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Did you read this? (not a counter or anything, but funny because of the timing)
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So let me get this straight, robin. After knowing what you know about Abbott and what he feels about Kobe, you still 1. Read something he wrote about the Lakers today AND 2. Listened to his podcast today. Did you win the lottery or something and felt the need to punish yourself?
And there are many other angles for tomorrow night's game. The first LAL/LAC post-Paul game is full of storylines and analytics.
It’s pretty obvious he dislikes Kobe. It puts him into a very large group of people, and I wouldn’t have a problem with his except he keeps trying to justify his distain for Bryant by claiming there’s an analytical rational for it.
Abbott’s whole thing is that he wants teams to run plays at the end of games. That’s great, but the ball has to start with someone, and that someone has to be capable of running the offense. By default, you’re going to want that ball in the hands of your quarterback, someone who can handle the ball, who can beat his guy off the dribble, who has shooting range to draw the defense, who can pass if possible and score if necessary, who can break down a double-team, who can any number of things necessary to start a set play against a set defense. If you have someone like Paul, then congrats, you’re probably going to be successful more often than not because Paul can do all those things.
Most teams don’t have that guy, and lots of teams don’t even have half that guy. The Lakers happen to have a really great player to give the ball to, but that guy isn’t a point guard, he’s a shooting guard. Bryant’s strength has always been to score buckets, and he’s great at it. He’s good enough at all the other stuff to trick people into thinking he can be Magic Johnson when he “wants” to be (read: “when he isn’t a selfish prick”), but he’s not that guy.
What’s most annoying is that Abbott’s conceded numerous times that it’s not really the players’ fault that they’re not running a play, it’s the coaches’ fault. The head coach is suppose to draw something up, tell the guys what to do. If you just leave it up to a shooting guard who also happens to be the best combination of dribbling, passing, shooting, and everything else on the roster, and then you don’t run a play for him, why is it so shocking that the guy ends up going to what he’s strongest at, shooting the ball? It’s a very basic, and very stupid, criticism of the player.
Bingo. If Kobe had a conscious he'd probably be just another guy. It's his belief-- that the next one is always going in, that makes him the great player that he is.
Watching Rose try to walk the tightrope between "getting his" and "setting others up" is fascinating. In year 1 he was two passive. In year 2 he got better but was still too passive. In year 3 he had it dead right for about 60 games then under the smothering defense of the Heat and the fatigue of the playoffs, he got a little too shot happy.
It's part of the beauty of basketball, watching great players try and walk the line.
The original intent was two parts--isos in general, and isos in last-second situations. I talked with Synergy, but unfortunately they were unable to pull the relevant numbers for which teams ran isos the most in clutch situations.
Without the numbers, I think it's difficult to mentally balance the positives of isolating at the end of games (getting a shot off, low turnovers) with the way they limit your chances of getting an easy shot. Both sides can use confirmation bias to believe they're right.
since then, they're 8/8 from the field and they've opened up an 8 point lead about 8 minutes in.
Exactly. That, and the fact that he is national. Local guys at team blogs saying Kobe is a selfish punk and a rapist...IMO kind of dumb, but fair enough. Here is Kelly Dwyer, after the Utah game, emphasis mine:
I have explained this a few times, but here are the Lakers DRTGs and ORTGs for 2003 and 2004:
DRTG 19TH 8TH
ORTG 4TH 6TH
Shaq passed 30 in 2003, delayed toe surgery, and showed up weighing 400 pounds. They could not defend P/R at all. Kupchak did a lousy job with the bench, and the Spurs, with a peak Duncan, beat them and went on to the title. Adding Payton and Malone, they improved on D in 2004. Everyone knows the story from there, and everyone saw last year's playoffs.
This is what set Dwyer off:
Obnoxious and arrogant quote from the Mamba? Sure. Kobe was asked if his wrist would be OK for the playoffs and he bristled at the question. But of course Phil came back and they won two titles and three conference titles and this year, for the moment, at least, Kobe and his wrist are well ahead of the Haters.
But the point is that Dwyer and Abbott can't just say, "I don't like this guy because he is obnoxious and arrogant and I don't like the way he plays." Instead, they try to justify biased and visceral reactions based on, well, "basketball reasons." It produces both bad analysis and twisted facts.
still, it's always good to see your team up 34 coming out of the 3rd quarter.
The Lakers aren't going to run out of white guys this year.
