Game 3: Houston Rockets (1-1) @ Los Angeles Clippers (1-1) - 9:00 PM PT

[esqtvd]

Because Gallo is hitting a smokin' 47%, we're somehow shooting 35% from distance. Tobias is at 33%, but Lou is at .250, Avery's at .125, Pat's at .091 and Shai hasn't hit one yet.

All I can say is...pray.

If you're wondering how we've got this far, the only stat that jumps out is that we're averaging 30 FTAs a game.


http://www.espn.com/nba/team/stats/_/name/lac/la-clippers

I'm not too worried at such a small sample size, too much noise in a 3 game evaluation

Well, I'm a bit worried. Sindarius and especially Ty can't shoot it either. The numbers won't stay this bad but they could well settle in at a subpar level.

BTW, I had a bad stat from ESPN [I thought it looked funny]. We're actually at 30.4%, good for 27th in the league.

https://stats.nba.com/teams/traditional/?sort=FG3_PCT&dir=-1



That said, if and when Pat Bev [37.4% lifetime] and Avery [36.5%] start hitting, the h8 gonna stop, right?

haven't lost faith
We should be okay, just look at the total attempts:

Beverley: 1/11 3PT
Bradley: 1/8 3PT

If Beverley shoots 3/4 3PT in one game, and then 3/5 the next, his season percentage goes up to 35%. Bradley shoots 4/6 3PT the next game and now he's at 35.7% 3PT, that's how quick it changes. I think we all know full well that small sample sizes aren't very useful for a season long evaluation, we just like to get worried .

Well, some folks already have Avery Beverley [might as well be one person] dead and buried [see Clemenza and New Era] so it's good to see you haven't. That's why I put up their lifetime numbers, since players almost always regress to their mean.

Still, after an unreal season last year, we have to note that Lou had a rotten season with Houston the year before, shooting only 31.8% from distance, and he's only a 34.7% 3-pt shooter lifetime. We don't know if Shai has the hang of the NBA 3-pt line yet, and if Avery and Pat don't bounce back as plus 3-pt shooters, it's going to be a weak spot.

Since I have no faith in Sindarius [a brick factory in summer league] or Ty [about a 25% 3-pt shooter in G-League], Jerome could have a breakthrough opportunity here, just sayin'...

[Galloisdaman]

I was under the impression that Bradley was a better offensive player than what he has shown so far in LA.

I do think it is important to have good defensive guards on this team because there is not a lot of rim protection.

In the first 3 games I think the starting backcourt has been the weakest part of the team but that could change.

I'd actually like to see more open shots set up by the guards so their assist numbers go up even if they are not making shots themselves.

Most teams fans like to see their rookies play but so far SGA has earned his game time if not more.

[Clemenza]

Well, I'm a bit worried. Sindarius and especially Ty can't shoot it either. The numbers won't stay this bad but they could well settle in at a subpar level.

BTW, I had a bad stat from ESPN [I thought it looked funny]. We're actually at 30.4%, good for 27th in the league.

https://stats.nba.com/teams/traditional/?sort=FG3_PCT&dir=-1



That said, if and when Pat Bev [37.4% lifetime] and Avery [36.5%] start hitting, the h8 gonna stop, right?

haven't lost faith
We should be okay, just look at the total attempts:

Beverley: 1/11 3PT
Bradley: 1/8 3PT

If Beverley shoots 3/4 3PT in one game, and then 3/5 the next, his season percentage goes up to 35%. Bradley shoots 4/6 3PT the next game and now he's at 35.7% 3PT, that's how quick it changes. I think we all know full well that small sample sizes aren't very useful for a season long evaluation, we just like to get worried .

Well, some folks already have Avery Beverley [might as well be one person] dead and buried [see Clemenza and New Era] so it's good to see you haven't. That's why I put up their lifetime numbers, since players almost always regress to their mean.

