Around The NBA: 2019-20 RESTART

[dice]

bam adebayo will get maxed out. you heard it here first

Bam Adebayo is gonna make All-NBA teams. If anyone ever asks "What's Lauri Markkanen missing?" just tell them to go watch Bam.

Adebayo, Isaac, Zach Collins, these are the kinds of versatile, switchable defensive bigs that are truly valuable, rather than some Shooty McShootersons.

Defensive bigs are truly valuable in the modern NBA?? What?

There's a long line of athletic, non-shooting defensive bigs outside NBA's door. That's easily the most replacable player type in the modern game. A guy like Wendell is dime a dozen. I know it hurts some Bulls fans to hear it, but it's the harsh truth. If the Bulls had known Carter would be completely incapable of making shots in the NBA, they'd certainly never have picked him at #7.

Shooting is BY FAR the single most valuable skill in today's game. At every position. If you're a big with good defensive instincts, otherwordly athleticism and a knack for finishing (like Bam), sure... you may be quite valuable in the right circumstances (meaning you've got great ballhandlers and shooters around you).

But even those guys are constantly being told by their teams to develop jump shots.

RPM standard deviations by position (offense/defense):

2018-2019

2.05/1.73 PG (54.3% O, 45.7% D)
1.62/1.41 wing (53.5% O, 46.5% D)
1.45/1.63 big (47.1% O, 52.9% D)

2013-2014

2.26/1.81 PG (55.5% O, 44.5% D)
2.14/2.08 wing (50.7% O, 49.3% D)
1.73/2.08 big (45.4% O, 54.6% D)

what we can roughly glean from this is that the importance of individual defensive ability has not diminished much over the past 5-6 seasons. and big men are still distinguished in value to their teams more by their defensive abilities than their offensive abilities. what's changed is defensive emphasis, which has become more perimeter-oriented as the number of stretch bigs proliferates

[samwana]

I can't speak to Isaac and Collins, but Bam is anything but a defensive specialist. He is a two-way stud. He went 18/11/10 last night, 12/12/5 the game before, and 30/11/11 the game before that. He's already good enough to be a Top Three player on a championship team, he's 22 years old, and he's improving fast. What a great #14 pick by the Heat.

If he really turns out to be what you are describing on a consistent basis, the Heat have struck gold. They have to find another veteran all-star type to complete the team. There are a lot of candidates who are ripe for a trade in the next year who can be got for cheap.

It will be interesting how Miami does in the playoffs this year and if they will be better than Philadelphia. That will be the ultimate insult to the process.

It shows how a draft pick can and should be developed. If Bam was on a losing team, he probably would be lost and learning bad habits. Getting Jimmy was a genius move in that sense for Miami and now they can make a plan of building a team rather than keep shooting in the dark for stars like the Bulls have been doing.

I think the Heat as an organization, with Riley at the helm and especially Spoelstra as a coach, they put guys in positions where they can shine. They freed up space for Bam wiht the Whiteside trade. They have an eye for talent and give guys roles where they can succeed. They are a hardworking and fun team.

PArt of it may be luck, but a lot of it is good coaching and getting the right guys together. There is a strong culture in that organization that gives structure to guys like James Johnson, Dion Waiters and guys like that. Waiters is having a lot of trouble, but imagine him on our team. He would have been out of the league for a long time.

We are not able to establish a winning culture and I think we need to get rid of Paxson, Forman and a lot of other FO guys. The big difference is that Spoelstra is really good. Of course he had his bad games and we have seen him falter, nobody is perfect. But all in all he and Riley is a great combo for guys willing to put it all out on the court and in practice.

I wish we were anywhere close to that.

Oh and Bam had his fans here, I remember him being one of the guys being discussed here.

[PrimzyBulls81]

The first time I saw Adebayo I liked him already. He reminded me on young D. Howard

[HomoSapien]

The first time I saw Adebayo I liked him already. He reminded me on young D. Howard

Well, I'm going to toot my own horn too then:

You guys are really sleeping on Bam. I'm telling you now, he's going to be the next DeAndre/Drummond/Whiteside.

I'm not. I'd be happy with him at #16. Definitely has some similarities to Dwight Howard.

Glad I'm not the only one. Aside from his body and athleticism, take a look at his foot work. He's not nearly as raw as you'd expect him to be. He has a chance of being special.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1552405&p=55321823&hilit=bam#p55321823

[Leslie Forman]

The first time I saw Adebayo I liked him already. He reminded me on young D. Howard

Well, I'm going to toot my own horn too then:

I'm not. I'd be happy with him at #16. Definitely has some similarities to Dwight Howard.

Glad I'm not the only one. Aside from his body and athleticism, take a look at his foot work. He's not nearly as raw as you'd expect him to be. He has a chance of being special.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1552405&p=55321823&hilit=bam#p55321823

I didn't watch Adebayo at all, not even highlights, since it sounded like he had zero chance of ending up here, but I'm gonna take a wild guess that you saw some of the same stuff I saw in Blake Griffin as a freshman in college, before all the #1 hype.

