Yardbarker: Nick Van Exel

Nick Van Exel Named Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at Texas Southern

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:00:51 -0500

Remember Nick Van Exel? There was a time where he was legitimately in the discussion for best point guard in the NBA. Now, he’s surpassed Virginia Union’s Anthony Peeler as the best former NBA player coaching at a black college, as Texas Southern University signed the 14-year vet up just under a month ago. I’m always an [...]

SLAM #86

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:00:32 -0500

Originally published in SLAM 86 The 6th Man: This is crazy: There seems to be a proliferation of interest lately in the connection between hip-hop and basketball. Articles in major newspapers, even books, have been written on the subject in recent months. We’ve received our share of calls on this “phenomenon,” of course—apparently we’re the foremost authority on the subject—and our response has been the same every time. Huh? Why now? Why this sudden fascination with a link that’s existed at l...

Where Are They Now: Nick Van Exel

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:38:15 -0500

“Soprano the rock, handle like Van Exel” – Jay-Z There was a reason why Hova would name drop Nick Van Exel’s name in a verse. Nick the Quick was everything you wanted out of a small guard: a smooth south paw stroke, crafty dribble moves, great court vision and money in the clutch. And best of [...]

Nick 'At Night'

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:25:11 -0500

April 11, 1996: Lakers guard Nick Van Exel wipes his brow during a news conference in Inglewood, Calif., while apologizing for his conduct during a recent game against the Denver Nuggets. Van Exel was punished for pushing referee after receiving two technical fouls. He was fined $25,000 and received a seven-game suspension. I owned his jersey.

How Nick Van Exel once had 23 assists in a game

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:07:19 -0500

Per Deadspin… Not long ago, we brought you the story of a stat-padding NBA scorekeeper who, one day in 1997, awarded 23 assists to Lakers guard Nick Van Exel, mostly for the hell of it. That was Alex. (He is now an officer in the Navy and asks that I not use his last name.) From [...]

Cooked Books: A Former Scorekeeper on Box Score Inflation

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:21:47 -0500

A few days ago I linked to a Deadspin story about a former NBA scorekeeper who had spoken frankly about how he had inflated some players' statistics. Deadspin's Tommy Craggs has dug much deeper into the story (slightly PG-13 for language), and has more insight from Alex in a must-read post. Now, anyone's normal reaction would be: well now why would we believe some disgruntled ex-employee? And the response is that at home, many players get significantly more assists, rebounds, bloc...

The Confessions Of An NBA Scorekeeper

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:45:32 -0500

"I went into the NBA as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as I could get," Alex says. "I loved the game. I didn't want to taint it." Of course, that was before Alex did all those "bad, bad, bad" things. Not long ago, we brought you the story of a stat-padding NBA scorekeeper who, one day in 1997, awarded 23 assists to Lakers guard Nick Van Exel, mostly for the hell of it. That was Alex. (He is now an officer in the Navy and asks that I not use his last name.) From...

The Nick Van Exel assist controversy

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:05:41 -0500

Deadspin broke this yesterday, but really, the onus falls on me. As someone commenters 249-through-548 constantly rail as a stat guy, and a longtime APBRmetrics board lurker, I should have happened upon this earlier. Sure, the miss was partially the fault for working on a borrowed computer for most of July, including the date this post was put together, but I could have spent my time more wisely. And yet, there I was, listening to "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell" 3000 times be...

David Stern Cannot Be Happy with This Story

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:27:29 -0500

Deadspin has the story about a rogue scorekeeper from Vancouver who played god with statistics. Here's a sample:Partly because I disagreed with the blatant stat manipulation (that I did) and partly because I'm a Laker fan, I gave Nick Van Exel like 23 assists one game. If he was vaguely close to a guy making a shot, I found a way to give him an assist. Afterwards, I fully expected someone to talk to me about it. Indeed they did. A senior management guy - ...

An Assist For Nick Van Exel: How An NBA Scorekeeper Cooked The Books

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:45:26 -0500

In January 1997, the Lakers' Nick Van Exel handed out 23 assists in a 95-82 victory over Vancouver, a feat less attributable to his sharpshooting teammates than to the numbers-fudging Lakers fan working the Grizzlies' scorer's table. Last month, someone on the APBRmetrics forum — an APBRmetrician, for the uninitiated, is a sabermetrician in a Wes Unseld throwback jersey — posted a friend's account of life as an NBA scorekeeper, mostly as an illustration of all the ...

The Wonder Years #2

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:01:44 -0500

'Chopping away As carina_gino pointed out, yesterday was the 10th anniversary since we drafted our Argentine wizard, Manu Ginobili. As when we drafted Robinson and Duncan, it was a momentous day in the history of the Spurs - even though Duncan certainly didn't realize at the moment. Highsight, as they say, is 20-20. Things are happening in the Spurs nation, and we're all getting pretty excited about our chances for championship number 5. Before we're swept in the ferv...

