Around The NBA 3.0

[mrknowitall215]

The only big glaring flaw in that team is Lopez. He's as slow as molasses and if he gets matched up against a Dwight Howard, he's gonna get trashed

I would have to disagree with this part. I actually think the acquisition of Robin Lopez is the biggest difference in them being on the outside of the playoff picture looking in last season, to being a top seed in the Western Conference this year. Lopez' grit & grind was exactly what that team was missing, since LaMarcus Aldridge wasn't physical enough to make them imposing on a night-to-night basis

Dwight Howard's statline against Robin Lopez on 12.12.13

32 Pts, 17 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 Stl, 3 Blk

I never stated that Lopez was a top notch defender. I said that he added "grit". Without looking at the stats, I'm almost positive that they are a better rebounding team this year with Lopez than they were last year with J.J. Hickson

[JDR720]

Dwight Howard's statline against Robin Lopez on 12.12.13

32 Pts, 17 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 Stl, 3 Blk

well Lopez had 16pts 10reb and 2blk, Dwight also played 42mins

Those are playoff minutes. I think Portland is a really good team, I just think Lopez is their one weak link

he is easily the worst one in the starting 5, he is the dirty work player, pretty good fit with LaMarcus i think

[JDR720]

I would have to disagree with this part. I actually think the acquisition of Robin Lopez is the biggest difference in them being on the outside of the playoff picture looking in last season, to being a top seed in the Western Conference this year. Lopez' grit & grind was exactly what that team was missing, since LaMarcus Aldridge wasn't physical enough to make them imposing on a night-to-night basis

Dwight Howard's statline against Robin Lopez on 12.12.13

32 Pts, 17 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 Stl, 3 Blk

I never stated that Lopez was a top notch defender. I said that he added "grit". Without looking at the stats, I'm almost positive that they are a better rebounding team this year with Lopez than they were last year with J.J. Hickson

46rpg this season 40.8 last season....HUGE difference

[mrknowitall215]

Dwight Howard's statline against Robin Lopez on 12.12.13

32 Pts, 17 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 Stl, 3 Blk

I never stated that Lopez was a top notch defender. I said that he added "grit". Without looking at the stats, I'm almost positive that they are a better rebounding team this year with Lopez than they were last year with J.J. Hickson

46rpg this season 40.8 last season....HUGE difference

Thanks 'JDR720' for bringing my theory to light

[fatlever]

brandon knight must have heard i dropped him from the top 30 today when i updated my pg rankings. i didnt even have him listed in the "just missed" section. 36 pts is an eye opener though.

[Diop]

I wonder how my team mates would react if I took 17 threes in a game and only managed to hit 5.

[catch20two]

Shumpert only had 1 point (0-5) in 30 minutes tonight. He's really becoming worst than Landry Fields.

[Diop]

how could you get a chance for a decent shot when playing with Melo and JR Smith?

such a ridiculous amount of chucking

[Marvel]

I hope DJ saves his NBA career in Chicago. He should feel blessed to be given another opportunity otherwise he might be looking for work in China or something.

[LamarMatic7]

Memphis is terrible they cant score at all, like the Bulls of the West

Hollinger ruined that team with his analytics. Basketball isn't baseball. There's matchups, lineups, chemistry, & etc. to consider

Mike Conley was also out tonight for them. I mean hell, Jon Leuer got 23 mins for them

Jon Leuer has been balling as of late ever since he got the chance to play 20 mins with Z-Bo out. He's playing like a really good stretch four, making a three or two every game en route to double digits in points.

[LamarMatic7]

a guy named Nick Calathes has played 18 games for MEM (13mpg)....he was drafted in 2009....this is his 1st season not in the D-League lol

He was pretty good at Florida.

I have caught him on his best games so maybe I would change my opinion if I saw his bad ones but I like him. He is a decent floor general. Reminds me of Greivis Vasquez.

[thruthefire]

DJ might be the Matt Moore (former Panthers QB) of the NBA. Does well when he's not competing for minutes, not so well when he is.

[lmcguir5]

DJ might be the Matt Moore (former Panthers QB) of the NBA. Does well when he's not competing for minutes, not so well when he is.

