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If you read the article, he says "we might be the best team". He's still wrong, but at least the quote is more accurate.
2013-2014 NBA Thread - IND @ WAS and OKC @ LAC on ESPN
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by big j 33,
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He also cut himself punching a fire extinguisher
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antidope
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Cant even knock it. Dudes standing up for his team.
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Must be something in the water in NY...
mrtarheel
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[h3]Damian Lillard Signs 3rd Richest Shoe Deal In NBA[/h3]
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/232915/Damian-Lillard-Signs-3rd-Richest-Shoe-Deal-In-NBA
?????
This confuses me? Lillard a good player, but is he going to move shoes?
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/232915/Damian-Lillard-Signs-3rd-Richest-Shoe-Deal-In-NBA
?????
This confuses me? Lillard a good player, but is he going to move shoes?
calibeebee
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Damn lillard ended up re-signing with Adidas. :smh
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They're obviously not the best team in the league, but I get what he's trying to say. They're definitely better than their record and should have been at least a 4-5 seed in the weak East this season.
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Should have how?
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adidas is donig whatever it can to compete with nike in basketball. if it means overypaying a little to keep lillard, then they will do it. the kid is great in the community, well spoken, humble and what you look for in someone to represent your brand. drose been on the shelves for awhile, adidas is looking to push him, similar to what they tried with gil before he shot up the locker room
Dissecting Wolves' clutch problem.
Another day, another gut-punch loss in the closing seconds for the Minnesota Timberwolves. This time it was the Sacramento Kings that nipped the Wolves by a measly three points.
As we wrap up the regular season this week with detailed postmortems, the Timberwolves might be an afterthought. After all, they just missed the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season. What else is new?
Well, let's stop right there, because this Timberwolves season has been historically heart-wrenching. Of all the numbers we've come across this season, nothing quite hits us like the Timberwolves' crushing late-game performance.
I present to you the single craziest stat of the 2013-14 season: In one-possession games (score within three) in the final minute -- also known as "superclutch" situations -- the Timberwolves have been outscored by 49 points in 22 minutes of action this season. I repeat: 49 points.
Minnesota's opponents have scored 96 points to the Timberwolves' 47. The Timberwolves have been more than doubled up in these tight situations. The result is that, when it should be a coin flip in these situations, Minnesota has lost 18 of those 25 games.
So what happened in Minnesota this season?
Actually, we probably should have seen this coming.
The curse of Kevin Martin
If you were going to engineer a clutch NBA player in a laboratory, it would not look like Martin. By almost all accounts, he is one of the most inspiring underdog stories in the league. The wiry shooting guard has averaged 20.8 points per 36 minutes in his NBA career, which is a higher rate than Tim Duncan, James Harden, Stephen Curry and Derrick Rose. For a Western Carolina product who weighs 180 pounds soaking wet, that's a stunning achievement that no one could have predicted.
But despite his remarkable scoring numbers, Martin is almost unplayable in clutch situations. He doesn't thrive in the clutch play call of choice, the standard pick-and-roll. He hunts for foul calls, which is not a profitable venture in crunch time when referees tend to swallow their whistle. And to top it all off, he's a matador on defense waiting to be exploited.
If you have followed Martin's career, you may have noticed that most of his teams are horrible in the clutch. When dissecting the Timberwolves' crunch-time woes earlier this season just before the All-Star break, I discovered that only two teams in almost two decades (since the NBA StatsCube database began tracking this stuff in 1997) had been blown out in final-minute-game-within-three scenarios like this season's Timberwolves: the 2008-09 Sacramento Kings and 2010-11 Houston Rockets.
The common thread? Yep, Martin was on all three teams.
But that was before the All-Star break when I ran those numbers. Chew on this one: Of the seven worst teams in superclutch plus-minus since 1997, four of them employed Martin.
Ten worst plus-minus teams in superclutch situations since 1997 (game within three, final minute)
Team +/-
* Kevin Martin teams
2008-09 SAC* -60
2013-14 MIN* -49
2002-03 LAC -48
1999-00 NJN -46
2010-11 PHI -43
2010-11 HOU* -42
2006-07 SAC* -41
1996-97 PHX -40
2003-04 SEA -39
2008-09 DET -39
Falling apart in clutch situations is nothing new for Martin. Granted, on Sunday he watched the closing minutes from the bench after he shot 0-for-8 in his return from his heel injury, so he didn't have a hand in the heartbreaking loss this time around. But ever since he became a go-to scorer in 2006-07, Martin's teams have been outscored by a staggering 37 points every 48 minutes with him on the floor in these clutch situations. A total of 99 players have seen at least 100 superclutch minutes over that time, and no one has fared worse on the scoreboard than Martin.
