Player Profile: Jesse Holley

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-cowboys/headlines/20110224-sturm_s-cowboys-analysis-jesse-holley-is-a-special-spine.ece


Jesse Holley
Position: Wide Receiver
Size: 6'2, 213
Age: 27, 1/8/84
College: North Carolina
Drafted: Undrafted in 2007
Experience: 1 Season

Salary History and Contract Status - 2011: Exclusive Rights Free Agent

2007 Draft Profile: Tied for 34th rated WR in 2007 - Jesse Holley - North Carolina - 6'2 - 205 - 4.69 - To show you how far off the map Holley was in the 2007 NFL Draft, Ourlads.com did not write a scouting profile of Holley. This is particularly remarkable given that exhaustive guide generally writes profiles for everyone that is anywhere close to being drafted. To further demonstrate his issues, he only lasted 5 weeks on Cincinnati's practice squad and 1 preseason game in the Canadian Football League before the BC Lions decided they did not need to see more. To say he was a fringe prospect would be a disservice to fringe prospects.

Pre-2010: You could certainly make the case that Holley's road to the NFL is among the oddest routes we can recall. The reason is that to the best of anyone's knowledge, nobody else has ever "won" a chance to tryout on a reality television show. But, in the spring of 2009, Michael Irvin had a short-lived reality TV show on Spike TV called, "4th and Long" where Irvin put players through a series of competitions and drills to "find Jerry Jones a player". At the time, the show was seen as a mockery of the player evaluation system in the NFL and a bit of an insult to Jerry's scouting department. Regardless, Holley emerged in this reality show as the winner, and was therefore sent to training camp. The debate was whether he was just a camp body, a roster candidate, or a circus sideshow. Whatever the case, Holley did not distinguish nor embarrass himself in the 2009 Cowboys' training camp and blended right in. He was released, and then signed to the Cowboys practice squad and remained there for the 2009 season.

2010: Again in 2010, Holley went through training camp with the Cowboys and again did not make the team out of training camp. Just like 2009, he was then put on the practice squad and continued to work hard and learn the game. Meanwhile, on October 10th, Marc Mariani and the Titans put together a day that caused the Cowboys to take a hard look at the coverage special teams situation very carefully. There were some players that were thought to be very poor special teams players and the Cowboys sought replacements in a hurry. This was Holley's chance. In his first game on the coverage units, Percy Harvin ran back a 92-yard return for a Touchdown, but over the last 12 games of the season, Holley was active every game and was a heavy contributor on all four special teams. The highlight of his year was a strip of Reggie Bush on a punt return on Thanksgiving Day that turned into a very big takeaway. As a WR, He played 11 offensive snaps in 2010 (5 in Green Bay and 6 in Arizona) and did not have a ball thrown his direction.

2011 Analysis: A great story of perseverance and staying after your goals, Holley enters next year as one of the regulars on special teams. Every team needs a spine on those units, and after Sam Hurd, Barry Church, and Danny McCray, Holley is there with Leon Williams as players who are bit older than usual for this job but seem quite capable and willing to stay in the NFL by throwing their bodies around the field on return and coverage units. These are the decisions that a team has to make: do your 4th and 5th Wide Receivers need to be a special teams standouts (Holley and Hurd) or developmental WRs (Manuel Johnson and Kevin Ogletree)? Again, you would prefer that you could find prospects who could do both, but so far it seems the Cowboys have players in distinct categories. Assuming that the Cowboys realize that they cannot afford to be reckless with their special teams after the way last season started, I would think Holley is penciled in as a player who they can count on to make sure Mariani and Harvin-type plays do not repeat themselves in 2011.

Previous Profiles:
Doug Free
Marc Colombo
Sam Young
Alex Barron
DeMarcus Ware
Anthony Spencer
Victor Butler
Brandon Williams
Jason Witten
Martellus Bennett
John Phillips
Bradie James
Keith Brooking
Sean Lee
Leon Williams
Sam Hurd
Roy Williams
Miles Austin
Dez Bryant
Kevin Ogletree

BaD Radio - Recap - 2/23/11

Wednesday 2/23/11

Episode: 2878

Location: Studio

The Mix: “Package!” – Dan.

