtedly saw the end coming, the way Riley started stacking power forward on top of power forward. Ekpe Udoh came in the lottery. David Lee was added via free agency, at the splurging cost of an $80 million contract plus prospect Anthony Randolph going to Knicks along with Kelenna Azubuike and Ronny Turiaf in the sign-and-trade. Even then, with Lee and Udoh added and '07 lottery pick Brandan Wright still trying to push into the rotation, the Warriors signed Louis Amundson, an understated move but a screaming statement. Amundson is the ultimate scrapping energy guys, and the new Golden State wants guys who will dig through rock walls. Maybe it would have happened no matter what, since the old way of the Warriors treating defense as an imposition of their time wasn't working, or maybe it was the message from incoming majority owner Joe Lacob, who previously had a piece of the Celtics, the team that won a championship by shutting down opponents and getting in everyone's face with the fierce determination of a team with zero stars. Or maybe, in a moment of perfect timing, it was both, Riley knowing he needed to dislodge from the Nelson system coming with the natural transition of the fresh start for the entire organization. Whatever. There had to be a new direction if the Warriors were ever to be taken serious. They finished 30th in rebounding percentage and 29th in shooting defense in the 26-56 finish of last season, and injuries were obviously a factor with Andris Biedrins missing 49 games as a potential double-digit man on the boards, but they can only cry bad health and inexperience so often. An annual lack of effort on defense is hardly the result of a stream of misfortune. "What we've done is discussed with Keith that we all understand a need for defensive improvement," Riley said. "Keith's on board with that anyway. If he hadn't ever said that, that would be one the things he would want to start with. We have also have discussed that we don't want to drastically change the style of play. We like a running style of play. But as we addressed things over the summer, we also knew we had to rebound the ball. It was up to me to go and solve that problem. Regardless of who the coach was going to be, we had to improve our rebounding, and that's one of the things that we did." That's the Lee acquisition most of all, after posting 11.7, 11.7, 8.9 and 10.4 boards a game the last four seasons with New York, and also the dirty work of Amundson and 4.4 rebounds in just 14.8 minutes off the bench in Phoenix. Udoh is expected to be sidelined until midseason after wrist surgery, but his return is projected to bring an additional shot of decent rebounding and the occasional shot block, though his post game on offense is lacking. That's why it will be different, starting right now. This is why it won't: Everything else. Sixty percent of the opening lineup is the same. The backcourt of 6-foot-3 Curry and 6-foot-3 Monta Ellis is the same in the Pacific Division loaded with power guards. The bench is very thin. They are all trying to be different, but not really. "It's a delicate balance, but it's a balance that has to be done," Smart said. "You can't take away some creativity from guys like Steph Curry and Monta Ellis. You have to give those guys some freedom. That's what good players do. They have some freedom. But at the same time, we have players that fit a desperate need, and that's rebounding and being physical around the basket. We can blend it. We can make it happen." That's what they say, at least. So not so fast.
Scott Howard-Cooper has covered the NBA since 1988. You can e-mail him here and follow him on twitter. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php | |||
| Android's Open Philosophy Repairs Its Biggest Flaws - Motley Fool Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:09 PM PDT
The Android Market is the weakest point of Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android strategy. It's a weak imitation of the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) App Store, devoid of the clever search and organization finesse one would expect from an information expert like Google. Developers often have a hard time getting their apps in front of their customers; end users have trouble finding the apps they actually want. If Google doesn't fix this big problem, maybe somebody else will. Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) is reportedly working on a third-party Android app store. Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) is supposedly working up its own version. If one of these alternatives turns out to be easier to use than the original Google-backed marketplace, it stands to reason that users would quickly jump ship to the better solution. Google won't stop us, because that would be against the open-source philosophy behind the whole Android platform. That's also the reason why Google isn't telling Verizon (NYSE: VZ) to stop using Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Bing instead of Google Search on some of its Android phones, and why the company isn't dictating what software goes into a proper Android handset in general. The one exception is that you need a certain set of Google-branded features in order to get a "with Google" logo on the phone. I fully expect both Amazon and Best Buy to come through -- not only with new market solutions but with better ones. These are consumer-oriented companies with tons of design and usability experience, while Google is running Android more like an engineer than a marketer or a designer. The appearance of other alternatives will eventually force Google to get its own offering up to par, and so the virtuous cycle keeps spiraling until the app-installing experience stops being the saddest part of owning an Android phone -- or developing programs for them. In fact, Google seems to have caught that fever already. Older Android phones have recently received an upgraded Market application ripped from the Froyo version of the platform. Phones as old as last year's HTC myTouch 3G now enjoy refinements like one-click updating of all installed applications and a nicer presentation of what each program is good for. But the sub-par search experience remains, and Google really should do better. Is the lousy app market keeping you from buying an Android -- and would a better one change your mind? Discuss in the comments below. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php | |||
| Jets stay true to philosophy on Favre pick to seal win - NFL Posted: 13 Oct 2010 01:48 PM PDT It was not a good week for Brett Favre. Let's just leave it at that. I'll spend the remainder of the column giving credit to the New York Jets' defensive coaching staff and players for closing out last Monday night's 29-20 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. The Jets held a 22-20 lead with 1 minute, 38 seconds remaining, as the Vikings faced third-and-5 from their own 21-yard line. Minnesota was 50 yards away from a game-winning field goal opportunity, and the key for the Vikings on this third down was moving the chains. Minnesota sent two receivers to either side, with Randy Moss and Percy Harvin stacked left, and Visanthe Shiancoe and Greg Lewis stacked right. Favre was in the shotgun with Adrian Peterson to his right. New York stayed true to Rex Ryan's philosophy and blitzed, remaining aggressive in a situation where many defenses would soften. "Most teams play coverage in that situation. We wanted to put pressure on Favre to get the ball out of his hand quickly", Ryan said. "D-Lo did a great job of breaking on it and taking it to the house." "D-Lo" is Jets safety Dwight Lowery, who personified coach Ryan's aggressive mentality on the game's critical third-down play. Lowery and cornerback Kyle Wilson played in-and-out, man-to-man coverage on Shiancoe and Lewis. When playing in-and-out coverage, defenders are responsible for guarding receivers based on releases. Lowery was responsible for the receiver who first released inside and Wilson would cover the receiver who first released outside.
Shiancoe was running an "arrow" route, as Favre called it, first pressing inside and then breaking to the outside at first-down depth. Because he first released inside, Shiancoe became Lowery's man-to-man responsibility. Lowery said during film study of Minnesota he had noticed a formational and situational tendency that tipped him off to the arrow route. As soon as Shiancoe slowed to make his break, "D-Lo" attacked. His aggressive coverage meshed perfectly with the Jets' pressure, and the quick throw by Favre went directly to Lowery, who returned the interception 26 yards for the game-clinching touchdown. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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