Cavs being better without LBJ probably has to do with two things: (1) a bunch of blowouts where LBJ stopped playing defense, and (2) substitution patterns.
We've actually seen him with these shit teams earlier in his career......66 and 61 wins with Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison's corpse, Daniel Gibson, Delonte, Anthony Parker starting for 81 games, etc. is just one of them. Noboby has ever done more with less over 82 games than LeBron......Oscar Robertson went 4 straight seasons of his prime without being over .500, Kobe won in the 40's a few times post-Shaq, etc.
Yup was referring to Curry. It would be interesting to see this version of Curry plopped onto a team like the Suns or something.
Blew out the tanking grizzlies last night so badly. The starters we're out and fooling around by halfway through the 3rd (which is nice as they have a back to back with travel to Orlando)
You may be right about the match up issue LeBron creates for Toronto - he clearly is a problem for the Raptors. However assuming that his teammates will shoot 62.5% from deep as a result is a huge leap. That, aside from James' dominance, was the true difference in this game.
Curry with Booker would allow all those frontcourt players to find their niche in a specific role. Right now that team without Booker doesn't allow anyone on that team to do anything that resembles NBA basketball.
It's insane to me that this story isn't getting more coverage. It's more baffling than Fultz.
Agreed. I used to live in SA and lots of Spurs fans that I know are turning on him. I think there’s a very good chance he gets dealt this offseason.
It's more bizarre than Fultz because we actually know Kawhi was cleared a month ago and yet here we are with him saying he's not ready to play. Pop called him out. His teammates (allegedly) called him out. This is starting to seem more and more like the Walton/Blazers break-up in 1979.
Yeah, it's extremely weird. He's not some untested rookie, he's one of the best players in the game. And he's cleared to play. And he's literally not playing, creating a lot of dissension for the entire team. It really should be a humongous story and there is barely even a discussion about it on SoSH.
Kawhi was cleared by the TEAM doctors who are pressured to get him out on the court. He went for a second opinion in New York and whoever these people are allegedly have NOT cleared him to play. I don't think it is that bizarre of a situation.....you have a player who doesn't feel right and a team who wants him out there. The same thing happened with someone else a couple years ago I can't recall who it was though.
Here is what I want to know. Kemba took 18 shots and 14 of them were 3 pointers (he made 10 of them), but he still managed to take 10 free throws. I'll give my left arm if Jaylen or Tatum someday get that kind of respect from the refs.
And Lonzo still hasn’t figured out he sucks at 3 pointers. Worst that can happen for him is he goes a few games making some. False confidence
He was a sniper in college. Hes on a bad team. Absolutely no downside to keep jack in em up at this stage of his career.
Ball is shooting them at just under 35% post-ASB up from 28% pre-ASB. His balance is improved on the shot too....he'll be fine.
So we got two cherry picked samples. One is bigger than the other. All things equal the bigger one should mean more.
Actually he came out of the break shooting 21-42 and is now 7-44 since. So it’s actually a bigger sample of suck. He got hot for like 7 games. He hasn’t made multiple 3s in a game since March 9
Many of his 3 pointers in college had no defense on him. The NBA is a bit different, plus the distance is further back. They could have won tonight if he didn’t brick 12 of 13 3’s. In the NBA he is NOT a shooter.
That's because for whatever reason we know even less about this than Fultz.
It's worth pointing out that the Thunder née Sonics were deliberately tanking by playing Durant out of position at shooting guard and giving him too many shots, and ended up with Russell Westbrook for their (lack of) effort. Thank the basketball gods there are 5-6 teams this year that are even better at tanking than the Lakers.Durant shot 28% from 3 as a rook.
Meh, Durant is a 2/3 now and was a 2/3 then although there is much more smallball now......he's a wing who can play 4 to create matchup problems. That team didn't need to do anything special to tank. Durant got all those looks because the player with the 2nd most FGA/g and their 2nd leading scorer was ex-Celtic Chris Wilcox.
I'm not sure what you're going for here, but it's a great one liner, so good job by you. You really caught me unaware with the zing.
I show him at 30.3% pre ASB and 31.1% post ASB. There has been no improvement.
As London noted above it really isn't that unordinary for a rookie to struggle with the increased defensive length and style of the NBA game which differs from anything they have ever experienced. I've repeated this ad nauseum but the greatest growth a young player typically has is from his rookie to 2nd season in the league. His teammate Brandon Ingram is a perfect example as a 41% 3-point shooter at Duke with range. He shot 28% from 3 as a rookie and the "I told you he couldn't shoot FT's in college" crew came out (even though 68% as a freshman isn't awful)......he's now allowed the game to slow down and is making them at 38% as well as improving his overall game as his body develops.
Getting into the weight room helps a lot. I'm sure college players find the pro 3P line to be a heave in their first year.
Nearly all players have certain routines for preparing both physically and mentally. A rookie is at such a disadvantage as they are competing against opponents (and teammates for minutes) without the knowledge and understanding of what works for them while also factoring in the NBA travel schedule.
Of course it does we just don't hear about it because these guys are quickly out of the league if they don't get it. I edited my above post to include the Baby and Sully examples as just a couple. I'd say adapting to being a professional in all aspects of the game happen with nearly every player upon entering the league.
Funny, we were talking about JJ Reddick and his routine before my pick-up game last night. Here's a NYT article that is prompting the conversation: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/sports/jj-redick-sixers.html.
I'm sure they do all they can but the player still has a life outside of team activities and needs to discipline himself accordingly. This goes back to the scouting team putting the work in to gather information about the player prior to the draft. When we see guys fall for no specific reason there usually is behind the scenes stuff that we aren't privy to. To use the Redick example, the team isn't mandating that he eats a nutritious meal at 4:30 every day.....this is something Redick figured out on his own or with the advice of those around him. These habits take time to change.
