Welcome to the home of Noah Brier. I'm the co-founder of Variance and general internet tinkerer. Most of my writing these days is happening over at Why is this interesting?, a daily email full of interesting stuff. This site has been around since 2004. Feel free to get in touch. Good places to get started are my Framework of the Day posts or my favorite books and podcasts. Get in touch.

You can subscribe to this site via RSS (the humanity!) or .

Melo?

This is a bit different than the normal fare around here, but thought it was worth sharing. The big news around NYC today is that Carmelo Anthony is coming to town as part of a giant trade. But before everyone gets too excited, my favorite basketball statisticians rain on the parade a bit:

That being said, should the Knicks fans expect this team to become a title contender?  Although members of the media might think so, Melo is simply not that productive.  Yes, he can play very well over short periods of time (he was doing very well early in the season).  But as time progresses, Melo seems to regress to the somewhat above average performer we have always seen.  In other words, the Knicks have not acquired LeBron James tonight.  What they have acquired is a player who is just a little bit more productive than Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari.  As for the other parts in the trade…

At least it’s worth watching the Knicks again, though. That’s something.

February 22, 2011