Still, after an unreal season last year, we have to note that Lou had a rotten season with Houston the year before, shooting only 31.8% from distance, and he's only a 34.7% 3-pt shooter lifetime. We don't know if Shai has the hang of the NBA 3-pt line yet, and if Avery and Pat don't bounce back as plus 3-pt shooters, it's going to be a weak spot.

Since I have no faith in Sindarius [a brick factory in summer league] or Ty [about a 25% 3-pt shooter in G-League], Jerome could have a breakthrough opportunity here, just sayin'...

We don't have a problem with Bradley or Pat Bev playing... JUST NOT PLAYING TOGETHER AT THE SAME TIME! Why is it so hard to grasp this? This is nothing personal, they're great guys and solid NBA players. How about one starting and the other off the bench.. pair one with Shai, Lou, or Milos and vise versa. Anything but both of them as a tandem in the backcourt. Its like its Halloween and the kids want snickers, kit kat, and baby ruth bars but you're handing out wrapped butterscotch hard candy and ten year old Bazooka Joes with the comic strips and telling them they want those instead of the snickers, kit kat, and baby ruth. No they don't, they want the good sh*t!

Actually Pat Bev and Avery would probably play and look better paired with different guards than each other. They're shooting could improve if they weren't on the floor together. Shai or Milos could set them up for better shots and there's less pressure for them to score paired with a different guard. Right now they're pressing

[Galloisdaman]

haven't lost faith
We should be okay, just look at the total attempts:

Beverley: 1/11 3PT
Bradley: 1/8 3PT

If Beverley shoots 3/4 3PT in one game, and then 3/5 the next, his season percentage goes up to 35%. Bradley shoots 4/6 3PT the next game and now he's at 35.7% 3PT, that's how quick it changes. I think we all know full well that small sample sizes aren't very useful for a season long evaluation, we just like to get worried .

Well, some folks already have Avery Beverley [might as well be one person] dead and buried [see Clemenza and New Era] so it's good to see you haven't. That's why I put up their lifetime numbers, since players almost always regress to their mean.

Still, after an unreal season last year, we have to note that Lou had a rotten season with Houston the year before, shooting only 31.8% from distance, and he's only a 34.7% 3-pt shooter lifetime. We don't know if Shai has the hang of the NBA 3-pt line yet, and if Avery and Pat don't bounce back as plus 3-pt shooters, it's going to be a weak spot.

Since I have no faith in Sindarius [a brick factory in summer league] or Ty [about a 25% 3-pt shooter in G-League], Jerome could have a breakthrough opportunity here, just sayin'...

We don't have a problem with Bradley or Pat Bev playing... JUST NOT PLAYING TOGETHER AT THE SAME TIME! Why is it so hard to grasp this? This is nothing personal, they're great guys and solid NBA players. How about one starting and the other off the bench.. pair one with Shai, Lou, or Milos and vise versa. Anything but both of them as a tandem in the backcourt. Its like its Halloween and the kids want snickers, kit kat, and baby ruth bars but you're handing out wrapped butterscotch hard candy and ten year old Bazooka Joes with the comic strips and telling them they want those instead of the snickers, kit kat, and baby ruth. No they don't, they want the good sh*t!

Actually Pat Bev and Avery would probably play and look better paired with different guards than each other. They're shooting could improve if they weren't on the floor together. Shai or Milos could set them up for better shots and there's less pressure for them to score paired with a different guard. Right now they're pressing

LOL how did you know how I felt as a kid trick or treating??? That was great!

[esqtvd]

haven't lost faith
We should be okay, just look at the total attempts:

Beverley: 1/11 3PT
Bradley: 1/8 3PT

If Beverley shoots 3/4 3PT in one game, and then 3/5 the next, his season percentage goes up to 35%. Bradley shoots 4/6 3PT the next game and now he's at 35.7% 3PT, that's how quick it changes. I think we all know full well that small sample sizes aren't very useful for a season long evaluation, we just like to get worried .

Well, some folks already have Avery Beverley [might as well be one person] dead and buried [see Clemenza and New Era] so it's good to see you haven't. That's why I put up their lifetime numbers, since players almost always regress to their mean.

