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That's former ESPNer, Ric Bucher. Now, from what I remember of him at the WWL, his analysis was always quite lacking compared to his reporting, and I don't think ESPN misses either. Lots to chew on here, so let's go one by one.
(1) This Bulls releasing NateRob thing isn't new, but the Bulls have been backing off that. It would be severely stupid, but totally in line with the decisions made this past offseason. So, at least for that, I appreciate someone taking a shot at the Bulls' org. No one in the mainstream has yet pointed out how the Bulls hard capped themselves by how they made their moves. As Deeks points out though, releasing NateRob saves the Bulls almost nothing.
(2) I highly doubt Rose sits out all year, barring a major setback. Yes, it's premature to give constant updates of his progress, but it would be unusual for someone to miss over a year with an ACL tear these days. Now, if the Bulls were to pressure him to sit out, it's something they've (Reinsdorf) done before, with MJ after he broke his foot his 2nd season. He came back against their wishes, they snuck into the playoffs to get demolished by the C's, but it did have MJ's 63 point game, so I say that was a net win.
(3) I've said my piece on this, but the idea that the Bulls should be worried they won't beat NYK is silly.
(4) Who is going to take Boozer/pick and give up an All Star wing? I mean, it's not unheard of, but trading for an All Star has been a meme/storyline around here for going on 10 years now. It ain't gonna happen.
(5) WTF?!?! Just so, so wrong. It so happens that the 3 best players this year all play the same position as Deng, but all 3 (and Deng) are spending time at the 4 so he could definitely start on even those teams. And what team has 2 players better than Noah at the 4/5 - maybe the Lakers? The Grizzlies? What a joke.
You obviously don't watch the Lakers much. And Jarrett Jack always kills them.
The game was about what I expected; Nash makes a positive difference in many ways, both subtle and obvious, and at the same time adds to the problems on the perimeter at the defensive end. I will be interested to see if Nash can get Howard going; unlike Howard and Bryant, Nash and Howard would seem to click both in terms of personality and playing skills. Kobe shot too much and only got to the line once; based on Chris Ballard's Nash profile in The Art of a Beautiful Game, I suspect that Nash will in some respects try to "ease in" to the more ball-dominant role that he normally plays.
Calls on the blogs are very loud for D'Antoni to let Hill out of the doghouse on a permanent basis. As to Pau, as Hombre said a couple of weeks ago, the things that Pau can't do are the exact things that MDA wants a 4 to do, as MDA likes undersized 4s who can spot up and run, so he is now trying to use MWP in that role. Pau did some good things on O, but unless the Lakers get really hot and Pau starts looking different out there, I think they will still try to move him, if they can find a match, which will not be easy.
As Hombre suggests, that was actually a pretty big game for the Lakers, even though it took place on Dec. 22.
prior to the T wolves, when was a team in the NBA this *white*? I'd be curious to see when was the last time a team went with an all white starting lineup.
after a very cursory look, the closest i could find was steve nash, eduardo najera, dirk nowitzky and shawn bradley on the 2003 mavericks.
Moses - if the Bulls are this against paying the luxury tax, why don't they amnesty Boozer? Are they already paying it and just don't want to pay more?
So far, I was wrong about Williams -- thought he would be an excellent pro -- though he is stil only 21.
edit: cough, maybe not
EDIT: Ah, well, I guess it's Doug Gottlieb, who's been ragging that Boeheim is basically just a good coach, nothing great. Do the grumps here agree?
2. Durant
3. Paul
4. Melo
5. Duncan
6. Kobe
Bigger picture, it would be nice for Love to get his shot back and Ricky to get one.
More bothered at how shamelessly he gets his players out of trouble. On court, he's no coach k or bobby knight.
I've looked through the whole careers of
Someone told me the Pacers three or four years ago could have pulled it off, but looking through the rosters I am not seeing it.
How about the Nuggets? I guess a team that can go 0-22 (and 27th in the league) could use a reliable 3 pt shooter, huh?
I also wonder why Javale McGee doesn't get more minutes...I've heard the team talk of issues with stamina, so maybe they think he's better in short bursts. But you'd think they could still inch him up so he's averaging 25-28 and Koufos fewer. At least Mozgov is mostly out of the rotation, he seems the worst of the 3.
I also wondered what happened to Chris Andersen (Birdman). He's unsigned. I never saw a resolution to that case with the underage girl--are teams scared off until that's resolved?
Last, while googling re. JaVale McGee, I came across this site. Geocities/MySpace lives!
