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Everybody knows that the NBA's salary cap is a very complicated concept. Theoretically, if the League did not have a salary cap, the teams in larger markets with more revenue streams would have an even larger advantage over the smaller market clubs. Ok, that sounds good. However, if you take a look at the 2008 team payrolls, you can find 27 of the 30 teams exceeding the salary cap. What? What happens there? Is the NBA's salary cap a joke? No, it's just that there are several significant exceptions that allow teams to exceed the salary cap to sign players.
By the way, Navarro has got one of the lowest salaries (at $538,090) in the League. Currently, after Grizzlies waive Tarence Kinsey, he has got the lowest salary on his team. Mike Conley, the other rookie on Grizzlies, earns a mere $3,337,160, more than six times Navarro's salary. And Pau Gasol, who has got the biggest salary on Memphis, is earning $13,709,375 this year (a quarter of the team's payroll). Wow!!
The salary cap for the 2007-08 NBA season was set at $55,630,000, and the minimum salary for an NBA rookie for this season was fixed at $427,163. Some other funny numbers are:
- $2,003,000,000 - Player salaries
- $93,628,178 - Dallas Mavericks payroll (the top team payroll)
- $23,750,000 - Kevin Garnet's salary (the top NBA salary)
- $4,650,000 - The average salary
I want to wish to everybody, and specially to my faithful readers, a merry xmas and happy 2008. See you on 2008.
As you well know, I am a long-distance Grizz. Usually I follow the games just reading the stats. However, stats are not enough to accurately reflect a player's contribution to the game. For example, after watching Wednesday's game against San Antonio, I discovered that Navarro plays as a Combo Guard. I know that Navarro is not enough big to be a NBA shooting guard, he is considered a short shooting guard. But, it was really surprising to me to see him handling and passing the ball like a point guard. I never saw him do that before. Maybe, he will evolve into a good combo guard in the league. I honestly think it's a very good idea.
By the way, I was very interested in watching this game, because Navarro's stats were not specially good (4-13 from the floor), but on the other hand, he played for 43 minutes. I needed to know why. The answer is because the player's contribution to the game is more complex than a handful of numbers.
Navarro ranks 9th in free-throw percentage (0.909). However, if you take a look at the
2007-08 Free-Throw Shooting Leaders, you won't see him.
Why does he not appear between the leaders? You will find the answer at the Minimum Stats for Leaders page. Where a chart shows the statistical minimums a player needs to achieve to be listed among the league leaders at any given point in the season.
Navarro, in order to be eligible as a Free-Throw League Leader after 23 games, needs at least 35 free-throw attempts. At this moment, he has only attempted 33 free-throws. This explains why he does not appear in the list. However, I said he ranks 9th in free-throw percentage. How is that possible? It's because he is a rookie, and the minimums for NBA rookie leaders are half of the overall-requirement.
By the way, on Saturday Memphis (7-16) won to Orlando (17-8) 123-119. Navarro played as starter again and LED Memphis again, this time with 27 points (5-11 from 3-pt range and 8-8 from the free-throw line) in 40 minutes and a marvelous 4th quarter. He also dished-out four assists.
PS: I know that Rudy Gay scored a career-high 32 points on Saturday night, but it was Navarro who decided the game with his fourth and fifth 3-pointers, with 2:58 and 0:45,6 left to the end of the game, respectively.
There are some people who say that Heikken Kovalainen (26!!) was fired from Renault by Fernando Alonso (26). They say that Fernando doesn't want another Lewis Hamilton (22) by his side. I don't think so.
First of all, I think that Flavio Briatore decided to promote rookie Nelsinho Piquet (22) to take Fisichella's drive some time ago, even before the McLaren-Alonso's (Ron Dennis-Alonso's?) affair . Fisico is thirty-four years old, and Briatore already said in Sept. 2006 that he prefers new blood.
"With Fernando leaving we looked away and felt we needed new blood (meaning Heikki Kovalainen) to beat what exists in Formula One"
Second of all, if you have the chance of hiring the best driver/racer (Fernando) now, go for it. Of course, someone (Heikki?) should be fired.
Third, is not Nelsinho Piquet more like to Lewis Hamilton than Heikki Kovalainen? Nelsinho is a 22 years-old rookie who comes from GP2. Heikki is a 26 years-old sophomore.
Finally, why fire Heikki? Why promote Nelsinho? Maybe, the salary. Maybe, the age. Maybe, the agreements between Briatore and Nelson Piquet (father).
Anyway, Heikki or Nelsinho is the same for Flavio, because he will never do what Ron Dennis did. He will never loose a championship because a rookie (or sophomore) thinks that he is equal to a double F1 world champion.
