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..kyrie irving was astounding in this game.
..john wall is a tremendous athlete, but he's a real space cadet. he needs someone else on the court who can grow him up.
..greg monroe will forever be a favorite of mine for snatching the ball from wall in that last minute.
..evan turnover kind of showed up in the second half. i imagine that lack of focus is exactly the reason he finds himself in coach collins' doghouse.z
i'm probably alone in this, but when i'm watching this game, the thing that goes through my mind is that the NBA needs to contract some teams. when talented players play alongside other talented players, this game is just so much more entertaining.
i know that quality of play isn't the main consideration in this, but this league would be so much more entertaining if charlotte, sacramento, new orleans, detroit, phoenix and toronto just didn't exist. fewer teams would mean fewer scalabrines. fewer roster spots would mean the D-league would be a stronger proving ground for young talent. fewer games would mean that the league would have more of an opportunity to showcase games at the national level without having local broadcasts split the audience.
if the NBA is supposed to be the highest level of competition in the sport, there really should be more of a focus on raising the level of play, so that the gap between the NBA and euroleague, or the NBA and the NCAA becomes laughably large.
My awesome prediction of the year: "I'd rather play Lin than Bibby." Nailed it!
Of course, contraction is probably a pipe dream -- certainly the league will never contract 6 (!) teams. But it does own 1 team right now -- and isn't Sacramento a mess, too? So contracting 2 teams doesn't seem entirely out of the realm of the semi-plausibility (though I assume it's not going to happen).
Have a contraction draft of the Kings and Hornets players, make 4 divisions of 7 teams each... that might sharpen play somewhat.
And maybe in a few years the league could re-expand to 30 teams, with franchises in cities that are more likely to support them.
When the Rising Stars kept misfiring on alley-oops it underlined how ridiculous some of those Wade-James hookups have been, and against defense to boot.
I saw it on YouTube. It was pretty good. Always seems like guys who get added at the last minute win it.
Why did Budinger dunk over Diddy?
Edit: update: this dunk is far superior to the Evans double dunk.
i'm not gonna read that, but i know some of the people around here really like sheridan, so i figured i'd quote him.
Rasheed Wallace.
Strikes me as weak even for a Woj hit piece. Does anyone really care about the AS game? Does Woj write anything but hit pieces?
If this thread is any indication, no. And I hope the first post on this page was tongue in cheek.
Serious, how many guys would take getting their nose broken in an exhibition game, then purposely put himself out on an island against Lebron James, with the game on the line — twice! — in a game when Lebron hit six 3s? Bryant's a ####### animal. For all his weirdness and off-the-court messes, he is still after all these years, for my money, the most magnetic presence in the NBA.
Derrick Rose is not impressed.
Sometimes.
Even if James took the shot and hit it, we'd be buried in stories about how unclutch he is because he can only do it in exhibition games.
He just looks so awkward, and bored, and disinterested in everything the entire weekend every year. He does what he has to do, and then gets out. He's not really a showman or an entertainer.
No comments on the Wade flagrant that broke Kobe Bryant's nose? I'm guessing if Bryant had laid Wade out, people would have said something. Bryant also refused to criticize Wade for it, and took out his mad on Lebron.
Intent matters here. Wade wasn't trying to hurt Kobe, he just happened to catch his nose. And flagrant? Come on. I think that's why you didn't get a reaction out of Kobe. #### happens during games, can be exaggerated when people are playing at different intensities (in this case, Wade wasn't at the same level as Kobe). For the record, I like Kobe more than Wade (I feel the need to point that out, to try and distance myself from a bias accusation).
If I were Rose, I wouldn't be enthusiastic about extra workload in this comically compressed sesaon either, not with his body aching like it does.
It was fun to watch Iggy throw down a few dunks. I wonder if the East was hindered by having a couple of its players being most valuable on defense (Howard, Iggy) in a largely defense-free game.
I wonder what the ASG would be like if you went to a halfcourt format of some kind. 4 teams, playground style halfcourt game. Less "entertaining" flash, more entertaining competition.
I put on the ASG, and the quality of play was so ridiculously bad that I turned it off and have ignored all commentary on it. So I had no idea this happened.
It does remind me to complain that Wade never got enough flak for doing this.
Miami plays the Lakers in LA on Sunday afternoon.
