When Denver traded Carmelo Anthony to New York, I refused to write them off and at the same time described George Karl as an "outstanding" coach.
After learning more about him and watching his playoff performance against Oklahoma City, I'm going to have to downgrade him from outstanding to good.
Why?
The answer can be best summarized by the following statistics from the Oklahoma City series: Al Harrington (14 minutes per game), Timofey Mozgov (0 minutes per game).
That tells you all you need to know about George Karl and why he is 20 games below .500 in the playoffs.
He doesn't believe in the defending the paint, which is incredible when you consider his coaching history.
Of all people, George Karl should know how important it is to have a seven-footer in the lane who can block shots.
And two shot-blockers are even better.
Yet here we are, 17 years after Dikembe Mutombo swatted his Sonics, with the best record in the NBA, out of the playoffs in the first round; and George Karl is still fooling around with Al Harrington at power forward.
Harrington, never known for his defense, didn't record a single block in the series, averaged 1.2 defensive rebounds and was pretty much a non-factor in the lane defensively.
Mozgov playing center next to Chris Andersen would have been much more formidable, even assuming Mozgov went scoreless the entire series.
Harrington over Mozgov is basically a choice of three-point shooting over interior defense, a losing strategy if ever I saw one.
But this plays right into Karl's coaching philosophy, where he doesn't believe you need a seven-footer to win it all and also seems to have a lack of respect for non-scoring big men.
He asked who the seven-footers were for Detroit and Chicago when they won titles in the '80s and '90s, implying that they didn't have one; and you don't need one to win it all.
For the record, James Edwards was the seven-footer for Detroit; and it was Bill Cartwright for Chicago.
Luc Longley was the seven-footer during Chicago's second title run.
While neither could shoot the three like Al Harrington, each was effective at clogging up the lane and preventing easy buckets in the paint.
Longley is clearly the weakest of the bunch, but I'd take him over Al Harrington every day of the week and five times on Sunday when I need someone to stop Russell Westbrook from getting an uncontested layup or someone to secure a defensive rebound.
I'd also take Timofey Mozgov.
And unless George Karl wants to keep reliving "Mount" Mutombo nightmares from '94, he should start taking Mozgov as well, or anybody else who can defend the paint like Serge Ibaka did last night in a scene which looked too much like '94 all over again.
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
Tweet
Showing posts with label coaching philosophy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coaching philosophy. Show all posts
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
NBA Picks: Listen And Learn
Boy, did I get burned on some of my picks this year!
It was excruciating to watch as one team after another that I picked to do well performed below expectations.
At the same time, it was a valuable learning experience, one which I would like to pass along to all interested parties.
The most valuable lesson of all: consider the coach in your team evaluation!
My old method of analyzing a team was to look at the talent on the roster, see how much is there and how well it fits into traditional roles and positions and estimate a win total, with little or no regard for who the coach was.
But it's the coach who decides that Anthony Randolph doesn't deserve any playing time, who thinks Anthony Tolliver should be his first big man off the bench and who doesn't play Jeff Teague and goes with a seven-man rotation on the second night of a back-to-back.
The coach leads the team, evaluates the roster, sets the rotation, designs the plays, orchestrates the defense, hands out minutes, calls the timeouts, sets the strategies, approves the trades, guides the film sessions and everything else.
In short, the coach is everything!
You can have the most talented roster in the world and have them all fit perfectly together, but if the coach doesn't put the right players in the game at the right times, with a game-plan and a philosophy which produces wins, then it isn't worth a wooden nickel.
Whenever I write that certain things will happen, I feel a responsibility to explain things when they don't.
Even though all of the teams won more games than they did the year before, my expectations were much higher; so this is a look at the teams and what happened during the season to cause them to lose more games than what the talent on their rosters said they should have, with win improvement over the prior season in parentheses.
DETROIT PISTONS (+3)
I take full responsibility for this one.
I knew this pick was in trouble from the moment I saw Detroit play its first preseason game against Miami and knew it minutes into the game.
The season-ending injury to Jonas Jerebko didn't help a team so thin up front.
But the bigger problems were a lack of early-season passion from Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince and disastrous coaching by John Kuester.
I had to dedicate two sections to Greg Monroe and his limited playing time by the end of November, and Kuester's rotation only got more puzzling from there, with players moving in and out of the lineup for no apparent reason even when they were playing well.
They gave New Jersey the first game of the season with a fourth-quarter meltdown and blew a 21-point lead to Chicago two games later.
A season which could have and should have started 2-1, maybe 3-0, started 0-3; and that pretty much set the tone for the season.
I could have never known that Hamilton and Prince would lie down and not compete like they did, but the failure evaluate John Kuester was all my fault.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (+2)
Jonny Flynn's injury was the main factor in Minnesota's poor season.
Luke Ridnour doesn't have the athleticism to consistently beat his man off the dribble on offense or keep his man in front of him on defense.
This created a domino effect which hurt Minnesota on both sides of the ball.
A healthy Jonny Flynn, not the one we saw this season, gives Minnesota an advantage on almost every offensive possession because someone would be open on almost every play, either Flynn after he beats his man off the dribble or a teammate after a defender comes over to help after Flynn has gotten by his man.
That would then make the team virtually unstoppable with Flynn's court vision and passing ability and all of the weapons that they have.
It was a vision which never materialized due to Flynn being less than 100 percent.
Minnesota battled crucial injuries all season long, but once the team got relatively healthy, the real culprit came to light: Kurt Rambis.
There isn't nearly enough room in this section to fully detail all of the mistakes Kurt Rambis made this season, so I'll stick to one or two key ones and move on.
Rambis's offense is built to the weaknesses and not the strengths of his players.
Rambis has an offense which requires big men to handle and make decisions with the basketball and doesn't allow the point guard to freelance and improvise very much.
The problem is Darko Milicic, Kevin Love and Michael Beasley aren't very good at making decisions with the basketball; and freelancing and improvising are two of the things Flynn and Ridnour do best.
Rambis's rotation made you wonder what he was thinking, and his refusal to keep a shot-blocker on the floor at all times hurt Minnesota's defense as much as fouls and the turnovers caused by his sophisticated offense.
It wouldn't be fair to say Rambis will never succeed as a coach in the NBA, but he has a very long way to go.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (+3)
Los Angeles is another team which got derailed by injuries.
Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman and Randy Foye all missed significant time during the season.
Even with all of the injuries, it could still be said that Los Angeles played above expectations. But, in true Hollywood fashion, they did it in a way which wasn't expected.
In all of my writings, not one time did I mention the name DeAndre Jordan.
But his improvement and interior defense were huge factors in the team's turnaround.
I did evaluate Vinny Del Negro, and, appropriately, he was the only coach who didn't let me down, until they traded Baron Davis.
INDIANA PACERS (+5)
Jim O'Brien made me regret that I ever thought he was even a decent coach.
From benching TJ Ford, Paul George and Tyler Hansbrough to playing Danny Granger at power forward, O'Brien made more embarrassing moves than I care to remember.
He was rightfully fired during the season and replaced by Frank Vogel.
Vogel corrected every mistake except the TJ Ford one, but I've covered that so completely that there is no need to detail it any further here.
No injuries, just one poor coaching move after another continues to hurt this team.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (+10)
There is a noticeable theme developing here: injuries and bad coaching.
And Golden State had a little too much of both this season.
There were times this year when Keith Smart had me so irate that I wished Golden State would hire me for an hour, so I could fire him myself!
He played Monta Ellis way too many minutes, had too many Don Nelson, small-ball tendencies; failed to utilize a bench which was good enough to be utilized and was highly unfair to rookies Jeremy Lin and Ekpe Udoh.
It took Smart until the last few games of the season to stop playing Vladimir Radmanovic off the bench at power forward and play Lou Amundson there instead, but he should have realized the need to do that after the game against Utah at the end of January, at the latest.
Non-starters Reggie Williams, Lin, Udoh and Amundson can all play; so Smart's limited confidence in them makes you question his ability to evaluate talent and his commitment to the winning philosophy of using a strong bench to keep the starters fresh.
And Lin and Udoh were treated like unwanted step-children, yanked from games for the slightest of errors while the veterans could make multiple mistakes without consequence.
For Lin, the benching might last weeks and include a trip to the development league.
Smart made almost as many mistakes as Kurt Rambis and most definitely held Golden State back this year.