Of course, Martin isn't solely responsible for all of that hemorrhaging. But it's mind-boggling to see how much Martin and his teams melt when the light shines brightest. Martin has registered a PER of 18.7 since 2007, but that plummets to 12.3 in superclutch situations.
Looking at the team perspective, you won't be surprised to learn that his teams score 107.3 points every 100 possessions with him on the floor overall but that scoring output bottoms out to 94.7 points in superclutch situations. That's a massive drop-off of 12.6 points every 100 possession -- roughly the equivalent to the gap between the Miami Heat's and Philadelphia 76ers' offenses this season.
Martin's basketball twin
This brings us to another question: Have we seen a decline of this magnitude from any other go-to scorers?
This is where it gets downright eerie. I took that list of 99 players who have played at least 100 superclutch minutes since 2007 and whittled it down to the 25 players who have an overall usage rate of at least 25 percent. This is your "go-to scorers" group. Did any one of them see his team's offense dry up quite like Martin's?
One: Richard Hamilton, another wiry shooting guard with a similar off-the-ball game.
If there was such a thing as basketball DNA, Martin and Hamilton would be twins. Hamilton's teams scored 13.0 fewer points per 100 possessions when it came to superclutch situations over that time, just a hair worse than Martin's. No one else was even all that close. (Interestingly enough, Carmelo Anthony's teams have seen a 10.3-point decline on offense.)
This could be a lesson for future teams looking to assemble a potent crunch-time offense. With so-so handle and marginal defensive value, both Martin and Hamilton should be used like starting pitchers. You can ride them for most of the game, but the closing duties may be better suited for others.
The perfect storm of unclutch
After considering Martin's track record, perhaps we should have seen these issues coming when the Timberwolves inked the 31-year-old to a four-year, $28 million deal this past summer. But Martin, for all his warts in crunch time, isn't acting alone. You don't get outscored by 49 points in 22 minutes because of one guy. And as was the case Sunday, Martin sometimes watches the unraveling from the bench.
Ricky Rubio
Bill Baptist/NBAE/Getty Images
Ricky Rubio's inability to score has contributed to the Wolves' late-game problems.
Martin's effect is exacerbated by the compromising presence of Ricky Rubio, who is notoriously inept at scoring. In tight spots, Martin needs a point guard who can suck defenders into the paint and give him space on the 3-point line where he's an elite marksman. But who's going to shade off Martin to help defend Rubio (who is shooting 38 percent this season)? Nobody. At least nobody in their right mind.
What ends up happening, more often than not, is that Martin is left standing in the corner while Rubio and Love run their predictable pick-and-roll actions. Martin's talents become neutered as every defender knows that Rubio wants to get rid of the ball. Martin has made one shot in 16 minutes of superclutch action this season, but it's not his fault that Love is just 1-for-6 from the free throw line in such situations. And as Zach Lowe broke down on Grantland, Minnesota's crunch-time defense has been more flammable than a roll of toilet paper soaked in gasoline. Love certainly is far from innocent on that end as well.
We also can't leave coach Rick Adelman out of the discussion. He oversaw Martin in the 2010-11 season when Houston struggled down the stretch with a blue-collar cast featuring Martin, Luis Scola, Kyle Lowry and Chuck Hayes. Nonetheless, the fact that Adelman squeezed out 43 wins from that roster is incredible and shouldn't be considered a disappointment.
But this Timberwolves team? Yikes. On a per-minute basis, we haven't seen anything like it. Martin has been on some unclutch teams, but this one takes the cake. Getting outscored by 49 points in 22 minutes of action (or 105 points per 48 minutes) is the highest rate since the league started tracking this in 1997. In a season of zany storylines, it's hard to top the debacle that is the Timberwolves with the game on the line.
As we wrap up the regular season this week with detailed postmortems, the Timberwolves might be an afterthought. After all, they just missed the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season. What else is new?
Well, let's stop right there, because this Timberwolves season has been historically heart-wrenching. Of all the numbers we've come across this season, nothing quite hits us like the Timberwolves' crushing late-game performance.
I present to you the single craziest stat of the 2013-14 season: In one-possession games (score within three) in the final minute -- also known as "superclutch" situations -- the Timberwolves have been outscored by 49 points in 22 minutes of action this season. I repeat: 49 points.
Minnesota's opponents have scored 96 points to the Timberwolves' 47. The Timberwolves have been more than doubled up in these tight situations. The result is that, when it should be a coin flip in these situations, Minnesota has lost 18 of those 25 games.
So what happened in Minnesota this season?
Actually, we probably should have seen this coming.
