Posts tagged "touch"

Rajon Rondo Shows Improved Shooting Touch That Could Translate Into MVP-Caliber Season

While the simple storyline from the Celtics’ 106-104 loss to the Knicks on Sunday will be that New York’s renewed commitment to defense came through with a defensive stop on the final possession, some things are worth keeping in mind — mainly that the Knicks did not really make any defensive stops down the stretch.

Former Celtic Bill Walker was able to bother Kevin Garnett’s last-second shot, and offseason acquisition Tyson Chandler did block six shots for the Knicks. But New York also gave up more than 100 points, as usual, and surrendered a double-digit lead to a Celtics team playing without Paul Pierce, who was sidelined with a bone bruise in his right heel.

It’s premature to draw a conclusion from one game, especially the first regular-season game at the end of nearly six months without organized hoops as a result of the lockout. But unlike the victory for the Knicks, who have made inconsistency their calling card under coach Mike D’Antoni, there is a major takeaway from the Christmas Day game.

Rajon Rondo may turn out to be an MVP candidate this season.

Rondo will not light up the scoreboard with 31 points, 13 assists, five rebounds and five steals every night, as he did Sunday at Madison Square Garden. What we know about Rondo, though, is that his competitiveness pushes him to improve in the exact areas his critics say he is flawed, and after two preseason games and one regular-season tilt, it appears he has corrected his two biggest holes: jump shots and free throws.

Rondo was consistent from 12 feet and out on Sunday, knocking down three of the six long two-pointers he attempted. He also hit nine of his 12 foul shots, which means nearly half of his points came via shots that, according to the scouting report, he can’t make.

The bar for a point guard winning the MVP award has been set high, with just two point guards — Derrick Rose of the Bulls and Steve Nash of the Suns — winning the award since 1990-91. Rose and Nash provided a blueprint, however, for what a point guard needs to do to earn the Maurice Podoloff Trophy.

The most obvious way is Rose’s method of scoring 25 points per game for the top seed in the conference. Nash’s route is more realistic for Rondo. In fact it’s more than realistic that Rondo will equal or surpass the 15.5 points and 11.5 assists per game Nash recorded in his first MVP season of 2004-05. Still, it’s not necessary to win MVP to be considered an MVP-caliber player.

Statistics aren’t the full measure, of course, and not even a 20-point, 10-assist season (which would be both outstanding and unlikely) assures any individual honors. For the past couple of years, observers have wondered when and if Rondo will supplant Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen as the best player on the team. That day seems to have arrived.

Rondo’s minutes have increased every year he’s been in the league to a high of 37.2 last season. That number should rise for a sixth consecutive season in 2011-12. He played a game-high 41 minutes, 16 seconds on Sunday, and as coach Doc Rivers tries to control the minutes for his aging veterans, Rondo will get even more minutes with a younger, more explosive unit that includes bruiser Brandon Bass and incoming gunner Mickael Pietrus. Expect Rondo to not only be on the floor as much as any player in the league, but to be the first option of offense much more often than in the past.

More minutes plus more shots, along with the ample assists and steals upon which Rondo has already built his reputation, could equal an MVP-like campaign for the 25-year-old Kentuckian.

It is possible that Sunday’s game may turn out to be a fluke. Rondo has gone through stretches in his career when he’s hit the outside jumper with regularity for three or four games, sparked talk that he has begun to turn a corner, then reverted back to brick-laying.

Maybe it was the spiked egg nog and stifling heat generated by the Snuggie built for two, but watching this one felt different. Rondo looked like he wanted to shoot those jump shots, and Allen and Garnett showed no hesitation giving him the ball at the end of the shot clock. The veterans already recognize that this is Rondo’s team, even if they (particularly Garnett) might never admit it.

Once Pierce returns and Pietrus arrives, the Celtics will probably win games like Sunday’s, when Rivers could have used another physical wing defender to throw at Anthony. This team is incomplete, but Rondo was able to shade over most of those shortcomings on Sunday. If Rondo accomplishes anything approaching that level of play in the next 65 games, by the end of the season he will be more than a good complementary player. He may be one of the best.

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LinkedIn’s Algorithm Taps Talent Graph, But Still Needs Human Touch

Imagine if your prospects for beating the 9.1% unemployment rate depended not on a meticulously crafted cover letter and résumé, but on a complicated algorithm that helped companies determine the best matches for open jobs. Such a Brave New World-like future is rapidly becoming a reality–but don’t fear just yet. Your career will still very much rely on strong credentials, networking, and a good pinch of serendipity. (For now, at least.)

