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aside from the 3 point shooting, all of that is pretty much exactly what i was expecting coming into the season.
still, 2-2 is a disappointment. i suppose it shouldn't be that much of a disappointment considering road teams are just 21-35 so far this season. there's usually a pretty big home/road split anyway in the NBA, and my guess would be that the condensed schedule is probably only going to exacerbate that. but they really should have beaten the jazz.
Sounds about right.
Via NBA Twitter
A few of us including me said last year that Westphal is the wrong guy for that group--too laid-back.
I would think that Washington and Houston would kick the tires on this.
I think this is backwards. Cousins is the wrong guy for that group. I know chemistry is overrated but that team is just ###### in that department, no matter who is the coach.
Of course put him with Andray Blatche and they might set some records for bad chemistry.
Westphal is known as a players' coach kind of guy; he was very popular with the Barkley Suns, or at least with Barkley--used to let Barkley skip practice, etc. He did a pretty good job with that team. The Kings OTOH would appear to need a hardass type. Westphal's statement indicates that Cousins has been getting away with stuff for awhile.
As far as Cousins, you can say he's not worth it if you want. Since we are not around the team every day, neither one of us knows. He may go the way of Benoit Benjamin or even Chris Washburn; we'll see. But he is a 6'11 21-year-old with a lot of talent. Those guys are far harder to find than guys like Paul Westphal are.
Nice win for Minnesota. Tuned in to see the 4th quarter. Rubio was solid, I really like watching true 1s like him and Nash and Paul go to work.
on a theoretical dc move - it would be part of a blatche swap, i'd presume - headache transfer - see if new scenery helps either.
Cousins isn't Magic Johnson, so I agree he may not be a guy you can the coach for, but I still don't think Westphal is the right guy there, and Cousins is more important than Westphal. May suck on an ethical level, but it is what it is.
Thornton's pretty good, but the problem is that neither he nor Evans creates much for other guys, nor does Fredette. It's an issue.
Also, I should say that Kobe tonight did exactly what many of his critics have always accused him of, so the Abbott/kevin/BL/Simmons/Matt Moore et al style shots at him, (not the RAPIST stuff, but the HE HURTS THE TEAM stuff) often wrong and/or overstated over the years, were, tonight at least, accurate, and fans in internet Lakerland are all over him. The Lakers might not have won the game tonight in any case, but they did need to work it to Bynum more. That is on Kobe--he was stubborn and dumb in this game.
One issue with the Brown/Messina O is that Kobe is not getting much time on the box. Bynum and Gasol of course need to be down there, but Brown is a little overboard on the MWP leader of the second unit from the low blocks deal. I would like to see Gasol operating from the high post with Kobe on the block as an occasional set, if for no other reason than to keep Kobe from jacking 3s. Ebanks has gotten two straight DNP-CDs now, and I think that is a mistake. Ebanks is nothing special, but he is a young guy with a little talent who plays pretty smart and has good legs. The Lakers need guys like that.
Rubio apparently did the old schoolyard thing and completed a pass for an assist by throwing it between Dirk's legs, according to a text I received from an NBAgeek buddy. Will have to look for that on highlights packages on-line.
Oh, no question (and I consider Evans a two). I start by not drafting Fredette.
I don't disagree but... if you do that, what do you have organizationally/culturally? I'm not talking ethics...
I tried that once - nailed the defender right in the pelotas.
Just trivia, but: tonight Lil'B and Tyreke played 72 min, scored 52, and had 6 assists between them. Won by 16.
Yeah, certainly I'm not claiming that you get rid of Cousins and everything's fine. The comments about the poor roster construction are pretty much dead-on (why the hell is John Salmons on this team?!). Really, I would say they need to blow it up and start over, but they're likely to be bad enough that this will just happen by chance and they have the whole stadium/relocation stuff going on. Ladies and gentlemen, your NBA Oakland A's!
And, no question, the roster construction is nutty.
I'm looking to trade Tyreke. I'm not sure what a good fit would be. If Orlando still had Brandon Bass I think he'd be a reasonable return with a pick or two -- I think Tyreke would fit pretty well in Orlando -- or maybe to Indiana for Psycho T and picks. (As you might be able to tell, I'm pretty low on Evans and don't necessarily think you could get anything blue-chip for him). Talk to teams about Cousins and see what the market is, but no point in trading him for peanuts. See if you can get Goran Dragic from Houston -- someone who can shoot the 3 and play the 1. If not, try Jimmer out in that position.