The curse of Kevin Martin
If you were going to engineer a clutch NBA player in a laboratory, it would not look like Martin. By almost all accounts, he is one of the most inspiring underdog stories in the league. The wiry shooting guard has averaged 20.8 points per 36 minutes in his NBA career, which is a higher rate than Tim Duncan, James Harden, Stephen Curry and Derrick Rose. For a Western Carolina product who weighs 180 pounds soaking wet, that's a stunning achievement that no one could have predicted.
But despite his remarkable scoring numbers, Martin is almost unplayable in clutch situations. He doesn't thrive in the clutch play call of choice, the standard pick-and-roll. He hunts for foul calls, which is not a profitable venture in crunch time when referees tend to swallow their whistle. And to top it all off, he's a matador on defense waiting to be exploited.
If you have followed Martin's career, you may have noticed that most of his teams are horrible in the clutch. When dissecting the Timberwolves' crunch-time woes earlier this season just before the All-Star break, I discovered that only two teams in almost two decades (since the NBA StatsCube database began tracking this stuff in 1997) had been blown out in final-minute-game-within-three scenarios like this season's Timberwolves: the 2008-09 Sacramento Kings and 2010-11 Houston Rockets.
The common thread? Yep, Martin was on all three teams.
But that was before the All-Star break when I ran those numbers. Chew on this one: Of the seven worst teams in superclutch plus-minus since 1997, four of them employed Martin.
Ten worst plus-minus teams in superclutch situations since 1997 (game within three, final minute)
Team +/-
* Kevin Martin teams
2008-09 SAC* -60
2013-14 MIN* -49
2002-03 LAC -48
1999-00 NJN -46
2010-11 PHI -43
2010-11 HOU* -42
2006-07 SAC* -41
1996-97 PHX -40
2003-04 SEA -39
2008-09 DET -39
Falling apart in clutch situations is nothing new for Martin. Granted, on Sunday he watched the closing minutes from the bench after he shot 0-for-8 in his return from his heel injury, so he didn't have a hand in the heartbreaking loss this time around. But ever since he became a go-to scorer in 2006-07, Martin's teams have been outscored by a staggering 37 points every 48 minutes with him on the floor in these clutch situations. A total of 99 players have seen at least 100 superclutch minutes over that time, and no one has fared worse on the scoreboard than Martin.
Of course, Martin isn't solely responsible for all of that hemorrhaging. But it's mind-boggling to see how much Martin and his teams melt when the light shines brightest. Martin has registered a PER of 18.7 since 2007, but that plummets to 12.3 in superclutch situations.
Looking at the team perspective, you won't be surprised to learn that his teams score 107.3 points every 100 possessions with him on the floor overall but that scoring output bottoms out to 94.7 points in superclutch situations. That's a massive drop-off of 12.6 points every 100 possession -- roughly the equivalent to the gap between the Miami Heat's and Philadelphia 76ers' offenses this season.
Martin's basketball twin
This brings us to another question: Have we seen a decline of this magnitude from any other go-to scorers?
This is where it gets downright eerie. I took that list of 99 players who have played at least 100 superclutch minutes since 2007 and whittled it down to the 25 players who have an overall usage rate of at least 25 percent. This is your "go-to scorers" group. Did any one of them see his team's offense dry up quite like Martin's?
One: Richard Hamilton, another wiry shooting guard with a similar off-the-ball game.
If there was such a thing as basketball DNA, Martin and Hamilton would be twins. Hamilton's teams scored 13.0 fewer points per 100 possessions when it came to superclutch situations over that time, just a hair worse than Martin's. No one else was even all that close. (Interestingly enough, Carmelo Anthony's teams have seen a 10.3-point decline on offense.)
This could be a lesson for future teams looking to assemble a potent crunch-time offense. With so-so handle and marginal defensive value, both Martin and Hamilton should be used like starting pitchers. You can ride them for most of the game, but the closing duties may be better suited for others.
The perfect storm of unclutch
After considering Martin's track record, perhaps we should have seen these issues coming when the Timberwolves inked the 31-year-old to a four-year, $28 million deal this past summer. But Martin, for all his warts in crunch time, isn't acting alone. You don't get outscored by 49 points in 22 minutes because of one guy. And as was the case Sunday, Martin sometimes watches the unraveling from the bench.
Ricky Rubio
Bill Baptist/NBAE/Getty Images
Ricky Rubio's inability to score has contributed to the Wolves' late-game problems.
Martin's effect is exacerbated by the compromising presence of Ricky Rubio, who is notoriously inept at scoring. In tight spots, Martin needs a point guard who can suck defenders into the paint and give him space on the 3-point line where he's an elite marksman. But who's going to shade off Martin to help defend Rubio (who is shooting 38 percent this season)? Nobody. At least nobody in their right mind.