Strong body, light feet, surprisingly good handles, lateral agility, and great explosion in traffic.

These are the things that really push a big man who's "athletic" into actual NBA athletic. The bigs on this roster right now do not meet those guidelines.

[Ice Man]

The first time I saw Adebayo I liked him already. He reminded me on young D. Howard

Well, I'm going to toot my own horn too then:

I'm not. I'd be happy with him at #16. Definitely has some similarities to Dwight Howard.

Glad I'm not the only one. Aside from his body and athleticism, take a look at his foot work. He's not nearly as raw as you'd expect him to be. He has a chance of being special.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1552405&p=55321823&hilit=bam#p55321823

Full credit. But you know there were 10 DSJ posts for every Bam post, if not more. I read all about that guy and then when I saw him it was like, what??? Aaron Brooks the second. A rich man's Antonio Blakeney. I can't take being played like that.

[rtblues]

And another Boylen fire-able offense tonight, 26 point lead pissed away.
Way to go Big Jim!

[TheGOATRises007]

Bucks' streak ends at the hands of the Mavs sans Luka.

Who would have thought that?

[DorO]

Bucks' streak ends at the hands of the Mavs sans Luka.

Who would have thought that?

I did. I bet Dallas win the game and I see Luka as good a player as Giannis.

[ATRAIN53]

Bucks' streak ends at the hands of the Mavs sans Luka.

Who would have thought that?

I think even more impressive is they did it without Barea too - this was the Jalen Brunson game.
That kid is good. He's not great or tanscendant - but he is SOLID and plays an old school type NBA game.
He is a bargain at barely 2 mil a year -

But he sees Fred Van Vleet eyeing 20 mil a year and knows he's capable of getting that too.
He just needs minutes.


But this was also a major 3point chuck fest. Dallas killed them from long distance.
It's really the same game plan they use with Luka, except Curry hit those shots.

If they beat the Celtics tomorrow night sans Luka.
i really wanted to see Marcus Smart vs Luka - but lets see how Jalen handles being guarded by him. Great test for Brunson.

[Ice Man]

Bucks' streak ends at the hands of the Mavs sans Luka.

Who would have thought that?

Not me. That was even more surprising than Memphis taking down Miami, which was also fairly remarkable, given that Memphis ain't much, Miami shot 45% on 3s, and Butler had a strong game with 25 points on 12 shots.

[johnnyvann840]

Remember when the Wolves and Suns were considered up and comers and the NBA media darlings over the first few weeks of the season?

Since the Wolves 4-1 start and being the darlings of the NBA after 5 games, they have crashed and burned and gone 6-14 in their last 20 games and are now 10-15.

The Suns started 5-2, they have also crashed and burned also going 6-14 in their last 20. They are 11-16 now.

After the Bulls 1-4 start, they have gone 9-15 in their last 24. Bulls actually have a better pt differential (than the Wolves overall and Suns over the last 20 games), a better defense and a better winning percentage than both the Suns and Wolves after their hot starts. You could make a very strong case that right now, the Bulls are actually better than both the Suns and the Timberwolves who were two of the early season media darlings of the NBA.

[Dresden]

Not to mention ATL, which was also getting a lot of attention prior to the start of the season- a budding star in Trae Young, a slew of other young talent. They now look like a bottom 3 team. They got crushed by the Knicks tonight, and it doesn't get much worse than that.

[MrFortune3]

Remember when the Wolves and Suns were considered up and comers and the NBA media darlings over the first few weeks of the season?

Since the Wolves 4-1 start and being the darlings of the NBA after 5 games, they have crashed and burned and gone 6-14 in their last 20 games and are now 10-15.

The Suns started 5-2, they have also crashed and burned also going 6-14 in their last 20. They are 11-16 now.

After the Bulls 1-4 start, they have gone 9-15 in their last 24. Bulls actually have a better pt differential (than the Wolves overall and Suns over the last 20 games), a better defense and a better winning percentage than both the Suns and Wolves after their hot starts. You could make a very strong case that right now, the Bulls are actually better than both the Suns and the Timberwolves who were two of the early season media darlings of the NBA.

The Wolves are soft as hell. Anyone could see that slide coming. They're not a very good team without Butler.

The Suns start fueled semi delusional opinions that Baynes is a better fit for them than Ayton. It was never going to be sustainable given their young core and Ayton being out.

The Hawks need health from Collins. They have Young and Collins and everyone else is still developing for the most part.

The Bulls have a terrible coach who the players don't like nor respect so it's going to be a rough ride all season.

[Juso]

David Nwaba now playing a solid bench role in Nets and has learned how to shoot (3-pointers). The same energy is still there with some more bbIQ, and with a bargain price of 1.75M. More salt to the Dinwiddie wound. Also TLC has his minutes now. How come Nets get so much more out the ex-Bulls?

[Flopper]

David Nwaba now playing a solid bench role in Nets and has learned how to shoot (3-pointers). The same energy is still there with some more bbIQ, and with a bargain price of 1.75M. More salt to the Dinwiddie wound. Also TLC has his minutes now. How come Nets get so much more out the ex-Bulls?