I didn't even think it was quite that bad until I watched that game against the Wolves last week. They shot 35%, not so much because the Wolves brought the iron curtain defense, but because they're stupid. They take bad shots all the time. Their ball movement, when there is any, is horrible. They don't set good picks, they don't cut well, they don't run to ball, they don't help each other out. They're just a bunch of tall guys who can run fast and jump high, and that lets them hang around for a quarter or three before actual grown-up professional men bear down and and then they roll over like dogs. None of these guys, not Wall, not McGee, certainly not Blatche, are going to have notable careers. They're losers. They saw Chicago on the bill on Wednesday and rolled over. They saw the Sixers tonight, and rolled over. They're ####### losers. Their games shouldn't even count. I hate them so much.
It is just an expression. Also, you called 115 on the Knicks and they scored 79. We all have our hobby horses (I have been riding mine here all day) but you might want to tone it down just a little.
there really wasn't a single player who had a bad game, though jrue holiday did not cover himself in glory (5/15 from the floor, 12 points, 2 assists, 2 turnovers).
tomorrow is going to be the sixers' 7th game in 9 days, but at least washington is going to be on the back end of the back-to-back.
anyway, 8-3 isn't a bad way to start the season, even accounting for the lack of wins against high-quality competition. i know i said that they'd start off 9-0, but 8-3 does put them almost exactly on pace for the 47 wins i penciled in for them.
there's really no reason to say anything more than that. it's not all on the players, the management deserves a ton of blame for putting the team together in the way it is.
the quality of the individual pieces is not bad (wall and mcgee are elite athletes, nick young is a solid gunner. singelton and booker are guys who'll be in the league for 10 years), but all of them, wall, young, crawford, blatche just have exactly the same weaknesses in their game, and the combination of having them all on the floor at the same time exacerbates their individual weaknesses to the point that the team itself is just absolutely terrible.
You realize we can all read box scores if we so desire right? Just a thought, but it's probably not necessary to post stats and game updates, multiple times per game, for every single game the Sixers play.
The way the refs are calling the game is making it really hard to defend Rubio. He is getting up into guys forcing them to body him, then the refs are calling the contact any time he turns a corner. Since it is so hard to pick his pocket, they're playing off of him, which gives him great passing lanes. He has 9 assists, but he'd probably have 13+ if anyone on the team could make a freaking wide open corner three.
The refs missed a blatant goal tend that turned into a transition three going the other way. Almost swayed the game, but the Wolves executed in the last three minutes (an improvement), to win 87-80. The Hornets aren't good, but they're real pros, so I'll happily take the road win.
I don't mind it. It keeps this thread busy.
Rose was rusty to start but lit up the Celtics in the 4th. Boston better be careful or they are going to find themselves in the dreaded mediocre zone. They should cash in on Allen this year. A trade to the Bulls would make a lot of sense.
Noah finally played well despite missing about 4 layups he was a factor on the glass and on defense all night long. Luol Deng is a god damn iron man. He has to in the top 5% of all NBA players as far as cardio conditioning. Even Boozer played a hard working, smart game. And guess what -- him and Noah closed out the game. Well mostly Rose closed out the game, those guys helped, but they were along for the ride.
He has some issues with foul trouble (3.9 per 36) and with TO's (4.3 per 36), but you'd expect the TO issue for a first year PG. He's looking like a potential future first-team NBA guy (if he gets the TO's under control and improves the assists).
He doesn't seem anywhere near as lackluster as the draft reports made him out to be.
a) Kobe shot a little too much.
b) It wasn't the main problem.
a) Bynum was 7/9; basically, Kobe should just look at how big the other team's center is, and that should decide how many times he gives the rock to Bynum. When the other guy is close to Bynum's size (Kwame Brown, Marc Gasol) Bynum often has trouble. When it's a guy like Anderson Varejao (who is a pretty good player,actually) Bynum is often just too big and too long in the arms for the other team to keep him from shooting below 60% from the floor on 15-17 shots if he gets the ball in decent spots. But many times he doesn't get those 15-17 shots. And yeah, I think Kobe wanted 40 and the other guys went along with that.
b) But the Lakers' backup SGs are Kapono and Goudelock--both of whom are borderline NBA players at best and neither of whom is a legit backup shooting guard or even really a shooting guard at all. Neither of them is a guy you can play more than about 8 minutes. With Steve Blake expected to be out until February, the Lakers PGs are Fisher and Morris. Fisher did about as much he can--he moved the ball well, had 10 assists and no TOs. But he is not a threat to score and doesn't do much to keep the other team's PG out of the paint. Morris will have an NBA career, but he is a 20-year-old rookie and not destined for the ASG. Something I bittched about in pre-season--signing Kapono instead of Delonte West, who also signed a one-year deal for the minimum (with Dallas) AFTER the Lakers signed Kapono--looks even worse now.
