around the nba part 5

[Knicks_Fan2]

John wall is playing ridiculously well

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

[GettinitDone]

^Contract year

[Tron Carter]

^Contract year

that would be next year...

[GettinitDone]

I actually think the transition for Jeremy is smoother with Harden rather than Melo. If you actually watch the Rockets play, you would know Harden is def a top 5 player in the league, and imo better than Melo already. He's such as skillful driver, and if it's not there, he's a heck of a pick and roll passer. He was able to bring OKC together playing with 2 ball dominant players, something Melo couldn't do in a million years. J Lin has definitely benefited playing with Harden and I don't think his game would have developed as quickly if he played in NY.

Harden is better now simply because he's the more efficient iso-player and also he's a much more willing passer/ ball mover.

Last season, Melo started by chucking a lot of shots, and the Garden chanted "pass the ball" and I think he was pressured a bit and started moving the ball. But when MDA resigned and Woody took over, Melo came back and he moved the ball too. He let Lin handle the ball, be the PG, and Melo settled into the catch-and-score player. At home we were demolishing competition, on the road we set our own pace and played well.

The momentum of ball movement from last season I believe trickled over to the this season when we played well in November. But when the source of ball movement (Lin) was no longer existent and combination of lack of genuinely willing passers and lack of finishers/ scorers started to appear, they were not addressed immediately and the players and the coach kept playing believing "their shooting would eventually come back"... but the problem, instead of disappeared, just snowballed into bigger problem. The lack of ball movement hurt the rhythm for shooters like Kidd, JR, Felton, Novak, and their shot-bricking in turn discouraged ball movement within the team. They feed off each other, and the problems (lack of ball movement and scoring) combined became 1 big problem that is still getting bigger.

Going to discuss the Knicks now, I believe the solution is for Woody as the coach to "keep it simple", which is a very effective method when a situation is getting too complicated. Go to each player's strength(s) instead of going away from them:
- Novak is still a great shooter, he's a catch and shoot player, don't turn him into something he's not like have him penetrate or create his own shot, and don't excessively blast him when his man scores on him (remember he's a pathetic defender in the first place... why lambast him to sink his confidence or waste your own energy?)... the coach has to remember each player's strengths and weaknesses. When he's open, make sure to get him the ball, don't ignore him. If he starts bricking too many shots despite being open, then bench him, it's that simple. But how bad can you be when he's naturally a 42-43+% 3PT shooter? Eventually, as you keep going to him when he's open (consistency of system amid of inconsistencies in performance), he'll learn that the team has trust in him and he'll start knocking down shots before we all know it.
- I believe JR can only be JR, he cannot be told to play any other way. And he still makes very good plays, we just don't want the bad plays to overshadow the good ones. The only thing that can be controlled about it is his minutes. He plays way too many minutes for a player who plays unstructured basketball. Playing 25-27 mpg is perfect for him.
- With Felton, I think he has to be assigned a role that is as specific as it can be. Limit his long-range bombs to 2-3 in first quarter, if he shoots more, yank him. Give him green light to score as many as he wants IF he does it in the paint (attack the basket). Tell him to move the ball, don't force shots, especially long shots. Tell him to focus on 2-3 simple things, because if he's told to do 10 things at once, chances are his head will explode and he will become moody. No player on the team will be much more effective if someone just tell him right now to "KISS" (keep it simple silly).
- Melo, he's fine, but just tell him to be more willing in passing (not just to get his assist number up) but moving the ball... with belief that if he gives it up, he'll surely get it back more.
- Tyson... contest the damn ball more, put your hands up, rebound, just be that someone that blocks the paint.

[GettinitDone]

^Contract year

that would be next year...

He's eligible for extension this summer.

[Knicks_Fan2]

^Contract year

that would be next year...

He's eligible for extension this summer.

What a joke. So a two year stretch will be easily explained by contract year instead of much stronger arguments as to why hes playing well, beginning w general improvement. Jesus. Stick to your lin diatribes.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

[Dr. Detfink]

Detroit is learning Calderon is not a difference maker...especially when their center, Greg Monroe is just as a good a passer. With Knight and Drummond out, Detroit has given itself a legit reason to lose every game to give a shot at a #5-10 pick. Bynum and Stuckey coming off the books, there's every reason to believe this team could be players in adding some talent.

