LeBron might kill someone tonight. Young guys have all worked together to piss away a 20+ point lead.
Though to be fair, LBJ has been guarded by Bogdanovich but he’s doing his “I’m just going to facilitate this quarter instead of smoking this guy” routine so he’s not innocent.
Though to be fair, LBJ has been guarded by Bogdanovich but he’s doing his “I’m just going to facilitate this quarter instead of smoking this guy” routine so he’s not innocent.
Ingram shouldn’t be sharing the floor with LeBron, especially on a lineup with McGee and Ball out there. No spacing, and Ingram just pounds it into the ground until the possession is dead and buried. I’d get Hart out there for starters.
Bagley looks good. He had a great spin move down low to lay the ball in and he wasn't pulling it against some other youngsters. The Clips are largely filled with good, veteran NBA talent.
I agree with the sentiment but it does no good. Rooting against them isn't going to help and frankly, they are a the fun AF stage of development. I also think they will sag as the season goes along because they are all really young and haven't yet learned how to pace themselves.
Are you suggesting that a random message boarder’s negativity can’t impact games?
I will gladly enjoy their style of play in losses.
My sense is that those who watch Ingram regularly fall in love with his potential and the tantalizing skills he flashes occasionally.
I also think Walton has been told by Magic and Pelinka that Ingram needs as much run as possible in the hopes that he makes the leap. He can then either be part of LeBron's Laker resurgence or be used as a chip to get Davis or some other star player.
I'm loving my late night hoops this year more than ever watching my double binkies WCS and Bagley. De'Aaron is fun as sh*t with the pace they play at too.
The questions I had was if Hield could create enough separation from NBA length defenders while remaining in his shooting rhythm. He's really benefitting from being in the Kings style of play but he did shoot 45% from 3 as a college senior after being a very ordinary player the 3 years prior so he has figured out how to slow the game down in the past. I'm not gonna lie I'm a little surprised at how well he's playing this year even though I attribute much of it to the Kings pace.
Young shot 25.9% from 3 over the second half of his line college season against non-NBA length defenders. I suspect he'll ultimately settle into a Lou Williams-type role but even that isn't a guarantee. His warts are really showing and he doesn't possess the elite athleticism to give him as much upside as others.
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Yeah, it’s the length that will flash for a play or two. But he’s not strong, isn’t a good shooter, doesn’t handle the ball particularly well, doesn’t move the ball well, can’t hit free throws, and really just hasn’t improved all that much.
Would be stunned if he isn’t moved eventually. Poor fit, especially if the plan is to bring another elite player to town. Will need all the shooting and role player skills they can get.
Montrezl Harrell is going to be a key player in a team that wins a ring someday. The guy is all out all the time and earns the highest compliment you can pay an athlete in that he routinely gets the most out of his abilities.
LeBron goes 38-9-7 in a “hold my beer” performance. I feel like he’s getting Mike Trout’ed this year, playing like his normal, historically amazing self but on the west coast, stuck in the pacific time zone, with a mediocre supporting cast so it’s easier to ignore him.
Lonzo with 2 points tonight on 1-6 shooting. Think the Lakers regret passing on Fox (to say nothing of Tatum) because they fell for they LaVar hype machine?
Fair enough - last night aside, LeBron is putting up better numbers than the other two guys in a lot of categories including defense.
That said, I still may choose either Durant or Leonard if I had to pick a guy to build around for the next two or three years.
You are still right to point out that my hot take doesn't stand up when you look at the data.
Yeah let’s be serious, there is no world in which LeBron James is not the best player in the nba. I get that you can make a bunch of different arguments for MVP, but the best basketball player? It’s a class of one.
That said, I’ve done a 180 this season on him and while I don’t have any problem with him personally, the Lakers maneuver means he put winning second which I just can’t understand. Doesn’t change the fact he is the best on the court, still.
That said, I’ve done a 180 this season on him and while I don’t have any problem with him personally, the Lakers maneuver means he put winning second which I just can’t understand. Doesn’t change the fact he is the best on the court, still.
If you start looking at the advanced stats like VORP, RPM, Win Shares etc. there's no clear cut leader, but it's definitely not Leonard. James, GA, and Durant all fare pretty well. Marc Gasol is your early RPM leader.