Derrick is about winning real games, that's all that matters to him. I honestly think if a Genie came up to Rose and said "you'll win 1 title with your current skills, as a superstar" or "you'll win 5 titles but you are now only good enough to be a bench player" Rose would choose the bench and the titles.
True. First time in forever I didn't watch a single minute of it.
I really hate that Wade won that title in the way he did. Yea he played great but he had a boat load of god damn help from the officials.
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Matt, Watson should be back tonight and there's a chance Rip plays too. If so, it would only be the 5th game this year they've had their full roster. And even though Mike James had passed JL3 on Thibs' depth chart at backup PG with Watson out, he's gone again because his 10 day contract is up and JL3's is guaranteed. James sure looks like he could help a team out still.
He was quiet and didn't do "The Decision," he has a title, and he stayed with his team.
Give him credit, he knows how to work the media.
Rusillo returned from his suspension yesterday and addressed this on his podcast. He basically said that if you talk about this, you probably just don't like the dunk contest. It does fine, it gets ratings and buzz, there's really no reason to do anything with it.
Yea, I'm excited. Rose said he's pain free as well. A bit worrisome about the apparent refusal to pay even a dime of the luxury tax, but then again, could all be part of that nebulous Garpax term "flexibility".
Rumor is a fight with a former Boston sports radio colleague (John Dennis - for more on him, see below) at the ESPN Superbowl party. Apparently, years ago, Russillo hit on Dennis' daughter, Dennis didn't like that, there was some voicemail where Dennis accused Russillo of being a drunk, etc. Story
John Dennis - former local sports TV guy, has a morning sports/talk radio show with another goon, Gerry Callahan (writes for the Boston Herald). Here's a fun little excerpt about their show (from Wikipedia):
On September 29, 2003, during a segment called 'headlines', where they read and comment about current news stories, Callahan and his morning co-host John Dennis made what were perceived to be racially insensitive remarks while discussing a story about an escaped gorilla.[13] The gorilla had escaped from the Franklin Park Zoo and had been recaptured at a bus stop. According to newspaper articles, the exchange allegedly was:[14]
Callahan: "They caught him at a bus stop, right -- he was like waiting to catch a bus out of town."
Dennis: "Yeah, yeah -- he's a METCO gorilla."
Callahan: "Heading out to Lexington."
Dennis: "Exactly."
METCO is a state program that buses inner-city Boston students to nearby suburban schools. Many perceived the comments to be comparing poor, mostly African-American children to gorillas.
there's no offensive firepower in the starting lineup right now, and they're getting put in a hole every game from the tip because of it. elton brand can't score. lavoy allen can't score. iguodala can't score. all meeks does is score, but he doesn't really do it all that well. but despite that lack of offensive ability, elton brand starts and jodie meeks starts.
and it's not about jodie meeks anymore so much as it's about this team needing to commit to its future. evan turner. thaddeus young. jrue holiday. they need to be given the green light to make this team their team. it's time.
two quick side notes:
1, when the season started, the explanation collins gave for meeks being in the starting lineup ahead of turner was that they needed his shooting to space the floor. but jrue holiday is shooting 38% from beyond the arc, and iguodala is shooting 37% from beyond the arc. at least so far this season, they have shown the ability to spread the floor. and considering how little meeks is giving the team elsewhere, that little fig leaf they're clinging to is just getting smaller and smaller.
2, i think it's pretty clear now why collins has washed out of every coaching job he's had. he just ramps up the intensity to such an extent that everyone around him burns out. when marreese speights was traded, collins said that his greatest regret in his first year here was that he failed to get the most out of him. that wasn't something that was on him, so much as it was about speights' incompatibility with the rest of the roster.
but this turner thing is completely on him. there may be some great justification for his treatment, but as a fan on the outside, it just seems like turner is the team's whipping boy, and anytime any of the players does something wrong, it's turner who gets the hook because of it.
Turner's only averaging 2 minutes less than Meeks. Starting's just an ego trip for guys, it's minutes and crunch time minutes that really matter.
i'd agree that it would be a meaningless change if there were no difference in the total allotment of minutes, but that's not what i think should happen.