I don't know that you can really work miracles here, but if you get rid of Evans, some of the roster issues are alleviated somewhat. You can play Jimmer with Buckets, I'm not totally convinced you can play Tyreke with him and I like Buckets better than Evans.
EDIT: Yeah, it's certainly possible that there is a chance of getting stuck in purgatory with this approach.
Gerald Wallace ran a different version of that play on Caron Butler tonight.
I think Evans gets you more than anybody else on that roster.
OT: Good Lord, Amazon discounted a lot of, um, e-albums to $5.
They do that every month. As well as give an Android app a day away for free. And have an mp3 album heavily discounted for less than $5 everyday. IIRC I paid 99 cents for The Book Of Mormon Original Cast Album, for instance. They do it so you check their site everyday.
It looks like tens of thousands of them this time.
red rocket is looking svelte. Just drove for a nice layup.
Wolves now going with Rubio and the pfs- Williams, Beasley, Johnson, toliver.
So, if I'm reading you correctly, winning only means something if it supports your previously established narrative?
I have that trademarked. I'll sue. And by sue, I mean tie you down and make you watch while I flay your children alive.
Actually, I travel to Philly *next week.* Will be in the downtown area (I think) M-Th. In case anyone wants to test out their neck guards in person. I could probably swing a dinner one night...
Totally agree. Who didn't see this coming? It's too bad the Kings couldn't get something for him before he torpedoed all his value.
And my pet peeve is when people use regression to the mean as a reason without exploring the why's and the how's. Here's the Bulls DRtgs and rank (per NBA-Ref) for the last 8 years (Luol Deng's career) with comments/context:
10-11: 100.3/2 (Thibs)
09-10: 105.3/11
08-09: 108.7/18 (VDN's first year; Rose rookie)
07-08: 107.2/14 (Skiles out as coach in Dec; Boylan takes over a mess and they miss the playoffs; Noah rookie)
06-07: 99.6/1 (signed Ben Wallace before the season)
05-06: 103.4/7
04-05: 100.3/2 (Deng rookie year, Skiles coach)
Seeing it laid out like that, I'm not sure there's any significant conclusions to be drawn. Since 04-05, the roster has completely turned over except for Deng (who has been a solid defender the whole tenure). There's a drop in D once Skiles leaves, and then an immediate improvement under Thibs. Now, possible reasons for the D to regress that I see besides regression to the mean this season include more minutes for Boozer (if he doesn't miss the same time as last year), wear and tear or age on Deng (although only 26, he has been an injury risk in the past and plays tons of minutes), losing Thomas and Bogans (both solid defenders) and fatigue/schedule concerns. Reasons I think it can at least maintain, but possibly improve include more minutes for Noah (again, if doesn't miss same injury time as last year), more minutes and improvement/learning for Asik (he barely played early in the year, and is getting consistent minutes so far this year), improvement/learning from Rose (he openly discussed the coaching differences between VDN and Thibs and admitted to not being concerned as much about D his first 2 year) and fatigue/scheduling issues for the other team (I guess also chemistry/2nd year in a new defensive system).
AS: Randolph got hurt early and the Grizz have no offense without him. (Also, Hamilton was scratched and Brewer got his minutes, meaning that the Bulls have been running their max-defense lineup much of the game.) Memphis has looked terrible--I know they're not this bad ordinarily but they're just a mess tonight.
It was heading to blowout territory before Randolph got hurt - I think it was 25-12 Chicago when he left. The Grizz sort of just packed it up and Pargo kept chucking it after that.
still, 2-2 is a disappointment.
It's a long way from that 9-0 start you promised.
(As you might be able to tell, I'm pretty low on Evans and don't necessarily think you could get anything blue-chip for him
You would make a terrible GM. He clearly has more value than that to the league, so if you went around offering him for table scraps you'd get run out of town immediately (unless you are Otis Smith).
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Ginobli broke his left hand last night. That's a tough injury for them.
-A quote from John Paxson that can be interpreted as confirmation of that (if you read it that way): "Sometimes, at least what you hear from agents, it doesn't have anything to do with basketball. It has more to do with marketing and whatnot. Those are the things you don't have under control when an agent gets involved and doesn't even want to talk to you." He obviously didn't name Howard (or any specific player).
