Hoops - NBA/Basketball Talk

[kskate2]

Solid win against the Spurs by Raps. Well, it only took 5 years...

Number 1000 will have to wait for Pops.

Pop gets 1000 last night. :clap

 

[the AntiPusher]

You Guys(ladies) included should watch First Take with Magic Johnson as the guest anaylst today.. He is absoulutely Brillant.. What a basketball mind.. I am quite sure everyone in the NBA will listen because he just laid the blueprint for the top teams in East(BULLS, CAVS, HAWKS, and maybe Raptors) to come out to make it to the championship.

 

[kskate2]

You Guys(ladies) included should watch First Take with Magic Johnson as the guest anaylst today.. He is absoulutely Brillant.. What a basketball mind.. I am quite sure everyone in the NBA will listen because he just laid the blueprint for the top teams in East(BULLS, CAVS, HAWKS, and maybe Raptors) to come out to make it to the championship.

I'll have to catch the podcast. Thanks for letting me know.

 

[the AntiPusher]

You Guys(ladies) included should watch First Take with Magic Johnson as the guest anaylst today.. He is absoulutely Brillant.. What a basketball mind.. I am quite sure everyone in the NBA will listen because he just laid the blueprint for the top teams in East(BULLS, CAVS, HAWKS, and maybe Raptors) to come out to make it to the championship.

I'll have to catch the podcast. Thanks for letting me know.

YW.. NP

 

[the AntiPusher]

Thursday, Cavs vs Bulls, perfect time for Dross and fa Bulls to send a message to the East that they are a power to be reckoned with.

 

[calitennis127]

I don't think GSW winning against anyone would be an upset but I see what you are saying. This is a great test of the Hawks defence. I say Hawks in OT.

the Hawks stayed poised while the Warriors played sloppy ball the 2nd half, I hope this is a preview of the finals, sick of LBJ vs the Spurs

Here is the thing with Hawks: They rarely take bad shots. Again, they had almost %50 from the field, with over %50 from 3 point land. Teague is the only guy that can take ill advised shots here and there but they can absorb that. They are playing correct basketball, the type Cali hates, but win games...

JR Smith is an excellent passer and has finally gotten credit for it since it has been painfully obvious that he is the main reason Kevin Love even gets shots off. I don't like one player who isn't a good passer.

And Teague is by far the key player to the Hawks' success. Without him they'd be nothing.

 

[calitennis127]

LOL, yeah, let's ignore that game earlier this season, against the Pelicans incidentally, when OKC were up by 8 with 5 minutes left and Westbrook passed the ball...ZERO TIMES and went 0-7. Yes, 0 times in 5 minutes. Guess who ended up winning the game? Let's also ignore the million other times when something similar happened.

Who cares? Blame Westbrook for missing his shots and not being sharp in that particular game. If he had anyone to pass to, then we could talk about why he didn't.

Russ is awesome. He'd be more awesome with a coach who actually nurtures him and helps him improve his decision making.

By which you simply mean constrain him and turn him into a conventional, run-of-the-mill, call-out-the-play and slow-the-game-down-to-a-crawl point guard - that's the type of sports you like. It's that "patient aggression" that Federer used to patiently accumulate a 2-15 record against Nadal.

Imagine how much easier Westbrook would be able to score if he actually had a system around him.

Offensive "systems" generally hold back players with elite talent; they don't help them. McGary - who I don't even like - would be a much better enhancement to Westbrook's game than any "system" would. "Systems" are for helping unathletic players lacking in talent find ways to score because they can't do it themselves.

 

[calitennis127]

Lmao, this JR Smith thing is hilarious. If Kyrie was frustrated with Waiters taking too many shots, I bet he's going to love playing with JR. Shumpert is a good acquisition because at least he can play defense, something the Cavs have stinked at this year. JR will be inconsequential. He and Lebron are not going to "dominate together," let's be real here.

Okay folks - so let's revisit Broken's post from January 6th.

