Struggle Street - The Gary Neal Thread

Post #161 » by **fatlever** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:34 pm

Take the Lamb talk to either the NBA thread or the trade thread.

DY_nasty · Post #162 » by **DY_nasty** » Wed Jan 14, 2015 4:26 am

whoops

catch20two · Post #163 » by **catch20two** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 4:45 pm

"Gary's basketball IQ is thru the roof." - Clifford.

mrknowitall215 · Post #164 » by **mrknowitall215** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:11 pm

How long will Clifford allow his favoritism for Neal to sabotage us? I could understand allowing him to play through his shooting woes in hopes that it'll turnaround & average out to his career numbers, but there's a difference between taking (and missing) ill-advised bad shots and missing good shots

Post #165 » by **JDR720** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:13 pm

I think this thread needs a new name, Gary isn't earning his money

mrknowitall215 · Post #166 » by **mrknowitall215** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:21 pm

JDR720 wrote:I think this thread needs a new name, Gary isn't earning his money

'LMFAO "Shots" - The Gary Neal Thread' got my vote

LamarMatic7 · Post #167 » by **LamarMatic7** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:46 pm

JDR720 wrote:I think this thread needs a new name, Gary isn't earning his money

I Don't Earn My Shots - The Gary Neal Thread

Post #168 » by **yosemiteben** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:04 pm

mrknowitall215 wrote:How long will Clifford allow his favoritism for Neal to sabotage us? I could understand allowing him to play through his shooting woes in hopes that it'll turnaround & average out to his career numbers, but there's a difference between taking (and missing) ill-advised bad shots and missing good shots

I mean he benched him then played him limited minutes against Indy and Minny. Last game against Minny he was fine. It's not like he's been getting major minutes recently.

I agree that it would've been nice to see PJ over Neal, but PJ is a game removed from going 0 - 5 in a close game against Indy so it's not like he's been a lot more reliable.

It's a bit of a juggling act with our back up wings right now. Clifford said in his Minny post game interview that he needs to find more time for PJ. He's definitely aware of the issue.

mrknowitall215 · Post #169 » by **mrknowitall215** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:11 pm

yosemiteben wrote:
mrknowitall215 wrote:How long will Clifford allow his favoritism for Neal to sabotage us? I could understand allowing him to play through his shooting woes in hopes that it'll turnaround & average out to his career numbers, but there's a difference between taking (and missing) ill-advised bad shots and missing good shots

I mean he benched him then played him limited minutes against Indy and Minny. Last game against Minny he was fine. It's not like he's been getting major minutes recently.

I agree that it would've been nice to see PJ over Neal, but PJ is a game removed from going 0 - 5 in a close game against Indy so it's not like he's been a lot more reliable.

It's a bit of a juggling act with our back up wings right now. Clifford said in his Minny post game interview that he needs to find more time for PJ. He's definitely aware of the issue.

I understand the Neal vs Hairston argument and what Clifford has done recently with Neal regarding the DNP-CD, but even better I would like for Clifford to follow suit on his belief that good teams only play a 9-man rotation as his rebuttal to not playing Hairston last night during the post game interview. In this instance, he glossed over the fact that we typically play a 10-man rotation commonly and kept stating that it's not suitable to play a 11-man rotation as his excuse for not playing Hairston. I can live with neither of Hairston or Neal playing personally, and Clifford was dead-on correct by stating that good teams generally only play a 9-man rotation, so I would like to see it

Post #170 » by **yosemiteben** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:14 pm

Didn't see the post-game interview, will have to go watch. I do wonder how he's going to decide who to play out of Neal or PJ if that's his approach.

We still are in pretty desperate need of a consolidation move to clear out some wings.

mrknowitall215 · Post #171 » by **mrknowitall215** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:24 pm

yosemiteben wrote:Didn't see the post-game interview, will have to go watch. I do wonder how he's going to decide who to play out of Neal or PJ if that's his approach.

We still are in pretty desperate need of a consolidation move to clear out some wings.

If he take heed of his words of a 9-man rotation, neither of Neal nor Hairston would see the floor. We're currently playing a 10-man rotation and that's been commonplace throughout Clifford's tenure as head coach. That's why I mentioned how it subsided me on why he discussed a 11-man rotation as his excuse for not playing Hairston but in the same vein kept mentioning that a 9-man rotation is most prosperous while ignoring the fact that he's been partial to 10-man rotations routinely

Post #172 » by **JDR720** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:37 pm

yosemiteben wrote:
mrknowitall215 wrote:How long will Clifford allow his favoritism for Neal to sabotage us? I could understand allowing him to play through his shooting woes in hopes that it'll turnaround & average out to his career numbers, but there's a difference between taking (and missing) ill-advised bad shots and missing good shots

I mean he benched him then played him limited minutes against Indy and Minny. Last game against Minny he was fine. It's not like he's been getting major minutes recently.