The Open: “If you’ve had sex with anyone other than yourself in the last 10 years, you need to get yourself tested.” During the Black Guy Roundtable with the Musers this morning, Bob was voted the most “brother-friendly” on air personality at the Ticket. When getting back in touch with an old high school friend – a friend that has since changed their name – do you call them by the name you knew them as or their new name? Mayor Leppert has resigned to run for the Senate; that leaves the Ticket’s own “Key to the City-give Mayor Pro-Tem” as the Mayor. He loves children and the future.

12:40 – NBA Trades: Tomorrow is the trade deadline, and with that, Mavs rumors start floating around. Devin Harris was rumored to be part of a deal between the Mavs and the Nets; it turns out that the Nets trade Derrick Favors (#3 overall last year), two 1^st Round picks and Devin Harris to Utah for point guard Derron Williams. This makes two times that Devin Harris has been traded from an Avery Johnson coached team. Yet, Avery still says that he loves Devin Harris. I call bullsh.

12:55 – Steve Ott: Well where do we start. Steve thinks that the team did a lot of things right in last night’s 1-0 loss, except score a goal. He is very high on the addition of Goligoski calling him a left-handed Zubov. Fatigue has somewhat set in with all the injuries that have accumulated.

1:20 – TiVo Talk: The Grammy’s were the top rated show last week followed by two episodes of American Idol. Would you rather watch the Oscars or the Grammy’s? James Franco and Anne Hathaway will be hosting the Oscars this year. Dan has been getting a lot of emails about the A&E show Beyond Scared Straight, I couldn’t get the audio but here is a transcript of the scene.

Inmate: You know why they call this the 'Shakedown' Room?
Bad Children: ...
Inmate: It's because that's the room where they search you before you can see any visitors, and before you leave any visitors. Do you have any idea what they do to you in there?
Bad Children: ...
Inmate: (Yelling) YOU SPREAD YO CHEEKS AN LIFT YO SACK AND ANOTHER MAN INSPECTS YO BUTTHOLE. HOW DOES THAT SOUND? ANOTHER MAN LOOKIN IN YO BUTTHOLE? YOU WANT THAT? THEN SHAPE THE F*** UP!

1:40 – More TiVo: The recent discovery of Arrested Development by the Musers’ Junior Miller has made Bob consider whether or not Arrested Development deserves to be on the top tier of TV Shows – joining The Wire, The Shield, The Sopranos and Breaking Bad. In my humble but most accurate opinion, it is the best sitcom of all time. Too bad it was too far ahead of its time.

2:00 – Aggressniff: There are two new additions to the “Aggressniff Hall of Fame”. Listen to the segment here. Thanks to The UnTicket for the audio.

2:20 – NFL Talk: With the NFL Combine starting tomorrow, Bob jumps into some Cam Newton talk. Cam Newton said, “I don’t just see myself as a football player but also as an entertainer and an icon”. That attitude could be a red flag to some NFL teams. He is being compared to JaMarcus Russell but other than being black and from the SEC, that comparison does not hold much water. Could you make that case that his success, despite all the controversy around him, might bode well for the NFL? At the end of the season he was projected in the 3^rd round; now it’s being thrown around that the Redskins at #11 are interested in taking him. NFL personnel legend Gil Brandt has said that it would not surprise him if Cam went #1 overall. Interesting. Of the top 8 draft teams, only Cleveland (with Colt McCoy) is not in the market for a quarterback.

2:45 – Quick Hits: Dan feels that 127 Hours and Black Swan were a little better than The King’s Speech. In talking about TV and Oscars with Tim Cowlishaw at the Stars game, Bob found out that he’s seen all 10 Best Picture nominees. When it comes to the Oscars, does Best Picture always mean the Best Movie or is it more of an artsy, back-story, feel good pick? Last 10 Best Picture winners: The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for No Men, The Departed, Crash, Million Dollar Baby, Lord of the Rings, Chicago, A Beautiful Mind and Gladiator (yeah he is).

3:00 – WTDS: On this day in 1836, the siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas and Bob Knight threw a chair in 1985. Happy Birthday to Fred Belitnitkoff, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Jackie Smith, Aziz Ansari, Dakota Fanning, Peter Fonda, Marc Price, Brad Whitford and Johnny Winter. Today’s spares are Pat Barnes, Greg Hill, John Shelby and Steve Stricker. RIP W.E.B. Dubois and John Quincy Adams.

