and I'm rooting for him to succeed. But I need to see a bigger sample size. There was a time when it looked like Brandon Jennings was the next Iverson.
Christ dude, do you know the logistics of injuries and time off?
It's incredibly weird how hard you are critiquing a guy who just came back. I'd love to see him play better but I'm going to give him 15-20 games before I draw any conclusions.
Christ dude, do you know the logistics of injuries and time off?
It's incredibly weird how hard you are critiquing a guy who just came back. I'd love to see him play better but I'm going to give him 15-20 games before I draw any conclusions.
Wasn't the point of him missing the entire year last year to avoid looking like this? If it was going to take him 15-20 games this year then he should have just played last year.
and they suck in games... because they are ENTIRELY different. its going to take time to get used to NBA REAL game intensity and speed.
good lord he looked great in preseason, and now the real games start, its a huge shift. the team is also getting used to playing with him again. there is certainly a feel out process there too.
Very great to see MCW excel early. Turner is playing great as well and hawes is giving them great spacing. Its early and they have no depth at all, but a really impressive start. MCW might be a perfect compliment to turner especially with a shooting big.
Ok so then he sat out just for fun? The whole time we constantly heard he wasn't coming back until he felt like he could play at the level he's accustomed to. Apparently he's still not there and it's going to take "15-20 games", so why not start the process last year like Shumpert did for example. Shumpert looked like shit for a good 2 months when he came back, but this year he looks to be his old self right out of the gate.
But I wouldn't throw him off the edge just yet. This is his first few games back where defenses are actually trying to stop them. He will come around and be his old self in no time.
that coming back last year and getting his feel back would have been beneficial... it certainly would have. but he didnt, and because of that, it IS going to take time to get up to real nba game speed and confidence.
He sort of reminds me like how he was playing in his rookie season. You can work out and practice all day, but he hasn't played in game speed in a very long time. His court vision and bball IQ have slightly declined, but he will get it back within the next couple of weeks.
Let's also remember Noah, Butler, and Hinrich missed a good part of the preseason. On top of that, This is Rose's first year truly playing with Hinrich and Butler. This team just needs some time to get in sync.
MDJ is struggling a little, but so did Korver. He will eventually pick up the system and be a huge part of our team.
On the bright side, Boozer and TAJ are playing fantastic for the bulls. If they continue this play, they are going to be one tough team to beat down the road.
like hitdog mentioned above. Rose was absolutely killing it in the pre-season. His athleticism is there and his shot looked good. As long as he looks good physically the rest of it will come. IMO, he's going to be killing it within a week. Overanalyzing the first 3 games of an NBA season is insane.
Westbrook back today. 1 Month ahead of schedule. Kevin Durant (.371 FG% and 4.5 TOV over 2 games) has been missing him.
Durant is still an awesome player and MVP of that team, but I love how this little Westbrook absence has allowed people to see how great a player Westbrook really is. It's good for the team because there will be less second guessing about Westbrook taking too many shots or dominating the ball too much.
Durant has more of an impact on Westbrook. His presence spaces the floor and opens up lanes for Westbrook to navigate through. Yes, having the 2nd best player makes life easier for the best player. Earth is round, and the sky is blue.
without Russell Westbrook, I think his numbers would actually be better than they have been in recent seasons. Of course OKC wouldn;t contend for a title and would be a likely first round ouster in the West, but his numbers wouldn't suffer in the least. He'd be like a more efficient 2006 Kobe Bryant.
He would shoot more often and would at most see a very modest efficiency dip. Maybe he goes 48/38/90 rather than 50/40/90 because he has to take on more volume. The guy is still a lethal shooter with a release point you just can;t bother. I don't buy that Westbrook drastically effects his FG%, short sample suggesting otherwise aside. I love Westbrook, and they need him to contend. But just speaking purely statistically, he is not that kind of classic set up man despite making strides here, and takes a lot of shots away from KD. And in the absence of Westbrook, we would see Durant also pile up some assist numbers that he doesn;t currently, just as he showed in last years postseason
3 games in Westbrook's absence at the begining of the year.
And I completely agree with MoM's analysis. Durant would probably score 33 PPG on reasonable efficiency without Westbrook and get bounced in the 1st or second round.