I agree that it would've been nice to see PJ over Neal, but PJ is a game removed from going 0 - 5 in a close game against Indy so it's not like he's been a lot more reliable.

It's a bit of a juggling act with our back up wings right now. Clifford said in his Minny post game interview that he needs to find more time for PJ. He's definitely aware of the issue.

PJ has shot 40% on threes this month at almost 4 attempts per game, Neal has shot 16%

3pt % by month

PJ; Nov: 37%, Dec: 20% and Jan 40%
Neal: Nov 47%, Dec 25% and Jan 16%

so Neal has 1 good 3pt shooting month and PJ has 2

Post #173 » by **yosemiteben** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:42 pm

Ah, I follow you. Since I don't think we want Kemba getting more minutes, who would you propose to get more time with the second unit? MKG?

LofJ · Post #174 » by **LofJ** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:42 pm

I think it's smart to play with a larger rotation during the regular season. There's no quicker way to derail a season that burning your guys out during the long marathon that is the regular season. When playing against an in-conference potential playoff team though? Yeah, it's a good idea to tighten up the rotation. Tomorrow night against the Cavs is one of those situations.

Our 9 guys in no particular order:

Stephenson
Roberts
Walker
MKG
Biyombo
Jefferson
Zeller
Williams
Henderson

So yeah all of us that have been saying that we need more shooting in our top rotation are right on the money. We need to either bench Henderson or Lance in favor of Neal (barf) or Hairston (not going to happen) or we need to consolidate our wings into someone that can help fill that gap. That's why I (and most of this board) have been advocating moving at least one of Henderson/Lance as well as Neal to accomplish that.

Post #175 » by **yosemiteben** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:44 pm

Agree with LofJ, but Hendo kind of derailed that by playing so well.

Post #176 » by **yosemiteben** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:47 pm

JDR720 wrote:so Neal has 1 good 3pt shooting month and PJ has 2

To be fair, it's a little disingenuous to say January has been a good shooting month for PJ. I guess it's true if you're just looking at aggregate averages, but he's only shot above 33% from three four times this month. I do wish he played more though.

mrknowitall215 · Post #177 » by **mrknowitall215** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:52 pm

yosemiteben wrote:Ah, I follow you. Since I don't think we want Kemba getting more minutes, who would you propose to get more time with the second unit? MKG?

I don't think it would hurt to give more minutes depending on matchups to any one of the players between the SG to PF positions. All, Henderson, MKG, and Zeller could use more minutes. Also, factor in the fact that Stephenson is a 6th man now, it probably wouldn't (or could) hurt to bolster his playing time up to between 25-27 minutes since he's only been playing 21 minutes per game upon return from injury. Also, we shouldn't (although Clifford likely will) rule out the possibility of playing Biyombo and Jefferson together against certain lineups like Detroit (Drummond/Monroe), Utah (Favors/Kanter), New Orleans (Davis/Asik), Chicago (Noah/Gasol), Memphis (Gasol/Randolph), and etc.

mrknowitall215 · Post #178 » by **mrknowitall215** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:55 pm

LofJ wrote:we need to consolidate our wings into someone that can help fill that gap.

Probably the biggest reason why I was pro towards trading Stephenson. I've been beyond disappointed in his regression as a perimeter threat. I never would've wanted him anywhere near or on this team had I known he'd be more reluctant to even attempt a 3-point shot than Henderson

LofJ · Post #179 » by **LofJ** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 6:01 pm

yosemiteben wrote:Agree with LofJ, but Hendo kind of derailed that by playing so well.

On this board it did, but our front office shouldn't be fooled. It's still something that needs to be done if we want to improve our chances of making it past the first round.

Post #180 » by **yosemiteben** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 6:23 pm

mrknowitall215 wrote:I don't think it would hurt to give more minutes depending on matchups to any one of the players between the SG to PF positions. All, Henderson, MKG, and Zeller could use more minutes. Also, factor in the fact that Stephenson is a 6th man now, it probably wouldn't (or could) hurt to bolster his playing time up to between 25-27 minutes since he's only been playing 21 minutes per game upon return from injury.

You want to give Lance more minutes AND to play Hendo and MKG more? How does that work?