What ends up happening, more often than not, is that Martin is left standing in the corner while Rubio and Love run their predictable pick-and-roll actions. Martin's talents become neutered as every defender knows that Rubio wants to get rid of the ball. Martin has made one shot in 16 minutes of superclutch action this season, but it's not his fault that Love is just 1-for-6 from the free throw line in such situations. And as Zach Lowe broke down on Grantland, Minnesota's crunch-time defense has been more flammable than a roll of toilet paper soaked in gasoline. Love certainly is far from innocent on that end as well.
We also can't leave coach Rick Adelman out of the discussion. He oversaw Martin in the 2010-11 season when Houston struggled down the stretch with a blue-collar cast featuring Martin, Luis Scola, Kyle Lowry and Chuck Hayes. Nonetheless, the fact that Adelman squeezed out 43 wins from that roster is incredible and shouldn't be considered a disappointment.
But this Timberwolves team? Yikes. On a per-minute basis, we haven't seen anything like it. Martin has been on some unclutch teams, but this one takes the cake. Getting outscored by 49 points in 22 minutes of action (or 105 points per 48 minutes) is the highest rate since the league started tracking this in 1997. In a season of zany storylines, it's hard to top the debacle that is the Timberwolves with the game on the line.
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On paper they suck, their record sucks, their team sucks in real life. That's the reality
Never understood the "should" talk. If they could of they would
calibeebee
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Their sucky-ness is amplified by the fact that they had no reason to tank. They were really just that bad this year. Atlanta tried to tank all year and couldn't because the teams behind them like the Knicks sucked so bad lol
shoeking2101
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He'll move shoes for sure. All star caliber PG that stays on the floor and probably most important, he plays on a winner which allows him to be on National TV a lot, allows them to be more liberal in the spots they run for him, etc. They had to pay him because if they didn't i'm sure they would have lost him to Nike. This also doesn't happen if rose is still on the floor obviously.
stayblessed
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Can someone explain to me that follows the kings closely why they are so bad? I mean they have a decent pg and center in Evans and cousins , shouldn't that be enough for a .500 team ?
Will be disappointed if suns don't make playoffs they've had a hell of a year
Will be disappointed if suns don't make playoffs they've had a hell of a year
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do work son
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just playing devils advocate here:
they won 54 games last year. the 3-6 seed range this year is 42-47 wins. you don't generally expect for a team without complete roster overhaul to go from a 54 win season to a 35 win season, ESPECIALLY in a weaker conference.
i was about to give this a rational response, and then i read the bolded part.
i'll do it anyways. the kings when healthy (zeke, boogie, and gay) they aren't slouches. their role players aren't special, but it's a competitive roster. problem is, they havent had those 3 players healthy together for very many games.
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Not to mention the phill Jackson garbage they threw In for the media to eat up.
EddieDoyers
formerly eddiengambino
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Mediocre coaching and a lot of shoot first egos will ruin a team
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Aren't Thomas and Cousins both significant defensive liabilities, also?
As far as the Knicks, yeah coming into the season you would have expected them to do better than this. But you can't say "should have" after we've actually seen the quality of team they are. Honestly they probably overachieved last season. Depending heavily on J.R. Smith playing at a near all-star level, old Tyson Chandler remaining an elite defensive presence, Ray Felton at PG, and the black hole of ball movement and leadership that is Carmelo Anthony? That was not going to last.
do work son
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a lot of the knicks problems are a coaching issue. everyone on that team just looks like they have no idea what to do. i can't tell you how many times i've seen melo get the ball to THJR and him just shrivel in the moment and give it back to melo. he's literally having to do everything, because no one else is capable of doing anything 
i don't think cousins is a bad defender, he just picks up stupid fouls more than he should. he'll learn.
i don't think cousins is a bad defender, he just picks up stupid fouls more than he should. he'll learn.
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That's the only way he can thrive. Seriously. This season is probably the best he's ever had because he has that excuse for not making his teammates better in any way.a lot of the knicks problems are a coaching issue. everyone on that team just looks like they have no idea what to do. i can't tell you how many times i've seen melo get the ball to THJR and him just shrivel in the moment and give it back to melo. he's literally having to do everything, because no one else is capable of doing anything
i don't think cousins is a bad defender, he just picks up stupid fouls more than he should. he'll learn.
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Reggie Evans???
Or Tyreke Evans????
Neither is a pg tho
And one of them isn't on the team anymore
Or Tyreke Evans????
Neither is a pg tho
And one of them isn't on the team anymore
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knicks are the best team on rolling paper
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