But he's arguably the GOAT off-ball scorer already. He doesn't need the ball in his hands to thrive. Westbrook allows Durant the ability to take it easy and play off the ball and not worry about spending energy worrying too much about creating off the dribble for himself and others.
Durant might be able to survive without Westbrook for stretches in games, because he's capable of spending extra energy for short spans. But over the course of a full season I think he'd really miss Westbrook and we'd see his efficiency stats take a slight dip.
than the most efficient high volume scorer in the game. Westbrook definitely benefits from playing with KD more than KD does from playing with Westbrook. The spotty shot selection and sometimes erratic decision making actually makes KD's numbers suffer. Had they kept Harden, I would not surprised to see KD scoring at a much higher clip. With all that said, Durant is mature enough to understand that Westbrook needs those shot attempts to get going, and that they are a better team when they're both on.
or acquired an equivalent talent after losing him, they would still be in contention and would have survived the financially motivated Harden deal just fine. Last years Thunder team was the best one yet before Westbrook got hurt. Of course it wasn't ideal trading Harden, they would have been better if they kept everyone together. But apparently their ownership didn't have the money to do that
I get that Ibaka provides a pretty important function
on that team by getting rebounds, blocking shots, and playing great help defense, but I would have liked to see OKC keep KD, RW, and JH together. I'd be more interested in getting the 3 best guys rather than 2 best guys and filling a need.
actually had one of the most dominant regular seasons of all time by some advanced stat measures (I'll back that up in the next paragraph, its not hyperbole at all. ALL TIME.). I don;t think there is any doubt they make the finals last year if Westbrook doesn't go down. Whether or not they beat the Heat is another story. The Heat pretty much own them and match up exceedingly well with them, but with Wade being like 65% healthy in last years playoffs its possible
There is a formula called SRS that basically combines strength of schedule and point differential. It's a formula to gauge a teams strength in the regular season. Last year's Thunder not only led the league, but were the 8th best team of all time in this stat. Of the 7 teams in front of them, everyone won the title except for the 72 Bucks. And that's only because they lost to another team on the list (72 Lakers). They ran teams off the floor last season. They almost set a post-merger record for double digit wins, they wound up just 2 behind the '96 Bulls team who won 72 games
This is a wild 1980s era score. 78-66 at half, now 85-74 early 3rd
Otherwise Steph Curry had a triple double tonight. The Cavs top pick Anthony Bennett had another rough night and is 0 for 15 to start the season, that has to be near some sort of record
is off to a crazy good start this year. And early as it is, it seems like hes back to playing normal minutes in Rivers rotation and not being cut back into the low 30s like last year. He's on another level at the moment. Hell of a feed to Jordan for a dunk as im typing this for his 15th assist
30 for 30 tonight: "The Bernie and Ernie Show." Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld at Tennessee. Among other things, King talks about the racism he experienced there, which he never shared with Grunfeld. Link - ( New Window )
last night. Not sure how much is an improved LAC O vs. a bad Houston D, but they looked way different and way better than they did last year offensively. Could be the additional shooters or the Rivers influence. I still think they need another big to sure up their rotation for the playoffs, but if they play O like that, they're going to be a very good team and a really good team to watch. Plus their broadcast team aren't horrendously awful homers, which puts them way ahead most of the rest of the league
but the refs calling 2 early fouls on both Howard and Harden really changed the game early. Not to take anything away from the Clips who looked great, but I think by the end of the season the Rockets will be right up there with them. They really missed Beverly in this matchup, CP3 will get his against anybody but Bev would've made him work more as possibly the best PG defender in the game.
Clips look improved from last year though, Blake was hitting jumpers. That's the key. If Blake hits jumpers the Clips could be the best team in basketball and a legitimate Championship contender. If Blake bricks his jumpers, the Clippers are nothing more than a 2nd round team. This is a HUGE season in Blake's career.
The PF position is absolutely loaded right now. So many studs around the league.
appeared to be suffering from the "work the new guy" in syndrome offensively at times. There was some awkwardness that you see when a team a new big-time player. That will work itself out over time and I'd expect them to have a fantastic offense.
