It's good to see that most of that talk has risen above the level of "this guy is a stupid idiot jerk," but it also seems like the biggest issue is that most people still can't wrap their minds around Shane Battier as a quality NBA player. Or Daryl Morey as having any kind of basketball sense.

For example, to complain that Morey must be dumb for trading Rudy Gay to get Battier is a willful disregard of the article's thesis. Yes, Gay is obviously the better basketball player, but ... Memphis stinks. They made the playoffs three straight years with Battier and are now on their way to three straight 60-loss seasons without him. Is that all Shane's fault? Probably not. But if anyone's judgment should be questioned here, it's probably not Morey's.

The most interesting point—and I may have misrepresented this in my post as well—is that it's not just about some complex, unknown formula that proves Shane Battier's worth. It's that no contribution matters, if it doesn't help the team win. Isn't the knock on the Kobe Bryant that he's selfish? That he scores thousands of points a season, but doesn't make his teammates better. So here's a player with obvious individual weaknesses, who does appear to make his team better and very few people seem to know how to quantify that. So how does he do it?

Yes, for an article that purports to examine statistics, there is very little math here. However, the Rockets aren't going to discuss their internal strategies with a journalist. And even if they did, the readers of the New York Times Magazine could not possibly care to read about it. You, the hoops loving junkie with NBA League Pass on your satellite dish, are the not the target audience of this article. It's meant to be understood and digested by many people who understand nothing about sports, but are maybe interested in science and non-conventional thinking. (i.e. eggheads who like proving people wrong.)

That's also why the article contains so many details of Battier's upbringing and racial tension. It's called "color" and it is what separates dry, boring articles from entertaining ones.

Yes, there is a lot going on here and the constant gear-changing can occasionally be disorienting for some, but that's a criticism of Lewis' writing, not his ideas. Does the article tell the whole story? Of course not. No single story could. But it's meant to introduce an unfamiliar (to most) concept, break it down, and make people think. On the last point, it has definitely accomplished its goal.

It may have even accomplished a more important goal from the Rockets' perspective: increasing Shane Battier's trade value. The way Morey talks about him in the magazine, you would think Battier was indispensable, but apparently he's so good that the Rockets now want to trade him. That's one way to make your team better!

—-—--

Oh, one other thing. Some people may have liked the article better when it was written the first time, over a year ago. I stumbled across this 2007 piece by Jason Friedman of the Houston Press that covers the exact same territory—Morey as stats genius—but obviously it didn't get as much attention without the names "Michael Lewis" and "New York Times" attached. I guess you won't see that play in the box score either.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Obama [Talking Point Free]
Statistics, Battier Are No Way to Stop Kobe | NBC Los Angeles [NBC LA]

From 2007
Rocket Science [Houston Press]
What the Box Score Data Says About Shane Battier [Wages Of Wins]

And from 2005:
Measure Of Success [SI]

If you didn't read it, here's the Cliff Notes:

• The Houston Rockets are the Oakland A's of basketball and GM Daryl Morey is their Billy Beane.

• They have quietly invented a whole new class of basketball statistics that the article will not share with you, because right now that is their biggest advantage over the rest of the league.

• Those statistics say that Shane Battier is the greatest player alive.

It is not surprising that Lewis would write an article about math nerds (Morey went to Northwestern and M.I.T.) changing the way players are evaluated, but it is sort of amusing to see Battier as its protagonist. He is slow, undersized for his position, can't dribble, can't shoot and is kind of a pathetic loner—facts that everyone already knew about him when he played at Duke. However, he spent four years there infuriating college basketball fans as the Dick Vitale brigade fawned over his "heart" and "hustle" and "determination"—universal code words for "the best white guy in the room." (Even though Shane's father is black.) The media proclaimed him the best back then, even as it was painfully obvious to everyone else that he was not. Yet, somehow his teams just kept winning. Now it turns out that he really was the best in the room.

Of course—before I get a letter from Joe Morgan's taller brother—if you read the story closely you can see that it is not actually arguing that Battier is better than Kobe Bryant. It is more simply that the strengths of his game (good defensive awareness, smart shot selection, and yes, hustle) are not measured by traditionally obvious statistics and—via the original corollary gleaned from "Moneyball"—those strengths are grossly underrated by most ball clubs. That's what most critics of Beane and the A's always missed. It's not about re-defining what's valuable—it's about finding value that others can't see.

On the other hand, last week Lewis also wrote a bizarre screed—which may an intentional joke—for Bloomberg arguing that the problem with Wall Street is actually a lack of greed and selfishness, so take his advice for what it's worth. However, this article is also partly a fascinating bio of Battier, a brief examination of race and playing styles, and a small glimpse behind the curtain at an NBA game. I highly suggest that you read it all yourself, if for no other reason than it may be the first shot in basketball's upcoming sabermetric war and you'll want to be well prepared.

Sorry, firebillwalton.blogspot.com was already taken.

The No-Stats All-Star [NY Times Magazine]

Think.
Think.
Think.

Hey, you're right ... it's Shane Battier! But you knew that.

But none of us knew the depths of it. The spunky kids at Yay!Sports have uncovered a most enjoyable feature on Battier's official site. You can get constantly refreshing bits of Battier Wisdom, nuggets like "I didn't always enjoy things as they were. Instead of slowing down sometimes and watching the sunset, I'd be worried about what time I had to get up the next morning" and "I like to play video games and cook some."

As Yay!Sports puts it, all athletes should have these. From Darius Miles: "I am so high right now. WOW."

Shaneisms [ShaneBattier.com] (via Yay!Sports)