And he most definitely makes you question whether he can win consistently in the NBA.
You live, and you learn.
And going into next season, you can bet that the coaches will be analyzed as thoroughly and completely as the rosters and the individual matchups on the court.
It is a process I already started going into this year's playoffs.
And if you are wise, you will do the same thing too.
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
Tweet
It was excruciating to watch as one team after another that I picked to do well performed below expectations.
At the same time, it was a valuable learning experience, one which I would like to pass along to all interested parties.
The most valuable lesson of all: consider the coach in your team evaluation!
My old method of analyzing a team was to look at the talent on the roster, see how much is there and how well it fits into traditional roles and positions and estimate a win total, with little or no regard for who the coach was.
But it's the coach who decides that Anthony Randolph doesn't deserve any playing time, who thinks Anthony Tolliver should be his first big man off the bench and who doesn't play Jeff Teague and goes with a seven-man rotation on the second night of a back-to-back.
The coach leads the team, evaluates the roster, sets the rotation, designs the plays, orchestrates the defense, hands out minutes, calls the timeouts, sets the strategies, approves the trades, guides the film sessions and everything else.
In short, the coach is everything!
You can have the most talented roster in the world and have them all fit perfectly together, but if the coach doesn't put the right players in the game at the right times, with a game-plan and a philosophy which produces wins, then it isn't worth a wooden nickel.
Whenever I write that certain things will happen, I feel a responsibility to explain things when they don't.
Even though all of the teams won more games than they did the year before, my expectations were much higher; so this is a look at the teams and what happened during the season to cause them to lose more games than what the talent on their rosters said they should have, with win improvement over the prior season in parentheses.
DETROIT PISTONS (+3)
I take full responsibility for this one.
I knew this pick was in trouble from the moment I saw Detroit play its first preseason game against Miami and knew it minutes into the game.
The season-ending injury to Jonas Jerebko didn't help a team so thin up front.
But the bigger problems were a lack of early-season passion from Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince and disastrous coaching by John Kuester.
I had to dedicate two sections to Greg Monroe and his limited playing time by the end of November, and Kuester's rotation only got more puzzling from there, with players moving in and out of the lineup for no apparent reason even when they were playing well.
They gave New Jersey the first game of the season with a fourth-quarter meltdown and blew a 21-point lead to Chicago two games later.
A season which could have and should have started 2-1, maybe 3-0, started 0-3; and that pretty much set the tone for the season.
I could have never known that Hamilton and Prince would lie down and not compete like they did, but the failure evaluate John Kuester was all my fault.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (+2)
Jonny Flynn's injury was the main factor in Minnesota's poor season.
Luke Ridnour doesn't have the athleticism to consistently beat his man off the dribble on offense or keep his man in front of him on defense.
This created a domino effect which hurt Minnesota on both sides of the ball.
A healthy Jonny Flynn, not the one we saw this season, gives Minnesota an advantage on almost every offensive possession because someone would be open on almost every play, either Flynn after he beats his man off the dribble or a teammate after a defender comes over to help after Flynn has gotten by his man.
That would then make the team virtually unstoppable with Flynn's court vision and passing ability and all of the weapons that they have.
It was a vision which never materialized due to Flynn being less than 100 percent.
Minnesota battled crucial injuries all season long, but once the team got relatively healthy, the real culprit came to light: Kurt Rambis.
There isn't nearly enough room in this section to fully detail all of the mistakes Kurt Rambis made this season, so I'll stick to one or two key ones and move on.
Rambis's offense is built to the weaknesses and not the strengths of his players.
Rambis has an offense which requires big men to handle and make decisions with the basketball and doesn't allow the point guard to freelance and improvise very much.
The problem is Darko Milicic, Kevin Love and Michael Beasley aren't very good at making decisions with the basketball; and freelancing and improvising are two of the things Flynn and Ridnour do best.
Rambis's rotation made you wonder what he was thinking, and his refusal to keep a shot-blocker on the floor at all times hurt Minnesota's defense as much as fouls and the turnovers caused by his sophisticated offense.
It wouldn't be fair to say Rambis will never succeed as a coach in the NBA, but he has a very long way to go.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (+3)
Los Angeles is another team which got derailed by injuries.
Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman and Randy Foye all missed significant time during the season.
Even with all of the injuries, it could still be said that Los Angeles played above expectations. But, in true Hollywood fashion, they did it in a way which wasn't expected.
In all of my writings, not one time did I mention the name DeAndre Jordan.
But his improvement and interior defense were huge factors in the team's turnaround.
I did evaluate Vinny Del Negro, and, appropriately, he was the only coach who didn't let me down, until they traded Baron Davis.
INDIANA PACERS (+5)
Jim O'Brien made me regret that I ever thought he was even a decent coach.
From benching TJ Ford, Paul George and Tyler Hansbrough to playing Danny Granger at power forward, O'Brien made more embarrassing moves than I care to remember.
He was rightfully fired during the season and replaced by Frank Vogel.
Vogel corrected every mistake except the TJ Ford one, but I've covered that so completely that there is no need to detail it any further here.
No injuries, just one poor coaching move after another continues to hurt this team.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (+10)
There is a noticeable theme developing here: injuries and bad coaching.
And Golden State had a little too much of both this season.
There were times this year when Keith Smart had me so irate that I wished Golden State would hire me for an hour, so I could fire him myself!
He played Monta Ellis way too many minutes, had too many Don Nelson, small-ball tendencies; failed to utilize a bench which was good enough to be utilized and was highly unfair to rookies Jeremy Lin and Ekpe Udoh.
It took Smart until the last few games of the season to stop playing Vladimir Radmanovic off the bench at power forward and play Lou Amundson there instead, but he should have realized the need to do that after the game against Utah at the end of January, at the latest.
Non-starters Reggie Williams, Lin, Udoh and Amundson can all play; so Smart's limited confidence in them makes you question his ability to evaluate talent and his commitment to the winning philosophy of using a strong bench to keep the starters fresh.
And Lin and Udoh were treated like unwanted step-children, yanked from games for the slightest of errors while the veterans could make multiple mistakes without consequence.
For Lin, the benching might last weeks and include a trip to the development league.
Smart made almost as many mistakes as Kurt Rambis and most definitely held Golden State back this year.
And he most definitely makes you question whether he can win consistently in the NBA.
You live, and you learn.
And going into next season, you can bet that the coaches will be analyzed as thoroughly and completely as the rosters and the individual matchups on the court.
It is a process I already started going into this year's playoffs.
And if you are wise, you will do the same thing too.
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
Tweet
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Swishing And Dishing
Is there a such thing as the team-player award?
Because if there is, I want to nominate Andrew Bynum.
Bynum recently talked about how the team is better when they are moving the ball instead of featuring him as a scorer inside and willingly put his dream of being a dominant center on hold in order to make the team better.
That's beautiful.
What's even more beautiful is how much better Bynum will be when he does become the featured scorer for the Lakers.
Once he masters reading defenses and passing from the post and elsewhere, he will be even more unstoppable because he will be able to carve defenses up with his passing and burn them with his powerful low-post moves.
It's like The Karate Kid (1984), where Mr. Miyagi had him doing all of these things which looked like they had nothing to do with fighting, until he actually got onto the mat.
Bynum being unselfish and passing the ball to open teammates doesn't look like it is helping him, but in actuality it is.
This Denver team is fun to watch!
Speedy Ty Lawson has a great feel for the game and the point guard position, and I never knew Kenyon Martin was so versatile with all of the passes he can make.
George Karl is in a great position because he has a deep bench, which allows him to play guys the right amount of minutes to keep them fresh and give his team an energy advantage almost every single night.
Games can be and are often won on energy alone.
And improving and using the bench is the key capitalizing on this edge.
Someone who is great playing 40 minutes will be even better playing 36 and even better than that playing 32.
That is the advantage Denver has over many teams.
These guys in Denver may not be household names yet, but all of that will change if they keep winning and playing like they do.
THE GREAT NORTHWEST
The Portland Trail Blazers look like they have found their footing again.
I had them as a contender before the season started, but that was before they traded backup point guard Jerryd Bayless, before Brandon Roy had surgery on both knees and before Greg Oden had surgery and was lost for the season.
You wouldn't believe how badly Portland struggled to replace Bayless before Patrick Mills was moved in and got comfortable. It took a good six weeks, and Mills still is merely a barely-adequate replacement.
