Posts from the Jazz Category at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive NBA reporting to FanHouse. Check back here regularly for more videos.

In this video we ask Stanford star Brook Lopez about the NBA Draft. We also find out from Shaquille O'Neal, the number one pick of the 1992 draft, about his law enforcement career and his efforts to catch online predators. Also find out from Gilbert Arenas, a late second draft pick in 2001, what he would be doing if he was not an NBA All-Star. Around 1:45 into the video hear what Ira Newble, a long time NBA veteran, has to say about making to the NBA without being drafted.


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Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive NBA reporting to FanHouse. Check back here regularly for more videos.

In this video we talk to NBA MVP Kobe Bryant about gang warfare. We also follow up on a report we did a few weeks back on LAPD's Southwest gang unit and the mean streets of South Los Angeles. Around 2:25 into the video NBA star Baron Davis, who grew up in the area, tells us why he never joined a street gang.


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A little over a year ago, Wharton School professor Justin Wolfers published a controversial study which he felt proved that there was a racial component to the calls that NBA referees made on the court. The study claimed that "during the 13 seasons from 1991 through 2004, white referees called fouls at a greater rate against black players than against white players." The impact was said to be that "the probability of a team winning is noticeably affected by the racial composition of the refereeing crew assigned to the game."

David Stern (predictably) was not amused, and did his own study using the NBA's database of foul calls, which specifies which official made which call, and came to the conclusion that there was no bias. Wolfers' response? To prove the accuracy of his study by heading to Vegas to bet on the side of his statistics. And according to him, he was able to make some cash:

The Wharton professor took his statistics to Las Vegas - virtually - and bet on them. He calculated what would happen if you placed money on the outcome of NBA games solely on the racial makeup of the players and the referees.

What would happen, Wolfers reports, is that you'd turn a profit.

"Our estimate is that the outcome of up to 3 percent of all games would have been different with a different refereeing crew," Wolfers says. "Some people feel that 3 percent's not a lot. Some feel outraged that even that many games could be affected by something so arbitrary. But when you talk to team owners, if you could guarantee them another 3 percent of wins, they will tell you directly that's worth millions of dollars to them."

To most teams, three percent of an 82-game schedule -- which comes out to 2.46 games -- would have little impact on their season-ending result. But what if those games were playoff games, where the first team to win four moves on, on the loser goes home? That's a pretty significant number, and one the Wolfers feels the NBA needs to look at if it wants to maintain its competitive balance.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Bob Young, azcentral.com: Robert Horry's not the devil, but he might have made a deal with him.

2. With Malice: Time for Jerry Sloan and the Jazz to part ways?

3. Hardwood Paroxysm: Using Hot Spots to break down Spurs-Hornets.

4. Red's Army: Marginally creative headline, but sweet Paul Pierce video.

5. Cake Rocks the Party: "The Guide to Hating Your Spurs."

6. Deuce of Davenport: Winner of Best Headline for the "Dwyane Wade buys his mom a church" story.

A few common complaints from fans of the team that's playing the Lakers in the playoffs go something like this: The refs screwed us! The NBA is fixed! The league wants the big market team from Los Angeles to advance! This is not something unique to fans of the Jazz, they just happen to be the ones currently facing L.A. in a tight series, and their fans just happen to be the ones making this complaint at the moment.

What's different this time though is that finally, a writer from the team's home town tells the fans exactly how completely ridiculous these sentiments are. Gordon Monson, take it away:

To all the Jazz fans who are crying . . . and crying . . . and crying about the refereeing in the Jazz-Lakers playoff series, how about this idea: Give it a rest. It's old and it's tired and it's predictable and it's embarrassing and it's unfounded. Drop the persecution complex. Nobody's out to get you. David Stern is not a grand puppet-master. He's not Vince McMahon.

Since the end of Game 5 I've received complaints from at least a hundred fans about the Jazz getting jobbed in one form or another, or 30 anothers, by the refs. Most of those protestations blast straight past accusations of ineptitude on the part of a few refs, and claim rather that there's a conspiracy afoot, that the NBA wants the Lakers in the Finals, and the Jazz are an inconvenience that must be dealt with by way of a crooked whistle. C'mon, does anybody really believe that?

Amen, brother. Seriously, there isn't anything more annoying than hearing a team's fans blame the refs for losing. I heard a little of this after the Lakers took Game 5.