Barnes has played well enough to cover the 3, for now, but that is still a pretty weak position. Brown, as is his wont, gives different guys DNP-CDs. Tonight it was MWP.
So, I am hearing a lot of Lakers fans bittching about Kobe's not passing, or Gasol's not being tough, or Bynum's not doing whatever. But the real problem is that the roster beyond those three guys is mostly a pile of crap with no one who can instigate offense.(McRoberts helps a bit and Barnes is doing as much as he can. Ebanks didn't do much tonight, but he hadn't played at all really in about two weeks. But overall it's not enough).
Here is a goofy little question for the digital age: what does Simmons do tomorrow night? The Lakers/Clippers game is a Clippers home game, so he has tickets. I assume he attends and skips Tebow/Brady. Denver/New England is on in prime time, 5 pm Pacific.
Personally, I blew him off about 5 pages ago, then went out and drafted him for my fantasy team.
I've watched him quite a bit since, and I think a bunch of us, myself included, got a bit caught up in a) the measurable and b) forgetting how much more space there is in the pro game. Players that are quick, even if they can't really jump, can get where they want to be. Irving is quick, and has good vision. His shooting has surprised me. Even if he regresses a bit from the outside he's still proven he can be an effective starter.
If he's an effective starter at only 19 (yea, shocked me, figured he was at least 20), the sky is the limit.
I don't think he'll ever best Paul or Rose, but he can certainly join the line of great pgs behind those two.
He's going to a wedding.
I think it's funny that someone here knows that, but there it is. Doesn't sound like much of a Sports Guy to me.
He mentioned it in his latest mailbag.
Obviously, I don't read the mailbag.
______________
I note that STEAGLES says he has the 76ers checking in at 47-19. If that actually happens, they are pretty much a lock for the 3rd seed. I suppose Orlando could win that many...seems unlikely. Miami and Chicago won't win very many more than that, even if they stay healthy.
i guess that's a good thing for them, since it should allow for some practice time for the new parts familiarize themselves, and i guess it's also a good thing, since the team would figure to be playing its best basketball later in the season, but still, that schedule does not look like it'll be doing them any favors come playoff time.
Heh. There will be some Clipper backlash within about a year and a half, once people remember they play in a big market and Sterling's profile gets a little higher.
I can't see Flip Saunders lasting much longer.
33 min, 16/11/5, 2 stl, 3 blk.
not sure how he gets a role above 5th big (okafor, kaman, landry, j.smith have all been solid this year), but this could be an omen of things to come, at least next season.
The Nets are just an awful, awful team. I don't see why Howard would go there, and I don't see why D-Will would re-sign without him.
As a sign that offense is down this year, the Bulls have not lost at home despite scoring just 85.4 points per home game. They've held their opponents to 66.8 points per game in Chicago.
Kind of hard to root for your team when you find yourself hating so many of the players. Only 3.5 more years and then we can blow this up and start again.
Honestly, if Steve Nash signs with the Knicks this summer as many suspect he will, they will be easy to root for and fun to watch next year. They'll also be a lot better as long as they stay healthy. Despite all the speculation of his impending demise, Nash is still ridiculously effective. Just check out Marcin Gortat's league-leading field goal percentage (by a wide margin).
The question is will D'Antoni still be around by next summer? If he's not I'm not so sure Nash to the Knicks is a sure thing. I'd have to think his main interest is winning a championship so a team like the Lakers might be a lot more enticing.
even if they get nash, they're still an island of misfit toys, but they're really the only team (besides utah) who would be significantly upgraded by nash's addition. with everyone else, he either wouldn't be the best PG on the roster (LAC, BOS, CHI, DEN, OKC, HOU), or there'd be continuity issues (LAL, POR, PHI, SAS), or he'd be blocking a yonuger player on a team that wouldn't be ready to compete anyway (MIL, IND, CLE). plus there's the issue of his porous defense.
the only teams that are left after all of that are the knicks, magic, hawks, mavericks, and jazz. the magic and mavericks are in a state of dwight howard induced limbo, and the hawks are up against the luxury tax.
maybe i'm missing something here, but the knicks really do just seem to be the best fit.
also, there's apparently been talks between memphis and new jersey about a mayo for morrow swap. i think new jersey is in on this just to shed morrow's salary. memphis would be in on it to add the extra 3 pt shooter.