Gerald Wallace is fitting in nicely, and LaMarcus Aldridge has been lighting up everything in his path for about two months.
And Portland wisely signed Nate McMillan to an extension this week.
They have some nice things going on, but Portland isn't nearly as threatening as they appeared before the season.
A couple of more pieces and a return to full health would go a long way in changing that though.
UNPREDICTABLE
When I wrote my conference previews before the season started, I noted some of the things which make seasons so unpredictable: injuries, trades, coaching decisions and team chemistry.
Individual improvement is another thing which makes predictions so hard to make.
There have been so many players who came out of nowhere to have better seasons this year.
A good way to get yourself slapped would have been to tell someone before the season (hell, a month into the season) that DeAndre Jordan would turn himself into even a decent NBA player. But that is exactly what he has done, and Los Angeles is much better for it.
His teammate Eric Gordon got better too. Gordon averaged as much as 24 points when he was healthy and the team rolling.
Derrick Rose made the leap into the one of the best players in the NBA and took Chicago with him.
Who saw the season Elton Brand is having?
Will Bynum is a much better point guard than he was in November. He runs Detroit's offense like a pro and is making the transition from someone who loves to take a shot to someone who loves to dish a pass to a teammate.
I already talked about Richard Jefferson and the season he is having.
Marcin Gortat has been playing in Phoenix like he should have been the starter at center in Orlando.
Kris Humphries is someone else getting minutes for the first time and showing he deserves the longer look, and Earl Clark makes plays whenever Stan Van Gundy decides to give him playing time.
These are some of the few who came out of nowhere to have better seasons, and there are many others.
And they all deserve credit for stepping up their games and making themselves and the game better.
BAD BOY
Not to be confused with Mike Lowery from the movie Bad Boys but Kyle Lowry is a bad boy himself, or as Mark Jackson might put it, a "bad man!"
An early sign came over the summer when Cleveland and coach Byron Scott signed Lowry to an offer sheet.
When Byron Scott got his first job with the New Jersey Nets, one of the first things New Jersey did was trade for Jason Kidd.
When Scott got his next job in New Orleans, one of the first things New Orleans did was draft Chris Paul.
Scott went on to have great successes (and great failures but let's not talk about that now) with both players.
And Scott played with Magic Johnson, one of the greatest point guards of all time.
Byron Scott knows point guards.
So when he handpicked Kyle Lowry to be his point guard of the future in Cleveland, it was a strong indicator that Lowry was for real.
Houston wisely matched the offer and kept Lowry even though he was little more than a backup to Aaron Brooks at the time.
When Brooks went down with an injury early in the season, Lowry took control of the team and hasn't let go. He is carrying this Houston team and has them fighting for a playoff spot.
Not known as a shooter, Lowry has improved his three-point shooting percentage from .272 last season to a sizzling .380 this year and can beat a team any way imaginable anywhere on the court.
Houston is 7-2 in its last nine games, and Lowry's play in the last five games has been staggering (22.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 8 assists, 1.4 steals, shooting .547 from the field and .488 from three).
When franchises look to win big, they try to find pieces to build around; and Lowry is one of those pieces.
He probably won't lead Houston to the playoffs this year, but he has them in the conversation.
And the way he has played recently, he is close to making himself part of another conversation: the one naming the best point guards in the NBA.
Because if there is, I want to nominate Andrew Bynum.
Bynum recently talked about how the team is better when they are moving the ball instead of featuring him as a scorer inside and willingly put his dream of being a dominant center on hold in order to make the team better.
That's beautiful.
What's even more beautiful is how much better Bynum will be when he does become the featured scorer for the Lakers.
Once he masters reading defenses and passing from the post and elsewhere, he will be even more unstoppable because he will be able to carve defenses up with his passing and burn them with his powerful low-post moves.
It's like The Karate Kid (1984), where Mr. Miyagi had him doing all of these things which looked like they had nothing to do with fighting, until he actually got onto the mat.
Bynum being unselfish and passing the ball to open teammates doesn't look like it is helping him, but in actuality it is.
This Denver team is fun to watch!
Speedy Ty Lawson has a great feel for the game and the point guard position, and I never knew Kenyon Martin was so versatile with all of the passes he can make.
George Karl is in a great position because he has a deep bench, which allows him to play guys the right amount of minutes to keep them fresh and give his team an energy advantage almost every single night.
Games can be and are often won on energy alone.
And improving and using the bench is the key capitalizing on this edge.
Someone who is great playing 40 minutes will be even better playing 36 and even better than that playing 32.
That is the advantage Denver has over many teams.
These guys in Denver may not be household names yet, but all of that will change if they keep winning and playing like they do.
THE GREAT NORTHWEST
The Portland Trail Blazers look like they have found their footing again.
I had them as a contender before the season started, but that was before they traded backup point guard Jerryd Bayless, before Brandon Roy had surgery on both knees and before Greg Oden had surgery and was lost for the season.
You wouldn't believe how badly Portland struggled to replace Bayless before Patrick Mills was moved in and got comfortable. It took a good six weeks, and Mills still is merely a barely-adequate replacement.
Gerald Wallace is fitting in nicely, and LaMarcus Aldridge has been lighting up everything in his path for about two months.
And Portland wisely signed Nate McMillan to an extension this week.
They have some nice things going on, but Portland isn't nearly as threatening as they appeared before the season.
A couple of more pieces and a return to full health would go a long way in changing that though.
UNPREDICTABLE
When I wrote my conference previews before the season started, I noted some of the things which make seasons so unpredictable: injuries, trades, coaching decisions and team chemistry.
Individual improvement is another thing which makes predictions so hard to make.
There have been so many players who came out of nowhere to have better seasons this year.
A good way to get yourself slapped would have been to tell someone before the season (hell, a month into the season) that DeAndre Jordan would turn himself into even a decent NBA player. But that is exactly what he has done, and Los Angeles is much better for it.
His teammate Eric Gordon got better too. Gordon averaged as much as 24 points when he was healthy and the team rolling.
Derrick Rose made the leap into the one of the best players in the NBA and took Chicago with him.
Who saw the season Elton Brand is having?
Will Bynum is a much better point guard than he was in November. He runs Detroit's offense like a pro and is making the transition from someone who loves to take a shot to someone who loves to dish a pass to a teammate.
I already talked about Richard Jefferson and the season he is having.
Marcin Gortat has been playing in Phoenix like he should have been the starter at center in Orlando.
Kris Humphries is someone else getting minutes for the first time and showing he deserves the longer look, and Earl Clark makes plays whenever Stan Van Gundy decides to give him playing time.
These are some of the few who came out of nowhere to have better seasons, and there are many others.
And they all deserve credit for stepping up their games and making themselves and the game better.
BAD BOY
Not to be confused with Mike Lowery from the movie Bad Boys but Kyle Lowry is a bad boy himself, or as Mark Jackson might put it, a "bad man!"
An early sign came over the summer when Cleveland and coach Byron Scott signed Lowry to an offer sheet.
When Byron Scott got his first job with the New Jersey Nets, one of the first things New Jersey did was trade for Jason Kidd.
When Scott got his next job in New Orleans, one of the first things New Orleans did was draft Chris Paul.
Scott went on to have great successes (and great failures but let's not talk about that now) with both players.
And Scott played with Magic Johnson, one of the greatest point guards of all time.
Byron Scott knows point guards.
So when he handpicked Kyle Lowry to be his point guard of the future in Cleveland, it was a strong indicator that Lowry was for real.
Houston wisely matched the offer and kept Lowry even though he was little more than a backup to Aaron Brooks at the time.
When Brooks went down with an injury early in the season, Lowry took control of the team and hasn't let go. He is carrying this Houston team and has them fighting for a playoff spot.
Not known as a shooter, Lowry has improved his three-point shooting percentage from .272 last season to a sizzling .380 this year and can beat a team any way imaginable anywhere on the court.
Houston is 7-2 in its last nine games, and Lowry's play in the last five games has been staggering (22.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 8 assists, 1.4 steals, shooting .547 from the field and .488 from three).
When franchises look to win big, they try to find pieces to build around; and Lowry is one of those pieces.
He probably won't lead Houston to the playoffs this year, but he has them in the conversation.
And the way he has played recently, he is close to making himself part of another conversation: the one naming the best point guards in the NBA.