[sidestep]

Whatever Calderon's weaknesses (no penetration, poor defense, dribbles down the clock), the Raptors were better when Calderon was running the point -- better shot selection, and more flow to the offense. (I haven't followed Calderon since he changed teams so can't comment on how he's been lately.) Blame the current Raptors offense on Gay's inefficient shooting perhaps, but I don't see what Lowry is doing for the team that is so special. Lowry played great in the beginning of the season but ever since he went out for that sprained ankle and came back, he looks overrated to me, and just regressing to what he really is: a PG who can sometimes put up good stats for himself but does not make the team significantly better.

Oh, and as a followup to GettinItDone's post, I agree that the fact that Novak is not getting good looks this year and not having a good season is symptomatic of the Knicks' lack of good PG play and ball movement. I've heard people explain that Novak sucking this year is because he is finally being properly scouted and opposing teams have finally learned to keep someone on him at all times, but I don't find this explanation very convincing.

[Thugger HBC]

indiana settling back down after that post all-star game push, 5-5 in their last 10.

Just fire Vogel. .500 ball is unacceptable.

[Getouttahea22]

Does anyone think it seems like the East is just A LOT less competitive than the West? There seems to be a significant drop off after Miami. Some people might be tired of hearing others say the West is so much better than the East, but it actually does seem true. Besides Milwaukee, I wouldn't be too surprised if any of the current top 2-8 teams in the East ended up facing Miami in the ECF (including the Knicks).

And if I was to guess, among the current top 8 teams in each conference, it looks to me like the disparity is likely to continue or even grow in the future because the West has many well positioned teams while the East has a lot of teams with issues. Here is what it looks like to me:

EAST

Miami - Clear Favorites. Positioned to compete into the future.

Indiana - Solid Defense but struggle on offense. They just haven't seemed all that impressive, particularly as of late. Some of the younger players could still improve.

Knicks - Injuries and poor play from their backcourt have led to struggles as of late. Even without injuries, their defense is questionable. Also, quite a few older players who may be wearing down.

Brooklyn - They have some solid players, but I'm not a particularly big fan of how that team is put together. So many expensive contracts that seem to be overvalued (Dwill, JJ, and wtf is up with Humphries not even being in the rotation?!) Could be difficult to make improvements to the roster due to lack of flexibility.

Chicago - Noah has been good, but it's unclear when Rose will come back, and how effective he will be. Even with him, not sure they could compete with Miami, particularly on offense against Miami's D.

Boston - Aging. No Rondo for a while probably. Even though they've done well without Rondo, not sure they'll be able to compete with Miami without him.

Atlanta - Some nice pieces (Horford, Teague) Seem likely to either lose or overpay for Smith...No Lou Williams for a while.

Milwaukee - That backcourt...talk about inefficiency...

WEST

Spurs - Experienced, well coached, contenders. Positioned to compete for the near future.

OKC - Very talented. Positioned to compete for a while.

LAC - Some talented young players and CP3. Assuming CP3 resigns they are well positioned to compete into the future.

Memphis - Got rid of Rudy Gay and have an excellent frontcourt and a very good point guard. One of the few teams that can really beat you up inside. Positioned to compete.

Denver - Nice young team with some solid players. Likely to improve in the future.

GSW - Young and talented backcourt. All star PF. Likely to improve in the future.

Houston - VERY young team overall, with nice young talent at multiple positions. Likely to improve in the future.

LAL - Season has been a bit of a disappointment, but they have very talented individual players.

If you look overall, in the East I see a lot of teams with issues, whether they are related to age, injury, or just poor play. In the West, I see more good teams (the top 5 are very good), a team with stars at 3 positions (LAL), and two young teams with potential to improve (GSW and Rockets). Why is this the case? Maybe a lot of the GMs in the East aren't as good as those in the West?

[loveisbeautiful]

The West is definitely stronger than the East for a couple of reasons...

First of all... let's look at the rebuilding teams in each conference...

REBUILDING TEAMS:

EAST:
Charlotte
Orlando
Cleveland
Detroit
Washington

WEST:
New Orleans
Sacramento

So there you go. 5 rebuilding teams for the East and 2 for the West. These are teams that are supposed to be building for the future... so naturally, they aren't even expecting to win now. This is one reason why the East is weaker at the moment than the West. The East has more teams in their cellar.

Next, let's look at teams that were supposed to be playoff contenders or close to it, but ended up sucking...