Over the last year, LinkedIn has rolled out a set of new premium tools to its 100 million users. And they’ve worked. On the consumer end, what would normally cost businesses and HR departments time and money now just takes a few clicks. On LinkedIn’s end, the network is gathering so much data, says Adam Nash, VP of product and user experience, that it’s “starting to really get an understanding of who the best are in their fields, and more important, who are the best fits for your team.” Internally, the company refers to LinkedIn’s search algorithm as the “Pandora for people,” a system that combs through the network’s “talent graph” for ideal job candidates. (Not another Pandora analogy!) When it works like it should, all employers have to focus on is the final interview. 

“We’re starting to see recruiters do queries where they literally put, ‘I want someone who has worked at one of these twenty companies and a startup, and gone to one of these twenty schools,’” Nash says. “You’re never going to get that from a résumé.”

Two tools in particular are helping businesses find talent: Skills and Similar Profiles. Launched in late June, the latter feature enables employers to discover new talent based on profiles of top workers or ideal candidate profiles. “You just tell LinkedIn, ‘Look, I have five great engineers, and I want more like them,’” Nash says. “And we just find people like that for you.” Skills is an even more in-depth feature–it lets companies narrow down candidates based on talent and influence. In other words, it’s a Klout score for the job world.

“With Skills, you’re never going to see a score,” Nash clarifies. “What you see on Skills is something that we internally call the ‘talent graph,’ an understanding of what the skills are, who has them, and who influences each other. In some ways, I don’t want to know whether you influence a lot of people. If you’re a great [programming framework] Ruby On Rails engineer, I want to know whether you influence other great Ruby On Rails engineers. I want to know whether you influence them about Ruby On Rails. I don’t want to know whether you influence them about politics.”

He continues, “There’s a lot of talk on the web of the interest graph: fans of this and that. But what’s really interesting about Skills and the talent graph is once you really understand what these skills are and how they’re related to each other–how they’re related to people and their relationships–you start to get much deeper than a Klout score.” Nash believes this data will make for “next-generation” applications on LinkedIn.

But as bountiful as LinkedIn’s data is, it’s not the be-all end-all. “There’s always going to be a lot of value for certain types of positions in what I’ll call human intelligence,” Nash says. “Because let’s be honest: Even if I give you the perfect 10 candidates, I don’t care how great that automated system is. There’s still that final eye for all those subtle details–there’s really an emotional decision that’s made.” He recalls that Reid Hoffman struck a similar tone when he first met the LinkedIn founder. “Joining a company isn’t a one-time transaction: It’s not like buying a car, where you negotiate the deal and then you’re done,” Nash recalls Hoffman saying. “It’s a long-term relationship. Your happiness at that company isn’t about what you agree to that first day. It’s about that next month, that next year.”

Indeed, that human understanding played an important role during Hoffman and Nash’s first meeting. Nash, who had been at eBay for the previous four years, was considering leaving for a new position at another company. A friend suggested he connect with Hoffman for advice.

“Reid and I ran in the same circles for more than a decade, but never met,” Nash recalls. “We met for breakfast at a local spot called Hobee’s. It was supposed to be an hour breakfast. We ended up talking for four hours.” The conversation flowed from discussions of product management to the web 2.0 world to how best to build organizations of great people. After hours, the pair finally left.

“We were walking to the car–I remember it clear as day,” Nash recalls. “He said, ‘Well, you know, I’m involved in a lot of companies, but if you’re really interested in this stuff, we are hiring a senior product person at LinkedIn.”

By Sunday, Nash had an official offer from LinkedIn and started at the company only weeks later–a hiring that likely would never have happened without a human connection. Not that LinkedIn didn’t play a role in fostering their relationship.

“But here’s the funny thing,” Nash says. “Once I got to LinkedIn, one of the things I learned we track internally is who invited who [to the network]. If you joined LinkedIn, somewhere [in the graph] it says who the one person is who got you to join LinkedIn. We track the generations over time. There’s that first generation which were all the invites sent by the founders–it literally goes back to that. I found out that I’m second generation on LinkedIn.”

But more significantly, Nash discovered his connection to Hoffman. “Reid invited my friend John Lilly, who is now a partner at Greylock and who was the CEO of Mozilla. John Lilly invited me to LinkedIn, back in 2003,” Nash says. “And who introduced me to Reid for that breakfast years later? John Lilly.”

[Image: Flickr user RedCraig]

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Deion Sanders has golden touch at Hall of Fame ceremony

Canton Ohio ——

“Prime Time” has come to Canton . . . with an extra touch of gold. And a black do-rag.

Deion Sanders strutted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday night sporting a pair of gold shoes to go with the gold jacket emblematic of the special company he has become a part of.

At the end of his riveting acceptance speech, he placed his ubiquitous do-rag on his hall bust.

