2013-2014 NBA Thread - IND @ WAS and OKC @ LAC on ESPN

[worldbeefreeg]

Anything that involves paying a 30 year old Carmelo Anthony 150 mill for 5 years isn't good for anybody other than Carmelo Anthony.

HArden is a better passer than Melo but I laugh at the term facilitator, he is none of the such.

Id say Carmelo still has a good three years of high-level play left in him. For as much as everyone makes fun of his body, he is incredibly durable and doesn't break down. Explosive guards are the type of guys who tend to break down, I don't see any health reasons as to why that contract would make me scared.

Once again, I'm not even a Carmelo fan but I don't think I've ever seen a player of his caliber be constantly ******* on and treated like a bum.

 

[Moheezy]

Melo plays more defense than he gets credit for. He's not a revolving door like people like to pretend he is. He's decent 1v1. His problem is weak side help and transition defense. Both things Thibs can mask. He'll never be a great defender but he can definitely go from decent to solid on the Bulls. Watching guards reek havoc on the Knicks and expecting better defensive help from Melo has been jokes this year, to say the least.

Exactly.

 

[grandtheftbike]

at all these 'please dont let the heat get him' like miami isnt a favorite to win without him

 

[Moheezy]

Crazy that Bynum was considered a top 5 center just two years ago now he's reduced to this.

Getting rid of Deng was necessary, but I'll miss the guy. A true class act.

Bynum was actually considered a top 2 center and was the best offensive center in the league.

 

[antidope]

me a troll cause i'm kickin facts right?





You Melo fan boys are funny. What kind of offense does Melo bring to the table when he is shooting terribly? please explain this to me and all the other people that claim Melo is still the best offensive player in the league

Melo HAS a good post game, why he doesnt post mroe is anyones guess, but I'm sure under a coach who doesnt love ISO to deah he would post in game time situations.

 

[don ramon]

#kickinfacts

 

[illmatic34]

at all these 'please dont let the heat get him' like miami isnt a favorite to win without him

Exactly.

And for the record, his reps said he doesn't even want to play basketball anymore. Maybe it would be different in Miami but he might just retire.

 

[proshares]

Kevin Durant's torrid MVP pace.

Spoiler

LeBron James, you officially have company.

James might be the best basketball player on the planet, but so far this season, someone else has been better by almost any measure.

And his name is Kevin Wayne Durant.

James led the NBA in player efficiency rating for most of the season by a wide margin and generally hasn't been challenged in that metric for years. But Durant, in his age-25 season, has finally closed the gap and eclipsed James' rate after a ridiculous weekend of hooping. Durant torched the Minnesota Timberwolves for 48 points and seven assists in a narrow victory on Saturday and then put up 21 and eight assists in just 27 minutes of action during a blowout win the very next day against the visiting Boston Celtics. Pity the Utah Jazz, who face Durant's wrath Tuesday.

Glance at the PER leaderboard and you'll see that Durant is now king with a 29.1 rating, which currently betters James' rate of 29.0. Remember, PER is a per-minute metric that adjusts for playing time, so the fact that Durant has played an extra game doesn't affect the standings. WARP, the all-in-one metric of my Per Diem colleague Kevin Pelton, also puts Durant in the lead with a 9.0 rating. Win shares, found at Basketball-Reference.com, point to Durant as the season's best as well.

Traditional numbers also gush about Durant's campaign. So far, Durant has been the NBA's scoring leader by far with 29.0 points per game (only Kevin Love is within striking distance, at 26.4), but he's shooting 49.6 percent from the floor, 42 percent from downtown and 88.4 percent from the free throw line. Not only that, Durant continues to expand his game in other areas, pulling down rebounds (12 percent of all available boards) and dishing out assists (assisting an estimated 23.4 percent of his teammates' baskets while on the floor) at career-high rates.

Put it all together and you have the NBA's finest player thus far, even better than James, whose shooting efficiency is still at an all-time rate but the rest of his numbers are down. Looking at the big picture, the Thunder remain the class of a loaded Western Conference with a sparkling 27-7 record and haven't missed a step without Russell Westbrook, who has missed OKC's last six games after getting his right knee scoped Dec. 27. Since the bad news on Westbrook, the Thunder have gone 4-2 with narrow defeats at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers and the Brooklyn Nets.

And here's the thing about the Westbrook injury: The numbers say Durant hasn't missed his co-pilot at all. In fact, Durant's been playing at superhuman levels without his star point guard. In the past six games, Durant is averaging 32.8 points, 9.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists on 51.9 percent shooting from the floor and 40.5 percent shooting from downtown. This follows a fascinating trend that has been true all season: Durant has played much better with Westbrook on the bench.

Get this: According to NBA's StatsCube database, Durant has put up a 35.4 PER in the 488 minutes with Westbrook riding pine.