I'm guessing it's because they're an organization that operates on accountability and doesn't blame current failures on ACL injuries from eight years ago.

[Ice Man]

Remember when the Wolves and Suns were considered up and comers and the NBA media darlings over the first few weeks of the season?

Since the Wolves 4-1 start and being the darlings of the NBA after 5 games, they have crashed and burned and gone 6-14 in their last 20 games and are now 10-15.

The Suns started 5-2, they have also crashed and burned also going 6-14 in their last 20. They are 11-16 now.

After the Bulls 1-4 start, they have gone 9-15 in their last 24. Bulls actually have a better pt differential (than the Wolves overall and Suns over the last 20 games), a better defense and a better winning percentage than both the Suns and Wolves after their hot starts. You could make a very strong case that right now, the Bulls are actually better than both the Suns and the Timberwolves who were two of the early season media darlings of the NBA.

You left off the Pelicans. People were so excited about the Pellies' young talent, to the point where I read arguments that New Orleans won the AD trade. A lot of people LOVE rebuilding stories! OK ZIon has been hurt but the Pelicans have been really bad. They score pretty well but they absolutely, positively do not defend, even though Jrue and Lonzo are allegedly good perimeter defenders.

[TheSuzerain]

Bam Adebayo is gonna make All-NBA teams. If anyone ever asks "What's Lauri Markkanen missing?" just tell them to go watch Bam.

Adebayo, Isaac, Zach Collins, these are the kinds of versatile, switchable defensive bigs that are truly valuable, rather than some Shooty McShootersons.

Defensive bigs are truly valuable in the modern NBA?? What?

There's a long line of athletic, non-shooting defensive bigs outside NBA's door. That's easily the most replacable player type in the modern game. A guy like Wendell is dime a dozen. I know it hurts some Bulls fans to hear it, but it's the harsh truth. If the Bulls had known Carter would be completely incapable of making shots in the NBA, they'd certainly never have picked him at #7.

Shooting is BY FAR the single most valuable skill in today's game. At every position. If you're a big with good defensive instincts, otherwordly athleticism and a knack for finishing (like Bam), sure... you may be quite valuable in the right circumstances (meaning you've got great ballhandlers and shooters around you).

But even those guys are constantly being told by their teams to develop jump shots.

RPM standard deviations by position (offense/defense):

2018-2019

2.05/1.73 PG (54.3% O, 45.7% D)
1.62/1.41 wing (53.5% O, 46.5% D)
1.45/1.63 big (47.1% O, 52.9% D)

2013-2014

2.26/1.81 PG (55.5% O, 44.5% D)
2.14/2.08 wing (50.7% O, 49.3% D)
1.73/2.08 big (45.4% O, 54.6% D)

what we can roughly glean from this is that the importance of individual defensive ability has not diminished much over the past 5-6 seasons. and big men are still distinguished in value to their teams more by their defensive abilities than their offensive abilities. what's changed is defensive emphasis, which has become more perimeter-oriented as the number of stretch bigs proliferates

This analysis is faulty due to RPM being very messy.

Your point could be correct, but the RPM data is not persuasive due to issues inherent but precisely unknowable as it's behind the RPM veil.

[FriedRise]

If it weren't for the Bulls, the Warriors would've been on a 13-game losing streak. They haven't won any game but against Chicago since Nov 19.

[dice]

Defensive bigs are truly valuable in the modern NBA?? What?

There's a long line of athletic, non-shooting defensive bigs outside NBA's door. That's easily the most replacable player type in the modern game. A guy like Wendell is dime a dozen. I know it hurts some Bulls fans to hear it, but it's the harsh truth. If the Bulls had known Carter would be completely incapable of making shots in the NBA, they'd certainly never have picked him at #7.

Shooting is BY FAR the single most valuable skill in today's game. At every position. If you're a big with good defensive instincts, otherwordly athleticism and a knack for finishing (like Bam), sure... you may be quite valuable in the right circumstances (meaning you've got great ballhandlers and shooters around you).

But even those guys are constantly being told by their teams to develop jump shots.

RPM standard deviations by position (offense/defense):

2018-2019

2.05/1.73 PG (54.3% O, 45.7% D)
1.62/1.41 wing (53.5% O, 46.5% D)
1.45/1.63 big (47.1% O, 52.9% D)

2013-2014

2.26/1.81 PG (55.5% O, 44.5% D)
2.14/2.08 wing (50.7% O, 49.3% D)
1.73/2.08 big (45.4% O, 54.6% D)

what we can roughly glean from this is that the importance of individual defensive ability has not diminished much over the past 5-6 seasons. and big men are still distinguished in value to their teams more by their defensive abilities than their offensive abilities. what's changed is defensive emphasis, which has become more perimeter-oriented as the number of stretch bigs proliferates

This analysis is faulty due to RPM being very messy.

not on a macro level such as league-wide data. which is why the data ends up being similar across two random seasons. i filtered out all the low minute players, by the way