Nelly option picked up

[turk3d]

-= original quote snipped =-



Fair enough. Still, those guys are pretty marginal players, as they've shown away from the Warriors this season, with the Clips and Magic. Utah was pretty clearly the superior team, and in fact one of the best teams in the League (still, Warriors came a lot closer than people realize to upsetting them). It's a stretch, I believe, to think those two would have made any difference for the better.

Webber and Cro (if they can be healthy), I much prefer to those other guys, and I would think they'd get some burn in the playoffs this season. Wright - it would be nice to get something from him in the playoffs, but I'm not counting on it. Biedrins and Monta pretty much disappeared, why would we expect more from a less-experienced Wright?

It's not that I think Nellie is Jesus... rather, I think Foyle, O'Bryant, and Powell are the antichrist

It's not about whether Powell and Foyle (or POB for that matter) suck or not, it's really if they could have matched up better against Boozer and Milsap than Barnese and Pietrus did. I think Wright would be the perfect guy to match up with Kirilenko. Of course, I don't know this for sure, since our brillliant one never has been willing to try this in a game situation. Maybe he's afraid it might work. Even your "worst" NBA players will play well against certain players and certain teams (just like your best players will have trouble against certain teams and players). A guy like Foyle and Powell may only matchup against 20% of the entire teams in the league for example, wheras a guy like Baron (for arguments sake) may matchup well with 80%. Utah just happened to be a team where I believe those players could have helped. Of course we'll never know because it was never tried. I have no doubt that Foyle and even Powell could have defended Boozer better than Barnes and Pietrus were able to.

Again, I realize that all I am is an armchair quarterback so to speak, but basketball is simply basketball and matching up the right players with the oppositions can make all the difference in the world, particularly in a seven game series. Sloan made the necessary adjustments during the games and after the games which is why Utah dominated that series. He basically decided that if Nellie would continue to go small, he would pound the heck out them (or in other words beat them into submission which they did). It doesn't matter that Foyle and Powell are "marginal" players in the NBA, what matters is whether or not they could help. As bad as Foyle was, don't forget the job he was able to do on Yao (arguably the best Center in the NBA) which pretty much proves my point. Foyle had heart and the ability to bang inside and Powell also showed heart when he played for us. Heart can make up for skill sometime, especially when the game's are physical. Size helps a bit too.

[Mylie10]

On improving the defense:
"Well we don't have a shot blocker really, so we can't play as traditionally as we would like. We work on our defense as much as any other NBA team. We're just not a great defensive team, but we sure work hard at it."


Effing Nellie!

This is exactly the kind of thing that pisses off many. We don't have a shot blocker.......... really?

[Insert non-sensical parsing rationalization for that comment including twisted logic claiming that Nellie's right and Dre actually shouldn't be considered a shotblocker from JRHomerPoleSmoker here/]

Yeah it sure seems like we have a pretty good shot blocker in Biedrins. Wright I don't know, could be, but that's sort of like saying Lasme is a great shot blocker - neither have proven to be able to do it at an NBA level, yet.

That got me wondering if Nellie is maybe making a subtle call-out to Goose, trying to get him to step up his game (and we all know he does this sort of thing all the time).

So I had a look at Biedrins' stats:

In his last dozen games (Feb and March), Biedrins has five games with 0 blocks, five games with 1 block, two games with 2 blocks, and no games with more than 2 blocks. On the other hand, in November he had games with 3 (twice), 4, and 5 blocks, in December he had 3 blocks three times, and in January he had a game with 4.

Since he was out some recent games, the combined Feb and March games are fewer than any single, previous month, but still his block frequency has declined... in fact, since last season, Goose's BPG have decreased from 1.7 to 1.2.

And compared with other shot blockers in the League, Andris is at #40 in BPG, and way down at #70 in blocks per 48 min. So it's not like he's a Camby or Josh Smith.

So while I didn't catch the broader conversation from which this quote was taken, maybe this is one example of Nellie trying to motivate some improvement

My initial feeling is that Biedrins qualifies as a pretty damn good shot blocker (especially weak side)... but the statistics, at least most recently, might bear out Nellie's remark after all, don't you think?

Tough to block shots from the bench.

Wright is a shot blocker.

