NBA Games Discussion Thread

[Kanyewest]

Kyrie could just be rusty coming back from his injury. BTW, that starting lineup excluding Irving (Livingston, Gee, Thompson, and Zeller) against the Hornets is pretty bad. Looks like Irving did his part with 31 points and 6 assists. Not sure how he is supposed to get double digit assists especially without Waiters.

[tontoz]

Cuban says he would consider drafting Brittney Griner in the 2nd round.

[Ruzious]

Josh Smith 0-7 from the foul line with 9 minutes to go in a tie game with NY. How does a men's professional forward not named Jan shoot that poorly?

[tontoz]

Josh Smith 0-7 from the foul line with 9 minutes to go in a tie game with NY. How does a men's professional forward not named Jan shoot that poorly?

Smith is a strange player. He shot around 70% consistently for his first 4 seasons. Since then he has varied wildly, going below 60% then back up to 72% now down to 50%.

Whoever signs him this summer needs to be ready for a lot of headaches.

[jivelikenice]

Kyrie...Another atrocious game. Blown out at home, lit up by the opposing pg, then takes a shot at the coach. But he has nice handles so let the hype continue!

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/22 ... y-Contract

Mavericks To Sign Josh Akognon To 10-Day Contract
Apr 03, 2013 10:41 AM EDT


The Dallas Mavericks will sign Josh Akognon to a 10-day contract on Thursday, according to sources.

Akognon went to training camp with the Mavericks but ended up playing in China when he did not make Dallas' regular season roster.

Akognon will take the roster spot of Justin Dentmon, who was informed after Tuesday night's loss to the Lakers that he will not receive a second 10-day deal.

This player put up outrageously good numbers in China last season (when James Singleton, JR Smith, and Aaron Brooks were in China during the lockout, and before J. Singleton came to the Wizards.). Akognon was tremendous in summer league (as good as Selby and Lillard). He went back to China and has earned a 10-day with Dallas.

We spend a lot of time talking about the draft and trades but this is a FA scoring PG who is a tremendous talent. I wanted him last summer. If the Wizards don't bring back Price or if a spot opens up here's a little guy who may be better than Nate Robinson.

I am interested to see how Akognon does over the next 10 days.

[Higga]

Lakers will make the playoffs.

As Bodie would say from The Wire: "The game is rigged man."

[popper]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/227039/Mavericks-To-Sign-Josh-Akognon-To-10-Day-Contract

Mavericks To Sign Josh Akognon To 10-Day Contract
Apr 03, 2013 10:41 AM EDT


The Dallas Mavericks will sign Josh Akognon to a 10-day contract on Thursday, according to sources.

Akognon went to training camp with the Mavericks but ended up playing in China when he did not make Dallas' regular season roster.

Akognon will take the roster spot of Justin Dentmon, who was informed after Tuesday night's loss to the Lakers that he will not receive a second 10-day deal.

This player put up outrageously good numbers in China last season (when James Singleton, JR Smith, and Aaron Brooks were in China during the lockout, and before J. Singleton came to the Wizards.). Akognon was tremendous in summer league (as good as Selby and Lillard). He went back to China and has earned a 10-day with Dallas.

We spend a lot of time talking about the draft and trades but this is a FA scoring PG who is a tremendous talent. I wanted him last summer. If the Wizards don't bring back Price or if a spot opens up here's a little guy who may be better than Nate Robinson.

I am interested to see how Akognon does over the next 10 days.

This is what burns me up about the Wiz organization. J. Singleton is better than any PF we have on the team except Nene (better than Vesely, Booker, Singleton - 3 first round draft choices with one being a lottery). If TL doesn't get this then we will never win another championship. We could have used a guy like Akognon this year but instead we blew the entire first third of the season. Sickening.

[jivelikenice]

^Speaking of Singleton, I hope Ted gets it and figures out a way to dump some of our young bigs and just sign Singleton back on the cheap. He would add a couple of wins to the roster and seemed like another solid lockerroom guy.

[Nivek]

Gotta admit I don't exactly get the collective man crush folks have on James Singleton -- a 31-year old PF who played the best ball of his career for a total of 211 minutes last season. His next best "season" was 2008-09 when he was just a little better than average in not quite 900 minutes for Dallas. His departure wasn't a great loss.

[hands11]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400278843

Boozer with a beast of a game.

[jivelikenice]

Gotta admit I don't exactly get the collective man crush folks have on James Singleton -- a 31-year old PF who played the best ball of his career for a total of 211 minutes last season. His next best "season" was 2008-09 when he was just a little better than average in not quite 900 minutes for Dallas. His departure wasn't a great loss.