Listen to BaD Radio everyday from 12 – 3pm on Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket. I do, and I has opulence.

Wes Bullard

Player Profile: Kevin Ogletree

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-cowboys/headlines/20110223-sturm_s-cowboys-analysis-ogletree-has-more-speed-than-security.ece


Kevin Ogletree
Position: Wide Receiver
Size: 6'1, 196
Age: 23, 8/5/87
College: Virginia
Drafted: Undrafted in 2009
Experience: 2 Seasons

Salary History and Contract Status - 2011: $480,000, 2012: Restricted Free Agent

2009 Draft Profile From Ourlads.com:18th rated WR in 2009 - Kevin Ogletree - Virginia - 6'0 - 196 - 4.40 - Junior entry. Two-year starter. Good athlete with rare speed. Team's leading receiver. Good body control. Can improve his route running. May not play as fast as timed. Majored in under and crossing routes as a role player in the Cavs offense. No hold up on the line. Uses his quickness against jam coverage. Good lateral quickness. Gets back on his route if he's jammed inside. Catches the ball into his body as much as he catches it in his hands. Played with an inconsistent QB in 2008 which may be part of the problem. Has made the difficult catch. Average run after catch ability. Good football intelligence. Can find the open spots in zone and make on the field route adjustments. Already graduated from Virginia. Willing to inline block. Good effort on downfield blocking. Good worker. Slender build with an injury history. Tore his anterior cruciate ligament as a junior. Fourth/Fifth Round.

Pre-2010: The darling of the 2009 training camp, there was much rejoicing among observers of the team that Kevin Ogletree made the final 53-man roster for the Cowboys his rookie season. As he was brought more and more up to speed, the Cowboys attempted to use his rare skills in a special package that was unveiled with 2 giant WR screen passes at Philadelphia in Week 9 of 2009. He then emerged again as a big contributor in the Wild Card win against the Eagles as it became rather obvious that Jason Garrett wanted to back off the Eagles blitz packages with some quick-out passes. And at the time, the best player for the job was this undrafted Free Agent rookie from Virginia. There was reason to believe that the Cowboys may have hit on yet another undrafted WR who can contribute for the squad.

2010: This season, Ogletree ran into the far more difficult times. First, he had an uneven training camp that did not get things going in the right direction. But, after Patrick Crayton was moved, he was thought to be the main beneficiary. However, in Week 5, Ogletree and Alan Ball were blamed for a kickoff coverage busts that Marc Mariani took to their side of the field in a crucial return late in the Tennessee game. That led to his healthy scratch in 7 consecutive games, a mark that obviously had everyone seeing his spot on the roster in full jeopardy. Dressed in Week 13 at Indianapolis, he seemed ready to enjoy some of the benefits of Dez Bryant's injury, but he think quickly suffered a toe injury of his own that had him put on Injured Reserve after the Philadelphia game in Week 14. It was just one of those years.

2011 Analysis: The Cowboys really want him to succeed. He has 4.4 speed, which is the best in the group of Wide Receivers and the toughest reason to every say goodbye. The trouble is, he appears to be rather risky on special teams so he has to be able to really help the offense. So far, his only route that seems to be effective is the quick bubble screen. And that 1-trick will not be enough. If the Cowboys could combine the special teams ability of Jesse Holley and the pass catching potential of Ogletree, they would feel great about the situation. But, as it stands, it will be up to the management to see if they want to keep Roy Williams and Sam Hurd around. If they do, Ogletree's spot is in great danger. But, if those cost-cutting moves are made, Ogletree will have a great chance to step up and grab the #3 WR spot in camp. Developmental players take time, but this 2011 season is going to be a big one for the "toolsy" player from Virginia.