OB is a shot blocker, but a lost cause.

Keep drinkin.......................OH YEAAAHHHHH! HERE COMES NEEEELLLLIIEEE! HERE COMES NEELLLLIEE!

[Twinkie defense]

C'mon Mylie. It's one thing to have your favorite players - and Biedrins is one of mine (Ellis is the other). But instead of the ad hominem attacks, how about addressing that evidence that Biedrins' shot blocking has declined, and in BP48MIN he's way down at #70?

Do you want to actually address that? Or is it just easier to scream about Kool Aide? I see a lot of that around here, but find it an interesting way to support one's point of view... makes me a little suspicious of what they say.

[FNQ]

C'mon Mylie. It's one thing to have your favorite players - and Biedrins is one of mine (Ellis is the other). But instead of the ad hominem attacks, how about addressing that evidence that Biedrins' shot blocking has declined, and in BP48MIN he's way down at #70?

Do you want to actually address that? Or is it just easier to scream about Kool Aide? I see a lot of that around here, but find it an interesting way to support one's point of view... makes me a little suspicious of what they say.

And his fouls have gone down... not only does Biedrins have to keep his man at bay in the lane, he has to come into the middle and try and prevent clean shots. And he does that pretty well on a consistent basis - much more consistent than any other Warrior. There's no doubt Andris has good (not great) timing, and we've seen the result when teams go at him one on one. TD can attest to that...

Our best shot blockers are the rookie and on the Jam. Wright's quick and high leaping ability favors him in the kind of help defense we run on a constant basis. POB would be ideal for that type of defense, actually. He's got the length and jumping ability needed to disrupt and block shots while being big enough to force players out of the key.

Too bad we threw in the towel on him about last year ago.

[Mylie10]

C'mon Mylie. It's one thing to have your favorite players - and Biedrins is one of mine (Ellis is the other). But instead of the ad hominem attacks, how about addressing that evidence that Biedrins' shot blocking has declined, and in BP48MIN he's way down at #70?

Do you want to actually address that? Or is it just easier to scream about Kool Aide? I see a lot of that around here, but find it an interesting way to support one's point of view... makes me a little suspicious of what they say.

Because his numbers may be down doesn't mean he isn't a shot blocker. The statement that we've been responding to is the we have NO shot blockers.

I believe that if Beans had some help with some bigger players on the front line, he might be more free to disrupt and block shots on the weakside.

I believe that with consistant playing time Wright will be a great shot blocker.

I know OB changes shots. Every time he got in guys had to try and elevate their shots over his length.

The numbers don't lie, but they also don't take into account other factors.

Since he's had his operation he has played a little softer. Maybe it's not comfortable for him to elevate? Not sure, but to throw a blanket on him and say he's not a shot blocker is smoke.

[turk3d]

-= original quote snipped =-



Because his numbers may be down doesn't mean he isn't a shot blocker. The statement that we've been responding to is the we have NO shot blockers.

I believe that if Beans had some help with some bigger players on the front line, he might be more free to disrupt and block shots on the weakside.

I believe that with consistant playing time Wright will be a great shot blocker.

I know OB changes shots. Every time he got in guys had to try and elevate their shots over his length.

The numbers don't lie, but they also don't take into account other factors.

Since he's had his operation he has played a little softer. Maybe it's not comfortable for him to elevate? Not sure, but to throw a blanket on him and say he's not a shot blocker is smoke.

I've really noticed a huge difference in him this year. Between his earlier injuries and the appendectomy, Andris 1) does not seem to jump as well as he normally does and 2) seems to be wanting to avoid contact underneath (which is uncharacteristic of him). Between that and Nellie seeming to want to limit his minutes, his numbers are still pretty close to last years, expecially in considering his per. And like you, I really believe that if he had another big rebounder with the the ability to block shots (such as Wright) present underneath, that it would really help but this is obviously something that Nellie refuses to do.

Question: Nellie played Wright and Perovic together at the end of the last game. Why won't he play Biedrins and Wright for a few? Is he afraid that it might wind up being effective and then he'd have to do it more frequently?

[Mylie10]

Don't analyze garbage minutes.

We won't see Wright and Beans together until one of them hits outside shots consistantly.