Wow.<p>The finding that black players improved relative to whites during the bubble is kinda interesting. But drawing a line that it's because of "racial pressure" is a wild conclusion. All this from comparing two playoff seasons in a regression model?<p>Also, the paper is smattered with, "we have no reason to believe there are racial difference isn't "X"". But isn't the point of the paper that there <i>are</i> racial differences in some things? And are we just going to gloss over the fact that the NBA is 75% black? How does that work, if there aren't obscure racial differences that matter?