I'm not well versed in the defensive components of the advanced stats as I should be, so perhaps I'm overly skeptical, but if the game were called offenseball instead of basketball then I'm willing to consider Durant in the conversation. He's not bad on the defensive end for certain, but the value that a healthy Leonard, GA and James (can) bring on the there as well as their offensive skills mean they really separate for me.
Marc Gasol is really having a season though!
For hot takes (its a game thread after all
how about this: I would trade any Celtic even up for Luka. Total man crush.
What is difficult to understand about wanting to play in LA? Does a player have to sign with a superteam like GS in order to care about winning?
By DRPM Durant has been pretty similar to James and Leonard the last couple of years, FWIW. GA is a bit better. That's a season average though, and you may be right that James and Leonard are better at turning it up when it counts.
It isn't easy to evaluate Lonzo this year. How would Fox look if he was screening for LeBron then flaring out to the wing to be a weak side spot up shooter? I'm guessing pretty bad.
This has always been viewed as a bridge year for LeBron and the Lakers while he debuts his 3 new TV shows. If he signed off on this being a youth movement over the next several seasons then I will concede this however I don't see any indications that this is the case. If Ball and/or Ingram are still here to start next season I'll begin to maybe consider this position...….but I fully expect an overhauled Laker roster filled with veterans no later than the start of next fall.
Agree that it’s hard for to evaluate Lonzo this year, but Fox is shooting 38.5% on 3s for the year so far as the focus of the offense, albeit on a relatively low 3.1 attempts per game, but I can’t imagine having LeBron draw the defense would hurt.
Oh, I'm all in on Fox no doubt. I was only referring to the difficult situation that Ball finds himself in until he's traded.
The Warriors win in 5-7, most likely. Or whatever the expected result is for a +11.3 team (SRS) with a ~98% chance of being down 0-1 against a a +7.1 team.
But I'll bite on the Zaza thing, lol. Imagine if Gregg Popovich — whose players fwiw have a long history of "intentionally injuring" other team's players in exactly that same manner — had not seriously jeopardized Kawhi's health by running him out on an ankle that was so badly messed up that he had crumpled in pain a few minutes earlier by lightly stepping back on his seated teammate's foot.
And man, I love Pop, but imagine if he had had the self-awareness to realize this and accept his bad luck as calmly and philosophically as Kawhi did, rather than publicly comparing a pretty standard-issue Bruce Bowen dirty step-under move to "manslaughter" — a bit of overheated rhetoric that may have contributed to a general hysteria that resulted in Zaza's kids getting death threats.
Anyway, I'll shut up now. Incredible game last night. I don't always love the idea of "duels" in a team game, but that KD vs. Kawhi battle was epic. I loved how at a certain point they mostly refused to switch defensively and just went at each other.
By way of a conversation topic: if you guys could have KD or Kawhi on the Cs for the next two seasons, who would you take?
(Edit: wait, what? There are still people who think age 34 LeBron is a good defender?)
LeBron picks his spots to get his rest defensively as he's always tactfully, and smartly, done throughout his career. He's definitely in the upper tier of defenders at the end of games or in the playoffs......or are you using regular season optics/metrics to formulate an opinion on his ability in different settings?
LeBron v. Durant current tally, as long as we're on it:
Durant 30.1 pts on .624 true shooting / .930 ft shooting / 7.9 rebounds / 6.1 assists / 3.3 turnovers (in 35.7 mpg)
LeBron 28.1 pts on .609 true shooting / .715 ft shooting / 8.0 rebounds / 6.7 assists / 3.5 turnovers (in 35.0 mpg)
Net on/off: LeBron +2.4, Durant +12.1
Durant 30.1 pts on .624 true shooting / .930 ft shooting / 7.9 rebounds / 6.1 assists / 3.3 turnovers (in 35.7 mpg)
LeBron 28.1 pts on .609 true shooting / .715 ft shooting / 8.0 rebounds / 6.7 assists / 3.5 turnovers (in 35.0 mpg)
Net on/off: LeBron +2.4, Durant +12.1
How is this anyway related to your insinuation that LeBron is not a good defender?
Firmly agree with this, though I'd extend it to both ends of the floor. And what's amazing about when LeBron rests on offense is that his form of resting is actually just to be a ++ point guard. He spent much of the 2nd Q last night, for example, just using his natural gravity to find open teammates all over the floor from the top of the key. They missed most of the looks but he was still putting on a clinic in his own way, while saving up his energy to pretty much single-handedly win the game for LA in the last 3-4 minutes.