Note Update, 2/26/2012, 12:22 AM: Some of Lowry's March statistics first posted by Tom Martin.
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
Tweet
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
Tweet
Saturday, March 5, 2011
The Week In Basketball
The Miami Heat signed point guard Mike Bibby this week after he was let go by the Washington Wizards.
It was a great signing by Miami, and they should definitely look to make it long term by keeping Bibby beyond this season.
Although he should have known way better than to go double-team and leave Gilbert Arenas open behind the three-point line, reports of Bibby's defensive demise have been greatly exaggerated.
And we all know what he brings on the offensive end with his execution and big-shot making.
Contrary to reported expectations, Bibby has been an upgrade on both ends of the court for Miami and significantly increases their chances of going all the way this season.
Last week I wrote that Boston was the "clear" favorite in the East.
Boston would still be considered the favorite, but the addition of Mike Bibby by the Miami Heat brings it a lot closer to 50/50 and makes it not nearly as clear as it was just seven days ago.
Before the season, I was one of the very few not on the Oklahoma City bandwagon. It was noted that while the bandwagon was huge and had many guests and visitors, I was not one of them.
Now that they have traded for Kendrick Perkins and Nazr Mohammed and are playing the right players at the right positions (you know, no more small forwards at power forward), Oklahoma City has moved itself into the conversation as a legitimate contender.
Russell Westbrook is the key to this whole thing.
He can't go charging into the crowded paint at 200 miles per hour or commit other costly turnovers in the closing minutes of close games. Westbrook has to learn to play the game at different speeds and not play with reckless abandon at all times, particularly when a good play call is what is needed.
Westbrook mastering the fast game (open court) and the slow game (half court) gives Oklahoma City its best chance of being a serious threat to the other top teams in the NBA.
I'm still not buying Thabo Sefolosha as a starter on a championship team, but Nate Robinson, James Harden or Daequan Cook may be able to provide them with what they need from the shooting guard position.
MR. BIG SHOT
The story of Chauncey Billups is one of the most amazing stories ever.
Born out of the ashes of Boston's failed attempt to land Tim Duncan and fortified on one of the most unsung championship teams in recent memory, Chauncey Billups has probably seen it all in his career.
And over the course of his career, he has earned his respect as one of the best point guards in the NBA.
Even 10 years into his career, you would have found me among his harshest critics. Chauncey Billups just didn't play point guard the way I had come to expect it to be played.
I grew up on Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Rod Strickland, Tim Hardaway and Kevin Johnson.
And Billups just didn't fit the mold.
He didn't push the tempo. He didn't have eyes in the back of his head. He didn't make passes which made you wonder how he saw the guy open. He didn't cross people up and make them look silly with his dribbling skills. And he didn't drive into the paint and finish over bigger players with an infinite variety of highly-creative layups.
How is this guy even a point guard? And why is he in the NBA?
Rick Pitino must have wondered the same thing because 51 games into Billups' rookie season, Pitino shipped him off to Toronto in a trade.
That trade kicked off a sequence which would see Billups traded three times in two years and eventually end up in Minnesota, where he signed as a free agent in 2000.
While he started to put things together in Minnesota, it wasn't until his next stop in Detroit that Billups' career really took off.
Playing with an unheralded group that it seemed no one else wanted, Billups won a championship with Detroit in 2004.
He led Detroit to the conference finals every season, but after losing there three years in a row, he was traded once again and ended up in Denver, where it looked like he would finish his career playing for his hometown team, that is, until the Knicks called and wanted to include Billups in a deal to send Carmelo Anthony to New York.
Now a Knick, Billups continues his journey through the NBA and has taken on the role of mentor to some of the younger point guards in the league, as described by Mike Breen during Billups' debut with New York against Milwuakee.
He has much to share because over the years, Billups has picked up the attributes which make a great point guard and managed to add at least one of his own.
He had his ups and downs early, but numerous big shots and big wins later, Billups is still going strong.
He may not be Tim Duncan, but he is Chauncey Billups.
And he has shown repeatedly that is more than good enough.
THROW A BONE
Is it just me, or do big guys seem to play better after they have gotten a few touches?
Andrew Bynum is much better after he gets a few touches, and I swear it looks like there are two Andris Biedrinses out there after he gets the ball a few times.
The same could be said of defensive players.
Dennis Rodman retired years ago, and Joel Anthony is only allowed to play for the Miami Heat. They are two of the few players who don't mind playing without someone passing them the basketball.
Without one of them, a team is going to have to share the ball with its big man in order to get the most out of him.
In a way, you can understand where they are coming from.
Who wants to run around all day and never touch the basketball? And for a big man who works hard to establish good post position, only to be ignored again and again, this can be even more frustrating.
A point can be made that if big men want touches they should hustle for loose balls and offensive rebounds and get them that way, and that is a good point.
At the same time, what would it hurt passing the ball to the big guy every now and then, even if it's only once every five possessions or so, especially when you know it is going to energize him?
It may be inconvenient, and yes, most of them can't do anything with it once they get it; but every once in a while you have to throw these guys a bone just to keep them involved and let them know they are part of the team.
And to make sure they protect the paint when someone drives down the lane.
When teams look out for their big men, their big men look out for them.
CREDIT DUE
I have to give credit here to someone I've been reading who has really helped me see the game better.
Jonathan Tjarks and his material have gone a long way in keeping me sharp and on top of things.
I may not agree with everything he writes, or even a majority of it; but it is interesting and often insightful.
Here is the breakdown of what I've been reading and thinking over:
(1.) Colin Cowherd was the first person I heard do this when he went over Kobe Bryant's career in between Shaquille O'Neal leaving and Pau Gasol arriving. It wasn't a pretty sight. So Tjarks' emphasis on outstanding big men and their importance to winning championships was more food for thought on the subject.
(2.) I always watch defense, but Tjarks using the phrase "defend his position" or "defend a position" made me look more closely at how someone specifically matches up at the position he plays and focus more on particular matchups.
(3.) While I don't agree with his overall argument about Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash and why their careers took off after they were separated, it does make me pay close attention when two or more poor defenders are on the floor at the same time and what impact it has on the game.
(4.) And his take on big men who can pass and little men who can rebound was something else to think about (see 4 and 5 in the five-tool player), just an interesting way to see things that I have never really thought about.
Note: I first discovered Tjarks on a link posted by Zach Lowe at SI.
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
Tweet
It was a great signing by Miami, and they should definitely look to make it long term by keeping Bibby beyond this season.
Although he should have known way better than to go double-team and leave Gilbert Arenas open behind the three-point line, reports of Bibby's defensive demise have been greatly exaggerated.
And we all know what he brings on the offensive end with his execution and big-shot making.
Contrary to reported expectations, Bibby has been an upgrade on both ends of the court for Miami and significantly increases their chances of going all the way this season.
Last week I wrote that Boston was the "clear" favorite in the East.
Boston would still be considered the favorite, but the addition of Mike Bibby by the Miami Heat brings it a lot closer to 50/50 and makes it not nearly as clear as it was just seven days ago.
Before the season, I was one of the very few not on the Oklahoma City bandwagon. It was noted that while the bandwagon was huge and had many guests and visitors, I was not one of them.
Now that they have traded for Kendrick Perkins and Nazr Mohammed and are playing the right players at the right positions (you know, no more small forwards at power forward), Oklahoma City has moved itself into the conversation as a legitimate contender.
Russell Westbrook is the key to this whole thing.
He can't go charging into the crowded paint at 200 miles per hour or commit other costly turnovers in the closing minutes of close games. Westbrook has to learn to play the game at different speeds and not play with reckless abandon at all times, particularly when a good play call is what is needed.
Westbrook mastering the fast game (open court) and the slow game (half court) gives Oklahoma City its best chance of being a serious threat to the other top teams in the NBA.
I'm still not buying Thabo Sefolosha as a starter on a championship team, but Nate Robinson, James Harden or Daequan Cook may be able to provide them with what they need from the shooting guard position.
MR. BIG SHOT
The story of Chauncey Billups is one of the most amazing stories ever.
Born out of the ashes of Boston's failed attempt to land Tim Duncan and fortified on one of the most unsung championship teams in recent memory, Chauncey Billups has probably seen it all in his career.
And over the course of his career, he has earned his respect as one of the best point guards in the NBA.