That's not really true. And if Turner's going to go into the 30's, then that means either of those two are playing less, or Meeks and Lou Williams are playing less, or Iggy's playing the four. I just don't know if Turner deserves the minutes, and I'm not sure it's in the team's best interest to make Meeks play ~10 minutes a game.
if jrue, iguodala, and turner get 35 minutes each, that means that turner is playing about 20-25 minutes at SG and another 10-15 at SF. iguodala and jrue would basically play exclusively at SF and PG respectively. lou would figure to get ~15 minutes at PG, and then lou and meeks would split another ~25 minutes at SG, playing alongside jrue and either of iguodala or turner.
True. But it is a concern of the team, because they're, you know, trying to win games. And keep everyone healthy and with good stamina for the playoffs. That team is in a precarious position, even moreso with no Hawes (who would've thought we'd be saying that), and I'm not sure that cutting back on Meeks and Lou helps them.
We all like to talk about how they're playing for next year and building. And they are. But they're in prime position to make the playoffs, host the first round, and potentially win that round. That's something that the coach, GM, and owner are all going to want because it means money and job security. Sure, it's not going to help them with the draft and it may not help them acquire more talent, but short of outright tanking, nothing's going to. They're too good for the lottery. So they have to decide what they're going to do in two days (March 1) to really address bringing in more talent. If you're hell bent on increasing Turner and decreasing Meeks/Williams, then hope that they trade one of those two to the Lakers. LA needs wing help. Badly.
and, i think you're assuming that starting turner over meeks is taking one step back to take two steps forward, but with how bad the starting lineup has struggled, i'm not convinced there'll be any regression.
and re:hawes, i really want to say that it's not what it looks like. i want to say that the 12-2 record with him versus 8-12 without him is a fluke. i want to say that averaging 100 ppg with him versus 89 without him is a fluke. i want to say that even if he comes back, there's no guarantee that he'll be as forceful a player as he was at the start of the year.
but at this point, i think it's just becoming an imperative that they get him healthy and back in the lineup.
17 steals and 8 blocked shots were a welcome sight, though.
Hayward hasn't exactly earned starter's minutes ...
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It was a breath of fresh air seeing Rip play last night. He only played half of the first and third quarters, but his impact is very obvious. He looked pretty healthy, and dare I say, quite spry. He was moving off the ball and screens about as well as he ever has, and his passing really is still quite good. Also, it meant no JLIII. The Bulls' bench got their ass kicked by the Hornets' bench and the Bulls had a really bad night shooting 3's (most of which were of the open variety). Bulls are in SA tonight, and even if the Spurs don't have Manu or Splitter the Bulls are going to have to play much better to win.
I like what I see out of Ayon so far, he just needs time to learn. But he does appear to have a good feel for the game and plays under control. That was a really good signing by NO. And Kaman still has a lot left, he could really help a number of teams this year.
Once again, I would like to apologize on behalf of all Bulls fans for those of you who were subjected to Neil Funk and Stacey King on NBATV. Last night was actually one of their least obnoxious nights; it was odd hearing them compliment the Hornets throughout the game (how many times did they say "They play the game the right way"?) instead of mocking them for not being good.
He's played much better than either Howard or Bell, though. The Jazz need to get more minutes for their young players, but instead they're talking about cutting Hayward's minutes and reportedly are not looking to move either Jefferson or Millsap.
Sweetney- he trained at the Georgetown practice facilities in the summers when I was there. I never played against him directly, but I saw him working out and can say first hand that he worked incredibly hard. With his trainer, he played full court one on one games in one of those spandex bodysuits that wrestlers wear to drop weight. They'd go for 2 20 minute halves with no breaks. I don't think I could last ten minutes at that and he was going hard the whole time. He still wasn't fit at that time. I think he's just a guy whose body was not built to keep weight off.
I was not able to watch the Wolves beat the Clippers last night, but that is a solid win. Both teams were rested, as full strength as they'll be the rest of the year, and motivated to win. All of that, and the Wolves got down and still came out with a solid win. Of course, Beasley and Williams aren't going to go off like that every night, but the non-Rubio, Love, Pek parts of the team have been so wildly disappointing that a few hot nights from bench players are due. Now it's the Lakers tonight and @ Portland tomorrow in a very tough b2b2b out of the break that had the potential to really sink any playoff hopes. Winning the toughest one to start is pretty encouraging, though.
That's not really borne out by the box score stats: here's the pts/36 for Philly's 10 rotation guys.
Williams 21, Young 17, Holiday, Vucevic and Hawes 14, Brand and Iguodala 13, Turner and Meeks 12, Allen 11.
