--Cleveland against Charlotte
Cleveland has Mo Williams, Matthew Dellavedova, Richard
Jefferson and James Jones on the court at the same time. I know Cleveland has a lot of injuries but
that’s a problem. Lebron can be slow to set up the offense at times. He gets a little enamored with pounding the
rock. In one sequence he runs pick and
roll with Tristan Thompson and there’s nothing there. J.R. Smith gets the ball
with 5 seconds left on the shot clock.
That’s just terrible offense unless your goal is to have Smith chuck up
something ugly. Also, in crunch time of
this game Jefferson is playing over love.
That doesn’t make much sense unless Love is injured (he wasn’t). Cleveland seems like they’re squeaking by but
their point differential is 3rd in the league at 7 and they’ve
already dealt with tons of injuries. If
they can ever get healthy they’ll cruise easily through the east. It’s ugly Lebron dominant basketball but it’s
effective. Especially given the weakness
of the east.
--What’s up with certain teams just getting blown out when
they lose. Milwaukee, Houston, and Washington
are the biggest culprits. These three
teams can look good but then they just get crushed on some nights. Can we at least lose by under ten points
people. The following was as of Friday
night…
Milwaukee: Of 9 losses, 7 are by more than 10 points and
4 by more than 19 and 3 by more than 25 (of those last 3 -- one by 25, another
by 29 and another by 37. Average margin of loss = just under 18 points
Washington: average
loss = just under 14. At what point do they consider moving on from Randy Wittman?
Houston: First of all, they’re just 5 and 10 which is
totally absurd. Their average margin of
loss just under 18 which is also absurd…
I can’t comprehend
how these 3 teams can lose games like this.
They’ve all got too much talent to be this bad on any given night. Their average margin of loss leads me to
believe that at least some of their problems are mental. When things don’t go well they just cave.
--San Antonio does not look nearly as dominant as Golden State
but I like how they’re developing.
They’re leading the league in opponents points per game at 90.5 over two
points better than second place Miami.
Classic spurs that at 13 and 3 they’ve got the second best record in the
NBA and no one cares. They’re second in
point differential to Golden state at 8.9 (Golden State = 15.6). Their pace is much slower than Golden State’s
so it may not be as great a statistical gap between the two as it seems. The positives are that Aldridge has not come
even close to playing as well as he can.
He’s still figuring out where his shots are going to come from. He also doesn’t seem in the least bothered by
a lower scoring average which makes him very Spurs-ian. Kawhi looks great. He’s really turning into a star on offense as
well as defense. The only negative is
that the old core has definitely aged. Parker
has looked a step slower, but he’s gradually getting in better shape. Duncan has stepped back but he also looks
like he’s coasting through this part of the season. He still seems ageless at certain points. I still think he has some big time basketball
left in his system. I think there’s more
depth on the team than people think.
Jonathon Simmons has the potential to be the next big Spurs reclamation
project. He’s got size and is very
athletic and plays with a great motor.
Once the Spurs coaching staff puts the Kawhi treatment on him I wouldn’t
be surprised if he turns into another steal.
The Spurs are clearly looking long term with this season, yet they’re
still winning which bodes very well for them and poorly for the rest of the
league.
Last season San
Antonio scored 103.2 ppg and gave up 97 ppg.
This season they’re scoring 99.4ppg and giving up 89.7ppg. In their championship season they scored
105.4ppg and gave up 97.6ppg. That
season the Spurs basically laid the ground work for what Golden State is doing
today. Pop is doing the smart
thing. GS is unique and you’re not going
to beat them doing what they do. The
hope is to buck the trend and go big and play great defense and slow the pace
down. Everyone else in the league is
trying to copy Golden State but they are just not taking into account that the
Warriors have historically unique personnel.
I just don’t see anyone beating the Warriors at their game. Not that The Spurs would gear everything
towards GS but they’re desperate to win one more for Duncan without giving up
their future and they’re in a unique position to achieve both goals at the same
time. Their only chance of winning
against Golden state is to pound them inside and make them work on offense. Right now they’re the only threat out there
to Golden State down the line excepting perhaps whatever the Cavs become when
or if they’re healthy.
--Isn’t Jahlil Okafor 19 years old? How exactly was he in that nightclub in
Boston the other night? He’s clearly
intoxicated in the video of the fight he got in (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAmCcvHHY8M). I don’t think the police should necessarily
crack down on him for this altercation (he probably should have been arrested
that night) but they might wanna consider raiding that nightclub…
--The Rockets are so terrible that they gave up 114 points to
Philadelphia and needed 50 from James Harden in order to squeak out a 2 point
win on their home court. That’s a season
high in points for Philadelphia beating their previous mark by 11. The 76ers are last in the league at 89.8
points per game. That is not good. On the plus side Houston seems to be playing
Ty Lawson less. He only played 16
minutes to Patrick Beverley’s 32 minutes.