Even 10 years into his career, you would have found me among his harshest critics. Chauncey Billups just didn't play point guard the way I had come to expect it to be played.
I grew up on Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Rod Strickland, Tim Hardaway and Kevin Johnson.
And Billups just didn't fit the mold.
He didn't push the tempo. He didn't have eyes in the back of his head. He didn't make passes which made you wonder how he saw the guy open. He didn't cross people up and make them look silly with his dribbling skills. And he didn't drive into the paint and finish over bigger players with an infinite variety of highly-creative layups.
How is this guy even a point guard? And why is he in the NBA?
Rick Pitino must have wondered the same thing because 51 games into Billups' rookie season, Pitino shipped him off to Toronto in a trade.
That trade kicked off a sequence which would see Billups traded three times in two years and eventually end up in Minnesota, where he signed as a free agent in 2000.
While he started to put things together in Minnesota, it wasn't until his next stop in Detroit that Billups' career really took off.
Playing with an unheralded group that it seemed no one else wanted, Billups won a championship with Detroit in 2004.
He led Detroit to the conference finals every season, but after losing there three years in a row, he was traded once again and ended up in Denver, where it looked like he would finish his career playing for his hometown team, that is, until the Knicks called and wanted to include Billups in a deal to send Carmelo Anthony to New York.
Now a Knick, Billups continues his journey through the NBA and has taken on the role of mentor to some of the younger point guards in the league, as described by Mike Breen during Billups' debut with New York against Milwuakee.
He has much to share because over the years, Billups has picked up the attributes which make a great point guard and managed to add at least one of his own.
He had his ups and downs early, but numerous big shots and big wins later, Billups is still going strong.
He may not be Tim Duncan, but he is Chauncey Billups.
And he has shown repeatedly that is more than good enough.
THROW A BONE
Is it just me, or do big guys seem to play better after they have gotten a few touches?
Andrew Bynum is much better after he gets a few touches, and I swear it looks like there are two Andris Biedrinses out there after he gets the ball a few times.
The same could be said of defensive players.
Dennis Rodman retired years ago, and Joel Anthony is only allowed to play for the Miami Heat. They are two of the few players who don't mind playing without someone passing them the basketball.
Without one of them, a team is going to have to share the ball with its big man in order to get the most out of him.
In a way, you can understand where they are coming from.
Who wants to run around all day and never touch the basketball? And for a big man who works hard to establish good post position, only to be ignored again and again, this can be even more frustrating.
A point can be made that if big men want touches they should hustle for loose balls and offensive rebounds and get them that way, and that is a good point.
At the same time, what would it hurt passing the ball to the big guy every now and then, even if it's only once every five possessions or so, especially when you know it is going to energize him?
It may be inconvenient, and yes, most of them can't do anything with it once they get it; but every once in a while you have to throw these guys a bone just to keep them involved and let them know they are part of the team.
And to make sure they protect the paint when someone drives down the lane.
When teams look out for their big men, their big men look out for them.
CREDIT DUE
I have to give credit here to someone I've been reading who has really helped me see the game better.
Jonathan Tjarks and his material have gone a long way in keeping me sharp and on top of things.
I may not agree with everything he writes, or even a majority of it; but it is interesting and often insightful.
Here is the breakdown of what I've been reading and thinking over:
(1.) Colin Cowherd was the first person I heard do this when he went over Kobe Bryant's career in between Shaquille O'Neal leaving and Pau Gasol arriving. It wasn't a pretty sight. So Tjarks' emphasis on outstanding big men and their importance to winning championships was more food for thought on the subject.
(2.) I always watch defense, but Tjarks using the phrase "defend his position" or "defend a position" made me look more closely at how someone specifically matches up at the position he plays and focus more on particular matchups.
(3.) While I don't agree with his overall argument about Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash and why their careers took off after they were separated, it does make me pay close attention when two or more poor defenders are on the floor at the same time and what impact it has on the game.
(4.) And his take on big men who can pass and little men who can rebound was something else to think about (see 4 and 5 in the five-tool player), just an interesting way to see things that I have never really thought about.
Note: I first discovered Tjarks on a link posted by Zach Lowe at SI.
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
Tweet
Saturday, February 26, 2011
PLAYOFF PUSH POWER POLL
And Trade Deadline Review
This will go down as the wildest week in NBA trade-deadline history.
It's hard to imagine more headline players changing teams in such a short period of time as there were this week in the association.
After Carmelo Anthony muscled his way to New York, teams started seeing things very clearly.
The lack of a signed contract extension, or an expected tough negotiation, was rightfully taken by teams as a sign that the player didn't want to be there; and teams started unloading them left and right.
Deron Williams and Jeff Green were promptly booted, and it seemed everybody else jumped into the fray just because they could.
When it was over, we had a deadline day that was so crazy news sites could hardly keep up with the fast-moving transactions.
Looking at where we stand heading into the home stretch, very little has changed at the top or bottom of the league standings.
San Antonio and Boston are still the top two teams, and all of the top 10 teams from the Mid-Season Power Poll are still the same, only in a different order.
Dallas made the most ground. They were number seven in the last power poll and are now three. And the Lakers fell from three to six, the biggest fall of any team in the top 10.
(1.) San Antonio (48-10)
(2.) Boston (41-15)
(3.) Miami (43-16)
(4.) Dallas (41-16)
(5.) Chicago (39-17)
(6.) Los Angeles (41-19)
(7.) Oklahoma City (36-21)
(8.) Orlando (37-22)
(9.) Atlanta (35-23)
(10.) New Orleans (35-25)
NBA DRAFT LOTTERY POLL
I agree with everyone else that this looks like an extremely weak draft class.
My research hasn't been much, but I haven't seen a NBA-ready player yet, someone who has all of the tools to be successful before he enters the draft.
But that doesn't mean the draft is worthless, and no one will develop into a star with some good coaching, a strong drive and some good, veteran leadership.
The following teams will be competing to take that chance and hope someone can grow into the face of their franchise for many years to come.
(1.) Cleveland (11-47)
(2.) Minnesota (13-46)
(3.) Sacramento (14-42)
(4.) Washington (15-42)
(5.) Toronto (16-43)
(6.) New Jersey (17-41)
(7.) Detroit (21-39)
(8.) Los Angeles (21-38)
(9.) Milwaukee (22-35)
(10.) Charlotte (26-32)
DEADLINE DEALS
The Carmelo Anthony trade was covered earlier in the week, so let's take a look at the rest of what went down as teams prepare for the final games of the season and the playoffs.
Jeff Green to Boston: Are you kidding me?
Los Angeles and Dallas can step aside because they now have some company at the top of the NBA. This move makes Boston as deep and as talented as anybody, the clear favorite in the East and possibly the favorite to win it all this year.
Not only that, it secures their future and gives them a possible franchise cornerstone to play with Rajon Rondo for many years to come.
Before this trade, Boston was looking at a closing window of opportunity as a serious title threat. Now they are as well positioned as anybody to compete for titles after the end of the 2011-12 season.
Jermaine O'Neal is better than Kendrick Perkins could ever dream of being, and it was reported during the game Thursday night that they expect O'Neal back one month before the playoffs.
So Boston has a potential franchise player coming off the bench now that they have traded Perkins for Green and someone better than Perkins coming back for a playoff run.
Green has been playing out of position as a power forward for a couple of years. Back at his natural position, he could end up being as good as any small forward in the NBA.
From the Oklahoma City side, this trade is so horrendous that it almost makes you question their sanity. Who in the world would trade a possible franchise player for a role player and a backup point guard?
Make no mistake, they will be better as a team because they are no longer starting a small forward at power forward but don't mistake that as getting anything close to equal value for Jeff Green.
Nate Robinson is the only thing which can prevent this trade from going down as one of the all-time worst in NBA history.
Because Russell Westbrook is big for a point guard, Oklahoma City can play Robinson at shooting guard, which may be best for him, and match him up against the other team's point guard on defense; and a lineup of Westbrook, Robinson, Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka would give them one of the most athletic of any in the NBA of guys who can actually play.
Let's see the Lakers keep up with that. But other than that, this trade is more than a head-scratcher.
A huge Celtics fan growing up, Thunder general manager Sam Presti is doing his best to pass Kevin McHale and become the man who traded his beloved Celtics the greatest number of assets at the cheapest possible price.
And with the Ray Allen trade and now this one, he may have topped him.