I repeat, 35.4 PER.

Durant Without Westbrook
Here are Durant's per-36-minutes numbers this season as well as his PER, usage rate and true shooting percentage depending on whether Westbrook is in or out of the game.

Mins Pts Reb Ast PER USG% TS%
Westbrook off 488 31.1 9.4 4.6 35.4 33.7 65.1
Westbrook on 789 25.7 7.0 4.8 25.4 28.3 61.6
The highest PER figure of all-time, by the way, is 31.8, set by Wilt Chamberlain in 1962-63, according to Basketball-Reference.com. Durant has exceeded that and then some with Westbrook sidelined.

In those situations, Durant has become more prolific and more deadly with his shot, posting a LeBron-like 65.1 true shooting percentage (a shooting percentage that incorporates free throw shooting and the added value of 3-pointers) and a 33.7 percent usage rate, which would lead the league. His rebounding numbers jump to 9.4 boards per 36 minutes, which make sense given that Westbrook is an elite rebounder at his position.

So what happens to that number when Westbrook checks into the game? Durant's numbers slide pretty much across the board.

Durant's PER drops to a 25.4 figure, which would rank eighth in the league. His true shooting percentage has drops from 65.1 percent to a less-ridiculous-but-still-really good 61.6 percent. His rebounding numbers fall to just seven boards every 36 minutes and his usage rate drops to 28.3 as he shares the ball with Westbrook, who actually has the highest usage rate in the NBA at 31.9 percent.

But the big thing here is that the Thunder, as a team, have been able to weather the storm without Westbrook. Durant's numbers are way up, but more importantly, the Thunder's offense looks nothing like the overwhelmed squad that the Memphis Grizzlies mauled in the playoffs last season.

In the Western Conference semifinals, the Thunder put up just 95.4 points per 100 possessions in the 4-1 defeat and generally looked overwhelmed by the Griz. Sure, Durant and company got away with simple stuff against the Houston Rockets in the first round, but against an elite defense with the benefit of playoff prep, the Westbrook-less Thunder got smoked.

This season's a different story. The Thunder are scoring 108.1 points per 100 possessions with Durant on the floor and Westbrook off of it, which is actually slightly better than their offensive efficiency with the two playing together (107.0).

Why no dropoff?

For one, Westbrook wasn't sharp immediately upon arrival this season, so even with Westbrook the Thunder weren't exactly running on all cylinders. Secondly, the Thunder have had an entire offseason to adjust to the hypothetical of a world without Westbrook, unlike the postseason run. Preparation is kind of a big deal.

Together, the salaries of Jackson, Lamb and Adams combine for less than what the Timberwolves are paying Martin this season. That's how you build a roster on a tight budget.
Lastly and most importantly, the development from third-year point guard Reggie Jackson, who has been one of the league's most improved players this season, has changed the game. No longer can opposing defenses constantly throw four players onto Durant and expect to live to tell the story. Jackson's outing on Sunday, when he scored a career-high 27 points, wasn't a fluke; Jackson has been brilliant on both ends so far playing off of Durant and vice versa.

Multiple times in Sunday's game, even Avery Bradley looked helpless trying to stay in front of Jackson as the rest of the C's defense kept its eyes on Durant. With three treys on Sunday, Jackson has raised his 3-point conversion rate to a solid 33 percent and has already made more three-balls than he did all of last season in 129 fewer minutes.

Jackson isn't the only member of Durant's supporting cast that has kept defenses more honest. Rookie Steven Adams, who was drafted using Houston's pick in the James Harden deal, has also given Scott Brooks even more reason not to play Kendrick Perkins, though the veteran still inexplicably starts for an elite team. Jeremy Lamb, the Kevin Martin successor, is scoring 17 points per 36 minutes and drilling 40 percent of his 3s.

Together, the salaries of Jackson, Lamb and Adams combine for less than what the Timberwolves are paying Martin this season. That's how you build a roster on a tight budget.

In the end, Durant has taken the lead in the MVP race thanks in no small part to the improvement of his teammates. They allow him to do his MVP-caliber work even without Westbrook. A rising tide raises all ships in basketball as well. Though the Thunder will need Westbrook for the title run, the ever-growing talents of Durant have kept Oklahoma City afloat. If things hold, Durant won't finish second behind James in the MVP vote yet again. For now, Durant has James beaten with better numbers and, with Westbrook out, a better story.

 

[ravagebx]

 

Melo plays more defense than he gets credit for. He's not a revolving door like people like to pretend he is. He's decent 1v1. His problem is weak side help and transition defense. Both things Thibs can mask. He'll never be a great defender but he can definitely go from decent to solid on the Bulls. Watching guards reek havoc on the Knicks and expecting better defensive help from Melo has been jokes this year, to say the least.