PS: Why Ron Dennis hired FA? I though to win the championship after 8 years. Well done Ron.
- Anxious to see the R28 in action
- Anxious to see Fernando Alonso in action driving the R28
- Anxious for the twenty-second of January, for the three-day test at the Spanish circuit of Valencia
- Anxious to know about the competitiveness of the R28
- Anxious to check the FA's capacity to make a good car, to see how good he can be
- Anxious to eat chips and drink beer while watching the first race
- Anxious for the sixteenth of March in Melbourne, for the first race of the 2008 F1 season
Someone could think what Navarro is doing in his first season in NBA it is not praiseworthy. In my opinion, that someone is totally wrong, because he does not take into account several things. For example:
- Navarro come from other country, from different culture, with his wife and his two daughters. They need to get used to their new surroundings, to a new language (they do not speak English yet).
- He is not used to playing four games in just one week, sometimes two games on two consecutive days, sometimes the second one is located 800 miles far from the first one.
- At 6' 3" and170 lbs., he has not got the prototypical size and athleticism for an NBA shooting guard (6' 6",195 lbs).
- He is not used to playing as a substitute, to playing 20 minutes per game.
- Not to mention, the distance of the three-point line; between 22 feet (6.71 m) and 23 feet, 9 inches (7.23 m) from the basket, instead of the classic 20 feet, 6 inches (6.25 meters). Well, maybe this is not a good example (currently, he ranks 2nd in the NBA in Three-Point Field Goals Per 48 Minutes).
I believe strongly that what Navarro is doing is excellent. Even after the two last games, where he has scored only two points per game, and he has played only 13 and 12 minutes respectively.
By the way, Navarro currently ranks 4th in the NBA Rookie Ranking - Week 5 and 5th in the Sports Illustrated one. I'm happy and sad at the same time. Happy, because many people like to watch Juan Carlos Navarro playing basketball, independently of his stats. Sad, because after playing seven very good games in a row, Navarro has played two very bad games.
If you have kids, Pocoyo TV series should be in your in DVD library. We have a 16 months old daughter, a pre-schooler who LOVES Pocoyo. Well, she loves Pocoyo, and his best friends: Pato -the shy yellow duck-, Elly -the large graceful pink elephant- and Loula -the Pocoyo's puppy-. You can see all of them in the picture above.
To be honest, I love Pocoyo as well. When I saw Pocoyo for the first time I fell in love with him. It was not only its amazing high quality 3D graphics, or its nice and funny characters, or its catchy melodies, or the simply wonderful white backgrounds, or the way how my daughter says PATOOO or how she imitates Pocoyo's laughing ... well, the truth is that everything is fantastic in this animated series, even the episode length, 7 minutes.
The Pocoyo TV series were created by the Spanish producer Zinkia Entertainment. These guys have done, and are doing, a great job. They not only make an excellent TV show, they also make an exquisite website and a very interesting blog.
The Zinkia guys have produced two series each of 52 episodes, and they are not planning doing Pocoyo´s 3rd season by the moment. They believe that it's time to develop different contents as, for instance the Pocoyo's movie. We wait anxiously for it.
You know I read everything I can about Juan Carlos Navarro. Here there are some nice articles about him (please, read carefully the comments as well).It looks as if they're starting to know JC very well.
Casey Stoner won the 2007 MotoGP World Championship scoring 367pts (81,55%) and 10 wins. Obviously, the season was amazing for him. Congratulations Casey. However, how was it possible? How was it possible for Roller Stoner not to crash during this season?
I remember when Stoner crashed six times (33,33%) in the MotoGP 2006 season. Of course, I know, he rode on the prodigious 800cc Desmosedici GP07. Of course, I know, he rode on the incredible Bridgestone tires. But (until now), I didn't understand why he didn't crash.
On Saturday, I read something on the news about the 2007 MotoGP bikes. It was a comment from the seven-times world champion Valentino Rossi.
"Now, to get the pole, to win, you have to believe blindly in these bikes, you have to trust them. You drive the bike into the bend at 150 km/h, twist your wrist, keep the throttle open wide and trust that the bike drive you out of the bend. If you don't trust her, you don't get the pole. It's not very natural, it's true, but it works"
Well, then that's it, that's the answer. Stoner is the same guy, he hasn't change his driving. The difference is the bike. The engine capacity of MotoGP bikes was reduced from 990cc to 800cc, and the traction control was improved. And this was perfect for Casey, it was he needed to win.
Stoner and his unnatural way to ride win championships with the current traction control, without it they crash.