Sounds like Durant, or pretty much every other great player, no?
Regular season metrics and playoff metrics (e.g. Cavs playoff opponents scored 112.6 points per 100 last year when he was on the floor compared to 105.7 when he sat). Plus — since defensive metrics are always kinda dodgy — just the general eye-test that he's no longer quite quick enough to chase guards and wings around the perimeter; doesn't really defend the interior like a big man; and even in the heat of playoff battle tends to chill out (easily accepting switches, e.g.) more than a two-way superstar should when going head-to-head against a guy like KD.
Where's the evidence that he's (still) "definitely in the upper tier of defenders at the end of games or in the playoffs"? I'm definitely open to it if there is some.
It wasn't — I started posting that before I saw your post, lol. But I think I would argue (with some obvious bias) that KD is a comparable or marginally better defender than current-day LeBron (something that may be evident in the degree to which LeBron's plus-minus numbers have plummeted the last couple seasons, despite excellent traditional numbers).
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I agree. When you are asked to carry such a huge offensive load it is important to have guys like Draymond, Smart, future Ntilikina (lol, see what I did there), and those types to take the pressure off you. The funny thing about LeBron is that he rarely, if ever, had that guy in Cleveland or even Miami unless I'm forgetting someone. He was the guy on both ends.
Those numbers don't tell the story behind them though as these are TEAM numbers so tagging one individual along with his teammates to generate an "individual" number misses a ton of meat along the way. One perfect example is the other day when I was discussing eh.....this particular PG in Chicago's offensive improvement and defensive impact, London Sox used these same On/Off Defensive numbers to claim that this player doesn't impact the game on that end despite being paired with Zach LaVine who carries an enormous negative metric in this same category. The similar Def On/Off numbers he used appeared to the naked eye as an "individual" number showing no impact......while not factoring how an average defensive player (one with truly no impact) would be driven well into the negative due to the LaVine pairing.
82games used to do some cool stuff with this but as I referenced above so much of individual defensive is still best evaluated by traditional scouting methods to paint the entire picture.
Lol, sounds about right. Yes, I'd say todays Durant is similar to todays LeBron. No argument here as they are both have unique defensive skillsets.
Good but frustrating article about Harden's good but frustrating skill of drawing fouls:
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/25410888/nba-james-harden-foul-drawing-mastery-unstoppable
Crazy night in the NBA!
* Miami up 31 at one point is now only up 4 early in the 4th to New Orleans.
* Brooklyn up 7 with 30 seconds to go are now in OT vs Memphis.
* Miami up 31 at one point is now only up 4 early in the 4th to New Orleans.
* Brooklyn up 7 with 30 seconds to go are now in OT vs Memphis.
Hollis-Jefferson made a boneheaded foul on JJJ's 3 for a 4-point play then JJJ followed this up with another for the tie after the Nets failed to execute an in-bounds play. The Nets had no timeouts left and nobody really sure what to do so Dinwiddie ran an iso and actually expected to get a call against some contact near the rim which would have been a complete bailout call at the buzzer. He was irate but the officials made the correct no-call imo.
D'Angelo Russell and Conley going back and forth like Bird/Dominique in this second OT. This is freakin awesome!!
Edit: Memphis up 1 when Russell, already with 8 in the second OT alone, makes a nifty penetration but blows the layup.
Edit2: Dinwiddie with textbook defense v. Conley's penetration and the zebra bails him out with an awful call.
Edit: Memphis up 1 when Russell, already with 8 in the second OT alone, makes a nifty penetration but blows the layup.
Edit2: Dinwiddie with textbook defense v. Conley's penetration and the zebra bails him out with an awful call.
What they need is some good young talent from the top of the draft, they should have a couple players at least from the last few years they can rely on, right?
I was gonna say that they need some veterans who aren't shell shocked down the stretch of games. The Nets have blown a ton of late leads this year due to not having any leadership on the floor.
We may only be able to say this for another month or two about Conley but as of today he's probably bypassed Rod Strickland for the top spot on my list.
Amazing. The other noteworthy thing from this game was JJJ. Yet another young player who looks like he will make an impact. 36 points on 13-22 shooting and 8 boards. He was +13 for the Grizzlies too. Luka is the clearcut leader for ROY at this early stage but if Jackson can continue to progress on the offensive end in addition to his good defense, watch out.