Broken implied that JR Smith and Kyrie Irving couldn't play well together. Well, they went on a 12-game win streak recently. He said that JR and LeBron wouldn't "dominate together" like that over-the-top JR zealot Cali said. Turns out though that in games played together, LeBron and JR are 12-2, with one of those losses being the first game they played together at Cleveland. Sounds pretty dominant to me.

And JR will be "inconsequential"? Shumpert is the more important player in the deal? No one believes that anymore. LOL

Read this article just for starters. It starts off with this wonderfully appropriate introduction which states Broken's cliche line on the trade:

"When the Cavs first started talking about the deal that brought J.R. Smith to Cleveland -- it was not about J.R. Smith. The Cavs wanted Iman Shumpert, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard. The Knicks were in the middle of a horrible season and wanted to save some money under the salary cap."

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2015/02/terrys_talkin_about_how_jr_smi.html#incart_related_stories

 

[brokenshoelace]

I was wrong about JR. He, quite admirably, has fit right into his roll as a spot up shooter, hence a HUGE rise in efficiency. I'm not saying that's all he's doing because I'm sure you'll dig up some video where he ISOs and sinks in a jumper, but for the most part, that's his roll. And you know what, he's freaking awesome at it. His shot mechanics are phenomenal and with the guys around him, he's getting plenty of open looks. He's making most of them.

I would say he's "dominating" since it's Lebron and Kyrie dominating while JR plays his roll well. That's the difference. It's Lebron mainly dominating as he always does. JR is doing his job though.

 

[brokenshoelace]

LOL, yeah, let's ignore that game earlier this season, against the Pelicans incidentally, when OKC were up by 8 with 5 minutes left and Westbrook passed the ball...ZERO TIMES and went 0-7. Yes, 0 times in 5 minutes. Guess who ended up winning the game? Let's also ignore the million other times when something similar happened.

Who cares? Blame Westbrook for missing his shots and not being sharp in that particular game. If he had anyone to pass to, then we could talk about why he didn't.

Russ is awesome. He'd be more awesome with a coach who actually nurtures him and helps him improve his decision making.

By which you simply mean constrain him and turn him into a conventional, run-of-the-mill, call-out-the-play and slow-the-game-down-to-a-crawl point guard - that's the type of sports you like. It's that "patient aggression" that Federer used to patiently accumulate a 2-15 record against Nadal.

Imagine how much easier Westbrook would be able to score if he actually had a system around him.

Offensive "systems" generally hold back players with elite talent; they don't help them. McGary - who I don't even like - would be a much better enhancement to Westbrook's game than any "system" would. "Systems" are for helping unathletic players lacking in talent find ways to score because they can't do it themselves.

The problem is no matter how great of a player Westbrook is, if you don't give him a good offensive system, he's just not going to make every shot. That's the problem with the Thunder sometimes. It's just about whether Russ and KD make their shots. Where's the coaching aspect in that? Most of the times, they'll make them, as they are currently doing against Memphis.

But in other crucial times, poor offensive spacing, lack of off the ball movement, ball movement, basic high pick and rolls, etc... make it difficult for these guys to score in crucial playoff moments when teams know they'll be coming up against them and prepare accordingly for a seven game series. That doesn't mean they'll always stop them, or even stop them most of the time. Newsflash, these guys are really fucking good. But you just can't roll the dice with KD every time and hope he bails you out.

Offensive systems don't have to be super complicated with plenty of X's and O's. But proper floor spacing isn't much to ask.

 

[calitennis127]

LOL, yeah, let's ignore that game earlier this season, against the Pelicans incidentally, when OKC were up by 8 with 5 minutes left and Westbrook passed the ball...ZERO TIMES and went 0-7. Yes, 0 times in 5 minutes. Guess who ended up winning the game? Let's also ignore the million other times when something similar happened.

Who cares? Blame Westbrook for missing his shots and not being sharp in that particular game. If he had anyone to pass to, then we could talk about why he didn't.