2. LeBron
3. Paul
4. Chandler
5. Melo
Merry Christmas from Henry Abbott:
2. LeBron is my favorite player and he is having a spectacular year, so it pains me to say that I don't think he's the easy MVP choice. Right now I think it's a 3-way toss-up between him, KD and CP3. Not much of a KD fan, but I think what he's been doing is incredible. IIRC, it's the highest USG 50/40/90 season going. Part of me would also like to see CP3 win to make up for the '08 robbery. As long as it's not Melo, I think it's tough to fault the decision here.
3. I continue to be amazed by the year Kobe is having.
Serious question - what is NOT to like about Durant? I think he's one of the easiest superstars to like that's come around in a long time.
Of course, I haven't seen Thunderstruck, so maybe I'm giving him too much credit...
I think it's very unlikely CP3 will win. Justified or not, Blake is the face of the franchise which makes it tough for any other Clipper to win.
I think it's probably Durant's year. From a should perspective, it's probably LeBron every year. Melo gets MVP if the Knicks win the 1 seed, which is of course unlikely.
I totally disagree. CP3 would win the MVP long before Blake. Blake, IMO, is one of the most overrated players in the game. Not that he isn't talented, but his commercial appeal vs. actual on court production is totally out of skew, simply because he slam dunks the ball real good. i don't even know if he deserves to be an all star if we are looking at it strictly in terms of production.
It's not just the slams. It's also the Kia commercials. :-)
If the Clippers get the 1 or 2 seed, Paul will get a lot of MVP support, but I think James will win it again, and deservedly so.
Compliments of the season to all those who make this thread enjoyable and informative.
[439] Missed most of this game, but Lin-Harden seem to be working things out. Things are getting interesting.
This is way off. In terms of production last year he was 7th in the league in PER and win shares and had a roland rating over +10. This year even after a slow start where he was injured he's 7th in win shares, 8th in PER. He's easily an all-star by production. Last year he dunked less than as rookie and raised his FG% from 51% to 55%, so he's not just all dunks. He's become a pretty good defender too, he is mobile and strong and is one of the best bigs in the league at forcing turnovers.
I think he can be frustrating at times because he relies heavily on his physical tools and still has a lot of room to improve, but even at his current level he's one of the best players after Lebron/Paul/Durant. Paul is the obvious MVP candidate from the Clippers though if they do finish with one of the best couple of records and people are sick of voting for Lebron.
on the other hand, dorell wright put up 28 points on 8/11 shooting (5/8 from beyond the arc and 7/8 from the FT line), and considering that this was 3rd time in the last 10 days where he put up 20+ points, it's going to be massively infuriating when doug collins inevitably pulls him from the starting lineup again in favor of jason richardson.
dorell wright: 15.5 PER, .533 TS%, 11.2 TRB%, 10.7 AST%, 2.2 BLK%, 1.5 STL%, 107 O-rating, 104 D-rating
andre iguodala: 14.3 PER, .524 TS%, 8.9 TRB%, 18.7 AST%, 1.9 BLK%, 1.5 STL%, 102 O-rating, 107 D-rating
Strictly in terms of production, he's got 18.1 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 1.5 steals, .7 blocks, .536 shooting, and .224 wins shares per 48.
If he's not an all-star by production, who are the 30 players better than him? Chris Paul is the best player on the team, but nobody goes 22-6 solely by having a great point guard. Matt Barnes! of all people has been the 3rd best player by WS and WS48. Seems pretty obvious that Griffin is doing something right.
Or something like Billy King genuinely believing that he'd put together a great team?
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Deron Williams strikes again.
I'll believe Sloan when he says it wasn't Deron. But this one is definitely on him.
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I, for one, think it's more likely that CP3 wins MVP this year than KD. It's early and all, but as much as 433 is wrong, I do think there are a lot of people who assign a lot of extra credit to Paul considering how raw/getting by mostly on talent their front line seems to be (and the VDN thing).
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Rockets leading the Bulls by 31 points in the 3rd, yikes.
2 straight pastings for the Bulls. Not sure if they're happy or not last night's game in Indy was postponed. It looked like a very disinterested team both nights.
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Moses - if the Bulls are this against paying the luxury tax, why don't they amnesty Boozer? Are they already paying it and just don't want to pay more?
Had the Bulls amnestied Boozer before the season, it wouldn't have done them any good. They still would have been over the cap and unable to replace his production. I don't think Reinsdorf wants to pay someone not to play for him either. They keep saying they're in the tax this year (which is true right now), but it they can shed some salary they can get under it (highly unlikely though, IMO). Everyone assumed Boozer will get amnestied at some point though, maybe after this season.