In a separate trade with Charlotte, Oklahoma City picked up Nazr Mohammed to boost their front court; and Boston got Nenad Krstic from Oklahoma City with Jeff Green.
Knicks to Denver: Everyone keeps saying that you have to have superstars to win, but few have ever really tested that theory. I have always believed that there is strength in numbers and that a team of eight to 10 really good players could be just as good as, if not better than, a team with a few superstars but other players not as good as that eight to 10.
Don't forget that George Karl is an outstanding coach.
I won't call him great because he hasn't won two championships, but you give a really good coach a bunch of good players, and there is no telling what can happen.
As for New York, they'll be fine as soon as Don Nelson Jr., I mean Mike D'Antoni, stops playing small ball.
Amar'e Stoudemire is not a center.
The sooner D'Antoni makes this adjustment, the better off New York will be.
Gerald Wallace to Portland: Gerald Wallace is a really good player. He has a lot of skills, will fit in nicely with what they are trying to do ('We'll use him ...') and is good insurance for Brandon Roy.
It will be very difficult to score on a front court featuring him, LaMarcus Aldridge and Marcus Camby, a definite step in the right direction for Portland.
Wallace puts them one step closer to contention.
Deron Williams to New Jersey: I'm not nearly as blown away by this move as others are. So New Jersey upgraded from a borderline-outstanding point guard to an outstanding one?
They still don't have any players and now, fewer draft picks. And I'm not even sure how much of an "upgrade" this really is.
Devin Harris can play.
Any boost they get from people wanting to come and play with Williams, assuming he is still there, could be offset by them not wanting to play for Avery Johnson, a coach who yells at his players like he's their daddy.
Mike Bibby for Kirk Hinrich: I've been down with the Jeff Teague Movement for a few weeks now.
Why these teams have talented players rotting on their benches will never be understood. Atlanta giving him more playing time was long overdue.
Hilton Armstrong is a nice prospect who should be better than any center on Atlanta's roster.
I'll believe Kirk Hinrich is an upgrade over Mike Bibby when I see it.
Baron Davis to Cleveland: This is the first mistake under Vinny Del Negro.
The Clippers should have traded for Jamario Moon and left Mo Williams in Cleveland. It's a bad sign because it is the first sign of the Clippers being the Clippers, meaning they were being cheap and made the move to save money and not win basketball games.
It does look like a weak draft, but in their position at this point in the season (no shot at the playoffs), you never opt out of the draft without seeing how the board lines up after the draft lottery.
And certainly not for Mo Williams, the guy who played about 12 good minutes in six games against Boston in the playoffs last year.
Marcus Thornton to Sacramento: This was a good move by Sacramento.
The last thing they need is a power forward with the front court that they have. They filled a position of need by trading a player who wasn't needed in Carl Landry.
I'm not sure what New Orleans was thinking here. Some games will have to be watched to find some answers.
Shane Battier to Memphis: Ishmael Smith, the throw in, may end up being the real key to this trade. He could fill Memphis' need at backup point guard.
What impact Battier will have on this team is unclear, but a talent upgrade always helps.
In Houston, this frees up playing time for Terrence Williams, Courtney Lee and Chase Budinger. I would have traded Kevin Martin too, but that's just me.
Hasheem Thabeet is a project, one most would say should be scrapped; but Houston has nothing to lose in seeing what he's got and trying to develop him.
Aaron Brooks to Phoenix: The impact of this trade can't be measured either.
Houston got Goran Dragic in return, one backup point guard for another. I need to see some games to come to any conclusion.
Finally, Chicago absolutely should have made a move for a shooting guard.
You don't go into the playoffs with just enough to try to win it all; you go in with more than enough, then you try to get some more after that.
Their margin of error is too close for comfort.
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
Tweet
This will go down as the wildest week in NBA trade-deadline history.
It's hard to imagine more headline players changing teams in such a short period of time as there were this week in the association.
After Carmelo Anthony muscled his way to New York, teams started seeing things very clearly.
The lack of a signed contract extension, or an expected tough negotiation, was rightfully taken by teams as a sign that the player didn't want to be there; and teams started unloading them left and right.
Deron Williams and Jeff Green were promptly booted, and it seemed everybody else jumped into the fray just because they could.
When it was over, we had a deadline day that was so crazy news sites could hardly keep up with the fast-moving transactions.
Looking at where we stand heading into the home stretch, very little has changed at the top or bottom of the league standings.
San Antonio and Boston are still the top two teams, and all of the top 10 teams from the Mid-Season Power Poll are still the same, only in a different order.
Dallas made the most ground. They were number seven in the last power poll and are now three. And the Lakers fell from three to six, the biggest fall of any team in the top 10.
(1.) San Antonio (48-10)
(2.) Boston (41-15)
(3.) Miami (43-16)
(4.) Dallas (41-16)
(5.) Chicago (39-17)
(6.) Los Angeles (41-19)
(7.) Oklahoma City (36-21)
(8.) Orlando (37-22)
(9.) Atlanta (35-23)
(10.) New Orleans (35-25)
NBA DRAFT LOTTERY POLL
I agree with everyone else that this looks like an extremely weak draft class.
My research hasn't been much, but I haven't seen a NBA-ready player yet, someone who has all of the tools to be successful before he enters the draft.
But that doesn't mean the draft is worthless, and no one will develop into a star with some good coaching, a strong drive and some good, veteran leadership.
The following teams will be competing to take that chance and hope someone can grow into the face of their franchise for many years to come.
(1.) Cleveland (11-47)
(2.) Minnesota (13-46)
(3.) Sacramento (14-42)
(4.) Washington (15-42)
(5.) Toronto (16-43)
(6.) New Jersey (17-41)
(7.) Detroit (21-39)
(8.) Los Angeles (21-38)
(9.) Milwaukee (22-35)
(10.) Charlotte (26-32)
DEADLINE DEALS
The Carmelo Anthony trade was covered earlier in the week, so let's take a look at the rest of what went down as teams prepare for the final games of the season and the playoffs.
Jeff Green to Boston: Are you kidding me?
Los Angeles and Dallas can step aside because they now have some company at the top of the NBA. This move makes Boston as deep and as talented as anybody, the clear favorite in the East and possibly the favorite to win it all this year.
Not only that, it secures their future and gives them a possible franchise cornerstone to play with Rajon Rondo for many years to come.
Before this trade, Boston was looking at a closing window of opportunity as a serious title threat. Now they are as well positioned as anybody to compete for titles after the end of the 2011-12 season.
Jermaine O'Neal is better than Kendrick Perkins could ever dream of being, and it was reported during the game Thursday night that they expect O'Neal back one month before the playoffs.
So Boston has a potential franchise player coming off the bench now that they have traded Perkins for Green and someone better than Perkins coming back for a playoff run.
Green has been playing out of position as a power forward for a couple of years. Back at his natural position, he could end up being as good as any small forward in the NBA.
From the Oklahoma City side, this trade is so horrendous that it almost makes you question their sanity. Who in the world would trade a possible franchise player for a role player and a backup point guard?
Make no mistake, they will be better as a team because they are no longer starting a small forward at power forward but don't mistake that as getting anything close to equal value for Jeff Green.
Nate Robinson is the only thing which can prevent this trade from going down as one of the all-time worst in NBA history.
Because Russell Westbrook is big for a point guard, Oklahoma City can play Robinson at shooting guard, which may be best for him, and match him up against the other team's point guard on defense; and a lineup of Westbrook, Robinson, Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka would give them one of the most athletic of any in the NBA of guys who can actually play.
Let's see the Lakers keep up with that. But other than that, this trade is more than a head-scratcher.
A huge Celtics fan growing up, Thunder general manager Sam Presti is doing his best to pass Kevin McHale and become the man who traded his beloved Celtics the greatest number of assets at the cheapest possible price.
And with the Ray Allen trade and now this one, he may have topped him.
In a separate trade with Charlotte, Oklahoma City picked up Nazr Mohammed to boost their front court; and Boston got Nenad Krstic from Oklahoma City with Jeff Green.
Knicks to Denver: Everyone keeps saying that you have to have superstars to win, but few have ever really tested that theory. I have always believed that there is strength in numbers and that a team of eight to 10 really good players could be just as good as, if not better than, a team with a few superstars but other players not as good as that eight to 10.
Don't forget that George Karl is an outstanding coach.