PlayerPulse.com Provides a New Sports Perspective

Sat, 16 May 2009 20:15:17 -0500

Jarett Sims, digital entrepreneur and son of Emmy Award winning television and radio voice Dave Sims, currently the voice of the Seattle Mariners, has officially announced the inauguration of PlayerPulse.com. The website is designed to bring many of today’s influential personalities from the world of sports including athletes, journalists and sportscasters to one place to express their views and opinions on various topics.

OF/DH Ken Griffey Jr.

Two of the first athletes who are to be featured on the site are baseball stars Ken Griffey Jr. and Torii Hunter. The site officially launched last week and one of their first items was to take a look back at the NFL draft while also taking a look forward to the draft in the NBA.

According to Jarett Sims, “With the way the economy has impacted journalism, there is a need to find a home for some of the most respected names in sports to voice their opinions on some of the topics of the day, and we believe PlayerPulse.com will be that place.”

Sims further stated, “We have seen so many top journalists hamstrung because of economics, and we intend to restore or expand their platform and to spread their word digitally. We have identified a number of insightful athletes who are looking for a place to tell their stories to the fans, and their insight will give fans a much deeper view inside sport. It will be a unique and wide-ranging marketplace of opinion and analysis which we think sports fans and our business partners will enjoy.”

Some of the big named sports figures who have made commitments to regularly contribute to the site include New York Mets pitcher J.J. Putz, former Washington Wizards coach Eddie Jordan, ex NBA’er Nick Van Exel, CBS’ Len Elmore, WFAN’s Ed Coleman, ESPN’s Jay Bilas and Fox’s Curt Menefee, Charles Davis and Brian Baldinger. In addition to athletes, the site will also feature some well known journalists who will be able to tell stories that they don’t usually get the chance to in the traditional media. Some of the names that are on the list of already committed journalists include New York Times‘ Liz Robbins, former Seattle Press Intelligencer columnist John Hickey, former Tampa Tribune writer Carter Geddis, and former Orange County Register writers Art Thompson and Robert Kuwada among others.

The site will also recreate a New York radio show that ran from 1989 until 1993 called Coleman and the Soul Man featuring FAN’s Coleman and Sims. The site will add regular podcasts with takes on a wide array of sports topics.

The wife of Dave Sims, Abby Corsun Simms, a New York City sports physical therapist, will also have a regular blog on the site with takes on rehabilitation and fitness.

Jarett Sims is a 25 year-old digital entrepreneur and writer who is looking to launch two different internet ventures this year, the first of which is PlayerPulse.com.

Sims has always had a passion for writing and is currently attempting to get a sports/crime novel published.

The other website that Sims hopes to get out to the public this year is Chilltopia.com which will be an educational site for children.

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Lakers 1993-94 Starting Lineup

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:10:26 -0500

Antonio Harvey Trevor Wilson Vlade Divac Tony Smith Nick Van Exel When people get the urge find flaws in this year's Lakers squad, I quickly realize they haven't been fans that long. I watched every game of the 1993-94 season. I know what flaws are.

"1, 2, 3, Cancun": The Real Story Behind Nick Van Exel's Famous Chant

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:24:15 -0500

In the course of researching a post about funny NBA quotes, I stumbled upon an interesting story pertaining to Utah's sweep of the L.A. Lakers in the 1998 Western Conference Finals. At the end of a Lakers' practice during that series, the team gathered together for the usual "1,2,3, team" chant--but Nick Van Exel ad-libbed "1,2,3, Cancun," in reference to the team's impending summer vacation. That quip has often been cited as evidence that Van Exel quit on the team, an impression reinforced by the fact that the Lakers soon traded him to Denver. However, prior to Van Exel's first game as a Nugget against the Lakers, he insisted that his famous line was a joke, not a surrender: "I say things all the time as far as, 'Well, this is my last game with you guys. See you again when I come in here with 40,' just to keep guys loose and laughing. It's just when things are going wrong, somebody says something wrong, especially me, it seems to be blown out of proportion and people get to finger-pointing. Everyone who was in that locker room with me knows I'd never give up on the team. But finger-pointing happens. I never meant anything wrong." Van Exel voluntarily gave up his starting spot to Derek Fisher late in the 1998 season, a move that was also interpreted in some quarters as a sign that Van Exel was quitting, a charge that Van Exel emphatically rejected: "Well, I'm sure they're going to look at it as far as trying to get me out of there, blame it on me as excuse. Derek, throughout the season, his confidence was going up and down, up and down. So I figured if he was starting, his confidence would be up...I'm always going to have confidence. I guess they didn't see it that way. I guess they felt I was giving up." Van Exel did not come close to scoring 40 points in his first game against the Lakers; he had nine points and 10 assists in a 103-98 Denver loss. Less than two weeks later, he had 16 points and 13 assists in a 117-113 Denver win. Van Exel dropped 41 points, nine assists and eight rebounds on the Lakers in the third meeting of the season between the teams but Denver lost 117-104. Van Exel ranked in the top ten in the NBA in assists each of the first three seasons after the trade but the Lakers also performed well, three straight championships from 2000-02; of course, before they accomplished that they made another change, hiring Phil Jackson as head coach.