GT: Hornets @ Magic Wed Dec 28 7PM EST

[yosemiteben]

WOOT

There he is.

[amcoolio]

Hawes is officially better than Hibbert

[yosemiteben]

Why are we freezing out Graham? I suspect foul play.

[bravor]

The craziest part of this game is that Ibaka is their worst +/- player with -26 (and he was like this for the 1st match up with them, Fournier being the worst +/- for them).

On a side note, 9/18 from 3 for the nets against the Bulls. But Bogdanovic is 0/5 (sigh). Lin not playing but they lead for now.

[HornetJail]

damn we needed a game like this. all starters under 30 min and we got an explosive 3rd quarter leading to a blowout. perfect, now we can still be pretty fresh tomorrow vs Miami.

[Liver_Pooty]

Batum should be in all star consideration.

Did you see that in Dec he is one of only a handful of players who average 18+ppg, 8+rpg and 6+apg?
(Pretty sure they were the numbers)

The others:

Harden, Greek, Griffin, Westbrook.

Pretty good company.


"BBMF'ers"

I might be in the minority, probably am, but I firmly believe he's the best player on this team. As I've said Kemba will get an all star spot and he deserves it, but Batum needs consideration. He has lapses at times but it's mainly because of him that Zeller got paid (without that screen and roll Zeller would never score without putback dunks hardly) and he's allowed Kemba to actually have someone to help facilitate. He calls himself a glue guy. Hell with that, he should be an all star.

Rant done

[catch20two]

Batum should not be a all-star and he's definitely not the best player on the team. He's a connector and maybe overvalued as much as he's undervalued because of how much this team lacked in talent at the wing position before him.

[HornetJail]

Batum should not be a all-star and he's definitely not the best player on the team. He's a connector and maybe overvalued as much as he's undervalued because of how much this team lacked in talent at the wing position before him.

I don't disagree but I also don't fully agree. No matter how you slice it, at best Nic is a fringe all-star caliber player who will only get in if he vastly improves his shooting numbers and there are countless injuries to guards in front of him. He fits perfectly on this team though, and absolutely has an all-star impact. We all know Kemba deserves to be in the All-Star game and even that isn't a certainty given the exposure Lowry, Thomas, Kyrie, and Wall get.

[catch20two]

Batum should not be a all-star and he's definitely not the best player on the team. He's a connector and maybe overvalued as much as he's undervalued because of how much this team lacked in talent at the wing position before him.

I don't disagree but I also don't fully agree. No matter how you slice it, at best Nic is a fringe all-star caliber player who will only get in if he vastly improves his shooting numbers and there are countless injuries to guards in front of him. He fits perfectly on this team though, and absolutely has an all-star impact. We all know Kemba deserves to be in the All-Star game and even that isn't a certainty given the exposure Lowry, Thomas, Kyrie, and Wall get.

My post wasn't meant to discredit Batum but his defense has left a lot to be desired and that's before even talking about his efficiency. I love the fact that he's a versatile wing that has the ability to dribble, pass, and shoot the ball. Batum helps make us a better team but at the same time there's areas of where he can improve that would take this team to the next level like consistent scoring nevertheless more scoring. He's definitely not a Hendo tho. You compare Batum's overall efficiency, advanced stats, and raw numbers to other all-star wings and he doesn't really stack up.

[yosemiteben]

My ultimate verdict on Batum is out until we see him healthy in the playoffs.

I'm pretty willing to be patient with MKG. Step one for me is him staying healthy for a whole season.

[fatlever]

If you reversed Kemba's November and December as well as Batum's November and December we'd all probably be talking about Batum as an All-Star over Kemba. Getting off to a hot start does wonders for perception league-wide. Both were brilliant tonight however.

[catch20two]

If you reversed Kemba's November and December as well as Batum's November and December we'd all probably be talking about Batum as an All-Star over Kemba. Getting off to a hot start does wonders for perception league-wide. Both were brilliant tonight however.

Idk about that. I like Kemba's December over Batum's December although I gotta give him credit for having multiple 20+ point games lately, something I hope to see him do more consistently.

[mrknowitall215]

If you reversed Kemba's November and December as well as Batum's November and December we'd all probably be talking about Batum as an All-Star over Kemba. Getting off to a hot start does wonders for perception league-wide. Both were brilliant tonight however.

Idk about that. I like Kemba's December over Batum's December although I gotta give him credit for having multiple 20+ point games lately, something I hope to see him do more consistently.

Agreed. It's a matter of Nicolas Batum's best being at a level where we expect more from Kemba Walker. Most of us have been slightly disappointed in Kemba's play over the past month but realistically he's playing at a level we'd wish Batum could sustain with the only differences being that Kemba has shot much more efficiently from the field while Batum has rebounded at a much higher rate. Theoretically in terms of statistics *in a nutshell* Kemba's floor is Batum's ceiling

[Zombiesonics]

Batum would be the best player on the team if he shot efficiently, or could create his own shot easier maybe? he scores 9 less points per 36 than walker and at a much worst clip.

[Eoghan]

I don't know what Vogel is doing with the Magic, he just seems to refuse to play anybody that can shoot not named Ibaka. Grant it their shooters are young and suck on defense but the whole team sucks at defense regardless. They don't control pace, draw fouls or do anything to alleviate shooting slumps. That was comical.

[yosemiteben]

Batum would be the best player on the team if he shot efficiently, or could create his own shot easier maybe? he scores 9 less points per 36 than walker and at a much worst clip.

We're talking about December Kemba vs. December Batum though. Their FG%s (Kemba 43.4%, Batum 42%), 3PT%s (Kemba 36.6%, Batum 36.8%), and TS% (Kemba 53.2%, Batum 54.1%) in December are basically the same.

One thing that I was surprised to learn is that if you adjust for pace, Kemba averages the same number of assists as Batum for the season over all (Kemba 8.0, Batum 8.0 per 100 possessions) and for December (Kemba 9.1, Batum 9.0 per 100 possessions).

[catch20two]

Batum would be the best player on the team if he shot efficiently, or could create his own shot easier maybe? he scores 9 less points per 36 than walker and at a much worst clip.

It's not really comparable. I like Batum but he's 3rd fiddle. I'm still waiting for our 2nd scorer or for him to transform into a player beyond even his career bests.

[UNCNYC]

Don't know what were missin to make this team a contender. Glad to see we are 4 games over 500. Looks like we have found our center in zeller. our starting 5 is almost set if marv and mkg can slightly improve

[Zombiesonics]

zeller has turned into the quintessential 'pnr big'. when you look at pick n roll roll man stats, he uses most of his possessions in this playtype (40%) and still puts up 1.06 ppp. one of the best at it in the nba, he's got to be one of the best contracts in the nba going forward.

[BigSlam]

ZEUS!!!!!!


"BBMF'ers"