Voskuhl

Voskuhl (voss-cull) noun. When a big man's combined fouls and turnovers exceed his combined points and rebounds over the course of a game.

Usage example: With Michael Redd out for the season, the Bucks need Dan Gadzuric to contribute more than his usual Voskuhl.

Word history: The term was coined in a dormitory television lounge at Dartmouth College in March of 1999, when several friends were rooting for UConn to defeat Duke for the NCAA men's basketball championship and bemoaning the limited contributions of UConn starting center Jake Voskuhl. In three of UConn's six tournament games, Voskuhl came very close to achieving a Voskuhl -- including a 2-point, 2-rebound, 3-foul effort in UConn's narrow title game win over Duke. The blog Be the Three (written by one of the men present in the dorm room in 1999) mentioned the term in a post earlier this month in a post titled Field Trip! Suns at Raptors, Nash's Game and What's a 'Voskuhl'?

Voskuhl, selected by the Bulls in the second-round of the 2000 draft, has continued to pile up Voskuhls during his NBA career. Voskuhl has appeared in 427 games and recorded a Voskuhl in 54 of them -- a Voskuhl rate of about 12.6 percent. Seven of those Voskuhls have happened this season.

But a look through Voskuhl's Voskuhls shows that there actually are two different kinds of Voskuhls: One in which the big man plays just a minute or two and has little time to accumulate any stats (this may be more accurately termed a "Madsen"), and another in which the big man records a Voskuhl despite playing enough minutes to at least pull down some boards.

Two of big Jake's six Voskuhls from the 2002-03 season serve as good examples of the two archetypes. On April 6, 2003, against the Lakers, Voskuhl played three minutes and recorded 2 fouls, zero points and zero rebounds. A couple of weeks earlier, in a loss to Dallas, Voskuhl played nearly half the game (21 minutes) but scored just 1 point and recorded a paltry 3 rebounds. He committed 5 fouls and 3 turnovers. This may be termed a "True Voskhul."

(One note in that box score: Suns reserve guard Casey Jacobsen nearly recorded a Voskuhl, with 2 points, 1 foul and 1 turnover. The stat is meant for big men, though).

On Dec. 18, 2003, Voskuhl set a personal high for minutes played in a Voskuhl. He started for Phoenix against Portland and played 34 minutes, but recorded zero points and 5 rebounds before racking up the maximum 6 fouls. He also committed a turnover.

Voskuhl, however, is not at the top of list of Voskhuls among current players. At least one fellow back-up big, Mark Madsen, has recorded them at a higher rate: 84 in 443 games played, for a Voskuhl rate of about 19 percent. Madsen only played a minute or two in many of those games, meaning they do not rise to the level of the True Voskuhl.

Quality big men are not immune to the Voskuhl. Suns star Amare Stoudemire suffered a Voskuhl against Boston earlier this month when the Celtics held him to 3 points and 1 rebound while he committed 4 turnovers and 4 fouls. This was the day after Amare declared that he was about to "get my gorilla game on." Greg Oden recorded two Voskuhls in December.

Other frequent Voskuhl-ers include Gadzuric (10 already this season), the Spurs' Fabricio Oberto (four this season) and new Bobcats center DeSagana Diop (five last season, four this year).

About the author: Zach Lowe covers law and business for a magazine in New York and recently started the NBA and Celtics-themed blog Be The Three. He grew up in Connecticut but inexplicably became Georgetown fan and rooted against UConn. But he cheered for them anyway when they faced Duke for the national title

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22 Comments:
Blogger chris said...
A thought: maybe the Voskuhls need to have a quantifying number, so as to differentiate between "Madsens" and "True Voskuhls" - i.e. a Voskuhl of 5/1 would mark five combined negatives (fouls and turnovers) as just one over how many points/rebounds were achieved, while a Voskuhl of say 3/3 would mark a suck differential-type appearance.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Eh, this is too close to the Eddy Curry line running joke on Yahoo!.