Exactly.

Sigh lol. That's every game for us. Bulls also have less of a tendency to lose their players so there's less of a need for help defense. That'd also be in Melo's favor.

 

[rillo561]

They don't need anymore help, plus screw rewarding that idiot (bynum) for bad behavior. No ring for you!

 

[100027]

In theory the ball movement should have improved when Melo missed those 3 games this year. That ball stopper, that cancer was removed, but did the Knicks win games and look exciting on offense? No, they played ****tier than they've played all year.

Melo takes the Bulls to the Finals pending they hold onto Joakim Noah. Chicago would be stupid to trade him without getting a lottery pick in return.

Meh I mean that's Woodson's system that he build to emphasize Melo and didn't change at all in his absence. There's no evidence to suggest that Melo can play in an offense that does move the ball well.

 

[jjs07]

Melo plays more defense than he gets credit for. He's not a revolving door like people like to pretend he is. He's decent 1v1. His problem is weak side help and transition defense. Both things Thibs can mask. He'll never be a great defender but he can definitely go from decent to solid on the Bulls. Watching guards reek havoc on the Knicks and expecting better defensive help from Melo has been jokes this year, to say the least.

It's kinda like Boozer....before Thibs got there, I couldn't tell you how many times I heard people complaining about Boozer's defense. He's obviously not great at it, but the overall team effort does help hide some of his deficiencies.

If the Bulls re-tool correctly AND add Melo....****, that's going to be a very dangerous team, and one that should be a LEGIT top-3 in the east. And by legit, I mean the conversation about them isn't prefaced by saying "if they were in the West...."

 

[akhi]

Bulls should have given Deng $12MM per in good faith b/c of the spinal tap deal and the OD minutes played

On the open market I wouldn't give him more than $10MM per though

 

[addict4sneakers]

Deng wanted 15-16 m's

 

[coldcity]

Deng wanted 15-16 m's

Too much
Move was needed

 

[301216baller]

thats a good look for Cleveland

 

[finallyfamous]

thats a good look for Cleveland

 

[EddieDoyers]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/grizzlies-thunder-celtics-pull-off-164857269--nba.html
3 way trade between the Grizzles, Thunder, and Celtics
Grizzles get Courtney Lee and 2016 2nd round pick from Celtics
Celtics get Jerryd Bayless and Ryan Gomes
Thunder get 2017 2nd round pick from Grizzles

 

[rook]

Bulls should have given Deng $12MM per in good faith b/c of the spinal tap deal and the OD minutes played

On the open market I wouldn't give him more than $10MM per though

Eh. This DRose situation changed everything. Plus we're talking about the Bulls here.

This allows the bulls to make major moves in the offseason. Only thing is they still wont get a lottery because they play in the east and they will win enough to make the playoffs imo

 

[secretzofwar]

HArden is a better passer than Melo but I laugh at the term facilitator, he is none of the such.

Id say Carmelo still has a good three years of high-level play left in him. For as much as everyone makes fun of his body, he is incredibly durable and doesn't break down. Explosive guards are the type of guys who tend to break down, I don't see any health reasons as to why that contract would make me scared.

Once again, I'm not even a Carmelo fan but I don't think I've ever seen a player of his caliber be constantly ******* on and treated like a bum.

Paul Pierce 2.0

 

[dipsetgeneral]

Don't like to see Courtney Lee go. I like his defense alot, and his transition game.

I really never thought Luol would be traded. Why did Chicago go ahead and do it? Financial reasons? Luol's production? Bynum is gonna be out of the league in a year or two. He's now become a journeyman.

 

[Master Zik]

So ppl like you are still alive and kicking.

lol at people like you thinking Melo can help save a franchise....

Yeah cuz if Melo can't help a franchise that must mean he's on the level of Rudy Gay

@ Melo is all hype.

Guess your ilk is alive and thriving off the scraps

me a troll cause i'm kickin facts right?

You Melo fan boys are funny. What kind of offense does Melo bring to the table when he is shooting terribly? please explain this to me and all the other people that claim Melo is still the best offensive player in the league

What facts?????

Prove Melo is on the same level as Rudy Gay.

We gotta be fanboys now not to agree with your stupid posts?

Rav is right though, I'm not gonna continue to feed a troll. Have your few pgs to get some attention and then fade away.

 

[da r entertainment]

Bulls should have given Deng $12MM per in good faith b/c of the spinal tap deal and the OD minutes played

On the open market I wouldn't give him more than $10MM per though

12 is still too much.

 

[dland24]

I hate trades like the Deng for Bynum trade. Hate them. Bad for the game.

 

[noblekane]

thats a good look for Cleveland

Will be said when he leaves in a few months lol