I won't call him great because he hasn't won two championships, but you give a really good coach a bunch of good players, and there is no telling what can happen.
As for New York, they'll be fine as soon as Don Nelson Jr., I mean Mike D'Antoni, stops playing small ball.
Amar'e Stoudemire is not a center.
The sooner D'Antoni makes this adjustment, the better off New York will be.
Gerald Wallace to Portland: Gerald Wallace is a really good player. He has a lot of skills, will fit in nicely with what they are trying to do ('We'll use him ...') and is good insurance for Brandon Roy.
It will be very difficult to score on a front court featuring him, LaMarcus Aldridge and Marcus Camby, a definite step in the right direction for Portland.
Wallace puts them one step closer to contention.
Deron Williams to New Jersey: I'm not nearly as blown away by this move as others are. So New Jersey upgraded from a borderline-outstanding point guard to an outstanding one?
They still don't have any players and now, fewer draft picks. And I'm not even sure how much of an "upgrade" this really is.
Devin Harris can play.
Any boost they get from people wanting to come and play with Williams, assuming he is still there, could be offset by them not wanting to play for Avery Johnson, a coach who yells at his players like he's their daddy.
Mike Bibby for Kirk Hinrich: I've been down with the Jeff Teague Movement for a few weeks now.
Why these teams have talented players rotting on their benches will never be understood. Atlanta giving him more playing time was long overdue.
Hilton Armstrong is a nice prospect who should be better than any center on Atlanta's roster.
I'll believe Kirk Hinrich is an upgrade over Mike Bibby when I see it.
Baron Davis to Cleveland: This is the first mistake under Vinny Del Negro.
The Clippers should have traded for Jamario Moon and left Mo Williams in Cleveland. It's a bad sign because it is the first sign of the Clippers being the Clippers, meaning they were being cheap and made the move to save money and not win basketball games.
It does look like a weak draft, but in their position at this point in the season (no shot at the playoffs), you never opt out of the draft without seeing how the board lines up after the draft lottery.
And certainly not for Mo Williams, the guy who played about 12 good minutes in six games against Boston in the playoffs last year.
Marcus Thornton to Sacramento: This was a good move by Sacramento.
The last thing they need is a power forward with the front court that they have. They filled a position of need by trading a player who wasn't needed in Carl Landry.
I'm not sure what New Orleans was thinking here. Some games will have to be watched to find some answers.
Shane Battier to Memphis: Ishmael Smith, the throw in, may end up being the real key to this trade. He could fill Memphis' need at backup point guard.
What impact Battier will have on this team is unclear, but a talent upgrade always helps.
In Houston, this frees up playing time for Terrence Williams, Courtney Lee and Chase Budinger. I would have traded Kevin Martin too, but that's just me.
Hasheem Thabeet is a project, one most would say should be scrapped; but Houston has nothing to lose in seeing what he's got and trying to develop him.
Aaron Brooks to Phoenix: The impact of this trade can't be measured either.
Houston got Goran Dragic in return, one backup point guard for another. I need to see some games to come to any conclusion.
Finally, Chicago absolutely should have made a move for a shooting guard.
You don't go into the playoffs with just enough to try to win it all; you go in with more than enough, then you try to get some more after that.
Their margin of error is too close for comfort.
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
Tweet
Saturday, November 20, 2010
As The Basketball World Turns
Stories for the NBA season are now starting to take shape.
Teams have had a good number of games to play together and get used to each other, and you can already see separation taking place between the best teams and the worst teams.
You can also see predictions starting to go up in smoke!
So much for those Clipper predictions. People are jumping off of that bandwagon faster than two Baron Davis three-point attempts.
And that's fast!
The most surprising story to me has been Miami. Who would have ever thought that a team with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on it would not only struggle to win games but also be hard to watch?
It just goes to show you.
STAN FLUNKS PSYCHOLOGY
After Miami pulverized Orlando a few weeks ago, Stan Van Gundy had some interesting things to say about his team, "We don't have -- and this isn't to put down anybody in our locker room -- but we don't have the great one-on-one players.
"I mean, we don't have [Dwyane] Wade and [LeBron] James and Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant.
"And so for us to play well offensively, we have to get great ball movement. We really have to execute and move the ball.
"And yeah, we struggled to do that against a very good team in Boston and we struggled to do that again tonight."
Great motivator, that Stan Van Gundy.
How would he like it if one of his players said ...
Not to put down anybody in our locker room, but we don't have a great offensive coach like Phil Jackson or Doc Rivers or Nate McMillan.
So in order to play well offensively we have to use our skills and athleticism to make up for the poor play-calling and unimaginative sets. And we didn't do that again tonight ... ?
And how is this going over with Otis Smith, the general manager who gave Van Gundy this team supposedly without any great one-on-one players?
It would work much better for Van Gundy to say that they have very good one-on-one players, but it makes the game much easier and the team better and more efficient when they pass the basketball.
WILL "THE CHILL"
This was touched on in my "Eastern Conference Preview," but that was before any games were played, and I didn't express myself clearly.
Detroit really needs a pass-first point guard to back up Rodney Stuckey.
In his first six games of the season, backup point guard Will Bynum shot the ball 39 times compared to only 12 assists, a 3.25:1 ratio.
The box score against the Clippers is a perfect example of the problem, even though Detroit was able to win the game because they were playing the undermanned Clippers.
The players coming off the pine with Bynum shot .654, compared to his .250; yet he still shot the ball four times for every assist he made.
With the explosive arsenal Detroit has coming off the bench, there is no way Will Bynum should be shooting the ball that much.
Detroit could average 110 points per game with a pass-first point guard who knows how to play the game in his spot.
The No. 4 spot in the East is up for grabs, and Detroit could easily snatch it by upgrading the backup point guard position on their roster.
It is true that Joe Dumars loves Will Bynum (:46), but Bynum's excessive shooting is creating a "chilling effect" on Detroit's offense.
Dumars has to do what is best for the team and make a move here.
Greg Monroe must also get more playing time.
On a team where 36-year-old Ben Wallace is the only semblance of a big man other than Monroe, Monroe should be playing 30+ minutes every night.
Monroe's lack of playing time is an embarrassingly poor coaching decision by John Kuester.
Note: Will Bynum did have his distribution game going in the second half of a blowout loss to the Lakers. And against Golden State he shot only three times with two assists. He deserves credit for sharing the basketball and being very unselfish during that time.
THE INFIRMARY
I saw Oklahoma City play San Antonio in the return of Nick Collison and Jeff Green. Even though they lost, it was the first game I saw this season where they looked like the team from last year.
Watching the game, you could see how the team played with more energy because it had more fresh bodies available.
It showed that missing even a seemingly minor rotation player can disrupt a team and throw everything off.
And missing two players can be a disaster.
CBS Sports does the best job of tracking and updating these injuries.
These are the teams who have been most devastated by critical injuries to key rotation players with the number of games each player has missed in parentheses.
Teams have played about 12 games so far this season.
Denver -- Chris Andersen (all); Kenyon Martin (all); Nene (3).
Houston -- Aaron Brooks (7); Kyle Lowry (4); Yao Ming (7).
Los Angeles -- Baron Davis (9); Randy Foye (10); Chris Kaman (5).
Miami -- Mario Chalmers (4), limited in others; Mike Miller (all).
Milwaukee -- Carlos Delfino (5); Chris Douglas-Roberts (all); Michael Redd (all).
Minnesota -- Wayne Ellington (5); Jonny Flynn (all); Nikola Pekovic (4); Luke Ridnour (5); Martell Webster (all).
Oklahoma City -- Nick Collison (8); Jeff Green (6).
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
Tweet
Teams have had a good number of games to play together and get used to each other, and you can already see separation taking place between the best teams and the worst teams.
You can also see predictions starting to go up in smoke!
So much for those Clipper predictions. People are jumping off of that bandwagon faster than two Baron Davis three-point attempts.
And that's fast!
The most surprising story to me has been Miami. Who would have ever thought that a team with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on it would not only struggle to win games but also be hard to watch?
It just goes to show you.
STAN FLUNKS PSYCHOLOGY
After Miami pulverized Orlando a few weeks ago, Stan Van Gundy had some interesting things to say about his team, "We don't have -- and this isn't to put down anybody in our locker room -- but we don't have the great one-on-one players.
