It has been a quiet day in the basketball world. BUT, the NBA gossip is still prominent, well … ish.
BUCKS HIRE FACIAL CODING EXPERT
In an attempt to gain an advantage in player recruitment, the Milwaukee Bucks have hired a man that specialises in gaining facts from their facial expressions.
Strange, but true.
Via New York Times:
It was not enough to increase the franchise’s sales force or beef up the team’s analytics department — the Bucks were looking for a more elusive edge. So in May, the team hired Dan Hill, a facial coding expert who reads the faces of college prospects and N.B.A. players to determine if they have the right emotional attributes to help the Bucks.
The approach may sound like palm reading to some, but the Bucks were so impressed with Hill’s work before the 2014 draft that they retained him to analyze their players and team chemistry throughout this season.
“We spend quite a bit of time evaluating the players as basketball players and analytically,” said David Morway, Milwaukee’s assistant general manager, who works for the owners Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry. “But the difficult piece of the puzzle is the psychological side of it, and not only psychological, character and personality issues, but also team chemistry issues.”
Hill contends that faces betray our true emotions and can predict intentions, decisions and actions. He employs the psychologist Paul Ekman’s widely accepted FACS, or Facial Action Coding System, to decipher which of the 43 muscles in the face are working at any moment. Seven core emotions are identified: happiness, surprise, contempt, disgust, sadness, anger and fear.
BLATT ON VEREJAO: WE WILL MISS HIM
Cleveland Cavaliers’ Anderson Verejao is out for the season with a torn Achilles, as confirmed on Wednesday.
Cavs coach David Blatt knows what the Brazilian big man is going through as he has undergone the same injury and treatment before.
Via ESPN:
Cleveland coach David Blatt can relate to what Anderson Varejao is going through, because he also once went through the process of rehabilitating a torn Achilles.
“A tough injury,” Blatt said.
Tough would also describe the process that awaits the Cavaliers, who will be without their starting center and one of LeBron James’ closest confidants for the remainder of the season. Varejao was injured in Cleveland’s win over Minnesota on Tuesday night, falling to the court in obvious pain after positioning himself for a rebound in the third quarter.
And on Wednesday, the Cavs’ worst fears were officially confirmed.
“It’s a little tough talk about the impact of not having him, because this is the first game that we don’t,” Blatt said. “But I will say that obviously, we’re going to miss Andy. He’s a big part of our team as a player, as a personality. That’s part of sport and part of basketball, certainly. You have to deal with injuries and with guys going down.”
Kevin Love was listed as the starter in Varejao’s spot Thursday for the Cavaliers’ 101-91 loss to the Miami Heat in James’ return to the arena he called home for the past four seasons. Varejao’s departure will also mean more minutes for Tristan Thompson — who made 189 consecutive starts for Cleveland before this season began — and probably down low for James as well.
Regardless, it will challenge Cleveland’s depth, and the expectation is that the Cavaliers will seek to add another big man before long.
MJ TO KOBE: PASS THE MAILMAN
Kobe Bryant has passed Michael Jordan as the NBA’s third all-time leading scorer, now the legendary Chicago Bulls guard, turned owner of the Charlotte Hornets has told Kobe to go for the number two all-time crown, currently held by Karl Malone.
Bryant, who has 32,365 points is still a good 6,000+ points from the all-time leader in Kareem Abdul Jabbar, but is 4,000+ away from Malone, who has 36,928.
Via Chicago Tribune:
When Bryant passed Michael Jordan earlier this month to trail only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone on the all-time scoring list, Bryant said Jordan’s message to him was simple.
“‘Go get Karl,’ ” Bryant said. “The competitor never stops.”
Then Bryant grew reflective.
“It was more of a thankful feeling to Michael and the players who came before because I’ve learned so much from them,” he said. “And I don’t say that lightly. I’ve literally just stolen (stuff) from them — like spin moves and pull-ups. It’s not me passing these players. It’s us.”