Russ is awesome. He'd be more awesome with a coach who actually nurtures him and helps him improve his decision making.

By which you simply mean constrain him and turn him into a conventional, run-of-the-mill, call-out-the-play and slow-the-game-down-to-a-crawl point guard - that's the type of sports you like. It's that "patient aggression" that Federer used to patiently accumulate a 2-15 record against Nadal.

Imagine how much easier Westbrook would be able to score if he actually had a system around him.

Offensive "systems" generally hold back players with elite talent; they don't help them. McGary - who I don't even like - would be a much better enhancement to Westbrook's game than any "system" would. "Systems" are for helping unathletic players lacking in talent find ways to score because they can't do it themselves.

The problem is no matter how great of a player Westbrook is, if you don't give him a good offensive system, he's just not going to make every shot. That's the problem with the Thunder sometimes. It's just about whether Russ and KD make their shots. Where's the coaching aspect in that? Most of the times, they'll make them, as they are currently doing against Memphis.

But in other crucial times, poor offensive spacing, lack of off the ball movement, ball movement, basic high pick and rolls, etc... make it difficult for these guys to score in crucial playoff moments when teams know they'll be coming up against them and prepare accordingly for a seven game series. That doesn't mean they'll always stop them, or even stop them most of the time. Newsflash, these guys are really **** good. But you just can't roll the dice with KD every time and hope he bails you out.

Offensive systems don't have to be super complicated with plenty of X's and O's. But proper floor spacing isn't much to ask.

Brooks runs tons and tons of sets for Durant with him coming off multiple picks. What do you want him to do? Have everyone robotically go to a spot like the Spurs do (an approach which, by the way, would not work at all if teams refused to play help defense against them)?

 

[calitennis127]

I was wrong about JR. He, quite admirably, has fit right into his roll as a spot up shooter, hence a HUGE rise in efficiency. I'm not saying that's all he's doing because I'm sure you'll dig up some video where he ISOs and sinks in a jumper, but for the most part, that's his roll.

Yeah, but I thought he was going to be inconsequential? I guess not.

You must have also not heard about or seen how outstanding his passing has been - something which I am sure is shocking, given that only the Spurs Euro players pass well.

I would say he's "dominating" since it's Lebron and Kyrie dominating while JR plays his roll well. That's the difference. It's Lebron mainly dominating as he always does. JR is doing his job though.

This team could lose Kyrie for the season tomorrow and they would still keep winning like they are. The two most important players to have healthy are JR and LeBron. With Kyrie and LeBron together, we saw that they aren't very special in the first 35 games of the season.

 

[the AntiPusher]

I was wrong about JR. He, quite admirably, has fit right into his roll as a spot up shooter, hence a HUGE rise in efficiency. I'm not saying that's all he's doing because I'm sure you'll dig up some video where he ISOs and sinks in a jumper, but for the most part, that's his roll.

Yeah, but I thought he was going to be inconsequential? I guess not.

You must have also not heard about or seen how outstanding his passing has been - something which I am sure is shocking, given that only the Spurs Euro players pass well.

I would say he's "dominating" since it's Lebron and Kyrie dominating while JR plays his roll well. That's the difference. It's Lebron mainly dominating as he always does. JR is doing his job though.

This team could lose Kyrie for the season tomorrow and they would still keep winning like they are. The two most important players to have healthy are JR and LeBron. With Kyrie and LeBron together, we saw that they aren't very special in the first 35 games of the season.

Cali..dude I stated a few ago that we have to give you props for being right thus far about JR and LBJ.. But JR is more important than Kyrie. nononono:nono

 

[brokenshoelace]

JR isn't more important than Kyrie. Please. Just because the team is playing better since they added him doesn't mean you could sacrifice Kyrie and the team would still be doing well. Typical hyperbole.