Previous Profiles:
Doug Free
Marc Colombo
Sam Young
Alex Barron
DeMarcus Ware
Anthony Spencer
Victor Butler
Brandon Williams
Jason Witten
Martellus Bennett
John Phillips
Bradie James
Keith Brooking
Sean Lee
Leon Williams
Sam Hurd
Roy Williams
Miles Austin
Dez Bryant

Special Teams Report - Part 1

http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/02/bob-sturm-sean-lee-sam-hurd-im.html

On Today's Entry, I wanted to research who is a major contributor to special teams and who is not. This is actually a bit of a painstaking process because they do not make this information available anywhere in the NFL at this point. The only way to find out who is on the field and who is not on a given special teams unit is to watch carefully and take notes.

That makes these findings somewhat unofficial because TV does not always provide enough shots to insure complete accuracy. But, we do the best we can.

The first thing I want to do is select 4 different games for our sample size (I had to complete this in 1 morning, so I was not going to go through 16 game tapes).

Because special teams change from week to week because of injuries or roster transactions, I thought 4 games would give us a decent representation of the season and let us know which players on this roster are major contributors to Joe DeCamillis and his group and which players are just stop gaps.

So, I selected Week 1 (At Wash), Week 7 (Vs NYG), Week 11 (Vs Det), and Week 14 (Vs Phil). I did not want to use anything after the Philadelphia game because at that point injuries had taken quite a toll and would mislead us about who DeCamillis prefers and who he had to settle for at that juncture of the season.

Kickoff Coverage Units

In 2010, the Cowboys kickoff coverage unit rated 27th in the NFL, allowing 24.3 yards per return. They allowed 2 kickoff returns of over 50 yards, including a killer bust in coverage against the Titans that likely cost them the game. Here are the players who were on the kickoff coverage units in the 4 weeks where we tracked this closely.

Week 1	Week 7	Week 11	Week 14
17-Hurd	17-Hurd	17-Hurd	17-Hurd
27-Owusu-Ansah	27-Owusu Ansah	37-McCann	37-McCann
36-Hamlin	42-Church	42-Church	42-Church
40-McCray	40-McCray	40-McCray	40-McCray
50-Lee	50-Lee	50-Lee	32-Scandrick
57-Butler	57-Butler	57-Butler	59-B Williams
32-Scandrick	32-Scandrick	52-L Williams	52-L Williams
34-Anderson	59-B Williams	20-Ball	36-Sendejo
43-Sensabaugh	43-Sensabaugh	43-Sensabaugh	85-Ogletree
85-Ogletree	16-Holley	16-Holley	16-Holley
18-Buehler	18-Buehler	18-Buehler	18-Buehler

HTML Tables

Obviously, there are injuries to consider, but I find it very interesting that the Cowboys only had 3 players who were 4 for 4 in our study here. Sam Hurd, Danny McCray, and David Buehler. Other than that, they were continuing to shuffle the deck all season long to try to find the right mix. Barry Church and Jesse Holley were quickly declared regulars as well once the season got going.

Punt Coverage Units

Dallas had the 3rd best punt coverage unit in the NFL this season, with a coverage unit that only conceding 6.2 yards per return. The NFL average is 9.6 a return, and only the Bengals and Titans did better. The long punt return of the season that the Cowboys allowed was 16 yards - only the Jaguars have a better mark there (their long was 13 yards). Certainly, nothing to complain about with this group. Let's see who was on the field for Cowboys punts:

Week 1	Week 7	Week 11	Week 14
17-Hurd	17-Hurd	17-Hurd	17-Hurd
27-Owusu-Ansah	27-Owusu-Ansah	37-McCann	85-Ogletree
36-Hamlin	16-Holley	16-Holley	16-Holley
40-McCray	40-McCray	40-McCray	40-McCray
50-Lee	50-Lee	50-Lee	50-Lee
57-Butler	57-Butler	57-Butler	52 L-Williams
59-B Williams	59-B Williams	52-L Williams	59-B Williams
34-Anderson	86-Chandler	86-Chandler	83-Rucker
44-Gronkowski	42-Church	42-Church	42-Church
91-Ladoucer	91-Ladoucer	91-Ladoucer	91-Ladoucer
1-McBriar	1-McBriar	1-McBriar	1-McBriar

HTML Tables

Perfect attendance again for Hurd, McCray, Sean Lee, LP Ladoucer, and Mat McBriar. Also, Holley and Church were added in the final 3 groups. The back-up LBs were rotated and the 3rd TE/FB position filled the rest of the group.

