bwgood77 wrote:NavLDO wrote:1UPZ wrote:Len seems to be always surprised when the ball gets near his vicinity.... And he panics or goes for it abruptly.
Heck even Mason Plumlee looks more in control... They all play with various speed and energy so they dont look clumsy or shaky.
Len needs a mentor.. A proper mentor who will show him what he's doing wrong and not what he's doing right.
He needs to play with smarts sometimes and not with energy.
I watch Steve Adams and that guy is chilled but on point at the same time. But he rarely makes mistakes or fumbles the ball.
Why is the 'narrative' on Len in almost every game thread one-sided?? I don't doubt that Len has his issues, but declaring him as our 'tank commander' (not you, 1UPZ) over several other players who produce less for us just amazes me.
Len ends up with yet another Dbl-Dbl (and before he's accused of getting his own misses for Rebounds this season like he has, someone please explain then why he has his highest DRB-to-ORB ratio of his career--nearly 3-to-1 @ 5.9-to-2.1--last I checked, it's pretty hard to get your own Rebound on the Defensive side of the Court, but whatever...).
He was 60% from the floor (3/5), 83% FT% (5/6), 3 Blks, 3 Assts, 11 Pts, 10 TRBs. Yet all I see in this thread is how terrible Len played. Again, I don't doubt he has his flaws, but he's hardly the primary reason we are losing. He has improved in almost every category from last season, yet Bledsoe shoots 40% on 25 shots, 33% from 3, has 6 Assts in 40 minutes...as our PG. Has 4 TOs, yet he gets a pass because he shot 29 points?
Again, I'm in no way saying that Len doesn't have his issues, but every time he has a poor play, there's no less than 2 posters slamming Len for that one play, yet no other player comes close to being as derided as Len does in these Game threads. Just amazing...
One other thing I wanted to mention. The thread of voting of best players of the game and worst players of the game clearly shows that Len was voted as a top 3 player. Not one poster had him in their bottom three, and most obviously not in like their bottom 7 since 10 players played. viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1493263
You should check those if you don't to see who the fans here really thought played well and not so well in each game. You can see here that most just thought he started the season and played really poorly in the first 4 games. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tXguFu1dW7-M4UVEWRGzFeALXMjoPEZe7XRQB8T8Y-4/pubhtml#
Thanks, BW. Yeah, I've seen those and often they do paint a different picture. But my point is that since I do not get to watch games, I rely on Game threads the next morning to get an idea of how the players played from a fan perspective, so you or many others do not have the same perspective on this topic that I do, since it's just part of the flow of the game; I know because I DO get to watch the Steelers play from time to time and comment in game threads on a different forum. So you don't really notice it like someone who only looks at Box Scores, highlights, and game threads, like me. My own fault , I suppose, but it's what I have available.
Anyway, game after game I come into the game thread and have to weed through the Len 'hate' comments more often than not, so it's just frustrating. So sorry; wasn't trying to 'pick an argument' with you and Carey; I was just trying to shed light on what it's like from my perspective, and any other fan that depends on the game threads as well. Based o those alone this year, you'd think Len was flat out garbage, which I just do not see how that's possible. Zelaznyrules, I believe, has the right attitude on Len. He's not great, but all hese other Centers being heralded as being better than Len have their own issues, and if they were on the Suns, fans would likely nitpick their faults as well.
Look at this 'smattering' of six Centers' Per36 numbers. Len is competitive in just about every stat other than eFG%...he's 2nd in TRB and DRB, 3rd in Blks and STLs. Heck, he's even 4th in TS% and 1st in TOVs...let that sink in...1st in TOVs, but from what I hear, he makes poor decision after poor decision with the ball. If so, how can he be so low in TOVs??
http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&hint=Alex+Len&player_id1_select=Alex+Len&y1=2017&player_id1=lenal01&hint=Steven+Adams&player_id2_select=Steven+Adams&y2=2017&player_id2=adamsst01&hint=Jahlil+Okafor&player_id3_select=Jahlil+Okafor&y3=2017&player_id3=okafoja01&hint=Hassan+Whiteside&player_id4_select=Hassan+Whiteside&y4=2017&player_id4=whiteha01&hint=Brook+Lopez&player_id5_select=Brook+Lopez&y5=2017&player_id5=lopezbr01&hint=Mason+Plumlee&player_id6_select=Mason+Plumlee&y6=2017&player_id6=plumlma01