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

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how wealthy is the benson family that grandpops said "here, rita you get a team" (pelicans)?

chick's only 36 years old :smh:
 
I posted earlier

Don't know how I missed it. Sweet

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all star balloting started today. Way too damn early but I'ma be legit angry if Kobe is voted a starter over Steph/Russy/Harden
 
Houston should just fire McHale and bring in SVG. Then all of their problems will be solved.

It seems like McHale runs into some trouble with one or more players every season.


Maybe Asik just didn't want to play

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Does this look like "Put me in the game coach!"?:lol:

:lol: :lol:

If this whole "twin towers" thing actually worked, there wouldn't be a problem, and everybody would be happy. But instead, it doesn't work efficiently enough, on top of McHale not making rotations correctly and not making half time adjustments. He's a great personality, but a terrible coach. Never seen someone as lackadaisical as him. He only played 7 guys against the Sixers (including starters with heavy minutes). Pretty sure if Harden wasn't able to play against NY, he would've done the same. Sure, the players need to play better (including Asik), but McHale is a huge problem with this team.

Twin Towers :lol: .. Duncan and Robinson were Twin Towers. Made their present felt on both sides of the floor.





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I could smack everyone who mention SVG or Ryan Anderson or Jameer on the Rockets.

Dwight doesn't want anyone from his ORL team on this Rockets roster/staff.
 
Ah ok, any smart player would take option B

Bingo. I remember that came up during the lockout. Some players kept getting paid because their contract guaranteed money throughout the year. Guys who got paid only in-season weren't getting anything.
 
Derrick Rose sitting out for a sore hammy? Man, when is this going to end? "We're being extra cautious because he injured himself and had to miss an entire year." You can't do that for the rest of your career and still be considered elite.

The trolling never stops.
 
Derrick Rose sitting out for a sore hammy? Man, when is this going to end? "We're being extra cautious because he injured himself and had to miss an entire year." You can't do that for the rest of your career and still be considered elite.

Stop "slandering" Derrick
 
Love taking game to new heights.

Quick, who's been the NBA's most valuable player this year? It's neither Kevin Durant nor LeBron James, both off to relatively mortal starts. Not Chris Paul either. Paul George? You could make an argument based on his defense, but no. Not even the unstoppable Anthony Davis. No matter your metric of choice -- WARP, PER, win shares -- Kevin Love tops them all, and with a historic level of play.

So far, Love's rate of win shares accumulated per 48 minutes (.342) is the best in NBA history, per Basketball-Reference.com. Win percentage, the per-minute component of my wins above replacement metric, is a bit more demure -- Love would merely rank third since player turnovers were tracked starting in 1978-79 if he kept up this pace (.828), behind LeBron James' 2008-09 campaign (.839) and Michael Jordan in 1988-89 (.830).

Here's how Love has taken his efficiency to otherworldly levels.

An optimized shot chart
Imagine that every player in the NBA had the same shooting ability. (I wonder if you can.) In such a scenario, the only way players could distinguish themselves in terms of their shooting efficiency would be the average value of their shot attempts. As analytical teams -- most notably the Houston Rockets and the Philadelphia 76ers -- have recognized and exploited, there's plenty of advantage to be gained from simply shifting from less efficient 2-point attempts away from the basket to high-value 3-point attempts, shots around the rim and free throws.

Nobody has to tell Love. So far this season, per NBA.com/Stats, he has taken a third of his shots in the restricted area around the basket and slightly more than a third from beyond the 3-point line -- meaning Love has more of both efficient types of shots than 2-point attempts away from the rim. That combination isn't completely unique, but it is rare for big men. The other post players to accomplish the feat so far this season (minimum 50 FGAs) are Josh McRoberts of the Charlotte Bobcats and Philadelphia's Spencer Hawes.