Tomorrow, we look close at who was on the return teams. By then, we will have a real good feel for who are vital special team contributors and who are not.

BaD Radio - Recap - 2/22/11

Tuesday 2/22/11

Episode: 2877

Location: Studio

The Mix: “No.” – Rick Carlisle

The Open: AM Radio. Washington is the most common black surname out there. Thanks for that fact, Donovan Lewis-Washington. Argument ensues over whether or not McDonald’s fries or grills their burgers. Soooooo. Canada redux with a “Gay Not Gay” tinge: There is a Calgary radio show, hosted by Mike Richards, which started doing “Gay Not Gay” after he heard it on BaD Radio while visiting a friend in Dallas. While in Calgary, Bob and Dan sought to seek out Mike Richards; turns out he is no longer there. Bob saw on Canadian SportsCentre that they were doing a story on Mike Richards and his move from Calgary to become a host for TSN Radio. He refers to himself as the Howard Stern of sports radio. Prepare for an Anchorman-esque fight in the future. “This escalated quickly.”

12:35 – Carmelo Anthony Trade: Last night, word came down that the Knicks acquired ‘Melo from the Nuggets. Check out the details of the 14 player swap here. Denver was forced to make a deal or else lose ‘Melo to free agency in the summer; they did fairly well for themselves, compared to what happened to Cleveland and LeBron. New Jersey struck out on this deal and it’s starting to look like Jay-Z doesn’t have the appeal to players that most thought he would. Rumors are out there that last year Amare Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul got together and said they wanted to play together in New York. They’re 2/3 of the way there. That’s just the way basketball go these days. An NBA franchise tag could be added in the next CBA meetings; this is one way to keep the smaller markets alive.

1:00 – Gay Not Gay: Is it gay to post a plaster mold of a girl’s torso in her third trimester of pregnancy on Facebook? Yes it is, but it’s a girl. While going on a bike ride in Vancouver, Bob and Donovan were presented with 2 helmets, a purple and a pink one. Donovan immediately grabbed the purple helmet. Is it gay to plan the bike ride? Dan says yes. Sorry, Bob. Is it gay to text your buddy in the morning to make sure you’re not wearing the same color shirt? Yes. Is it gay to get a Miller Light airbrush tattoo on your wrist, while in a bar? Yes. Tom has one (a gay not gay, not an airbrush tattoo). While on the Stars plane, Tom saw a player wearing leopard print slippers while sleeping. No ruling. Is it gay to rock the silk boxers on a regular basis? They’re ok, on occasion.

1:15 – Dallas Stars Trade: Yesterday, the Stars made a trade that sent Matt Niskanen and James Neal to Pittsburgh for a puck moving defenseman, Alex Goligoski. Joe Nieuwendyk seems to be able to operate without raising a lot of eyebrows before the deal is done; also, it’s a good sign that the Stars, given their current ownership problems, are able to still make deals. James Neal needed to be moved and the Stars needed a guy who wasn’t making a ton of money; Goligoski fits the criteria, plus he’s only 25. Bob compares Niskanen to Bobby Carpenter; someone who has all the tools but seems to shy away from contact in a contact sport and gets “deer in the headlight” eyes.

1:40 – More Stars Talk: People who are very familiar with the Penguins say that Goligoski can come in and be a number one defenseman. At a national level, many believe that the Penguins pulled one over on Dallas by getting Niskanen thrown in the deal. Regardless, it’s too early to tell who the big winner in the trade is. The next question that Nieuwendyk and the front office are faced with is whether or not to sign Brad Richards or trade him to get a bunch of young talent. If you get an owner in here who is ready to build quick; re-sign Richards. There is really no reason for him to stay in Dallas if they don’t have an owner. Audio of the segment here.

2:00 – 127 Hours Review: Bob finally saw 127 Hours, the story of Aron Ralston who was trapped in the desert and was forced to cut his arm off. Directed by Danny Boyle, of Slumdog Millionaire fame, the fast paced cinematography and soundtrack make up for a story that is very straightforward and solitary. Check it out before Oscar time.