So I checked back this morning, looked at the box score and saw that he wrecked the Lakers last night. Whatever, man. What the #### ever.
The bigs played like ####. Kobe dominated the ball, but did good work, especially late.
Really bad performance by the bigs to give up 17 (might have been more) offensive boards. Box out Blake Griffin FFS!
MWP has two more player options, so he is on the books for about 7M next year as well. Those four contracts,as I have been trying to explain to people who are not as informed as the crowd here, as well (in a different way) as Kobe's and Pau's gargantuan extensions, are a far bigger problem than anything Kobe, Bynum, and Gasol fail to do game to game. They have their faults, but it is the old Bill James thing of blaming your best players when things don't look good. If the Lakers had a league-average pass-first PG and a competent backup 2, they would look different.
And yes, watching Paul do his thing really seriously sucked for Lakers fans.
Given that ORL is 8-3, is hosting the ASG, and that Howard is supposedly trying to get Williams to Orlando, nothing is going to happen with that until the deadline IMO. So, Lakers fans just have to take the lumps (more are coming--the schedule gets harder now) and then hope Kupchak/Buss can either snag Howard,(seems unlikely but could happen) or failing that, get a decent guard with the TPE. Not much to see here, other than the Kobe show, the Bynum thing, and how Darius Morris does--he will get some PT with Steve Blake out.
aldridge, griffin, bosh, and stoudemire would have to be in the conversation as well.
Wait, what happened to Dirk??? Has he somehow transcended the PF position and thus become ineligible for such rankings?
Haven't heard that one before...
Anyone up for some Celtics schadenfreude? Or is everyone ready to pencil them in for a bottom-half playoff berth and an ignominious 1st round sweep? I'm willing to chalk up their hiccups so far to new guys not "getting" the defensive system, coupled w/ most of their best players being too old to keep up with Rondo and/or consistently push the tempo. And while they're winless against winning teams, they have made a go of it against the Heat & Bulls (albeit after digging themselvs a nice & comfy hole). But watching Rondo throw himself at guys & brick 50% of his freethrows every other possession is almost as tough to bear as Heinsohn actually invoking Bill Russell's name in describing the awesome shot-blocking prowess of one Greg Steimsma. & they're kinda stuck w/ just riding The Big 3 into the sunset for the next 2 years, aren't they?
*Good enough for you, Essex?
**They've played more games on the road than total games the Clippers have played! In 2 weeks they start a 9 game road trip, and they have another road game on Friday!
Is Love that good? I know his stats are very good, but there are factors that always brought him down in my eyes.
* Terrible team. Someone has to score and get rebounds, and it seems he gets many of the "freebies" especially since his team has been really bad. I remember discussions on previous threads about the gimme "Team" defensive rebounds, and he certianly gets plenty of those.
* Defense. As in he does not seem to match up very well (but I am not a great bball mind, so I defer if others say he is at least ok).
* T-Wolves. He is on my favorite team, so I try and discount my opinion a bit to try to reduce hometown bias.
Since I am a fan though I will gladly accept he is better than I am giving him credit for.
An earlier tweet said he was wearing a walking boot. He probably needs to rest it.
after what's happened the last ~18 months, i really hope that bosh, carmelo, williams, and billups are left off the roster. they just really have not carried themselves in a respectable manner, and i don't think they're worthy of playing for this country.
Guards: Dwyane Wade,
Deron Williams, Chris Paul,Eric Gordon,Russell Westbrook,Chauncey Billups, Derrick Rose, Kobe BryantForwards: LeBron James, Andre Iguodala,
Rudy Gay, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh,Blake Griffin,Lamar Odom, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love.Centers: Dwight Howard,
Tyson Chandler.after what's happened the last ~18 months, i really hope that bosh, carmelo, williams, and billups are left off the roster. they just really have not carried themselves in a respectable manner, and i don't think they're worthy of playing for this country.
Wait, what?
Wouldn't take Wade because of his health. There'd be a good chance he'd miss the whole thing.
Seriously though I don't think you want the best individual players, but the best team adjusted for the fact the game is a bit different than the NBA. Of course throw the best (most popular) players at it and overwhelm the world has working reasonably well MOST of the time so they will likely do that.