Their D is still a big question mark though, unless Dwight can recapture his Orlando form and single-handedly carry them on his own. And Harden needs to start trying on defense, that play when JJ blew by him and got to the rim before Harden even moved his feet was as bad as you'll see.
Will be interesting to see what they do with Asik. He's a very valuable player who's pretty redundant for Houston.
a lot of that has to do with the Clippers obviously, but Harden has actually been playing better D early on. JJ Redick abused him last night lol but I have seen Harden improve.
Dwight is also back physically. I'm really not worried about the Rockets D that much, they were playing well before this beatdown last night.
The big question with the Rockets is Asik. What do you do with him. Originally I wanted to trade him for a true PF with outside shooting skills, but I've grown to prefer having Asik on the team. Having him and Dwight gives the Rockets 48 minutes of elite rim protection. That will be huge come playoff time. Plus some of their main competitors out West (Spurs, Clips, Grizz) use two true bigs at the same time often.
I haven't been able to watch much Houston early on this season. I don't think anyone would dispute that if you had Dwight or Asik on the court at any one time, the Rockets would have elite post D. But the question is how they look together and can the Rockets figure out a way to get a stretch 4.
It's just not worth it. Even if Anderson is a better fit next to Dwight, Asik is the much more valuable player as a true Center with elite defense. Plus they have Casspi, Parsons, and Garcia who are all capable of playing a stretch 4 role.
Asik and Dwight have looked ok playing next to each other but they really haven't been doing it a lot. Through 4 games (192 mins), I'd estimate that Asik/Howard have been on the floor together for about 50 of those minutes.
Anderson's a good player, but when in doubt, a legitimate above average starting C is more valuable than an above average PF, especially when their strengths are D and rebounding and shooting respectively.
If he can maintain similar numbers over the course of the year (at least .470 shooting with .390 or higher from 3 pt range), then we're talking about the third best player in the NBA. Roughly, that'd make him an A- guy on O and an A+ guy on D and probably better than KD as a two-way player and right below LBJ.
I didn't think they'd win 3 games until January.
Anthony Davis is the truth
It's incredibly weird how hard you are critiquing a guy who just came back. I'd love to see him play better but I'm going to give him 15-20 games before I draw any conclusions.
It's incredibly weird how hard you are critiquing a guy who just came back. I'd love to see him play better but I'm going to give him 15-20 games before I draw any conclusions.
Wasn't the point of him missing the entire year last year to avoid looking like this? If it was going to take him 15-20 games this year then he should have just played last year.
good lord he looked great in preseason, and now the real games start, its a huge shift. the team is also getting used to playing with him again. there is certainly a feel out process there too.
Very great to see MCW excel early. Turner is playing great as well and hawes is giving them great spacing. Its early and they have no depth at all, but a really impressive start. MCW might be a perfect compliment to turner especially with a shooting big.
Ok so then he sat out just for fun? The whole time we constantly heard he wasn't coming back until he felt like he could play at the level he's accustomed to. Apparently he's still not there and it's going to take "15-20 games", so why not start the process last year like Shumpert did for example. Shumpert looked like shit for a good 2 months when he came back, but this year he looks to be his old self right out of the gate.
But I wouldn't throw him off the edge just yet. This is his first few games back where defenses are actually trying to stop them. He will come around and be his old self in no time.
That's when it will suck for everyone.
And now after 3 games people are up in arms about it is hysterical. Over analyzing at its finest, nothing more.
Let's also remember Noah, Butler, and Hinrich missed a good part of the preseason. On top of that, This is Rose's first year truly playing with Hinrich and Butler. This team just needs some time to get in sync.
MDJ is struggling a little, but so did Korver. He will eventually pick up the system and be a huge part of our team.
On the bright side, Boozer and TAJ are playing fantastic for the bulls. If they continue this play, they are going to be one tough team to beat down the road.
The finishing at the basket will come. But his shot looks terrible, and is turning it over way too much.
Westbrook back today. 1 Month ahead of schedule. Kevin Durant (.371 FG% and 4.5 TOV over 2 games) has been missing him.