You've got the outspoken Russian billionaire owner, who probably fancies himself as a Mark Cuban type, overspending on mediocrities. Add on new arena in new city + fast start, and you've got the recipe for unrealistic expectations. Toss in some thinly veiled sniping at the coach by your supposed franchise player, some grumblings from others about selfish play on the team, and the utterly disastrous seasons turned in so far by newly enriched Kris Humphries and Joe Johnson, well, it's not pretty. A lot of times, it looks like Gerald Wallace is the only guy exerting effort. And Wallace + coolness factor is very close to being worth the price of admission, but not when you're getting blown out at home.
I forgot he had died this year. Roundfield was quite a player. It seems like strong defenders are better appreciated nowadays; he'd probably be held in higher esteem if he'd played today. Though he did make 3 all star games, so maybe I'm wrong about that.
I recall a nice "welcome to the NBA" moment he gave to Patrick Ewing in one of those pre-Olympic scrimmages in Denver where the prospective Olympic team played a team of NBA players. Ewing had an open lane to the basket and went up with the ball extended off one arm for the monster jam and Roundfield slid over and blocked it, with Ewing ending up on his butt.
No.
"The Heat referred to Wade's 10-year record as being "an exemplary player and positive influence" in their dispute of the ruling. The league does not typically explain disciplinary decisions but has reviewed several Wade fouls and actions over the last few seasons without taking further action."
"Heat coach Erik Spoelstra implied the Heat's stars are being targeted by opposing teams. During the game Wednesday in Charlotte, Bobcats forward Gerald Henderson fouled LeBron James hard."
link
Almost none, unless Prok offers him some ridiculous salary. But really, none. I could see him taking the Clippers job or MAYBE the OKC job.
I have to be honest, I don't really understand the Xs and Os of basketball the way I do other sports...I still don't understand what the triangle offense is or why Phil can win without a traditionally strong point guard.
Not much. But, as noted, Prokhorov might make an offer so lucrative that Phil can't say no. Rumors today feature JVG as the leading candidate. I would bet against Phil taking the gig.
There are lot of videos up on youtube that explain the Triangle. Here is one from ESPN; loud with an annoying voice-over guy, but the first 30 seconds explain the basics:
link
It is a read-and-react system based on player movement, ball movement, spacing, and posting and re-posting, rather than on set plays and on the staple of so many modern NBA offenses, the pick-and-roll. The way it is structured works well for guys like Pippen and Odom, who did a little bit of everything, and if you have gifted post players, like O'Neal, and to a lesser extent but based on the same principle, Gasol and Bynum. Gasol, with his ability to pass and post-up, was a great Triangle big.
The other reason it was good for Phil's teams is that it let Jordan and Bryant handle the ball and look for their shot all the time as well as work on the blocks without having to defer to a traditional PG, presumably one less talented.
Had the Lakers hired Phil, it would have been interesting to see Nash in the Triangle. He is obviously the kind of guy who can help you in any system, but it would not have been a natural fit.
And, obviously, as Phil said himself in his exit presser back in 2011, asked why he won so much: "Talent. I have coached some of the greatest talent ever to play this game."
The Clippers have won 16 straight and their point diff is at around +10, which is 2008 Celtics/1987 Lakers/1992 Bulls territory.
Not much. But, as noted, Prokhorov might make an offer so lucrative that Phil can't say no. Rumors today feature JVG as the leading candidate. I would bet against Phil taking the gig.
There are lot of videos up on youtube that explain the Triangle. Here is one from ESPN; loud with an annoying voice-over guy, but the first 30 seconds explain the basics:
link
It is a read-and-react system based on player movement, ball movement, spacing, and posting and re-posting, rather than on set plays and on the staple of so many modern NBA offenses, the pick-and-roll. The way it is structured works well for guys like Pippen and Odom, who did a little bit of everything, and if you have gifted post players, like O'Neal, and to a lesser extent but based on the same principle, Gasol and Bynum. Gasol, with his ability to pass and post-up, was a great Triangle big.
The other reason it was good for Phil's teams is that it let Jordan and Bryant handle the ball and look for their shot all the time as well as work on the blocks without having to defer to a traditional PG, presumably one less talented.
Had the Lakers hired Phil, it would have been interesting to see Nash in the Triangle. He is obviously the kind of guy who can help you in any system, but it would not have been a natural fit.