As far as Scott Brooks goes, have you ever wondered why is it that James Harden has been the only guy in OKC other than the big 2 to be able to make a consistent offensive impact? Reggie Jackson played well for a while but he's too flaky, Dion Waiters has been a disappointment, Morrow isn't hitting shots, etc... Are they all offensively deficient or is the system the problem? Have you ever wondered why role players on great teams have always looked better than they actually are (Spurs, Lakers circa Shaq/Kobe, 90's Bulls, etc...)? It's because those teams are well-coached.

Is Waiters really an offensively deficient player? No. The problem is, due to poor floor spacing, off the ball movement, weakside action, and the fact that they don't run plays for him, Waiters' only ways to score are contested jumpers (and his jump shot isn't the best), ISOs, or overzealous drives to the hoop. There's a reason why Danny Green and Patty Mills are able to contribute so well with the Spurs.

No, I don't want OKC to play like the Spurs. That's impossible because of the kind of players they have. Durant and Westbrook can continue to play the way they are since they'll be pretty much unstoppable (for the most part) playing however they want. But what about the others? They need offensive contribution and it's missing. It's not because Morrow isn't a great shooter (he is), or Waiters isn't a very good offensive threat (he is), it's because Morrow doesn't get pin downs, and Waiters doesn't get to play two-man games with some PnR actions with say, Ibaka or something like that. Waiters' offensive contributions consist of him feeling the pressure to take a shot or drive because the ball is in his hands and he knows the majority of the shots will be taken by Durant and Westbrook, instead of his shots coming naturally due to good ball movement.

So to answer my original question: James Harden has been the only OKC player that made a significant offensive impact other than Russ/KD because he's an elite talent and a great one-on-one player, which worked for OKC because he didn't need a decent offensive system to score.

 

[DarthFed]

Anthony Mason is fighting for his life after a major heart attack:

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/12312754/anthony-mason-new-york-knicks-fighting-life

Sad news. I always liked big bad Mase back in the 90's on the Knicks. Good player and quite the bruiser.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Anthony Mason is fighting for his life after a major heart attack:

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/12312754/anthony-mason-new-york-knicks-fighting-life

Sad news. I always liked big bad Mase back in the 90's on the Knicks. Good player and quite the bruiser.

Best of luck to him. How can one forget those one handed free throws...I have been watching him since his playing days in Istanbul.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Anthony Mason is fighting for his life after a major heart attack:

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/12312754/anthony-mason-new-york-knicks-fighting-life

Sad news. I always liked big bad Mase back in the 90's on the Knicks. Good player and quite the bruiser.

Remember his name in the mid to late 90s was Anthony "Brick" Mason.. I hope that guy can pulled thru this. 48 is still pretty young for a person to suffer a massive heart attack. God Bless

 

[the AntiPusher]

I was wrong about JR. He, quite admirably, has fit right into his roll as a spot up shooter, hence a HUGE rise in efficiency. I'm not saying that's all he's doing because I'm sure you'll dig up some video where he ISOs and sinks in a jumper, but for the most part, that's his roll.

Yeah, but I thought he was going to be inconsequential? I guess not.

You must have also not heard about or seen how outstanding his passing has been - something which I am sure is shocking, given that only the Spurs Euro players pass well.

I would say he's "dominating" since it's Lebron and Kyrie dominating while JR plays his roll well. That's the difference. It's Lebron mainly dominating as he always does. JR is doing his job though.

This team could lose Kyrie for the season tomorrow and they would still keep winning like they are. The two most important players to have healthy are JR and LeBron. With Kyrie and LeBron together, we saw that they aren't very special in the first 35 games of the season.

Hey Mr Cali.. How bout them Bulls.. Drose and da Bulls put on a show.. Pau with his 14 straight double Double and what about the kid Snell, he was been lighting it up the past few weeks.. :clap

Btw.. Here is the numbers on your boy JR..J. Smith 31 3/10 1/5 4 4 4 8 :lolz:

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Congrats to the Canuck for the MVP .

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

some sweet shooting happening here...clay is smooth.