-In Marc Stein's Weekend Dime, he had this comment: One industry source insisted to ESPN.com this week that Rose's new shoe deal with adidas will easily crack nine figures and could legitimately approach the $250 million range -- as in $25 million annually over a 10-year span -- in what is known in the shoe game as a "lifetime" deal. How can the reigning MVP possibly command those kind of dollars as a shoe endorser? Here's how: Rose, as it was explained to me, is adidas' only counter to Kobe Bryant in China. I'm told Rose already outsells LeBron James there. If those numbers are true, I can see how Adidas would want to protect that any way they can (whether or not keeping Howard out of Chicago does that is debatable, of course).
they deserved to lose the POR game, but i don't think i was alone in underrating POR coming into the season. they look really good.
the utah game was an abortion, and there's no excuse for having lost it.
but still, look at their team page on bask-ref. 3rd in O-rating, 7th in D-rating, 2nd in FG%, 4th in opponent's FG%, 2nd in eFG%, 3rd in opponent's eFG%, and 3rd in their version of simple rating system.
it's not yet reflected in the standings, but this has been a very good start for them. hopefully they get stronger throughout the year as other teams get worn down by a comparative lack of depth, but at least for now, they really have been almost as good as i've been saying they were.
<3
(although, i'm fairly sure the phrase is "point in time", and i'm also fairly sure that there's no "c" in nikola. i really do not like this new beatwriter)
I do like Rose's comments on this. Basically something to the point of being really good at basketball takes care of all the marketing. It's nice to see a guy know that his "brand" is winning and let it take care of itself.
I still think Howard wanted to play with Paul and now wants to play with Williams. Based on stuff I have read, including Orlando-based stuff, DeVos wants to keep the team as a Top 4 seed, and thinks he can do that with a Gasol/Bynum package and might well take that for Howard and Turkoglu. The Nets have Williams, but they don't have two big guys to deal like that. Additionally, Buss has reportedly said that he doesn't want to trade Gasol and Bynum for Howard. So, Howard is still in Orlando.
This dynamic, if true, works in favor of Cuban getting Howard and Williams together in Dallas through FA. In the meantime, Smith I assume is trying to get a perimeter player to pair with Howard that perhaps might induce Howard to stay.
i think that's the main reason i'd actually argue against the sixers making a move for him. he's not one of the best big men, he's just one of the best prospects. people talk about him being a headcase, but that's not the only thing that's holding him back. his shot selection is horrendous, he gives away a massive amount of turnovers, and he fouls way too often.
he needs to get better at those things, but that's where the headcase issues come in. i don't really see it as being likely that he will work hard enough at improving those deficiencies for him to truly be a dominant player.
as is, he's a useful piece (you gotta love the rebounding rate, and he converts a decent amount of his FTs). but if that's all he's going to be, you're probably better off without him.
Also, his big problems - shot selection, turnovers, and fouls - are the sorts of things that you can most expect a young guy to improve going forward - sins of commission, if you will. There's no guarantee that that'll happen, mind you (and I don't think all of it will), but I can totally see why people dream on him.
Heard on Lakers' radio feed, with the TV guy/comic George Lopez on the air:
John Ireland: What do you think of the new look Lakers, George?
Lopez: I don't know if I'm looking at the Lakers or the Iowa Caucus.
It has been better this game; the last 3 was a mistake. Mychal Thompson got on Kobe about it on the radio feed. Bynum's PER entering play tonight is 36.1.
(I haven't watched the game at all, but thought that was worth noting.)
Bynum has, incidentally, only played three games this year. Small sample, but he has been outstanding thus far.
Other random thoughts from the past few days of action
-I was all for the compressed schedule and then at some point I realized I had watched a Nuggets and/or Heat game something like 12 times in the past 5 days. At the same time I also realized that scores around the league looked like the NBA had switched to 20 minute halves. Needless to say, quality of play REALLY seems to be off. Haven’t checked the numbers but, from watching the Knicks/Nuggets/Heat/OKC it seems 3 point shooting must be down.
-Maybe it’s because I didn’t get to watch him on a day to day basis, but Chandler’s defensive style has either changed or perhaps I was mislead by the numbers. Looking at his stats, I expected a great team defender who plays conservatively on that end but knows when/where to be to get the stop. So far this year he has pretty regularly gone after blocks and steals recklessly. Maybe it’s a function of how bad the team is defensively or his new contract or whatever, but as much foul trouble as he’s been in…it should probably be worse but the refs have given him some leeway in his hacking and whacking.
-Gallinari has no confidence in his shot right now. He seems to be exactly the kind of guy that lets these things get in his head and after a terrible start shooting things have gotten to the point where he passed out of a wide open 3 down the stretch in Denver’s last game. One of the “funny” things about Gallo being on a team with Al Harrington again is that you just wish Gallo played with Harrington’s confidence. No matter how poorly he’s shooting, Harrington seems certain that the next even slightly open shot is definitely going in. On the plus side, the ability to drive and pick up fouls he developed last year seems to be intact.