And, obviously, as Phil said himself in his exit presser back in 2011, asked why he won so much: "Talent. I have coached some of the greatest talent ever to play this game."
The Clippers have won 16 straight and their point diff is at around +10, which is 2008 Celtics/1987 Lakers/1992 Bulls territory.
PG: ty lawson (drafted in 2009 instead of terrence williams)
SG: chandler parsons (drafted in 2011 instead of jordan williams)
SF: harrison barnes (drafted in 2012 with the pick traded to POR for gerald wallace)
PF: ryan anderson (not traded to orlando (with vince carter) for courtney lee/rafer alston/tony battie)
C: brook lopez
bench:
kris humphries
derrick favors (not traded to utah for deron willimas)
enes kanter (not traded to utah for deron williams)
draymond green (drafted in 2012 with the pick traded to GSW for brandon wright)
anthony morrow (not traded to atlanta for joe johnson)
jordan farmar (not traded to atlanta for joe johnson)
now, the thing here is that brook lopez and kris humphries were free agents this offseason, which means the nets would have had no holes in the lineup (they'd have been able to start lawson/parsons/barnes/anderson/favors), a reasonably decent bench (kanter/green/morrow/farmar), and almost no guaranteed salary.
In a semi-related note, they have moved up to 5th according to Hollinger's formula despite their so-so overall record (17-14). The bigger factor there is probably that they're 7-3 over their last 10 against strong opponents with a 7.5 margin of victory.
My gut says no f'in way on Barnes. But sometimes guys just fit into systems so well, they're able to focus on the things they do well. Crawford, OTOH, doesn't look like anything is really that far out of line with where it should be, he's just a tick better in most things than usual. He's a very streaky (I know) player though, so I wonder if he's had other 30 games stretches like this in overall worse years.
My question about the Clippers though is in regards to VDN. Has he gotten better? Is the team VDN proof? Are the ass't coaches the difference? Or is he still going to be their weak link in a playoff series?
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And speaking of teams overperforming, how about the Warriors? I liked them preseason, said they could sneak into the playoffs maybe if everything, including injuries, broke right. I know a lot of people laughed at Mark Jackson last year for talking about them becoming a defensive team, but the jump to 13th in DefEff seems to have made all the difference in the world. But still no Bogut and it hasn't mattered. Jack and Landry have been great fits.
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Brutal loss for the Knicks last night. No Felton or Melo, but still coulda won (after a ridiculous comeback). That last possession was just unbelievable.
Barnes is having the best year of his career, but his second best was just last year and the two before that may have been his next best two. He seems to be a late bloomer, maybe he needed to get his head straight or something. He might not sustain his current pace entirely, but he probably can sustain a lot of it.
Crawford I think is being used differently this year, he has a career low assist rate, I think he's being asked to be more of shooter and less of a creator and it's working out fairly well for him. He had his second lowest assist rate in his 09-10 career year.
Even if these guys slip a some, the Clippers have other areas where they could possibly improve to make up for it. Odom has gotten much better as the season has progressed. Billups should be better than Green if he ever gets healthy. Griffin had a slow start but has kept playing better has the season has gone on. Perhaps they let Bledsoe play more at some point, although his production has slipped some after picking up a minor injury a week or two ago.
Most of their improvement has been on defense. They switched their assistant in charge of defense from Demopoulos to Ociepka, I don't know how much this change has to do with it, but they are now forcing turnovers like crazy; last time I looked almost all the players in the rotation had career highs in steal rate, some by large amounts. They are playing defense kind of the like the Grizzlies, forcing tons of turnovers and forcing missed shots, but at the expense of defensive rebounding and fouling a lot.
Their personnel changes are some of it too, Barnes and Odom are doing well on defense and Bledsoe is one of the better defensive guards in the league and is playing a lot more than he did last year, Griffin and Jordan are maturing and they dumped some dubious defenders like Nick Young, Mo Williams, Foye and Reggie Evans, but some of it is definitely a change in their approach as well.
Steagles: The Nets are not without talent. I think the problem is that the talent is ill-fitting. Before coming to the Nets, Deron Williams was a 20 ppg guy who shot .460; now he's a 17 ppg guy shooting .400. To my eyes he definitely looks slower than when I thought he was a superstar, so being on the hook for $100M or so seems disastrous, but he's probably better than he's played. (If he shoots .400 all year, I guess we'll have to say that's what he is.) Joe Johnson is not a star, but has talent, and is underperforming. Gerald Wallace and Lopez have both missed 7 games. Kris Humphries is a legit NBA player who is having a horrible year. No one is really playing over their heads.
