Microballing: Steve Ballmer's LA Clippers

[HomeRunBaker]

 
Would you mind expanding on that? Because it seems a little aggressive or at the very least ambiguous as to what "worthy of starting" means. There's not 40 starting PG caliber players in the NBA unless you have a low bar for what that designation means. 

I actually agree that there are 40 PG's capable of starting in this league however that doesn't mean they can replace Chris Paul, an elite player at his position. We are talking two different things here. His backup last year, Darren Collison, will be one of the 30 starting PG's this season in Sacramento yet the Clippers were appreciably worse when he replaced Paul in the starting lineup.

 

[wutang112878]

 
It's possible I've misunderstood the point you guys are making. Is losing a superstar rough? Of course. Do we really even need to discuss that, though?

 
In the specific case of the Clippers yes.  When you have to replace CP3 there are 2 issues, replacing the PG spot and replacing the best player on the floor who can score in the half court. 
 
Forget about the best player thing for a second, but just say you replacing CP3 with Rondo then 'lob city' sounds just as fun, but when there are 4 minutes left in the game neither Rondo or Griffin can really score at will in crunch time and thats where CP3 really bails this team out.  Thats a big part of his job there is to make Griffin and the rest of that team look better offensively than they are and take care of crunch time scoring.  What he does is really impressive.
 
Which is why I think they would really have to replace CP3 with 2 players.  A decent PG, which as you provided some data for yes finding an adequate PG isnt terribly difficult.  But then you also need to go find an elite scorer who can handle that prime time scoring and make up for the fact that for all of Griffin's star power, he cant handle that 4th quarter scoring responsibility.  That makes the rebuild/reload pretty tough in my opinion.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

OK, let me rephrase. 
 
Is there really 40 PGs that are of the caliber to be considered solid or above average starters in the league? 
 
That's an honest question because the NBA is the league I probably follow the least and I have little grasp on the advanced stats. I have a rough grasp on PER, but honestly I don't follow the league enough to really dive into it. 
 
Is there an equivalent NBA stat to WAR in baseball? On the surface, when I see someone say that there are 40 starting PGs in NBA, it equates to me someone saying there are 40 #1 SP in baseball. Which technically could be true, since every team has a top dog and some have two. But saying #1 SP really means something different taken in context. 
 
Obviously that's a different discussion than someone that could replace Paul and I didn't intend to bring that into the discussion. But if we are arriving at 40 by saying everyone has a starter and 10 teams have a backup they could live with as a starter, than I think the case is being overstated. You cite Collison - I don't really see 11 PT and 4 A to be a real asset at PG. 
 
I do apologize if I'm not making my case coherent, it's been a long weekend and I may have had too many cocktails after work tonight. 

I would categorize the "40" not as a #1 SP since many teams don't have a true #1 as this is a rare commodity. I'd use the analogy of a solid 4 or 5 SP someone who can fill the role and not stick out as a player who is out of place. Guys like Collison, Jack, Mo Williams, etc were not starters last year but have been those 4-5 SP in the past and were competent. Shit.....Jordan Crawford filled that role for us competently last year and I wouldn't even count him in my 40. Then there are the teams starting 2 PG like Phoenix (Dragic/Bledsoe) where an actual starter still falls into that 31-40 window.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

 
Well, that's kind of my point. 
 
Filling the role and not being completely out of place is great, but that - in my opinion anyway - doesn't really make them worthy of starting as a PG. I threw out the #1 SP comparison to try to say that people are loose with their terminology. When you say "Jarrett Jack is worthy of starting as a PG" I think of that as someone saying that Brandon Workman is worthy of being a SP.  It's technically true but it doesn't mean he's someone that would be a positive in that role, so I wouldn't exactly label him as a SP. (I understand the analogy isn't smooth, but just trying to continue your example). 
 
It's not a big deal. I didn't mean to derail the thread I just thought it was ambitious. 

My point is how much of a downgrade is Jack to an above average PG such as a Teague or dare I say Rondo? We have seen the Celtics win a higher pct of games in which Eddie House, Jordan Crawford and even Phil Pressey start over the past several seasons. Aside from the top tier and maybe the upper second tier these 31-40 guys don't represent much of a downgrade, if any, to those in the 12-20 range......much of it due to the complimentary responsibilities of the position moreso than the individual talent of an individual.

 

[moly99]

Is there really 40 PGs that are of the caliber to be considered solid or above average starters in the league?

 
Above average is a relative term. The issue at hand is the replaceability of a player. If a team loses its star point guard it is pretty easy to find another quality point guard who will deliver an acceptable performance in the starting role.
 
The difference between an average point guard and a poor starting point guard is not nearly as big as the drop off between an average shooting guard and a poor starting shooting guard.
 