This quote says it all for me from J.B. Bickerstaff:
"In
past situations this year, we didn't handle those situations well,"
Rockets coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "There's a growing belief in that
locker room that they can do the things needed to win."
Ummm… Philadelphia was 0 and 16 before this game. Anything less than a blowout does not
constitute a growing belief that you’re doing the things needed to win. On Sunday the Rockets squeaked past the
Knicks who somehow scored 111 points without Carmelo Anthony. That’s the team 28
th in the league
for points per game scoring 15 points above their average minus by far their
best offensive player. Bickerstaff had another stupid sounding quote afterwards:
"It was a lesson in perseverance," said interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff. "We got down, but we didn't give in. It is a credit to our guys' mental toughness and fortitude."
Bickerstaff should have been ripping into his team for some horrible efforts against sub par opponents. The following clip demonstrates some of the crappiest defense I've ever seen. James Harden makes absolutely no effort whatsoever to play any defense. He does take time to yell at a teammate though:
There are bad
wins and good losses and for the Rockets that’s definitely two bad wins in one
weekend. As far as the Knicks go,
Porzingis went for 20 and 10 with 8 for 13 shooting…
--Indiana knocked off Chicago and looked like the better team
doing it and Paul George got the best of Jimmy Butler. I’ve previously written all about this but
I’m really impressed by Indiana and I can’t believe I’m saying this but right
now they’re legitimately top 5 in the East…
--It honestly perplexes me that Mark Gasol cannot average 20
points a game. I’m sorry but 15.2 points
and 6.9 rebounds per game is just not going to cut it. He is way too talented. He’s big and moves well and has a nice touch
and has good post moves. What am I
missing? He should be dominating. If I were his coach I’d be screaming at him
constantly to take more shots. He gets
off just under 12 attempts a game.
Aggression is a talent and perhaps he just doesn’t have it. If I were his coach there would be a rule
that he does not get on the team bus unless he gets 20 shots up in the
game. On Sunday he once again only got
up 8 shots making 4. At least he grabbed
12 rebounds in his 39 minutes. I don’t
know if this is in his head or whether it falls on the coaching but it seems a
criminal waste of talent…
--Stephen Curry against Phoenix: 30 minutes and 39 seconds. 11 for 20 from the floor. 10 for 11 from the line. 9 for 16 from 3. 6 rebounds and 8 assists. Totally insane. He had 6 turnovers so at least he’s vaguely
human….
--Anthony Davis went down from injury yet again. How bad was the Jrue Holiday deal for
them. I just don’t see this team ever
getting good. What a waste…
--Boston vs. Orlando:
Evan Fournier has
outplayed Victor Oladipo this year and gotten himself into the starting
lineup. That’s gotta be killing
Oladipo. Can you believe that Evan
Fournier is averaging 17.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game this
season? I can’t. He’s shooting 44.6% FG and 40.2% from 3. The former is not bad for a shooting guard
and the latter is very impressive. He
definitely worked on his game over the summer because I would have written
those numbers off as impossible last year (“not gonna happen,” as Jalen Rose
would say). He’s not very fast but he
makes up for it by having good size and strength for a 2 guard.
I had a minor
Thanksgiving disagreement with my brother over Orlando. He thinks they’re uninteresting and that they
do not have much talent on their team. I
disagreed. Elfrid Payton is intriguing. He
definitely has the point guard gene (he feels comfortable running a team and
looking to get other players involved) and he’s got good size and can play
defense. He’s effective even though he
is completely lacking a serviceable jump shot.
If he ever gets that he could be very good. Vucevic is very good offensively. He can shoot and has good post moves and he
can rebound well. He doesn’t have a
whole lot else at this point but he could learn to play D and to pass
serviceably. Tobias Harris has potential
as an all around type scorer with the size and strength to play bigger in a
small ball line up. Channing Frye was
really good just a few years ago.
Oladipo plays hard and has loads of talent even if he’s erratic at
times. Coming off the bench gives him a
chance to go full on offensive when he’s out there. I’m not sure that’s a great thing. He has a tendency to chuck a bit and what’s
holding him back is knowing when to go for it and when to chill. Somewhere in there though is a very good two
way NBA player. One very big positive
for having Oladipo coming off the bench is that he keeps Napier from being on
the court. That’s a good thing. Oladipo managed to rack up 19 points, 8
rebounds and 6 assists in his 30 minutes against Boston on Sunday. It’s the latter that impresses me in this
role. Scott Skiles will make some sort
of a team out of these disparate elements.
Then he’ll yell at them too much and everyone will quickly become tired
of him and another coach will take over.
Somewhere before, during, or after this process they’ll become a solid
.500 team (I think they’re already there).
Oh and by the way, to my brother who scoffed at the idea that Aaron
Gordon was an intriguing play I submit this:
And This:
Gordon is tall and fast and has a bounce to his step. The offensive skills are clearly in there
somewhere. At some point his brain will
catch up to his body and he’s going to be a good player that can easily play
the small ball towards which the league is heading. He’s got the length to bother bigger players
and the quickness to keep up with guards.
