men or versatile wings. Just as remarkably, Serge Ibaka, Durant and Adams all placed in the top five in DRAY. The strength of the Thunder defense wasnt just their length, Nat

Cronulla captain Paul Gallen cant see Sharks teammate Valentine Holmes making it in the NFL and suspects his cross-code dalliance is a ploy to bump up his NRL value.Holmes and North Queenslands 2016 Dally M Medallist Jason Taumalolo will participate in NFL trials in Los Angeles.The pair flew to the US together from London on Monday after clashing in the Four Nations final between Australia and New Zealand.Both are committed to their NRL clubs in 2017 and the trials on Saturday are seen as little more than a chance to test their wares and impress NFL scouts with their athletic ability.Gallen isnt questioning Holmes talents, but doubts his premiership-winning Sharks teammate could make it after Jarryd Hayne struggled to fully convince the San Francisco 49ers that he could.Do I think Val can make it? At this stage no, Gallen said on Triple Ms Rush Hour.I dont know enough about that game but Vals upper body I dont think will be big enough to play that game.Hes certainly got big strong legs and hes an unbelievable athlete but I saw what Jarryd Hayne did over there.Jarryd Hayne went very well obviously but Haynsey is a much bigger man and much more athletic.I think if you give Val another couple of years to fill out and develop and grow as a man, then maybe he could go and do it, but at this stage I couldnt see him making it.Both Holmes and Taumalolo are believed to be deep into negotiations to remain with their NRL clubs beyond the end of the 2017 season.I think itll be a great opportunity for them but I cant help but think this is a bit of a ploy to say look these blokes have options, Gallen said of the trials midway through the NFL season.They both have the same manager and they are both going to be certainly in the top five players off contract next year. Nike Air Max Günstig Kaufen . Defenceman Yannick Weber scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Canucks breathed a sigh of relief with a 2-1 win on Saturday night. Großhandel Nike Air Max . Vokoun departed practice on Saturday morning after discovering swelling in his thigh. He was taken to a local hospital where the clot was revealed. The club announced the surgery following a 5-3 exhibition loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. http://www.airmaxschweiz.ch/ . Mats Zuccarello and Derek Stepan scored shootout goals, and backup goalie Cam Talbot earned his second win in two nights as the Rangers shook off a late tying tally and beat the Maple Leafs 2-1 Monday night. Nike Air Max Outlet Schweiz . Sulaiman, 44, was chosen unanimously Tuesday in a vote by the leadership, the World Boxing Council said. Sulaiman becomes the sixth president of the organization. Air Max Schweiz . Q: Team Canada announces their Olympic roster three weeks from today. Who is general manager Steve Yzerman watching? LeBrun: Over the last 48 hours, hes taken in the home-and-home between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche with Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene being the obvious targets. This story appears in ESPN The Magazines November 14 Pain Issue. Subscribe today!LeBRON JAMES HUGGING the hardwood, sobbing with joy after winning Game 7 of last springs NBA Finals? Yes, very memorable. But for statheads, another postseason image endures. Its the sight of Steven Adams, the 7-foot Khal Drogo look-alike, switching with astonishing dexterity and cutting off Steph Curry and Klay Thompson time and again in the Western Conference finals. The big Kiwi and his Oklahoma City mates didnt quite manage to take down the Warriors. But by relentlessly switching with Kevin Durant and their bigs, the Thunder did become the first team to slow down the Golden State death machine.Indeed, OKC and Cleveland each showed that you need defensive versatility to counter Curry & Co.s fast tempo, relentless movement and perimeter shooting. Now researchers are beginning to measure that skill, and smart teams are hunting for players who embody it.While traditional defensive stats are limited to steals, blocks and rebounds, real-time tracking data allows us to more closely study the huge majority of plays that dont involve a change of possession. The NBA has been collecting such info at every game since 2013, and it provided it to the 210 students from across North America who participated in the leagues first hackathon, in New York in September. Among the five finalists in the competition, two teams used the material to devise important new ways of analyzing defensive versatility.Chris Jenness and Michael Wheelock of Rockefeller University looked at how many NBA defenders were able to hold opponents across various positions to effective field goal percentages of two points or more below average (minimum: 300 shots, 82 at any given position). They found that 26 percent of players, such as Houstons James Harden, cant defend even one position well. On the other hand, just under 10 percent of defenders are proficient against opponents at three or more positions. For instance, last year LeBron James held point guards to an eFG percentage of just 39 percent (versus a league average of 48 percent), shooting guards to 37 percent (versus 51 percent), small forwards to 42 percent (versus 53 percent) and power forwards to 45?percent (versus 49 percent). Thats simple but powerful evidence of his amazing versatility.Not so long ago, defenders who could lock down a single positioon had great value.dddddddddddd But formalities such as whether youre a shooting guard or a power forward matter less today, as players must be ready to race outside to contest any opponent on the perimeter. Thats where the work of Senthil Natarajan and Chris Pickard, two writers for Nylon Calculus, comes in. At the hackathon, they began by sorting players into statistical clusters based on 19 offensive metrics. Their analysis yielded five categories for describing scoring styles, whatever a players position, so that perimeter specialists included Kyle Korver as well as Channing Frye. Then they examined how efficiently players defended against opponents of each type. Adams, for example, ranked No. 1 in the NBA at defending skilled offensive bigs. Finally, they combined scores across categories to see how well players defended multiple styles.Team Nylon named its metric the defensive range adaptability score, or DRAY for short, a nod to the NBAs most versatile defender, Draymond Green. Uniquely, Green ranked first or second in limiting opponents scoring last season, whether he was facing 3-point specialists, skilled big men or versatile wings. Just as remarkably, Serge Ibaka, Durant and Adams all placed in the top five in DRAY. The strength of the Thunder defense wasnt just their length, Natarajan says, but the depth of their length and the amount of versatile defenders they could stack on the court. Unfortunately for OKC, Durant and Ibaka are gone now, and Victor Oladipo (49th in DRAY last season) and Ersan Ilyasova (166th) arent likely to handle the kind of switching the Warriors will force even more often now that they have KD.Looking for a team suited to battle the Warriors? Keep an eye on the Timberwolves, who won just 29 games last season but are building around versatility. Karl-Anthony Towns, a big man with superb mobility (36th in DRAY), could become one of the leagues true unicorns. And Andrew Wiggins (15th) and Zach LaVine (113th) have the length and speed to defend anyone. To be sure, they havent yet-but the group is young, and now Tom Thibodeau is in charge.While Durant vs. his old team might get the most buzz this season, the Warriors against Minnesotas young corps will be fun-and instructive-for years to come. ' ' '