"I mean, we don't have [Dwyane] Wade and [LeBron] James and Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant.
"And so for us to play well offensively, we have to get great ball movement. We really have to execute and move the ball.
"And yeah, we struggled to do that against a very good team in Boston and we struggled to do that again tonight."
Great motivator, that Stan Van Gundy.
How would he like it if one of his players said ...
Not to put down anybody in our locker room, but we don't have a great offensive coach like Phil Jackson or Doc Rivers or Nate McMillan.
So in order to play well offensively we have to use our skills and athleticism to make up for the poor play-calling and unimaginative sets. And we didn't do that again tonight ... ?
And how is this going over with Otis Smith, the general manager who gave Van Gundy this team supposedly without any great one-on-one players?
It would work much better for Van Gundy to say that they have very good one-on-one players, but it makes the game much easier and the team better and more efficient when they pass the basketball.
WILL "THE CHILL"
This was touched on in my "Eastern Conference Preview," but that was before any games were played, and I didn't express myself clearly.
Detroit really needs a pass-first point guard to back up Rodney Stuckey.
In his first six games of the season, backup point guard Will Bynum shot the ball 39 times compared to only 12 assists, a 3.25:1 ratio.
The box score against the Clippers is a perfect example of the problem, even though Detroit was able to win the game because they were playing the undermanned Clippers.
The players coming off the pine with Bynum shot .654, compared to his .250; yet he still shot the ball four times for every assist he made.
With the explosive arsenal Detroit has coming off the bench, there is no way Will Bynum should be shooting the ball that much.
Detroit could average 110 points per game with a pass-first point guard who knows how to play the game in his spot.
The No. 4 spot in the East is up for grabs, and Detroit could easily snatch it by upgrading the backup point guard position on their roster.
It is true that Joe Dumars loves Will Bynum (:46), but Bynum's excessive shooting is creating a "chilling effect" on Detroit's offense.
Dumars has to do what is best for the team and make a move here.
Greg Monroe must also get more playing time.
On a team where 36-year-old Ben Wallace is the only semblance of a big man other than Monroe, Monroe should be playing 30+ minutes every night.
Monroe's lack of playing time is an embarrassingly poor coaching decision by John Kuester.
Note: Will Bynum did have his distribution game going in the second half of a blowout loss to the Lakers. And against Golden State he shot only three times with two assists. He deserves credit for sharing the basketball and being very unselfish during that time.
THE INFIRMARY
I saw Oklahoma City play San Antonio in the return of Nick Collison and Jeff Green. Even though they lost, it was the first game I saw this season where they looked like the team from last year.
Watching the game, you could see how the team played with more energy because it had more fresh bodies available.
It showed that missing even a seemingly minor rotation player can disrupt a team and throw everything off.
And missing two players can be a disaster.
CBS Sports does the best job of tracking and updating these injuries.
These are the teams who have been most devastated by critical injuries to key rotation players with the number of games each player has missed in parentheses.
Teams have played about 12 games so far this season.
Denver -- Chris Andersen (all); Kenyon Martin (all); Nene (3).
Houston -- Aaron Brooks (7); Kyle Lowry (4); Yao Ming (7).
Los Angeles -- Baron Davis (9); Randy Foye (10); Chris Kaman (5).
Miami -- Mario Chalmers (4), limited in others; Mike Miller (all).
Milwaukee -- Carlos Delfino (5); Chris Douglas-Roberts (all); Michael Redd (all).
Minnesota -- Wayne Ellington (5); Jonny Flynn (all); Nikola Pekovic (4); Luke Ridnour (5); Martell Webster (all).
Oklahoma City -- Nick Collison (8); Jeff Green (6).
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
Tweet
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Early Impressions
The 2010-11 NBA season is four days old. These are some of my early impressions from the young season.
LUIS SCOLA
Luis Scola is far more productive than I thought he would be. Charley Rosen picked Houston to possibly unseat Los Angeles in the West. I wouldn't go that far, but Scola's early production has raised my eyebrow.
BIG AL'S OLD TRICKS
Al Jefferson is up to his old tricks again. The optimism of his preseason FGA:A ratio has withered away into ice-cold reality.
Through two games, Jefferson has played 68 minutes and has 24 field goal attempts and zero assists. In Utah's home opener against Phoenix he took 18 shots and didn't muster a single assist.
Among the many reasons for Utah's 0-2 start, Al Jefferson's passing inefficiency has to be one of them.
WHERE'S GREG?
No. 7 pick Greg Monroe has yet to see the court for the Detroit Pistons. I understand that he is a rookie and all, but not one stinking minute?
It's preposterous! A good coach should be able to get a talented rookie a few early minutes without it hurting the team.
The same thing goes for Vinny Del Negro and Al-Farouq Aminu. Aminu can't be any worse than the other players who played small forward for the Clippers last night.
MOST IMPRESSIVE WINS
Cleveland over Boston -- Cleveland wasn't supposed to be able to win a game against a team this good without the "Chosen One."
Memphis over Dallas -- Dallas was the No. 2 seed in the West last year. Memphis missed the playoffs. This is a huge road win.
Indiana over Charlotte -- Another win by a non-playoff team against a playoff team on the road. A come-from-behind victory on the road against a tough Charlotte team showed a lot of character.
Los Angeles over Houston -- Los Angeles was expected to win the game, but it is how they won. It is impressive when your big off-season acquisition (Steve Blake) hits a game-winning three-pointer in his first game.
WHY I LOVE NBA LEAGUE PASS
While everyone without LP had to watch the Lakers and Suns, I got to watch the Clippers and Warriors.
Golden State's new arena floor and uniforms look beautiful on television, and the blue shoes worn by Dorell Wright and Monta Ellis only added to the visual appeal of the game.
Then the Warriors came out and kicked butt. They pass the ball like Sacramento of the early 2000s and play pretty good defense too.
They were more entertaining than Run TMC until Stephen Curry re-aggravated his ankle injury and had to leave the game in the third quarter.
Golden State went on to win and go to 2-0 for the first time since 1994-95.*
*NBA GameTime
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
Tweet
LUIS SCOLA
Luis Scola is far more productive than I thought he would be. Charley Rosen picked Houston to possibly unseat Los Angeles in the West. I wouldn't go that far, but Scola's early production has raised my eyebrow.
BIG AL'S OLD TRICKS
Al Jefferson is up to his old tricks again. The optimism of his preseason FGA:A ratio has withered away into ice-cold reality.
Through two games, Jefferson has played 68 minutes and has 24 field goal attempts and zero assists. In Utah's home opener against Phoenix he took 18 shots and didn't muster a single assist.
Among the many reasons for Utah's 0-2 start, Al Jefferson's passing inefficiency has to be one of them.
WHERE'S GREG?
No. 7 pick Greg Monroe has yet to see the court for the Detroit Pistons. I understand that he is a rookie and all, but not one stinking minute?
It's preposterous! A good coach should be able to get a talented rookie a few early minutes without it hurting the team.
The same thing goes for Vinny Del Negro and Al-Farouq Aminu. Aminu can't be any worse than the other players who played small forward for the Clippers last night.
MOST IMPRESSIVE WINS
Cleveland over Boston -- Cleveland wasn't supposed to be able to win a game against a team this good without the "Chosen One."
Memphis over Dallas -- Dallas was the No. 2 seed in the West last year. Memphis missed the playoffs. This is a huge road win.
Indiana over Charlotte -- Another win by a non-playoff team against a playoff team on the road. A come-from-behind victory on the road against a tough Charlotte team showed a lot of character.
Los Angeles over Houston -- Los Angeles was expected to win the game, but it is how they won. It is impressive when your big off-season acquisition (Steve Blake) hits a game-winning three-pointer in his first game.
WHY I LOVE NBA LEAGUE PASS
While everyone without LP had to watch the Lakers and Suns, I got to watch the Clippers and Warriors.
Golden State's new arena floor and uniforms look beautiful on television, and the blue shoes worn by Dorell Wright and Monta Ellis only added to the visual appeal of the game.
Then the Warriors came out and kicked butt. They pass the ball like Sacramento of the early 2000s and play pretty good defense too.
They were more entertaining than Run TMC until Stephen Curry re-aggravated his ankle injury and had to leave the game in the third quarter.
Golden State went on to win and go to 2-0 for the first time since 1994-95.*
*NBA GameTime
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
Tweet
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)