As a team Orlando is just above .500 and has a slightly positive
point differential at +.8. That’s not
bad considering where they’ve been the last few years…
I can’t figure out
what to think of Boston. Stevens is a
nice coach and he has them playing a fun style with a sense of over all purpose,
but they are a team full of nice role players.
I don’t see any room for individual players to progress much beyond
where they are (possibly excepting Marcus Smart). They’ve got a ton of draft picks coming up
thanks to the woeful nets so perhaps they’re actually positioned quite well for
the future. In 2016 alone they’ve got 4
first round picks potentially. The Nets
pick will obviously be good as they’re probably the 2nd worse team
in the league. They’ve got their own
pick and a top 7 protected pick from Dallas which surprisingly they’ll most
likely be getting as Dallas is much better than expected. Lastly, they’ve got a pick from Minnesota
that is top 12 protected. Most likely
they won’t get that, but Minnesota does seem determined to win as much as
possible and they’re reasonably talented so you never know. In 2017 Boston can swap picks with the
nets. The Nets are going to be very bad
once again so that could be another lottery pick. They also get a top 11 protected pick from
Memphis. In 2018 they have their own
pick and Brooklyn’s pick unprotected.
That’s crazy. All they need to do
is hit on a few of these picks and place a couple of top talent kids onto this
team and they’ve got something. There
are also plenty of assets on the team now to make trades but not really the
kinds of assets that get you anything much in particular unless you start
throwing in some of these picks. All in
all, that’s pretty crazy, but it makes me interested in Boston this year only in
so far as which players on their roster are worth keeping around. All those draft picks will take up a
significant number of the present roster spots unless Ainge can pull the
trigger on a big trade.
--Knicks vs. Rockets
Unfortunately, due
to illness, Carmelo Anthony was unable to audition for one of the few teams in
the league with the potential desire to trade for him and which also has the
assets to get it done. Houston is
closing in on desperate and they have players that Phil Jackson could
consider. They don’t have a draft pick
next year, but a bunch of players plus their 2017 draft pick might be
intriguing to Phil Jackson. Personally
I’d be vaguely interested in Clint Capela and I really like Donatas Montiejunas
and Terrence Jones is ok. Everything
else doesn’t really interest me so perhaps it would take 2 future first round
picks. Other than Houston there’s not a
large market out there for Carmelo among teams that have the players and cap
space and picks to get the job done. If
I had to guess I’d guess that the Knicks keep Carmelo, but I’d feel much better
with that prediction if they still had their draft pick for next year. As it stands keeping Carmelo makes sense if
you’re thinking championship and I don’t quite see how that happens without
another good draft pick next year. I
like Porzingis but he’s not going to be enough and I don’t think there’s a
realistic free agent out there that is going to make this team championship
ready in the next couple years. I could
be wrong but it’s got to be tempting to get what you can for Carmelo now while
he’s still worth something. I like his
game and I think he can be among your top two guys on a championship team but I
can’t see how the Knicks get there in the next couple years before he starts to
decline. He can shoot so his game might
age well but he is also kind of in between a small forward and a power forward
and that disparity is trouble as you get older, weaker, and slower. He’s already not a good defender as he used
to be and in a few years he’s going to boarder on bad.
--Somehow the more competitive Philly’s games get the more
depressing it is that they’re just not good enough to win. Eventually they’ll pull it off but if I were
a fan I’d be pissed. I know they want to
have the worst record but they could still achieve that and be slightly more
watchable. Which is going to happen
first: will Philadelphia win a game or will Golden State lose a game? Philly has a few vaguely winnable games
coming up: Dec 1 against the Lakers and Dec 2nd against the Knicks
and Dec 5th against Denver and Dec 10th against
Brooklyn. Golden State has a tough one
against Utah next but beyond that they might make it to Christmas against
Cleveland. The real answer is who
fucking cares whether Philadelphia wins a game.
We should be watching every Golden State game and completely ignoring
anything that Philadelphia does until they decide to join the NBA again and
henceforth I will do just that…
--Raptors vs. Suns
The Raptors lost a
close one but they’d won 4 in a row before that and the Suns are 6 and 0
against teams when they’ve played the night before and it took 6 for 7 from 3
for Teletovic to get it done. There are
good losses and bad losses and that’s definitely not a bad loss Toronto…
--Lastly, can anyone explain to me the point of The Lakers playing World Peace for 27 minutes in a game? Surely you can find some minutes for someone young. It's not like they're actually expecting to win games at this point and even if they were World Peace would not be the answer. Byron Scott is a confusing man. Just throw in the towel and play anyone below the age of 30 please. Not that it really matters. The only relevance of The Lakers at this point is if you're nostalgic for Kobe's last hurrah. I'm not particularly so like with the 76ers this may be the last time I mention this team this year...