Suckers:

EAST:
Toronto
Philly

WEST:
Minnesota
Phoenix

Alright. 2 for each conference. Fair play here... Philly sucks because they went all in on Bynum and got screwed. Minnesota sucks because 9203409230 of their players are injured. Basically... both are terrible mostly because of bad luck. Not much to say about that... Toronto and Phoenix on the other hand are currently just really badly put together teams and poorly managed. Also mano a mano there. Parity for terrible underachievers!

Next...

Fringe Playoff Teams

East:
NO TEAMS

West:
Utah
Dallas
Portland

3 > 0.

So basically... the East is worse... (and WAY WORSE) than the West in terms of bottom dwellers because they have more rebuilding teams than the West. Both conferences have the same amount of underachieving teams... The West has more teams vying for a playoff spot (because the conference is deeper)... and as for the playoff teams... I won't even go into that since you already did. But yeah, literally from top to bottom, from playoff teams to scrub teams and tankers, the West is better everywhere.

And why did it turn out this way? Honestly... I don't know. If I had to guess I would say it was due to logistics and drafting... Put it this way, there are only a few BIG markets (LA, NY, etc.) And there are only a few truly BIG players. Lebron, Kobe, etc. And let's face it. Big markets and big names draw $$$ and good players. How many years in Kobe's career did he have poor talent around him? How many years did NY go without at least one big name?

The fact is that if there's a big something... a big player... or a big market... there's going to be talent there. Whether that talent wins or not is another question... (Marbury Knicks...) but the big lights are always gonna get some love, and that's going to always give them a better chance over the little guy to win (If ownership doesn't screw things up). And this advantage comes just by virtue of where certain teams are located. These teams/markets include of course the Knicks, Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, Nets(Now) Heat...

And when you look at the overall history of these teams, they are the more successful teams in the league... And the markets where they are from play a huge role in that fact... They affected the big names that were drawn in... and the big names that drew in other big names...

This then leaves the other teams that aren't in as big of markets.... And these teams have to DRAFT most of their good players because a star doesn't want to go to INDIANA or MILWAUKEE... when they could go to LA or New York... So when you see a midmarket team contending, it's because they've had good draft classes almost 100% of the time. Indiana, San Antonio, OKC, Memphis... etc. And when you see teams failing, it's because they're either in the process of trying to assemble talent through the draft... (Most of the non-playoff teams)... or they've made a terrible terrible mistake and are stuck in cap hell. (Toronto)

[Fat Kat]

Delonte West w/ 10pts, 5asts, 4rebs in just over 36mins of play in @TexasLegends debut #NBADL

[ORANGEandBLUE]

The West is definitely stronger than the East for a couple of reasons...

First of all... let's look at the rebuilding teams in each conference...

REBUILDING TEAMS:

EAST:
Charlotte
Orlando
Cleveland
Detroit
Washington

WEST:
New Orleans
Sacramento

So there you go. 5 rebuilding teams for the East and 2 for the West. These are teams that are supposed to be building for the future... so naturally, they aren't even expecting to win now. This is one reason why the East is weaker at the moment than the West. The East has more teams in their cellar.

Next, let's look at teams that were supposed to be playoff contenders or close to it, but ended up sucking...

Suckers:

EAST:
Toronto
Philly

WEST:
Minnesota
Phoenix

Alright. 2 for each conference. Fair play here... Philly sucks because they went all in on Bynum and got screwed. Minnesota sucks because 9203409230 of their players are injured. Basically... both are terrible mostly because of bad luck. Not much to say about that... Toronto and Phoenix on the other hand are currently just really badly put together teams and poorly managed. Also mano a mano there. Parity for terrible underachievers!

Next...

Fringe Playoff Teams

East:
NO TEAMS

West:
Utah
Dallas
Portland

3 > 0.

So basically... the East is worse... (and WAY WORSE) than the West in terms of bottom dwellers because they have more rebuilding teams than the West. Both conferences have the same amount of underachieving teams... The West has more teams vying for a playoff spot (because the conference is deeper)... and as for the playoff teams... I won't even go into that since you already did. But yeah, literally from top to bottom, from playoff teams to scrub teams and tankers, the West is better everywhere.