“Neon Deion” indeed.

“This game,” Sanders repeated dozens of times, “this game taught me how to be a man. This game taught me if I get knocked down, I got to get my butt back up.

“I always had a rule in life that I would never love anything that couldn’t love me back. It taught me how to be a man, how to get up, how to live in pain. Taught me so much about people, timing, focus, dedication, submitting oneself, sacrificing.

“If your dream ain’t bigger than you, there’s a problem with your dream.”

Sanders joined Marshall Faulk in entering the hall in their first year of eligibility. Shannon Sharpe, Richard Dent, Chris Hanburger, Les Richter and Ed Sabol also were enshrined before an enthusiastic crowd of 13,300 — much lower than the usual turnout. With Sunday’s Hall of Fame game a victim of the 41/2 -month NFL lockout, Fawcett Stadium was half full.

Not that Sanders needs a big audience.

The dynamic cornerback and kick returner ran off a list of people who influenced him as smoothly as he ran past opponents, whether running back kicks or interceptions — or even catching passes when he appeared as a wide receiver, or dashing around the bases in the major leagues, including one World Series appearance.

He spoke of promising his mother she could stop working in a hospital when he became a success, and of how he created the Prime Time image at Florida State — then turned it into a persona.

A Hall of Fame persona.

“What separates us is that we expect to be great,” he said. “I expect to be great, I expect to do what had to be done. I expect to make change.”

Just as Sharpe expected to change his life as a kid who went to college with two brown grocery bags filled with his belongings.

When Sharpe headed to Savannah State, he said, all he heard was how he was destined to fail.

“When people told me I’d never make it, I listened to the one person who said I could: me,” Sharpe said.

Failure? Sharpe went from a seventh-round draft pick to the most prolific tight end of his time. He won two Super Bowls with Denver and one with Baltimore, and at the time of his retirement in 2003, his 815 career receptions, 10,060 yards and 62 touchdowns were all NFL records for a tight end.

Sharpe patted his bust on the head Saturday before saying, “All these years later, it makes me proud when people call me a self-made man.”

Faulk was the running back of running backs for much of his 12-season career. As versatile and dangerous a backfield threat as the NFL has seen, Faulk was voted the league’s top offensive player in 1999, 2000 and 2001, and was the NFL’s MVP in 2000. He was the league’s scoring leader in 2000 and ’01, made seven Pro Bowls, and was the first player to gain 2,000 yards from scrimmage in four consecutive years. He helped the Rams to their only Super Bowl victory in 1999.

Through tears, Faulk said, “Boy this is pretty special. . . . I am glad to be a part of it. This is football heaven.”

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Do Not Touch Giant Hogweed!

An invasive plant known as giant hogweed is popping up in New York. The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation wants you to be aware that the giant hogweed plant should not be touched. To this end, the agency is helping citizens to identify the giant hogweed, as well as providing a hotline for help in getting rid of it.

Giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum), according to the NYDEC, is a federally listed noxious weed.

“Its sap, in combination with moisture and sunlight, can cause severe skin and eye irritation, painful blistering, permanent scarring and blindness. Contact between the skin and the sap of this plant occurs either through brushing against the bristles on the stem or breaking the stem or leaves.” The agency says that giant hogweed “poses a serious health threat” and recommends seeing a physician “if you think you have been burned by giant hogweed.”

Giant hogweed can grow to 12 feet tall or more. The NYDEC describes it as such: “Its hollow, ridged stems grow 2-4 inches in diameter and have dark reddish-purple blotches. Its large compound leaves can grow up to five feet wide. Its white flower heads can grow up to 2.5 feet in diameter.”

Photos and more help in identifying giant hogweed can be found here.

If you identify giant hogweed on your property in New York, the agency suggests getting in touch with its Giant Hogweed Control Program. For information on how to contact the Giant Hogweed Control program, click here.

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Tornadoes touch down in Rayne, La, 5 injured

WGNO NEWS WGNO News

March 5, 2011

wgno-news-tornadoes-rayne

LAFAYETTE, La. —

There have been several reports of tornado touchdowns in Rayne. In addition there is a report of 2 ruptured gas lines in the 100 block of the Boulevard in Rayne. The sheriff says many power lines are down at this time and they are working to get it fixed. The sheriff is beginning a house to house search to make sure everyone is okay. In Rayne, they are sending people to the Civic Center or North Fire Station for triage if there are any injuries. They’ve transported a total of nine people to area hospitals. Injuries include minor abrasions, shortness of breath, and one person with serious injuries. There are no evacuations at this time. Our photographer tells us there is heavy damage, and he’s even seen a house ripped completely off it’s foundation near the intersection of Section and Martin Luther King.

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