Stopwatch #2: Black History Month, Duke Deuce, & Analytics
This is the second edition of a monthly series that I’m doing called Stopwatch. Each month, I want to stop and take some time to share some stray thoughts about things I’ve been interested in. I’m planning to do about 3–5 topics every month so I hope you’ll enjoy.
Black History Month: How should we celebrate it?
The origins of Black History Month came from Carter G. Woodson who was a prominent black historian, journalist, and author. In 1915, he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) which was an organization dedicated to researching and promoting achievements by Black Americans and other people of African descent. In 1926, this group sponsored a national Negro History Week during the second week of February. The purpose of this event was to inspire schools and communities nationwide to organize local celebrations, establish history clubs and host performances and lectures centering Black culture.
After the work of many civil rights activists, Black History Month was officially recognized by the president in 1976 and has since been even further integrated into American culture. Unfortunately, at this point, I feel like Black History Month has been coopted by the state and the corporations who run this country. Don’t get me wrong, I think a lot of good things happen within Black History Month. I remember the joys of participating and witnessing Black history plays in church or at various events. Joy is imperative as we face this anti-Black world. The idea to look back at our history and celebrate and learn from our elders is a good and necessary thing.
However, to see corporations try to use Black History Month for profit has been disgusting. We see Apple launching an unnecessary Black history themed apple watch. Amazon celebrating Black History Month on its site but exploiting Black people’s labor. Politicians cherry picking quotes from Black revolutionaries and pacifying their message. The list goes on. It reminds me all too well of how all these corporations during the marches of last year put out their support for Black Lives Matter but have no significant change to show they believe that. I mean we had fucking Mitt Romney saying Black Lives Matter:
It was truly shameful to see them pander to Black people with no real material change behind their claims.
Therefore, I struggled so much with Black History Month this year. As I said before, it is inherently good to honor and learn from your ancestors. But, so many people don’t do it in good faith. In addition, there are some inherent issues of how we celebrate Black History Month.
At Hood Communist, they even have gone so far as to say “Fuck Black History Month”. I am probably too attached to my memories of Black History Month as a kid to go that far but they do make some salient points. The article outlined four key issues that they see with Black History Month: The Disappearance of Radical African Organizations, The Exclusion of Africa and The Diaspora, The Erasure of Non-Cis Male African Revolutionaries, and The Promotion of Neo-colonial Propaganda. I’m not going to just sit here and regurgitate their points but I do recommend giving it a read because I thought they made some incredibly strong arguments.
Ultimately, I do conclude that we need to reexamine how we celebrate. First, we should make a concerted effort to be learning about Black History EVERY month and not just the same individuals each year. Learning about a more diverse set of people and organizations can help us to grow our own thoughts and opinions and honor the multitude of Black people.
We should also stop lauding corporations for doing the bare minimum. I remember last year when people applauded the Toronto Raptors because they put “Black Lives Matter” on the side of their bus. That shit means nothing. We should not give praise to any corporations that do nothing to change the material conditions for Black people. Committing $100 million dollars doesn’t really mean shit if it isn’t going to the correct organizations and directly to the communities that are in the most need.
But, I do think Black History Month should be commemorated within our communities. We should still have celebrations together for our ancestors that have paved the way for us. Honor them but honor them with care and heed their whole messages.
Duke Deuce: Duke Nukem
Duke Deuce is the rapper from the video that has become one of the best memes:
I first listened to him when he dropped “Memphis Massacre 2” last year. It was great with standout tracks like “Fat Mac”, “BHZ”, and “Crunk Ain’t Dead”. Memphis rappers never disappoint me and I officially became a fan. So when I heard Duke was dropping “Duke Nukem”, I was excited. Overall, it didn’t hit as hard as “Memphis Massacre 2” did for me but there are some highs that I wanted to point out:
INTRO: COMING OUT HARD
“Now it’s the Fat Mac, Memphis back, back up on them fuckin tracks. Coming out hard on you b******, how you love that,” Deuce raps and yessir he did come out hard. The energy and flow on the track is so hard (sorry to keep using this but it is the best descriptor for it) and I love it. When it came on in the whip, I had to turn it up as loud as I could go without busting my speakers.
“Hit’em with the moves, they laughing at my weight. I’m the main fat nigga laughing to the bank. I’m sharper than a shank, I know that’s hard for them to take. One hit wonder, huh? Pfft, fuck what you think.”