And why did it turn out this way? Honestly... I don't know. If I had to guess I would say it was due to logistics and drafting... Put it this way, there are only a few BIG markets (LA, NY, etc.) And there are only a few truly BIG players. Lebron, Kobe, etc. And let's face it. Big markets and big names draw $$$ and good players. How many years in Kobe's career did he have poor talent around him? How many years did NY go without at least one big name?

The fact is that if there's a big something... a big player... or a big market... there's going to be talent there. Whether that talent wins or not is another question... (Marbury Knicks...) but the big lights are always gonna get some love, and that's going to always give them a better chance over the little guy to win (If ownership doesn't screw things up). And this advantage comes just by virtue of where certain teams are located. These teams/markets include of course the Knicks, Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, Nets(Now) Heat...

And when you look at the overall history of these teams, they are the more successful teams in the league... And the markets where they are from play a huge role in that fact... They affected the big names that were drawn in... and the big names that drew in other big names...

This then leaves the other teams that aren't in as big of markets.... And these teams have to DRAFT most of their good players because a star doesn't want to go to INDIANA or MILWAUKEE... when they could go to LA or New York... So when you see a midmarket team contending, it's because they've had good draft classes almost 100% of the time. Indiana, San Antonio, OKC, Memphis... etc. And when you see teams failing, it's because they're either in the process of trying to assemble talent through the draft... (Most of the non-playoff teams)... or they've made a terrible terrible mistake and are stuck in cap hell. (Toronto)

The West has been stronger for quite some time now and I think a big reason is the EC cities are generally colder.

[GettinitDone]

What a joke. So a two year stretch will be easily explained by contract year instead of much stronger arguments as to why hes playing well, beginning w general improvement. Jesus. Stick to your lin diatribes.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

lolwut? Cats who happen to play well in seasons that they're due soon for extensions or new contracts and then belly up after they have signed them? I know a few of them: Jerome James, Eddy Curry, Shandon Anderson, Austin Croshere, Jon Concak, etc.

The guy stunk (by no.1 overall pick standard) his first 2 years, he shot 7% from 3s last year, he was quite significantly worse in his second year than rookie year. But most concerning of all was his indifference toward even his own play/ growth as a player. All of a sudden, he's showing improvements and plays like he cares? I'm not his hater, but stinkers who suddenly play well in "contract" years, I would highly suspect their motivation is $$$.

Detroit is learning Calderon is not a difference maker...especially when their center, Greg Monroe is just as a good a passer. With Knight and Drummond out, Detroit has given itself a legit reason to lose every game to give a shot at a #5-10 pick. Bynum and Stuckey coming off the books, there's every reason to believe this team could be players in adding some talent.

Dumars has strange infatuation with small guards who can score but give up more points on the other end than they score: Ben Gordon (although he's traded he was given big contract), Rodney Stuckey, Will Bynum, now Jose Calderon. Also Charlie Villanueva, he's a forward but he cannot defend at all. Very surprising he'd actually get players who cannot defend, considering he's the architect of one of the best defensive teams of all time (2003-04 Pistons).

[Dr. Detfink]

Calderon is a FA at the end of the season...and took Tayshaun Prince's contract off the books. Next season, Detroit will have a salary of 35M. Compliment that with a decent draft pick. Detroit has the potential to make some noise. They have C, PF, SG down...

[Woodsanity]

Drummond and Greg Monroe have the potential to be the best frontcourt in the league.

Knight is nothing special but could be a 6th man type of player. I don't think he is large enough to guard SGs and he is not a true point.

If they get a decent PG, SG, or SF in this draft they already have quite a good core.

[GettinitDone]

^I really like their Drummond pick though. I would take him no 3 in draft re-do after Davis and Lillard.

[Rasho Brezec]

They have too much capspace, Dumars needs to pull a Dumars and trade for Amare.

[Woodsanity]

^I really like their Drummond pick though. I would take him no 3 in draft re-do after Davis and Lillard.

Drummond has the potential to be the best C in the league. I am really high on him. He is already an absolute game changer on D. Not many Cs can block that many shots and also pick up a lot of steals and not many Cs are as quick and mobile as he is.

[j4remi]

indiana settling back down after that post all-star game push, 5-5 in their last 10.

Just fire Vogel. .500 ball is unacceptable.

I keep telling these guys to pay more attention to our competition...none of the teams in the East look intimidating outside of the Heat right now. We could limp into the post season, get hot and make a deep run assuming Melo can get somewhere close to 100% and Tyson isn't in worse shape than they're claiming.