-Andre Miller has to be one of the more underrated and unorthodox players of the past two decades, right?
But how does it affect their pursuit of the 1 seed?
Matters what kind of picks they are. If they're the second round picks that are just throw-ins, then it's not.
Edit: And Stein is saying they're second rounders. Not sure that really does anything, positive or negative, for Philly
He's had a couple of poorly-timed injuries. I like the deal for New Orleans, he's the kind of guy they should be getting, especially if you can do it for nothing. Still really young and might pan out down the line.
I don't really care if the Grizzlies trade him though because he hasn't shown much yet, has been hurt quite a bit, and has very little chance of cracking the rotation this year even once he gets healthy. I don't know much about Speights, but he's got to be better than Josh Davis, I would imagine. If this goes through, I must give them credit for passably addressing the depth at the big spots, without panic-trading O.J. Mayo.
Of course, the depth still sucks until Randolph gets back. They say it's just a bruised MCL and he is just day-to-day, but I'll feel a lot better once he's actually back in the lineup.
Speights gives empty production - but it's still production. He can score (nice midrange j), decent rebounder, black hole on offense, not much on D. Foul prone, seems unmotivated.
Useful backup five.
That Philly found him out of shape, etc... doesn't look great, mind you.
as i said few pages back, i wouldn't trade speights for a second rounder...but for two, i'd drive him to the airport. it's not so much that the picks are insanely valuable, so much as, having a surplus of them will give the sixers some ammunition if they get to the point where they're actually in position to compete for a title.
one thing i think people might be missing about speights is that he's really pretty much exactly a clone of zach randolph. if he gets his minutes, he's gonna put up 20/10 on ~50% shooting. he really can do that in his sleep. what's held him back (to this point, at least) is mediocre conditioning, poor effort on the defensive end of the floor, and a shortage of adderall.
those things probably aren't going to change in memphis, but at least with speights he's only passively deficient, as opposed to demarcus cousins, who seems to be aggressively antagonistic. i wouldn't completely disagree with that, but memphis's system is really built around someone (zach randolph) who's production almost exactly mirrors speights' own. speights going to memphis is really the absolute best thing that could happen to him.
Definitely agree with this. Maybe he thinks he needs to cover for the rest of the team, but he has made some stupid plays. The third foul he picked up against Sacramento was idiotic.
I will also be going to the Knicks game tonight; they are 1-0 when I go, and 1-3 otherwise. I'll see if I can get them another W tonight.
Statistically, it seems very true. PPG is down from 99.6 to 94.9, which is a huge change from one year to the next. Still, we have no idea how to allocate responsibility to the short camp, the compressed schedule, lots of player movement, the long layoff, or even random variance. Shooting has seemed bad to me, too (other then that Wolves, obviously, who are stone cold assassins). Threes have gone from 35.8% to 33.8% and 2s from 45.9% to 44.1%. Even free throws have gone from 76.3% to 74.5%. Shaq retires, and league free throw shooting gets worse? Kidding, of course.
The anecdotes have supported the stats, at least for me. There are a few notable examples of guys shooting well (Lebron getting to the rim, Love making every three, Bynum standing under the hoop and making everything), but from game to game, you see so many bricks. I have to think that is rustiness as much as tired legs. Last night I watched Houston look like a pretty poor rec league team in the fourth quarter. They had open shots, covered shots, shots off the dribble, free throws, layups, putbacks, threes- nothing was even close. They even airballed wide open looks. And this was not a back to back or anything. It was horrid. I hope that teams shake the rustiness and get back to executing the way they can.
I have seen the same thing and I agree. Blowing that layup only makes things worse. Again, I hope he snaps out of it or shoots his way out of it because he is a fun guy to watch when clicking on all cylinders. Maybe it will help some that Denver's fan base seems more, um, supportive than NY's. He should get Tebow to bless him.
I can't wait to see your enthusiasm for the team when they reach the point where you think of them as contenders.
and if i haven't said it before, i think they can beat the heat in a 7 game series, i think they can beat the bulls, celtics, and knicks. but i don't think they can yet beat all of them back to back to back in a single run.
Look, we are all clear on the fact that we are looking at a 76ers/Wolves Finals. But until then, try to let the fans of lesser teams enjoy the journey, as Phil used to say.