Regular season GP from '09-'10 to present:
Wade 162
Paul 134
Gordon 120
Chandler 137
i'd actually feel the same way about lebron, wade, and chris paul, but i think their skills would be more vital to the team's chances.
this team is supposed to represent our country, and some of the names on this list are the biggest jackasses in the entire NBA. we really should be able to do better.
thank you gob bluth
Past results are no guarantee of future performance. Would you really expect Wade to remain healthiest of that group?
To be fair, Memphis is also without their best player.
Jerry Sloan retired, and he, Deron, and everyone in the Jazz FO denied it was Deron's fault. If Deron had the power to get Sloan fired, the Jazz sure as hell weren't going to trade him shortly after. He and Sloan certainly clashed, but if Sloan couldn't handle it, it was because he no longer had the drive to coach the NBA (which he admitted). This is a man that apparently challenged Karl Malone to fistfights during games multiple times; fighting with his star player was nothing unusual for Sloan.
RE: Millsap, agreed mostly with Der K -- I don't think the lack of minutes are an issue, though. Millsap has the stamina and ability to play more, but the Jazz thought Favors was ready to break out and Millsap started the season on the bench. What really amazes me about Millsap is how much his mid-range shot and ball handling has improved. He's still a weak link on defense (which is compounded with Jefferson playing beside him), but he's now a legit option on offense rather than someone that just gets garbage points. Off the top of my head, I'd go Dirk, Gasol, Aldridge, Love, Griffin, Bosh then probably Millsap for this season. I'd put a healthy Randolph and Amare over him still, and I'm not certain he should be above Garnett or Duncan even at this stage in their careers. Still, a top 10 PF, considering how many people doubted he'd even be an NBA player is pretty impressive. Matching the Blazers' offer sheet and subsequently letting Boozer go has been one of the Jazz' best recent decisions. Too bad they didn't do the same with Wesley Matthews.
I refuse to believe Millsap is worse defensively than Jefferson unless he is actually boxing out his own teammates. But that is just latent bitterness.
Not worse than Jefferson, but he is bad. Millsap gives more effort (though Jefferson has improved so far this season), but it is partly negated by the size difference.
Anyway, if you guys are interested in why the Jazz have been successful so far, Zach Lowe has a good article up. Like he says, Jazz need to get more from their wing players and Harris to keep this up, but they have made real progress on the defensive end -- not in the article, but Corbin changed the Jazz' defensive philosophy over the offseason on where to direct penetrating opponents. Lowe notes their improved rebounding rates, helped a lot by Favors and Kanter off the bench, as well as the fact that opponents are taking much less efficient shots against them this year (fewer 3PA and shots at the rim).
quoted for, you know, HOLY ####....
(also not surprising)
This guy was no sure thing to stick in the D-League this year (played scrub minutes in a few games last year, was drafted in the 5th round of their weirdo draft this season - most of those guys are camp fodder, even this year) but... played well for his club (the LA Defenders, he's their starting PG) and went to NBA camp w/ the Clips (he did have a decent pedigree coming out of Arkansas two seasons back) so - when they needed a guard on a 10-day deal, they went w/ the familiar commodity.
Still - not a guy I saw making the league as of a few months back.
LAL only scored 7 pts in the qtr. The Mavs broke out for a comparatively robust 16. These 2 teams look like they are on the last leg of a back-to-back-to-back-to-back.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7469501/nba-kendrick-perkins-trade-not-boston-celtics-problem
Note to Celtics fans: Not linking to talk trash. Lakers have as many problems as Celtics in spite of better record as viewers saw tonight.
Happiest people tonight who watched TNT games on many levels: OKC fans.
Also, in a triumph for small markets and competitive balance, Dwight Howard has officially added the Clippers to his "wish list."
Please?
Read that Hollinger bit. The season is still young (even as the Celts aren't), but - yeah, not looking good for the green.
Yeah, even going back to when Al was in MN, the lineup data support the idea that Love does the most good at C. you are almost certainly right in speculating that it is due in part to other roster construction; better to have Williams, Beasley, at 4 than Darko, Pek at 5. I was calling for more of it through the offseason, and Adelman has not shied away, even in crunch time. We saw more Darko and Pek (who played his best game of the year) last night to match up with Boogie's offensive prowess, but as I have said before, that list of dangerous offensive 5's is damn short.
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