Still, after an unreal season last year, we have to note that Lou had a rotten season with Houston the year before, shooting only 31.8% from distance, and he's only a 34.7% 3-pt shooter lifetime. We don't know if Shai has the hang of the NBA 3-pt line yet, and if Avery and Pat don't bounce back as plus 3-pt shooters, it's going to be a weak spot.

Since I have no faith in Sindarius [a brick factory in summer league] or Ty [about a 25% 3-pt shooter in G-League], Jerome could have a breakthrough opportunity here, just sayin'...

We don't have a problem with Bradley or Pat Bev playing... JUST NOT PLAYING TOGETHER AT THE SAME TIME! Why is it so hard to grasp this? This is nothing personal, they're great guys and solid NBA players. How about one starting and the other off the bench.. pair one with Shai, Lou, or Milos and vise versa. Anything but both of them as a tandem in the backcourt. Its like its Halloween and the kids want snickers, kit kat, and baby ruth bars but you're handing out wrapped butterscotch hard candy and ten year old Bazooka Joes with the comic strips and telling them they want those instead of the snickers, kit kat, and baby ruth. No they don't, they want the good sh*t!

Actually Pat Bev and Avery would probably play and look better paired with different guards than each other. They're shooting could improve if they weren't on the floor together. Shai or Milos could set them up for better shots and there's less pressure for them to score paired with a different guard. Right now they're pressing

Does it matter who starts? Sending Pat and Avery out to give the other team's best guards 6 minutes of hell and tucker them out a bit isn't a bad plan, and so far they have not put us in big holes.


DEN: DOWN 13-10
5:30 Lou Williams enters the game for Avery Bradley
5:30 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander enters the game for Patrick Beverley

OKC: UP 24-10
3:34 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander enters the game for Patrick Beverley

HOU: DOWN: 12-7
6:36 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander enters the game for Avery Bradley


Yes, they are pressing, but that could be a sufficient explanation. And yes, a move might be made and maybe soon, but if Pat and Avery can just start hitting a few shots, as you can see, the problem would disappear.

Look, I was not crazy about pairing two combo guards in the first place, but there are other factors: Everybody's playing about 24 minutes and that works--Shai's still a rook and Lou's career average is 24 mpg, perhaps his comfort zone. The other consideration is that Shai and Lou are already the best tandem and are closing games. Do we really want to break them up?

[Ranma]

I'm with og15 with not worrying too much about the small sample size of the Avery-Beverley backcourt. While I agree that the team would probably be better off splitting the two of them into different sets of tandems, I like having Gilgeous-Alexander being brought slowly along without the worries of losing a starting job.

It's obvious that it's only a matter of time before Shai gets the starting job as he's made a remarkable adjustment acclimating himself to the NBA game and getting regular minutes, especially under Doc. SGA is the 2nd notable rookie to get regular playing time under Doc from what I understand. He's doing a good job facilitating the offense while being a troublesome defensive presence for opponents. He just needs to be a more reliable presence offensively from the perimeter particularly from beyond the 3-point arc.

I'm not sure when will be the appropriate time for Shai to get the starting gig, but I'm confident we'll all know when it's time. The concern is with Doc being slow to give him the reins, but even he ackowledges that SGA will be something special. Even Doc admitted that Rex Kalamian had to encourage Doc to play Shai late in this game because of his natural distrust of rookies. This is why it's great having Doc relieved of GM duties. Jerry West and the rest of the front office will take him to task for not playing SGA more or otherwise not starting him when he's ready.

Right now, it's understandable to not risk curtailing Gilgeous-Alexander's promising development. My concern is not giving enough PT for Jerome Robinson to build up confidence. He still needs plenty of work as a defender and moving without the ball, but being comfortable on the court in the NBA game is where I'm most concerned with Robinson right now.

In any case, I'm fine with the Avery-Beverley starting tandem for right now and I expect them to get better towards reaching their career respective norms as they continue to get used to playing with each other.

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[Ranma]

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