2:20 – News News News: Dan, like Bob, has a “Super Bowl” trick. He claims that he can name all 30 NBA coaches. And he can. *SNIFF*. Bryant McKinnie, Minnesota Vikings Tackle who is famous for orchestrating the “Love Boat”, is back in the news after spending $100K on an All-Star game party for his bar tab alone. Marquis Daniels hypothetical, anyone?

2:40 – Evan Grant from Surprise: CJ Wilson is going to be the Opening Day starter; it’s odd for the Rangers to have a defined opening day starter before exhibition games even start. Before spring training is over, Evan expects Nelson Cruz to get a big contract extension. Neftali Feliz as a starter; Evan believes that both Neftali and management want him to become a front line starter. He is going to have to show, like CJ Wilson did, that he can show command of his second and third pitches.

3:00 – WTDS: On this day in 1732, George Washington was born. Mike knew Washington would be President when he was born. In 1980, The Miracle of Ice happened. Happy Birthday to Gilbert Brown, Mark Chmura, Michael Chang, Dr. J, Vijay Singh, Brent Severyn, Frank Bonner, Drew Barrymore, Rachel Dratch and Kyle McLaughlin. Spares are Tommy Aaron, Chris Dudley, Adam Keefe, Aaron Gavey, Max Lang and Chet Walker. RIP to Sparky Anderson, Bugsy Segel and Reggie Roby.

Listen to BaD Radio everyday from 12 – 3pm on Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket. I do, and I has opulence.

Wes Bullard

BaD Radio - Recap - 2/21/11

Monday 2/21/11

Episode: 2876

Location: Studio

The Mix: FDR was President when Norm was born. He also tried to be a kicker for the San Antonio Lobos when he was younger. Norm definitely has a kicker’s body.

The Open: “If your sack were bursting with milk, wouldn’t you want to be milked in the morning?” Donovan’s experience with 2:00am lasagna on the Stars plane led to him Dutch Ovening himself as a courtesy to the rest of the passengers. The Stars lost the 3 games on the road trip, the last thing they needed was Donovan waging biological warfare on the plane.

12:35 – Rangers Spring Training: Julio Borbon is going into this spring as the starting center fielder, with Josh Hamilton moving to left field. It’s an interesting statement, what would it have hurt to just say that he’s going to have an opportunity to win the spot in spring training. Where does this leave David Murphy, a proven value to the franchise? The important thing here is that Josh Hamilton won’t be in center field. David Murphy will get his chances.

12:55 – Michael Young Talk: Some comments from Michael Young’s press conference Saturday. Now that he’s in spring training, he will not discuss anything trade related. He says that Nolan is aware of his feelings; it appears that Mike has no desire to talk to Jon Daniels. Mike also goes on to say that while he is in spring training he doesn’t want to talk about anything that will distract or keep his teammates from getting better. It doesn’t seem that Mike respects Jon Daniels; they’re roughly the same age, Young has been here longer than JD and JD never played pro baseball.

1:20 – News: Germany is trying to raise $165 million to renovate Auschwitz. There is a new app out, Smuggle Truck: Operation Immigration, that allows players to drive across the Texas/Mexico border; the goal is to smuggle as many immigrants across the border. It’s like Oregon Trail; except you’re smuggling Mexicans across the border.

1:40 – NBA All-Star Game: Justin Bieber won the MVP of the Celebrity Game; it was fan vote via text… The Dunk Contest, over the past 3 years, has experienced resurgence; creativity coupled with pure young athleticism has been the reason behind the showcase of All-Star Weekend. Then the All-Star game happened. LeBron and Kobe showed more intensity in the 4^th quarter than they have all year. The West won and Kobe won his 4^th MVP award; LeBron had a triple-double. The real drama – so to speak – was the battle of alpha dogs between Kobe and LeBron.

2:00 – Carmelo Anthony Talk: With the NBA trade deadline readily approaching, Carmelo Anthony is the big name looking to be traded. The NBA is pretty the only league that has players being so bold and so blatant about what they want and where they want to go when it comes to trades. This Carmelo Anthony situation is a prime example of that. The fear of any league is that big name players end up wanting to go to 5 or 6 teams and that’s it. Because Denver knows that Carmelo will not return in free agency, they have to trade him now and get something in return or he’ll leave in the summer with the Nuggets getting nothing in return.