I actually agree that there are 40 PG's capable of starting in this league however that doesn't mean they can replace Chris Paul, an elite player at his position. We are talking two different things here. His backup last year, Darren Collison, will be one of the 30 starting PG's this season in Sacramento yet the Clippers were appreciably worse when he replaced Paul in the starting lineup.

 
The same thing is true for every other star player in the league. The Mavericks will be worse when Nowitzki retires. The Thunder will be worse if Durant leaves them for Washington. Well, duh.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

The same thing is true for every other star player in the league. The Mavericks will be worse when Nowitzki retires. The Thunder will be worse if Durant leaves them for Washington. Well, duh.

Yes but you can't easily replace backups like Brandon Bass or Glen Davis for quality starters such as Ibaka or David West without a significant dropoff in production. Same for Brendan Haywood or Biyombo replacing a DeAndre Jordan or Gasol. This is what separates the PG position from the others......aside from the elite they are easily replaceable. Not so at other positions.

 

[The Social Chair]

I have zero sympathy for him. This is only a dangerous precedent for racist owners, and they can go fuck off and do something else with their 800 million payments (or more) for selling the team.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

I'm 100% in HRB's camp on this.  The other owners & the league have to approve any sale.  This makes it much easier & gives Levenson an easy "out."  The content of the emails wasn't that bad - it seemed like maybe 5-10% of it was getting into borderline racism territory, but it was more speculating on & trying to cater to the speculated racism of others than displaying his personal racism.  America loves a good self-aware apology + forgiveness story.  Levenson definitely comes off (to most) looking like a sympathetic decent guy and gets to cash out.

Being leaked now that Levenson had unsuccessfully tried to sell his share in 2011 as well.

 

[soxhop411]

New Clippers owner Steve Ballmer thinks the team is worth $2 billion, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he has eccentric views on other subjects as well.
In an interview with Reuters, the Microsoft billionaire said he would bar the team from using Apple products. 

 
 
"And [Coach] Doc [Rivers] kind of knows that’s a project. It's one of the first things he said to me: 'We are probably going to get rid of these iPads, aren’t we?' And I said, 'Yeah, we probably are.' But I promised we would do it during the off season."

Apparently it's not enough for the Clippers to be the stepchildren of the L.A. sports scene. Now they'll have to walk around with second-hand Zune music players.
According to the article, Ballmer has banned his own family from owning iPhones. Only the best for the Ballmer clan.

No word on what this might mean for the players' beloved Beats headphones. Beats was acquired by Apple earlier this year, so presumably that puts them on Ballmer's banned list as well.

The good news for the Clippers? They can have all the Nokia phones and Skype calls they want, plus unlimited Hotmail accounts.
 

http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2014/09/25/steve-ballmer-to-ban-la-clippers-from-using-apple-products
 
 
time for a new title?

 

[HomeRunBaker]

http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2014/09/25/steve-ballmer-to-ban-la-clippers-from-using-apple-products
 
 
time for a new title?

I'm thinking this will not end well.

The first fine will result in a call from the Players Association on Ballmer infringing on their personal rights.

 

[Curtis Pride]

Out with the racism, in with the tech discrimination.
 
Those iPads are just scratching the Surface.

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

Per request of another poster, title changed in tribute to the new owner.
 

 

[Infield Infidel]

I"m pouring one for one of the greatest thread titles in SoSH history. 

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

I"m pouring one for one of the greatest thread titles in SoSH history. 

 
Why thank you II. Hope you also like the new Clippers mascot.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

I"m pouring one for one of the greatest thread titles in SoSH history. 

I'm holding off for the Clippers first steroid suspension to do real justice to the tread title.

 

[soxhop411]

Presented without comment.

A pitch floating around the studio has Will Ferrell playing a version of disgraced former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, with Melissa McCarthy playing his wife Shelly and Kristen Wiig playing Donald’s mistress. The pitch cites Danny DeVito’s 1986 movie Ruthless People as its inspiration, and also suggests that frequent Ferrell collaborator Adam McKay be brought on to direct.

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2014/12/will-ferrell-donald-sterling-clippers-movie-pitch-sony-leak?utm_campaign=complexsports%2Bsocialflow%2B12%2B2014&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

 

[soxhop411]

In other Sterling news

DONALD STERLING
Playing Santa Claus ...
IN THA HOOD!!

[The "Miracle on 34th Street" has got nothing on this -- Donald Sterling in Watts playing Santa Claus at a charity event with the word "projects" in the title! What could possibly go wrong?
TMZ Sports has learned the disgraced ex-owner of the Clippers will be in the middle of the Watts Housing Projects on Saturday handing out tons of gifts to kids at the 9th annual Chrismukkah Soirée "Party in the Projects."
We're told Donald reached out to Youth Mentoring Kids -- the group organizing the event -- and said he wanted to show up with a sleigh (more likely a Rolls-Royce) filled with toys ... and they accepted.

http://m.tmz.com/#Article/2014/12/12/donald-sterling-charity-toy-drive-party-in-watts-projects