Sports

Analytics can be misleading. Over the last decade, we’ve seen an influx of statistics take over the sports world, and basketball hasn’t been exempt from this revolution — just look at all the three-point attempts we see now across the NBA. But one stat in particular can be even dangerously misleading, and that is individual defensive ratings. Advertisement The whole idea of statistics has become so convoluted, I think we’ve gotten to the point where we just kind of take the analytics community’s word for it when they throw all these numbers at us. Defensive player rating would have us believe that Nikola Jokić is a better defender than Joel Embiid, and anyone with a pulse knows that isn’t true. Jokić isn’t a total liability defensively, but he’s no Embiid. I’m not against advanced stats, but I don’t think they’re the end all be all of sports tracking. There should certainly be a balance between advanced stats and what’s actually happening on the field … [Read more...] about Let’s try to understand the NBA’s defensive player rating and all its absurdity

The Alpine Formula One team has been in flux for the past two seasons — and 2022 looks no different. The former Renault Team has gone through driver and personnel changes on a regular basis, and things came to a head earlier this week when Alain Prost was summarily dismissed. If you’re struggling to keep up, we’re here to help lay it out in simple terms for you. Advertisement An Unsteady Transition Just before the 2021 season, former team boss Cyril Abiteboul left the team as it transitioned from Renault to Alpine — which came as a surprise to many F1 fans. At the time, the Alpine takeover signaled that there would be changes, but most people were expecting Abiteboul to transition to a different role in the team, not to leave it altogether. In fact, he was pegged to take the CEO position — one that was later filled by Laurent Rossi. Under Abiteboul’s management, the team grew and found consistent success in many races, which ultimately culminated in … [Read more...] about Motorsport Explained: What The Hell Is Going On At The Alpine F1 Team?

What am I, a prince? As far as a car is concerned, I don’t need anything more than a $20,000 Kia Rio to get around. So what is it like to get plopped into a Lexus LS500 worth almost six times that much, all just to get from A to B? Advertisement This is kind of the central question of the biggest and most opulent sedan Lexus will sell you. After all, there’s something fundamentally different about a Lexus compared to, say, a Mercedes-Benz. Full Disclosure: Lexus lent me an LS 500 for a few hundred miles’ worth of a weekend road trip. It was vaguely harrowing to be in charge of a car worth $115,175, to be exact. It spent no time streetparked in my neighborhood in Brooklyn, and came with a full tank of gas. If you drive an S-Class, a Maybach even, as I did a few years back on a road trip up to Maine , you are really just the assistant and the car is the boss. The Mercedes, as you know in your heart, is the top product from a dedicated luxury … [Read more...] about Here’s How A $115,000 Lexus LS 500 Justifies Its Price

And now a quick bit of baseball news before we get back to our regularly scheduled lockout. The MLB shut down Tampa’s proposal to alienate their current fanbase and play half of their home series in Montreal. It was a move so stupid that whoever came up with it should’ve been fired immediately. Advertisement If only you could fire owner Stuart Sternberg, who said he was “flat-out devastated” by the decision, according to ESPN . An eight-person subcommittee found the logistics of such a nuanced idea too complex, said Commissioner Rob Manfred, who presumably needs several subcommittees to assist him with understanding the ins and outs of the current lockout. Sternberg’s “sister city” concept was concocted because the team has been searching for a way to boost attendance forever. Playing in a dome may have something to do with that, or it may be due to the team not spending money, a strategy that somehow works . Why don’t they just let a golden retriever … [Read more...] about A Ray of nope

Welcome to the Jalopnik Weekend Motorsports Roundup, where we let you know what’s going on in the world of racing, where you can see it and where you can talk about it, all in one convenient place. Where else would you want to spend your weekend? Advertisement It’s been a couple of weeks since we convened this column, as there hasn’t been much racing to watch, but this weekend kind of kicks off the 2022 season in a big way. Not only is the most important World Rally event going on right now in the hills around Monaco, but the world’s best sports car drivers have gathered in Daytona Beach to shake things down before the Rolex 24 next weekend. Unlike previous Roar Before The 24 weekends, however, we’ll actually have a qualifying sprint race to set the grid for the endurance race a week later! Let’s go! Saturday FIA World Rally Championship Rallye Monte-Carlo From the hills around Monaco 2:15 AM on WRC+ (SS9 to SS13) IMSA Prototype Challenge Round 1 … [Read more...] about How To Watch IMSA, WRC, And Everything Else In Racing This Weekend; January 21-23

The FIA World Rally Championship is in the middle of the opening round of its 2022 season, the 90th Rallye Monte Carlo. While this iconic event has been proclaimed as the start of a new era with the introduction of a new hybrid ruleset into the WRC, so far, the rally has been a duel between two legendary drivers in semi-retirement. Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier, with a combined 17 World Rally Championships between them, have so far bested the category’s full-time competitors this weekend. Advertisement The two Sébastiens just finishing stages have played a significant factor in the rally’s standings as many of their rivals have fallen by the wayside. On Friday morning, M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux literally fell by the wayside during the third stage. As Fourmaux approached a quick left-hand corner leading into a more severe right-hander, he misjudged the corner, and things quickly escalated. Fourmaux carried too much speed through the left-hander … [Read more...] about WRC Car Rolls Off Mountainside At Rally Monte Carlo