2:20 – Some Audio: Former 76ers guard turned broadcaster, Eric Snow, struggled to stay awake during a Sixers game versus the Houston Rockets last week. Comcast has removed the video from YouTube but lucky for you I found the video here.

2:35 – Movie Buzz: Bob and Dan had a task to finish all of the Best Picture Oscar Nominees; they both have six. Regarding The Fighter, Bob thought it was better than he anticipated, but like with all boxing movies, the fight scenes didn’t do it for him. Dan wasn’t aware that this was a true story until the ending credits. In 127 Hours, Dan thought that James Franco looked like Ian Kinsler for a majority of the movie and it had a great soundtrack. It’s a shame that Christopher Nolan did not get a nomination for Best Director for his masterpiece, Inception. The Social Network fun fact, one actor played both of the Winklevoss Twins. “Don’t the Oscars go for the best gay movie?” – Bob.

3:00 – WTDS: The Stars have traded James Neal and Matt Niskanen to Pittsburgh for Alex Goligoski. Today is President’s Day. Happy Birthday to Tony Meola, Terry Mickens, Jack Ramsey, Brian Ralston, Jake Steinfeld (Body by Jake), Ryan Smith, Alan Trammell, Billy Baldwin, Tyne Daly, Anthony Daniels, David Geffen, Kelsey Grammer, Jennifer Love-Hewitt and Ellen Page. One spare, Terry Allen.

Listen to BaD Radio everyday from 12 – 3pm on Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket. I do, and I has opulence.

Wes Bullard

Mav-elous First Half

OK, my dreams are coming true. A long, long time ago, I wanted to figure out if this statistic in my head had any sort of use. ADS seems to make sense between my ears, but let's see if it actually makes any sense to anybody.

What is ADS? Read the FAQ and find out.

But the first thing that had to be done was to test it and see what it told us. Does it hold any water? Does it tell us anything worth knowing?

Data had to be collected for us to know what it was worth. For instance, if Dirk has a ADS night of "15", we had to know what "normal" was. And thanks to several fine young interns, we can actually now look at data from the first 56 games.

So, the team number for the season so far is 13.5 and their opponent is 12.4. Those numbers all make sense. Obviously - and before you dismiss all of this - I concede that different players have the ability to make shots more than others.

At the very least, we can judge a player against himself. If Dirk normally gets 14 footers on average, but against a stiff opponent he is shooting 18 footers all night, then we can assume it is tougher to get the same types of shots off of this defender or this team.

Also, if an opponent normally would get 10 footers, but against Jason Kidd he is getting 6 footers, we know that Kidd cannot keep him from driving. And so on..

So here are the numbers for each player as well as "ADS+" and the total number of shots this season so far.

Not many surprises, but rather the confirmation of what we assumed all along. Barea gets to the rim so much that his perimeter shooting does not bother me. On the other hand, Kidd never gets to the rim, so his perimeter shooting is all he has at this point of his career.

Brian Cardinal has the worst rating? Who knew?

Tyson Chandler has nearly the best and with all of the shots he takes, you can see his value to bringing the entire team's ratings down.

Now, all future game readouts can be compared to the season numbers to see if this was a particularly normal game, an exceptional one, or a disappointing effort.

Feel free to comment below your thoughts.

Mavericks First Half 10'-11' FGA ADS ADS+ Haywood 154 3 2.6 Chandler 292 3.5 3 Mahinmi 58 5.2 4 Marion 545 7 6.6 Jones 45 9.7 8.7 Beaubois 23 11.6 11.6 Barea 439 11.7 10.8 Nowitzki 737 14.4 13.1 Butler 378 14.9 13.6 Terry 780 16.1 15.2 Stojakovic 50 19.5 18.1 Kidd 281 20.2 19.7 Stevenson 276 20.9 19.8 Cardinal 73 22 20.9 Team Total 4,131 13.46 12.35

Former Mavericks 10'-11' FGA ADS ADS+ Ajinca 32 14.7 14.2 Pavlovic 35 17.3 16.4 Novak 8 22.8 22.8 Team Total 75 18.3 17.8 Opp. First Half 10'-11' Season ADS ADS+ Total 12.41 1.38