Meeks is, fairly easily, the best floor spreader you've got (Iggy's 3pt% is a bit flukey and Meeks has a majority of his attempts from beyond the arc) - given Philly's relative weakness in that area, I'd want him on the floor for you than in the abstract.
Furthermore, Turner hasn't shown that he deserves more minutes. Of those 10 guys, Turner's last in WS/48 and ahead of only Meeks in PER (which, if you apply a three point adjustment, could reverse in order ... though accounting for the ability to create your own shot flips that right back). 82games' simple rating? Turner's last again. Basketballvalue's 2 yr adj +/-? Doesn't include the rookies, but Turner is ahead of only Hawes, who was useless before this year.
So, what does Turner do well as of now? Very good defensive rebounder. Solid defender (though (w/o consulting synergy) not outperforing the other Philly wings). Solid playmaker, though not in Iggy's league. Not a scorer, not a shooter (shooting 45% from two, 25% from three (not often), 65% from the line, not super often either - bad sign if you don't shoot threes or free throws). For now, he's a glue guy and decent backup - 24 minutes a game is arguably more than he should get, apart from for development purposes.
Agreed. It also looks like he gave up.
Abbott could not have done it much better--nice work. All you are missing is, "I bear Kobe no ill will, but..."
The fact is that ANY FANBASE would be pissed if their guy got a busted nose and a concussion in the third quarter, no less, of the fricking All-Star Game. Doesn't really matter if Kobe's a dick, or a rapist, or if Kobe was "gunning for a pointless all star scoring record" or whatever. The foul was unnecessary. If Wade needed to "send a message" he could have tried to dunk on Kobe, or he could have fouled him hard on Sunday. Simple.
meeks just isn't enough of a positive enough of the time. he shoots 3s, but he's not giving the team anything more than what williams or holiday are giving the team.
and i know what turner's numbers say, but i think he needs to be given the opportunity to grow. right now, a good game for him is 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists, and i think that's only reinforcing his tendency to settle for mediocrity. he needs to be challenged, and he just isn't right now.
and for everything that people want to knock him for not doing, he's still a wing with a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio and an elite ability to rebound on the defensive glass.
Turner's fine - but what's the compelling reason to play him now - presuming that you care about winning the division title?
TS%, Philly guards and wings:
Meeks .577, Williams .524, Iguodala .519, Holiday .491, Turner .471
I know you're not high on him this week, but Meeks is the only true "shooter" you have (not a knock on Williams or Holiday) - you need to leverage that.
I haven't read this yet, but it's in the queue and is the type of piece Grantland does best.
I'm saddened to see that picture of Sweets. He looks awful. I really wish it had worked out better for him in Chicago, but he just didn't get much of a chance.
and for everything that people want to knock him for not doing, he's still a wing with a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio and an elite ability to rebound on the defensive glass.
Wow, I hadn't realized his DRR was so far and above ahead of every other SG (and SF, and all but 14PFs). Wow. I was a defender of his coming out of college, so I would like to see him get more time and continue to improve.
if williams was shooting 32% from beyond the arc, and if iguodala was shooting 32% from beyond the arc, i'd be much more willing to acknowledge the importance of meeks being in the starting lineup, but with both of them (and jrue holiday) shooting at 38%, i just don't think meeks brings enough to the table right now to justify continuing to hold turner back.
the sixers lost 5 in a row and 7 of the previous 9. it was just time to give turner (and thaddeus young) the nod.
___
Little one-on-one battles have always been a part of All-Star games. Wade could have let Bryant have the baseline, or just grabbed his waist, instead of doing what he did. Here's the play again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JCZtj7D18o
Take off the Haterglasses before you watch it, or picture Kevin Love's face where Kobe's was.
Iguodala has a long history of not being great from behind the arc (32.7% career), takes only about a quarter of his shots from there, and is a 61% shooter from the line (which correlates with "shooting skill"). I _really_ would not depend on that continuing. Holiday, yes, he's a pretty solid shooter from three - though not in Meeks' class imo - and that he takes so many more shots from other spots on the floor matters, both in terms of outcomes (see Meeks' large advantage in tsp) and in discerning where their talents lie (Meeks is a limited player, but he's demonstrated that he can hit threes while used as a specialist - Holiday's success is in less than half as many attempts per minute.)