Durant is still an awesome player and MVP of that team, but I love how this little Westbrook absence has allowed people to see how great a player Westbrook really is. It's good for the team because there will be less second guessing about Westbrook taking too many shots or dominating the ball too much.
Not really a surprise that Durant misses him.
He would shoot more often and would at most see a very modest efficiency dip. Maybe he goes 48/38/90 rather than 50/40/90 because he has to take on more volume. The guy is still a lethal shooter with a release point you just can;t bother. I don't buy that Westbrook drastically effects his FG%, short sample suggesting otherwise aside. I love Westbrook, and they need him to contend. But just speaking purely statistically, he is not that kind of classic set up man despite making strides here, and takes a lot of shots away from KD. And in the absence of Westbrook, we would see Durant also pile up some assist numbers that he doesn;t currently, just as he showed in last years postseason
Durant shot 54.8% from the floor during that time.
Link - ( New Window )
And I completely agree with MoM's analysis. Durant would probably score 33 PPG on reasonable efficiency without Westbrook and get bounced in the 1st or second round.
But he's arguably the GOAT off-ball scorer already. He doesn't need the ball in his hands to thrive. Westbrook allows Durant the ability to take it easy and play off the ball and not worry about spending energy worrying too much about creating off the dribble for himself and others.
Durant might be able to survive without Westbrook for stretches in games, because he's capable of spending extra energy for short spans. But over the course of a full season I think he'd really miss Westbrook and we'd see his efficiency stats take a slight dip.
There is a formula called SRS that basically combines strength of schedule and point differential. It's a formula to gauge a teams strength in the regular season. Last year's Thunder not only led the league, but were the 8th best team of all time in this stat. Of the 7 teams in front of them, everyone won the title except for the 72 Bucks. And that's only because they lost to another team on the list (72 Lakers). They ran teams off the floor last season. They almost set a post-merger record for double digit wins, they wound up just 2 behind the '96 Bulls team who won 72 games
Otherwise Steph Curry had a triple double tonight. The Cavs top pick Anthony Bennett had another rough night and is 0 for 15 to start the season, that has to be near some sort of record
Link - ( New Window )
Clips look improved from last year though, Blake was hitting jumpers. That's the key. If Blake hits jumpers the Clips could be the best team in basketball and a legitimate Championship contender. If Blake bricks his jumpers, the Clippers are nothing more than a 2nd round team. This is a HUGE season in Blake's career.
The PF position is absolutely loaded right now. So many studs around the league.
Their D is still a big question mark though, unless Dwight can recapture his Orlando form and single-handedly carry them on his own. And Harden needs to start trying on defense, that play when JJ blew by him and got to the rim before Harden even moved his feet was as bad as you'll see.
Will be interesting to see what they do with Asik. He's a very valuable player who's pretty redundant for Houston.
26.5 pts 13.3 ast 3.8 rebs 3.3 stl 51.7% FG 37.5 3pfg And a PER of 37.8
Oh, and he's 38 for 39 at the FT line
Dwight is also back physically. I'm really not worried about the Rockets D that much, they were playing well before this beatdown last night.
The big question with the Rockets is Asik. What do you do with him. Originally I wanted to trade him for a true PF with outside shooting skills, but I've grown to prefer having Asik on the team. Having him and Dwight gives the Rockets 48 minutes of elite rim protection. That will be huge come playoff time. Plus some of their main competitors out West (Spurs, Clips, Grizz) use two true bigs at the same time often.
It's just not worth it. Even if Anderson is a better fit next to Dwight, Asik is the much more valuable player as a true Center with elite defense. Plus they have Casspi, Parsons, and Garcia who are all capable of playing a stretch 4 role.
Asik and Dwight have looked ok playing next to each other but they really haven't been doing it a lot. Through 4 games (192 mins), I'd estimate that Asik/Howard have been on the floor together for about 50 of those minutes.
24/6/5 on .500 shooting + 3 threes
32/6/5 on .474 shooting + 4 threes
21/13/3 on .471 shooting + 3 threes
Putting up those offensive numbers while being an All-D first team caliber defensive player.
I'd take him over Harden. I'd take him over Curry. I'd take him over Kyrie. I'd take him over a lot of guys at this point.