I don't mind King. He's a hype man and he has some decent catchphrases. Neil Funk however deserves a special place in broadcaster hell. He's petty, vindictive and senile. A horrible combination. If you put a decent play by play guy with King (hello, Swirsky) King would come off quite a bit better. Half the time King is just trying to politely brush off Funk's inane critiques of the other team.
____________
As for the game, defense and Derrick Rose saved it. Rose always does whatever the Bulls need to win, which sounds cliched, but with a defense that good it allows him to pick and choose when he wants to try and take over scoring wise. Last night he did just enough in the 4th quarter, including 3 huge threes during a 20-4 Chicago run and coming away with 4 points with under 90 seconds to go (2 made layups one missed floater), and one huge distraction on the last play (everyone went with Rose, leaving Deng uncovered on the inbounds for the game winning layup).
It's funny that you think the Wolves aren't going to be promoted out of this silly little league by then.
I had that game on last night and my girlfriend, who was in the room but not watching, said, "why are the announcers cheering for one team?"
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7420125/nba-rookie-rankings-week-1
But what about (the ghost of) T-Mac!?
It's embarrassing. During a game last night, when the Bulls are just terrible, it's infuriating to hear them criticize the Hawks for taking terrible shots and how all the Bulls have to do is keep pushing and everything will be fine even though the Bulls are down by double digits. Of course, they were right last night, but that's another story.
I don't mind King. He's a hype man and he has some decent catchphrases. Neil Funk however deserves a special place in broadcaster hell. He's petty, vindictive and senile. A horrible combination. If you put a decent play by play guy with King (hello, Swirsky) King would come off quite a bit better. Half the time King is just trying to politely brush off Funk's inane critiques of the other team.
Uh, no. I'm gonna disagree. You are a Sox fan, so maybe Hawk is your reference point, but he's just as bad. He is not covering for Funk, he's right there with him with his head up his own ass. Some of the catchphrases sometimes aren't that annoying, but overall they're both a joke and an embarrassment for the organization. Thing is, Funk is a radio guy and was decent there, pairing him with King made him worse and didn't improve Stacey at all.
Last night he did just enough in the 4th quarter, including 3 huge threes during a 20-4 Chicago run and coming away with 4 points with under 90 seconds to go (2 made layups one missed floater), and one huge distraction on the last play (everyone went with Rose, leaving Deng uncovered on the inbounds for the game winning layup).
That game winner was a beautiful play. It was funny seeing the twitterverse explode with "wow a play, not an iso" tweets. Of course, after the game Thibs said Rose was still the first option there and the Bulls had just run an iso for Rose the game winning play attempt before.
It's hard to watch T-Mac play now, going from an all-timer down to Scalabrine territory.
The Bulls let Korver guard him last night straight up, and T-Mac couldn't do anything about it.
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There's maybe 7,000 people in Detroit tonight for the Bulls/Pistons game. Rip's first game back, close rival, and nothing. What a depressing state for the franchise. Then I flip over to NBA TV and see the Wiz getting creamed again. I had some hopes for them this year, but they look like the worst team in the league.
They never should have made that trade. Two-plus years of patience, then when they needed to be patient for two more months, Dolan just couldn't do it. But he's a loser and an incompetent, so no great surprise.
Heat destroying the Pacers, Wade isn't playing. Was it Whitlock that said the Pacers had the best bet at beating the Heat?
Holy ####, Carlos Boozer just made a nice defensive play.
EDIT: 16pts, 2min, coming off a TO. No subs. Ridiculous. This is going to be an issue some point this year. I believe Rose and Deng have played the entire 2nd half (both did the same last night, too).
EDIT 2: Rose and Noah sit with 1:12 left.
My favorite moment last night was when he began to whine "The refs keep calling all these fouls and are disrupting the flow of the game!" Yes Stacey, the refs should just ignore obvious fouls so D-Rose can keep pushing the pace...
This T-wolves-Grizz game is just some offensive futility all around, although Rubio is pretty impressive. Sometimes seems to get a little too cute, but he's got 10 assists and the vision is as advertised.
Has there ever been a pick as high as Williams so completely under the radar? The only thing close is Sean Elliot to San Antonio with the #3 in 1989.
I agree with this part completely.
I'm not sure if this has much to do with Rubio but is instead because his time on the court coincides quite a bit with the Grizzlies bench, which a bit of an offensive disaster right now. I've actually been reasonably happy with the Grizz starters on offense tonight, but I don't think Lionel knows how to handle his bench minutes with the short roster at the moment. Rubio himself hasn't impressed me much on defense.
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