Andrew Unterberger put together an awesome feature for The Basketball Jones. I’ll let him explain:
"Over at the Village Voice website, writer Christopher Weingarten recently started a most excellent article series mixing rock trivia with near-sabermetric-level data analysis. It’s called “Are You Smarter Than a Rock Critic?,” and it polls a cross-section of music critics every week, asking them to attempt (without cheating) to name all the items in a certain music-related set. (Prior examples have included members of the Wu-Tang Clan and albums released by Bob Dylan in the 60s.) The results are then posted anonymously, with all the relevant statistics (included those anomalous, and occasionally downright absurd) included. And then the readers flock en masse to the comments section to express their disbelief that anyone could not know the name of the drummer for The Doors.Well, I thought it looked like fun, so I assembled my own crack team of 16 NBA bloggers to see how they could handle a handful of tests in a similar style — except, naturally, on the subject of professional basketball."
I participated in the quiz, and before I link to Unterberger’s article, I want to give you a chance to play along.
Take the test
A few instructions we followed: answer all the question in one sitting, don’t provide more guesses than the number of correct answers listed for each question, feel free to give partial answers, and obviously, no looking up answers.
1. Players on Lineup of Original 1992 Dream Team (12 Answers)
2. Players Involved in This Year’s Mid-Season Knicks/Nuggets/Timberwolves Three-Team Trade (13 Answers)
3. Franchises the Kobe Bryant-Era Lakers Have Defeated in the Western Conference Finals (6 Answers)
4. Future All-Star Players Selected in the Legendary 2003 Draft (8 Answers)
5. Players Suspended Due to Involvement in the 2004 Pacers-Pistons Brawl (9 Answers)
6. Franchises Besides the Celtics and Lakers to Win Championships in the 60s, 70s or 80s (8 Answers)
How did we do?
Easy, right?
OK, time for the link to Unterberger’s post. He provides correct answers and a breakdown of some of the bloggers’ correct and incorrect answers.
How did you compare?
Before knowing what questions I’d be asked on the quiz, I pledged to share my results. I use this site to hold others accountable for what they say and do. I won’t shy from holding myself to the same standard.
In case you still want to answer the questions, but haven’t yet taken the quiz, my answers appear below the jump.
1. Players on Lineup of Original 1992 Dream Team (12 Answers)
- Michael Jordan
- John Stockton
- Karl Malone
- Larry Bird
- Magic Johnson
- Christian Laettner
- Charles Barkley
- Shaquille O’Neal
- Reggie Miller
- Scottie Pippen
- David Robinson
- Patrick Ewing
Robinson came to me late, and he made me think of Ewing and (Hakeem Olajuwon, who wouldn’t have been on the team). I’m questionable on Shaq (I think he was the other college player/rookie with Laettner), Miller and Pippen (were they recognized as good enough at that point?). But I have 12 names, so I feel alright with those guys.
2. Players Involved in This Year’s Mid-Season Knicks/Nuggets/Timberwolves Three-Team Trade (13 Answers)
- Carmelo Anthony
- Corey Brewer
- Eddy Curry
- Chauncey Billups
- Shelden Williams
- Danilo Galinari
- Raymond Felton
- Timofey Mozgov
- Wilson Chandler
- Renaldo Balkman
- Anthony Parker (came up with him on my second go-round)
- Malik Allen (I was really stuck at 11, but he’s a minimum guy included in some versions of discussions, no idea whether he was in final trade.)
- Anthony Carter (I was really stuck at 11, but he’s a minimum guy included in some versions of discussions, no idea whether he was in final trade.)
I initially wrote Ben Uzoh and was very happy to have come up with him. But then I realized he plays for the Nets (or did, no idea whether he was in the Deron Williams trade).
"Number of Writers Who Wrote Me After the Fact to Protest That Kosta Koufos Was Actually Included in a Separate Deal and Should Not Have Counted: 1 (NBA.com says it was separate, Basketball-Reference.com lumps them together — dunno.)"
Yeah, that was me.
3. Franchises the Kobe Bryant-Era Lakers Have Defeated in the Western Conference Finals (6 Answers)
- Jazz
- Suns
- Timberwolves
- Nuggets
- Trail Blazers
- Kings
I initially wrote Spurs, but Blazers and Kings came to me together at the end. That left seven teams, so I cut the Spurs. I debated dropping the Jazz and Nuggets, too.
4. Future All-Star Players Selected in the Legendary 2003 Draft (8 Answers)
- LeBron James
- Carmelo Anthony
- Chris Bosh
- Dwyane Wade
- Chris Kaman (He made an All-Star team, right?)
- David West (He made an All-Star team, right?)
- Josh Howard (Did he ever sneak onto an All-Star team?)
- Tony Parker (I’m pretty sure he was drafted before this, but I’m out of guesses. I almost wrote Manu Ginobili with the same rationale.)
5. Players Suspended Due to Involvement in the 2004 Pacers-Pistons Brawl (9 Answers)
- Ron Artest
- Ben Wallace
- Stephen Jackson
- Jermain O’Neal
- Jamal Tinsley
- Rasheed Wallace
- Jeff Foster
- Austin Croshere
- Reggie Miller
- I’m certain on the first four. The other five are just guys I know played for those teams.
"Number of Writers Who Incorrectly (But Not Illogically) Assumed That Rasheed Wallace “Got Suspended for Something”: 1"
Yup, that was me, too.
6. Franchises Besides the Celtics and Lakers to Win Championships in the 60s, 70s or 80s (8 Answers)
- Pistons
- 76ers
- Sonics (you hear a lot about how they won without a superstar)
- Knicks
- Bullets
- Trail Blazers
- Royals
- Bucks