Of course, Hawes and McRoberts aren't go-to scorers like Love, whose 27.1 points per game rank second in the league behind Kevin Durant. Typically, high scorers must rely on the ability to make low-percentage shots at a high rate to succeed offensively. Just two players averaging at least 20 points per game meet the qualification of more shots in both the restricted area and from 3-point range than in between: Love and Houston's James Harden. Add in free throws -- Love attempts eight per game -- and his expected true shooting percentage based on the average value of his shot attempts ranks fifth among 20-PPG scorers:

PlayerTeamRA%Paint%Midrange%3PA%FTA%xTS%
Kevin DurantOKC.349.103.286.262.213.586
James HardenHOU.343.100.143.414.149.577
Eric BledsoePHX.423.117.207.252.146.573
LeBron JamesMIA.453.125.203.219.133.569
Kevin LoveMIN.333.137.179.351.144.560
Of course, Love is also a good shooter, particularly around the rim (he's made 73.2 percent of his attempts there) and at the free throw line (84.7 percent), so despite only average results from beyond the arc his .611 true shooting percentage is outstanding for a high scorer. Not bad for someone with "limited natural ability."

Still dominating the glass
Don't think that focusing on efficient scoring has caused Love to forget his roots as a rebounder. For all the time he spends on the perimeter -- his 59 3-point attempts lead the NBA -- Love continues to be a presence on the offensive glass, securing 10.5 percent of the Timberwolves' misses. And he's as dominant as ever at the other end. Only Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers (32.7 percent) surpasses Love's defensive rebound rate (31.3 percent). Combine the two and Love is second to the Rockets' Dwight Howard (21.3 percent) in total rebound rate (20.9 percent), as well as rebounds per game.

Adding assists to the mix
The biggest evolution in Love's game this season has been his increased playmaking. While Love has always been a good passer for a big man, his 5.9 assists per 100 team plays this season is nearly double last year's assist rate (3.1) and up 70 percent over his previous career high (3.5 in 2009-10). That figure ranks third among big men, trailing the aforementioned, surprisingly versatile McRoberts (7.0) and Tim Duncan (6.2).

The NBA's Analytics Movement
ESPN's own advanced metrics guru Dean Oliver offers an insightful overview of how the NBA's analytics movement has evolved and how numbers have changed the league. READ

The Timberwolves are taking advantage of Love's ability as an outlet passer this season, specifically in conjunction with forward Corey Brewer's ability to run the floor. Brewer is releasing quickly in transition, and Love is finding him over the top with long outlets, even off made baskets. As a result, per NBA.com/Stats, more than a third of Love's assists this season (16 of 46) have gone to Brewer alone. Thirteen more have gone to fellow newcomer Kevin Martin.

Those extra assists have come without any increase in Love's turnover rate, a career-low 9.1 percent of his plays. So Love's assist-to-turnover ratio (2.30) is actually better than the average point guard's (2.14).

Team success
Offensively, Love's numbers so far this season aren't that different from what he did in 2010-11. The difference, especially in win shares, is his fine defensive rating, built largely on Minnesota's success as a team. Despite losing their best defender, forward Andrei Kirilenko, the Timberwolves have improved from 14th to sixth in defensive rating. Since Minnesota is also sixth in points scored per possession, the team has started 6-3 with an impressive plus-8.6 point differential, good for third in the league.

If the Timberwolves remain among the contenders in the Western Conference, Love's brilliance will be difficult for MVP voters to deny. As Per Diem colleague Tom Haberstroh explained on Tuesday, the MVP ballot is the exclusive province of players from good teams. Love finished a distant sixth in the voting two years ago, but with a better team around him and an even more efficient game, he's poised to move up the ballot and merit a spot on the All-NBA first team if he keeps up anything like this pace.

Would you say he's added passing this year? Or just getting more assists? I've always thought he was up there with the Gasol's as the better passing big men.

He's always been a good passer IMO. It just so happened that there weren't a lot of guys to pass to the last few years.
 
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