I enjoy hearing him talk his shit to fatphobic haters and the people who think he won’t have longevity in the game. This was a terrific intro track.
GANGSTA PARTY
“Gangsta Party” is my favorite track on the tape. Offset served up the best feature amongst the artists on it. The lyrics weren’t particularly clever but Offset’s flow was immaculate. He rode the beat perfectly bar after bar, he made the lyrics sound better than they were. I always thought Offset could rap and this is another good feature to his growing collection. Duke Deuce slides in and gives a short but noteworthy verse. “We got hella ammunition for the opposition,” he raps referring literally to the fact that he and his are shooters but also, I think, to reference his rhymes. The song is great and a good one to get your energy up to take on the day.
Overall, the tape to me wasn’t his best work but I really liked how the first half flowed together. Those songs will be in my rotation. Duke Deuce is here to stay.
NBA Twitter & Analytics
Usually, the Analytics vs Eye Test twitter debates annoy me. They seem to happen every week and neither side is usually arguing in good faith. At this point, I feel that we should all know that in order to truly “know” basketball, you need to utilize box score stats, the eye test, advanced stats, etc, and any of the tools available. So, we had another week full of arguments about it after this video was posted by Bleacher Report:
I was planning on ignoring all the discourse about it until I saw this particularly thought-provoking thread (the individual has unfortunately deactivated). I also want to shout out the Dunker Spot (my new favorite pod) for speaking on it as well.
But, the thread was full of the nuance that normally doesn’t happen in daily twitter conversation. The discourse around Analytics vs Eye Test does have racial undertones to it (as does pretty much everything). As in the previous section, I’m not going to regurgitate what was said before but offer my perspective. I sympathize, somewhat, with both sides. For a lot of the Black basketball fans that swear by the eye test, I get it.
I am specifically thinking of Black barbershops. You would watch the game the night before and then everyone would come in and discuss what would happen and give whatever narrative that they wanted to push that day. You’d probably pull up a box score and possibly reference it but most things are recanted from memory. This was tradition. It would happen every week.
With the addition of Twitter, a lot of that is just replicated on Twitter. It’s fun. Full of slander and narratives. Also, there are so many different advanced stats now that it’s hard to keep up and know what each means. I don’t believe that the analytical community does a great job explaining it to people who don’t necessarily have that same analytical background.
The eye test does have great value. Like I stated before, we need to utilize both. You have to use film you watch to check what the stats may try to tell you. All 20 point scorers are not equal. Advanced stats try to explain that differing impact but they don’t always get it right. There are just certain things that stats can’t fully explain. You have to watch. We know how important shot-making can be just by watching. We can see that this player that can hit these tough jumpers is more valuable because we can see how that translates in the playoffs.
On the other hand, analytics are necessary. They can’t full explain everything but they do a much better job than box score stats can. The things that don’t always stand out when watching the game, it does its best to capture. Without a doubt, it assists with helping to understand the game.
For example, there could be two teams that both average 105 points per game. But this could be misleading. Team A could actually be more efficient with their possessions but they just don’t have as many. Team B could be less efficient with their possessions but they just have more. That’s why it is good to use offensive rating. It shows how many points an offense scores per 100 possessions to provide better context for how good that team is. Team A could be at a 110 offensive rating and Team B could be at a 103 offensive rating. Therefore, Team A is a better offense.
There are also a lot of misconceptions about what analytics represent. The biggest one is that the analytics don’t like the midrange. Which yes, if you are PJ Tucker, you don’t need to be shooting any midrange shots. That’s a low percentage shot. But, if you’re great at it, it is encouraged. I’m thinking about Kevin Durant. Kawhi Leonard. CJ McCollum. Joel Embiid. Those guys are so gifted that they ultimately can do what they want. But I digress.
I also don’t want to reduce it to eye test = Black and analytics = white. The eye test and analytics are neutral ideas. One could argue that the eye test is an analytical way of thinking (I would). However, it is a fact that those front office positions that do advanced statistical work are overwhelmingly white. It’s not that Black people can’t do it. They just don’t get those same opportunities because of (duh) racism.
Ultimately, whether you like to view the game more through film or through stats, it doesn’t matter. They both have a place in the game and people should be able to enjoy the game how they want to.
But, I do think we should interrogate these conversations more. Go beyond the tired narratives that we continue to spew each month and see why we really feel a certain type of way about analytics or the eye test or whatever. If we can do that, I think our sport conversations about the game will be a lot healthier and more informed.