Despite this, the Nets are 15-14. I don't think they are title contenders in any way, shape or form, but they should be contenders in the East for a 4-5 seed, IMO.
I was at that game, and for me the whistle happy officials ruined what should have been a really exciting game. 80 combined free throws are just way too many, and many of them were of the touch variety. The entire 2nd half was basically just a free throw contest. Normally a game this high scoring and one that's decided at the final buzzer is very fun to watch, but this one was just plain frustrating the way they wouldn't let the players even attempt to play D without calling a foul.
On the Foye shot, normally I'm happy when refs swallow their whistle when the offensive player is clearly just trying to draw the foul rather than actually attempting to hit the shot, but in this case: A) they'd been calling fouls with far less contact the entire night, including Paul's game winning free throws just seconds earlier, so to not send Foye to the line on that play was very inconsistent, and B) it would have been perfect karma if the Clippers had lost on a semi-bad call/flop in the final seconds since they'd beaten the Jazz earlier this month in part because of a blatant late flop of their own.
Hell, I'd like to see that.
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Not a surprise, but still sad nonetheless.
Where were you sitting? I was in town to visit family and decided to get to my first game in about five years, and my wife and I were up in section 119. I was happy to see it mostly fill out half way through the first, but until the end thought the crowd was a bit disappointing compared to old Jazz crowds.
Anyway I felt the same. The first quarter the refs let the players play and it was much better. Fourth quarter they called several questionable to wrong fouls against the Jazz yet let the Clippers get away with similar contact. In most games ignoring the contact Foye initiated would have been fine, but it was completely inconsistent with how the refs had called that quarter.
Section 131, row 12. Portal VV.
Exactly. Why call the entire 2nd half one way and then wait until the last play of the game to change your standards WRT fouls?
Jazz play the Clippers again tomorrow, and since it's in LA, they'll probably get smoked. The silver lining in a blowout is that it would save them the frustration of losing to the Clips on a questionable last minute call for the 3rd time in a single month.
Heh.
I'll tell you one thing I'd do, tell the guy he can't be on Twitter.
1. "I agree and am enjoying having Bill James point that out."
2. "The NBA is so clearly struggling to draw fans because of its presentation (sarcasm)"
3. "Bill James is a dominant personality and a jackass with no common sense"
4. ???
Or maybe a little of all 3 combined?
My sympathy for Royce White is eroding. He is right that he can ignore the instructions of uninformed authority figures and opt to follow doctor suggestions, but the calculation is altered in an employer-employee relationship. While I do not know much about their private interactions, I know a bit about disability law, and certainly enough to know that "don't go to work, don't do your job indeterminately" is not a valid accommodation for any physical or mental malady. He also comes off as disingenuous when he makes the point that the team is not presenting the whole story and paints them as part of the culture's misunderstanding of mental illness, then also refuses to share any details. He clearly wants to win public favor, so saying "they're not cooperating, trust me" fails at that goal. The bottom line is that, by publicly available information, the team continues to pay him his full check, and he continues to refuse to do anything the team asks him to do.
Maybe they have a reason to be trying to keep some excitement going in their home arena. Or are they supposed to keep it funereal in there until the franchise is .500?
Aren't they fining him for missed games? I guess that would mean they were still technically paying him his full check, but he wasn't getting to keep all of it.
I don't disagree with your broader point, though I haven't been following the story that closely and am mostly inclined to reserve judgment.
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/8794240/kobe-bryant-mike-dantoni-admit-los-angeles-lakers-looking-bar-set-los-angeles-clippers
Tyreke Evans has missed 12 games with a mysterious knee ailment. He was rumored to be returning today, but he still isn't ready.
And of course, Brooks misses the game, and Thomas and Cousins go nuts, and they crush the Celtics.
I've read this a few times now -- that his decline in efficiency is directly related to taking shots farther away from the basket. Back when he was the best offensive player on the team, why was this so hard to do something about? Now that there are more (a lot more) options on the team, how hard is it to reduce his shots to these efficient ones?
If dumping Avery Johnson turns Williams around, I'd say the biggest problem the Nets have is the utter ineffectiveness of Kris Humphries this season, which has led to a lot of Reggie Evans for rebounding needs and now Wallace playing PF, which necessitates a lot of Jerry Stackhouse (who has been pretty decent) and very small lineups. Blatche has played well, but it doesn't seem like he and Lopez work on the court together.
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