For us he was a good role player. Rebounded well, runs the floor, has the ability to knock down an open shot, and plays the right way. Nobody is saying he's a starter or a great player, but he would give us what we haven't been able to get on a consistent basis from Booker/ Vesely/ C. Singleton/ and to some degree Seraphin. One journeymen vet would exceed the production of at least three first rd picks....That's all we want.

[LyricalRico]

Man, Denver players are dropping like flies! First Lawson goes down with a foot injury, and now Gallo could have a torn ACL. The Nuggets have gone from a dangerous team that nobody would want to see in the playoffs to being without two starters, all in the span of like 2 weeks (or less). Wow...

[FAH1223]

Man, Denver players are dropping like flies! First Lawson goes down with a foot injury, and now Gallo could have a torn ACL. The Nuggets have gone from a dangerous team that nobody would want to see in the playoffs to being without two starters, all in the span of like 2 weeks (or less). Wow...

End of the season injuries suck. Though..

They're still a dangerous team. Chandler can fill in for Gallo.. and Andre Miller is still a very good PG and is practically still a starting caliber player.

Iguadola is going to have to become a bit more selfish and start hitting some shots.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

http://www.82games.com/1213/12DEN9.HTM

The Gallinari injury could be a real crushing blow to Denver. He makes both their offense and their defense better if 82games is to be believed. The last time the site was updated, Gallinari was a +8.9 points per 100 possessions. He hits threes. He gets out so fast in transition other teams end up fouling Denver more. Conversely, Denver fouls more when he's off the court.

I hate this injury happened now because last playoffs Gallinari stunk it up vs the Lakers. (IIRC he was coming off injury even then). After Denver was eliminated he expressed a desire to do better in the future, and that he was better than he showed in the playoffs. Gallinari was doing better before this injury. Denver had won 15 in a row at one point this season and Danilo Gallinari was a huge reason for their success. It's unfortunate to see him go down because he probably would have really helped this playoffs. It's sad to see a guy passionate about winning and a seemingly good guy have to sit it out.

This is really going to be difficult for him and the Nuggets to overcome.

[pancakes3]

Man, Denver players are dropping like flies! First Lawson goes down with a foot injury, and now Gallo could have a torn ACL. The Nuggets have gone from a dangerous team that nobody would want to see in the playoffs to being without two starters, all in the span of like 2 weeks (or less). Wow...

End of the season injuries suck. Though..

They're still a dangerous team. Chandler can fill in for Gallo.. and Andre Miller is still a very good PG and is practically still a starting caliber player.

Iguadola is going to have to become a bit more selfish and start hitting some shots.

I think the whole is greater than the sum of the parts in this case. Losing Lawson and Gallo changes the entire dynamic of the offense. You lose penetration as well as spacing. The entire dynamic of the offense changes. OTOH, I wouldn't be surprised if Anthony Randolph just blows the F up.

[Ruzious]

And they have Wilson Chandler. Denver is built to withstand injuries to any player. I don't think Gallo's injury hurts them a whole lot.

[pancakes3]

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2013/03/30 ... irst-time/

Wow.

[Nivek]

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2013/03/30/warner-nba-will-be-without-a-20-10-big-man-for-first-time/

Wow.

The article starts with an interesting observation and then moves immediately into a bunch of nonsense. For example, he talks about the decline of the big man, but limits the conversation to centers. In fact, there are MANY guys playing PF these days who would have been centers in earlier eras. He never addresses the issue of pace. He doesn't address the fact that coaches are giving their bigs fewer minutes per game.

Control for pace and playing time, and the story changes. A lot. Since 1977-78, the league has had an average of 17.2 players per season average at least 20 pts and 10 rebounds per 40 minutes (standardized to a 100-possession game). The high was 1997-98 when the league had 30. The low was 1987-88 when there were 8. This season: 28.



I probably shouldn't be, but I'm still surprised when writers use per game stats.

Did a quick response (basically this post) over at the blog.

[dobrojim]

with the anniversary celebration coming up tomorrow, your post reminds me
about Elvin who often was at or near the top of NBA in minutes played. Basically,
if he wasn't in foul trouble, he was in the game. OT1H, you gotta admire
his stamina to be able to do that. OTOH, it detracts somewhat from what
still are still pretty remarkable career #s if you look at per min as opposed to /gm stats.

in any case, not many beat Lew Alcindor when he was at UCLA.