I think you can just chalk it up to he's not that good. He isn't great at driving to the bucket and finishing (Sesh is so much better at this) and he can't really shoot the three. I actually saw him Drain-O a trey ball last night and nearly fell off the couch

[Snidely FC]

Hollinger ruined that team with his analytics. Basketball isn't baseball. There's matchups, lineups, chemistry, & etc. to consider

Mike Conley was also out tonight for them. I mean hell, Jon Leuer got 23 mins for them

Jon Leuer has been balling as of late ever since he got the chance to play 20 mins with Z-Bo out. He's playing like a really good stretch four, making a three or two every game en route to double digits in points.

MEM was 7-4 before Gasol went down. They are having to rely on role players like Calathes and Leuer due to significatnt injuries to Gasol & Pondexter, and shorter term injuries to Allen, Prince, now Conley. Not sure you blame that on Hollinger, unless he's the one who figured via analysis it woud be wiser for them to tank.
As far as Leuer, Kufous, Calathes, I'd be happy with any of those guys on the Cats for depth.

[catch20two]

The only significant injury the Griz have is Gasol but Conley and Randolph should've been good enough to hold it down as veteran borderline to all-star caliber players. Pondexter had done fell out of the rotation before his injury. He was getting DNP-CDs. Another reason why they are struggling is because Bayless has fell back down to Earth from his breakthrough play of last year.

[LamarMatic7]

Mike Conley was also out tonight for them. I mean hell, Jon Leuer got 23 mins for them

Jon Leuer has been balling as of late ever since he got the chance to play 20 mins with Z-Bo out. He's playing like a really good stretch four, making a three or two every game en route to double digits in points.

MEM was 7-4 before Gasol went down. They are having to rely on role players like Calathes and Leuer due to significatnt injuries to Gasol & Pondexter, and shorter term injuries to Allen, Prince, now Conley. Not sure you blame that on Hollinger, unless he's the one who figured via analysis it woud be wiser for them to tank.
As far as Leuer, Kufous, Calathes, I'd be happy with any of those guys on the Cats for depth.

Yeah, I know. As a huge fan of this current Memphis team (my favorite non-Cats team in the league for the last three years) it saddens me that this seems like the end of their run.

[thruthefire]

DJ might be the Matt Moore (former Panthers QB) of the NBA. Does well when he's not competing for minutes, not so well when he is.

I think you can just chalk it up to he's not that good. He isn't great at driving to the bucket and finishing (Sesh is so much better at this) and he can't really shoot the three. I actually saw him Drain-O a trey ball last night and nearly fell off the couch

I don't disagree, but he is a natural at the point.

[LamarMatic7]

The only significant injury the Griz have is Gasol but Conley and Randolph should've been good enough to hold it down as borderline to all-star caliber players. Pondexter had done fell out of the rotation before his injury. He was getting DNP-CDs.

There's a reason why Gasol was the defensive player of the year. I was checking the defensive ratings just the other day and my jaw dropped when I saw Memphis, out of all the teams, ranked 26th. Damn, just half a year ago they were probably the second best defensive team in the league. Going to check out their def rtg pre and after Gasol's injury.

Although, to a certain degree I would say that they are a bit burned out after three seasons of gritting and grinding far into the playoffs. The defensive swagger isn't there any more. They're starting a washed up version of the already washed up Tayshaun Prince. And at some point, just like with their defense, it's too hard to grind out those 90-point wins on offense with Prince and Allen starting.

[catch20two]

I wanted Joerger as our head coach more than anyone last year. I'm happy Memphis kept the chains on him and allowed us to shift our focus to Clifford. Clifford was a much better hire.

[LamarMatic7]

DJ might be the Matt Moore (former Panthers QB) of the NBA. Does well when he's not competing for minutes, not so well when he is.

I think you can just chalk it up to he's not that good. He isn't great at driving to the bucket and finishing (Sesh is so much better at this) and he can't really shoot the three. I actually saw him Drain-O a trey ball last night and nearly fell off the couch

I don't disagree, but he is a natural at the point.

I simply think he is too small and too big of a wuss (playing style wise) to be an NBA point guard. Other guys who are at his height or smaller excel in tremendous speed or quickness abilities, are capable of knocking down off-balance and sometimes questionable jumpers and have an uncanny ability to finish at the rim despite their size disadvantage. Those three things I mentioned certainly aren't things you can say about Augustin.

We saw enough of him to believe that there is some type of an NBA player in him but now he doesn't even look confident enough of being a back-up PG ready to knock down threes, a la CJ Watson. He might end up in Europe after this year.