Category: In the News

How Scarborough’s NBA’s ‘WAL’ rankings shook out

I’ve gotten a couple of e-mails over the weekend wondering how the Spurs’ “watched/attended/listened” rankings compiled by the Scarborough Sports Marketing Group compared to others across the league. 

These questions were a result of a story in Saturday’s paper where Bill Nielsen, Scarborough’s vice president of sales,  said the Spurs should be in position to endure the lockout better than other NBA franchises because of their traditional strong support.

The good folks at Scarborough were willing to share their most recent “WAL” rankings for the NBA and the other major sports.

It’s a ranking that determines what percentage of fans in a market have either watched a local team on television, attended a game in person or listened to one on radio in the last year.

The ranking provides a pretty accurate glimpse of the NBA’s best and worst American markets. Toronto isn’t included in their compilations.

Here’s a look at the NBA from 1 through 29 for their most recent figures of this season. The number is parenthesis is where the team ranked in Scarborough’s last rankings.

(1) San Antonio Spurs:            61%      (1)

(2) Cleveland Cavaliers:          58%      (2)

(3) Boston Celtics:                     50%      (6)

(4) Utah Jazz:                              47%      (3)

(5) Phoenix Suns:                      45%      (5)

(6) Los Angeles Lakers:           44%      (10)

(7) Oklahoma City Thunder: 44%      (17)

(8) Portland Trail Blazers:     43%      (7)

(9) New Orleans Hornets:      41%      (8)

(10) Denver Nuggets:              40%      (12)

(11) Dallas Mavericks:             39%      (9)

(12) Chicago Bulls:                    39%      (15)

(13) Detroit Pistons:                 38%      (4)

(14) Memphis Grizzlies:          37%      (13)

(15) Miami Heat:                        37%      (18)

(16) Houston Rockets:             37%      (11)

(17) Orlando Magic:                  33%      (14)

(18) Milwaukee Bucks:              33%      (19)

(19) Indiana Pacers:                  30%      (16)

(20) Sacramento Kings:           28%      (20)

(21) Atlanta Hawks:                    24%      (24)

(22) Charlotte Bobcats:             24%      (23)

(23) Philadelphia 76ers:           23%      (22)

(24) Golden State Warriors:     20%      (26)

(25) New York Knicks:               18%      (27)

(26) Washington Wizards:        18%      (25)

(27) Minnesota T’wolves:         16%      (21)

(28) Los Angeles Clippers:        12%      (28)

(29) New Jersey Nets:                 11%      (29)

These numbers indicate a couple of different findings. It can be argued that the markets at the top of the list have been the league’s best over the years. I’m also intrigued with the way that Oklahoma City’s market is getting excited about the Thunder for obvious reasons.

And as teams take these numbers to potential advertisers, even the larger markets at the bottom of the list like New York, New Jersey and the Los Angeles Clippers all have markets of millions of potential customers.

Here’s a listing of the best and worst teams in Scarborough’s most recent rankings for Major League Baseball.

The best:

(1) St. Louis Cardinals:       73%      (2)

(2) Cincinnati Reds:            70%      (7)

(3) Minnesota Twins:         70%      (3)

(4) Boston Red Sox:            69%      (1)

(5) Philadelphia Phillies:   69%      (4)

 And the worst:

(25) New York Mets:             36%      (26)

(26) Los Angeles Dodgers:  34%      (25)

(27) Washington Nationals: 33%      (28)

(28) Los Angeles Angels:      29%      (27)

(29) Oakland Athletics:         28%      (29)

 And here are Scarborough’s most recent WAL rankings for National Football League franchises.

The best:

(1) New Orleans Saints:      87%      (2)

(2) Green Bay Packers:       84%      (1)

(3) Pittsburgh Steelers:      82%      (3)

(4) Indianapolis Colts:        75%      (4)

(5) Minnesota Vikings:       73%      (5)

And the worst:

(28) Miami Dolphins:           43%      (28)

(29) San Francisco 49ers:  42%      (29)

(30) New York Giants:         40%      (30)

(31) New York Jets:              37%      (31)

(32) Oakland Raiders:          28%      (32)

These ratings show

Newman spurns Suns, will remain on Spurs staff

Spurs assistant coach Don Newman has turned down an offer from the Suns to become that team’s defensive coordinator and will remain on Gregg Popovich’s coaching staff.

Spurs general manager R.C. Buford confirmed Newman’s decision to continue his tenure with the Spurs, a choice first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of YahooSports!, via Twitter.

Only Mike Budenholzer has been on Popovich’s coaching staff longer than Newman. One of the most popular figures in the basketball organization, he has focused on coaching defense since being hired on June 28,2004.

How would David West look in Silver and Black?

David West took a risk Monday when he announced he was opting out of his current contract with the New Orleans Hornets to file for free agency.

It’s a gamble for West in a couple of respects. He’s coming off surgery after tearing the ACL in his left knee on March 24.

And he’s also putting aside a chance to earn $7.5 million this season with the Hornets in order to test the free agent market in perhaps the league’s most uncertain economic time ever.

West was in the midst of having a quality season when he went down with his knee injury, averaging a team-leading 18.9 points and 7.6 rebounds per game for the Hornets before missing the final 10 games of the season and the playoffs.

He’s been rehabbing from his injury twice a day and is said to be ahead of schedule as he works at his off-season home in Raleigh, N.C., to prepare for the upcoming season. The injury was expected to idle him for six to eight months, but an extended lockout would obviously give him extra time to prepare as he readies himself for the 2011-12 season.

The most interesting comment he made in a story this morning in the New Orleans Times-Picayune is the primary reason he would potentially bolt from the Hornets.

“I want to win and win big,” West , adding that he decided on his move before the injury.

A team that would fill his need would be the Spurs, coming off a 61-21 season that was the best in the Western Conference before an unexpected first-round series loss to Memphis in the playoffs.

There’s no way that the Spurs could land West the way the NBA’s economic model is currently structured. With too much money tied up into long-term contracts with the core of the team, the Spurs would have to go far over the luxury tax to sign West — a not-so-palatable alternative for team owner Peter Holt.

But who knows how the league’s economic model will be structured after the lockout and the eventual settlement. There might be a way for the Spurs and West to come together — particularly if the Spurs have a chance to offer him similar money to most of the other potential teams where he would play.

West is an outstanding outside shooter with range up to 20 feet with a strong array of inside moves. He turned 30 in April and would provide a strong inside presence that would go well with Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter. West is not the best interior defender, but thrived in Monty Williams’ team defense that limited opponents to 94 points per game to rank fifth in the league.

But there’s also a point of view among some NBA scouts that West’s offensive production has been boosted over the years by playing with Chris Paul with the Hornets.  

Most observers have West ranked as the fourth-best potential free agent of this season’s class, trailingly only Nene, Marc Gasol and Tyson Chandler. He’s the best free agent available at power forward — even coming off the injury.

And he’s exactly the kind of player the Spurs desparately need if they want to contend for the NBA title.     

But it will be interesting to see what kind of demand there is for West after the lockout ends.

What about it Spurs Nation?

Would you like to see West teaming inside with Duncan and Splitter in a retooled Spurs inside rotation?

And most importantly, is he worth the financial risk considering his age and injury concerns?