Blogger chris said...
AnacondaHL: Should we then combine the two statistics together into one new vortex of measurable fail? :D

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Criticisms like this often come from those who watch box scores rather than actual basketball games. Voskuhl is not a great player by any means - he's very limited. But he bangs cutters, boxes out, sets picks and plays help defence - that's why he's still in the league. I'd rather have a limited player that knows his role than have one who thinks he can score.

Blogger Wild Yams said...
Anon, you're on the wrong site if you're not wanting to see players get criticized, especially if they're players of low NBA quality like Jake Voskuhl.

Blogger chris said...
So, two likely selections for the All-Lacktion team (Voskuhl, Mario) each have their own corresponding term.

What's a "Tarence" going to be, a multi-game lacktion streak? I like where this is going.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Glorious

for good measure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xtCvoxlR5Y

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
chris: I thought about it for a while, wondering if a Voskuhl should be only TOV/PF vs PTS, or if there should be blocks in there somewhere since it's a stat for big men, but I decided that keeping it like it is would be ok. Mostly because I didn't want Reggie Evans to be labeled with tons of Voskuhls when he really should have his own word.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
That green Lakers shirt boggles my mind. Maybe there's a market for mixing team colors.

Blogger chris said...
AnacondaHL: Now that we mention it, I do think that the Voskuhl being an seperate statistic as an "upgrade" over a Curry makes sense, because fouls transform it from a mere measurement of giveaways (which of course do happen amongst starters) to a measurement more befitting that of the bench specialist.

Anonymous: What's next - a blue, white and yellow Pistons tee?

Blogger Wild Yams said...
Maybe it's a shirt Laker fans attending a game in Boston can wear without attracting too much attention to themselves? I really can't figure out who would be most likely to purchase that.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
It's confusing - like transgendered folks or bisexuals. I think the'd be transfanatics. Or "tranatics" for short.

Blogger dvjs said...
right after reading about your voskuhl theory called my friend lane who happens to be a huge jake fan and he was upset but excited that jake made someone's web site as the main attraction.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
I hope this makes the wotn for tomorrow that marquis daniels managed to play 24 minutes, take 11 shots, and not contribute a single other statistic. Did he even come to the defensive end of the court?

Blogger Unknown said...
Just saw this at truehoop.. hilarious.. Im thinking that Kobe Bryant has started to expand his hate beyong Luke and into the rest of the NBA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5trBOsRIJFc&NR=1

Or maybe thats what haterade tastes like.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
How good is this blue Gatorade? I think it's not much...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5trBOsRIJFc

Blogger Ry said...
Regarding Chris's bio ... dude's a hoops nut, but is also into NASCAR and hockey?!? I think my head just exploded. This is like discovering a new species of fauna. Anyway Chris, you make me laugh aloud on a consistent basis - dap given.

Blogger chris said...
Ry - USED to be into NASCAR until '03, but I'm into other forms of racing (as I have been for most of my 23 years) as well, mostly local stuff.

Thanks. But bigger thanks to Bawful here for inspiring me to take lacktion analysis to new heights...er...lows. :D And a shout out to my adopted hometown of Suckrament...Sacramento, where the aftereffects of the failed public-money cash grab by the Maloofs are still being felt by the empty seats at Arco.

Blogger MC Welk said...
somebody please pull some numbers on the Collins twins, wherein a golf cart accident is the best thing that could happen to their respective teams

Blogger Ry said...
DVJ, unless he's related, went to the same alma mater, or is a neighbor, how is your buddy a huge Jake Voskuhl fan? My head just exploded again. I can see how someone might like Mad Dog (one reason: NBA Finals dance), but Jake? Word?

Anonymous Anonymous said...
RE Voskuhls: Do concussions count toward a statline?

In care of Brian Scalibrine

Anonymous Anonymous said...
I bang cutters....