Moreover, I'm not saying Holiday v. Meeks - I'm saying, the Sixers still have vulnerabilities from the outside (note!: they're 8th in the league in 3pt% - it's more than fair to question me here). Turner does squat to help with that. Moreover, I don't think playing Iggy + lesser Iggy (Evan) at the same time very often is a good idea.
yeah, but they have an annoying tendency to prefer shooting from a step inside the 3 point line. even if their percentage dropped a little, they really would be much better off if they took more 3s.
i don't think that's entirely correct. most of the sixers best lineups include the threesome of turner, iguodala, and thaddeus young at the 2-3-4. and almost all of those lineups excel defensively because of their ability to defend the perimeter.
No argument here.
I looked at Turner+Iggy v. Turner+notIggy combos according to basketballvalue's adj. +/- (note: small samples, huge errors) - the former outperformed the latter. [Technique was not so rigorous: ordered them by adj. +/- from hi to lo (this only includes ones w/ at least 25 min on the court, so not ones like the weird case where Turner was the four and Iggy the center for like a minute) - a "Y" means they were together and "N" means Iggy wasn't on the court: YNNYNNYYYN). Hardly conclusive evidence, but it doesn't contradict my null that that's a suboptimal combination.]
it'd be really nice if the sixers showed up tonight.
Also, free food is always delicious because it's free. Even Dwayne Wade would understand this!
More importantly, how can they do this to Clipper Darrell!?
Kobe Bryant's going to be a game time decision, and I would be surprised if Mike Brown holds him out. Bryant's going to want to go, and Brown isn't going to want to say no to him.
Also, this:The Lakers should have said yes.
Someone on ESPN wrote an article about the most talked about potential trades (Howard, Gasol, Beasley, etc), and the thing that's making the Lakers think twice is that this sends them way into the luxury tax. So, adding Beasley is like a $12 million hit. The Lakers have been making attempts to save money lately.
Added: The article is Broussard, and it's Insider
1) westbrook and durant held to less than 50 combined points
2) westbrook, durant and harden held to a maximum of 15 FT attempts.
3) OKC forced into 15+ turnovers
Best part of that article was Thib' quote:
Rose's bball IQ is a lot higher than it was even last season. He knows exactly how to attack the hard hedges and traps that teams try to employ against him. Even though he's not tall enough to really pass and see over the doubleteam I believe he knows at any given point almostly exactly where everyone else is on the floor.
That's credit to Rose, Thibs and the rest of the Bulls, to be that disciplined.
The Lakers, IMO, aren't likely to say yes to anything until the Howard situation is resolved- whatever that ultimately means. Until he goes to another team, it gets close enough to the deadline such that the Lakers won't wait anymore, or the Lakers get a clear sense that Howard won't play in LA- the Lakers are almost certainly going to sit tight.
If Orlando decides to deal, and asks for Bynum plus a piece the Lakers could have gotten with the exception- only the exception is (mostly) gone due to a Beasley trade- that will be a disaster. I would think everything is on hold for the Lakers until the Howard thing concludes. The Lakes only have a few assets, they can't afford to use any until the big ticket is (1) bought or (2) is off the market.
If the team stays as is, and looks to add a few parts for the playoffs, I would really like bringing in Beasley. It's certainly better than the Gasol for Rondo insanity making the rounds.
I thought Rose tore his ACL there. My god, knee on knee only, thank fugging God.
Wow, going from thinking Kobe and bynum might be out to love being ruled out is a big swing in expectations.
Well, at least that means one guy with a good speaking voice will be on.
ESPN's front page has a gigantic pic of Simmons and Obama.
Alright, let's get some trades going!
Below is part of the Clippers statement about the situation. Basically he was cashing in on public appearances and other commercial activities using the Clippers name and trademark and repeatedly refused offers to consult with the organization about these activities. The Clippers have a bad reputation, but I don't think they are being unreasonable this time.
We have had multiple conversations with him concerning his inappropriate use of the Clippers’ team name and trademark for his own unmonitored commercial gain. We have spoken to him repeatedly about his desire to make public appearances in ways which improperly suggest that he is officially affiliated with our organization. In all cases and over a long period of time, he has consistently rejected our efforts to operate in consultation.
In a conversation with an authoritative and tenured Clippers’ executive last week, he was asked again to either consult with the team on all public appearances and/or commercial ventures, or stop undertaking those opportunities representing himself inappropriately. His response was an offer to stop representing himself commercially in that way and his offer was accepted in principle.
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