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

[akhi]

Dwight just needs to keep his game dumbed down if that makes any sense

 Just stick to the Pick n Roll, simple drop step post move and dunks... He will never have Hakeem's footwork and that's fine (only big since that can compare is Luis Scola)



Got 40 off of just hustle and quick decisive moves to the rim, not all this pivot dancing **** that just leads to Bargnani swatting his ****

 

[senorroboto2k5]

i can honestly say on the offensive end he has failed to elevate his game. that will forever be the flaw on his resume. with that being said, he's 10 years in. at some point we have to stop expecting him to turn into hakeem on the block. he is what he is. a dominant defensive center, a rebounding machine, and a guy who gets you lots of easy garbage buckets with effort on the offensive end.

Except he isn't even doing that well/consistently... yet. Not at a star level.

I agree it's unfair to expect Shaq or Hakeem-like dominance out of him on the offensive end, simply because he plays the same position they did. He can still be a juggernaut, a franchise player, and a $90 million man by being a game-changing defensive force. But he's not doing that.

He's changing possessions, protecting the basket, and being imposing... just not at a "star" level. His defensive ability a few years ago was star-level; this is far removed. For now.

 

[wavycrocket]

 
Dwight just needs to keep his game dumbed down if that makes any sense

 Just stick to the Pick n Roll, simple drop step post move and dunks... He will never have Hakeem's footwork and that's fine (only big since that can compare is Luis Scola)



Got 40 off of just hustle and quick decisive moves to the rim, not all this pivot dancing **** that just leads to Bargnani swatting his ****

I agree. Dwight seems to be overthinking it so far on, and listening to what EVERYBODY has to say. Just get deep position, P&R, putbacks and quick moves.....and hes back to a 20ppg scorer.

 

[flyerthandelta]

I think it's safe to say we've seen Dwight Cowards ceiling

 

[100027]

 
Dwight just needs to keep his game dumbed down if that makes any sense

 Just stick to the Pick n Roll, simple drop step post move and dunks... He will never have Hakeem's footwork and that's fine (only big since that can compare is Luis Scola)



Got 40 off of just hustle and quick decisive moves to the rim, not all this pivot dancing **** that just leads to Bargnani swatting his ****

Man that Magic team was awesome.

Shame how quickly they fell apart, because they really seemed to have some nice pieces that year.

It's always sad when a franchise player leaves his original team and becomes hated, then gets worse.  This vid makes me feel bad for Dwight,  I was definitely a fan back then.

 

[IATT]

[h1]The Glorious Bastardry of Andrew Bogut[/h1]
By Zach Lowe on November 15, 2013 1:30 PM ET

Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Images

There are a lot of serious things to say about Golden State, and we'll give those things due space and time at some point. The Warriors are the only team in the top five in both points scored and allowed per possession, a classic signifier of true title contention, as Tom Haberstroh pointed out yesterday. They've been a little foul prone this season, but they were last season, too, and they appear to be even more comfortable running the defensive system Mike Malone installed before leaving to coach the Kings.

Andre Iguodala has fit on both ends of the floor like Ace Ventura's speeding car in a tight parking spot. In this era of the ball-dominant point guard and spread pick-and-roll offenses, the Warriors have constructed a roster that allows their point guard, Stephen Curry, to dribble as much or as little as required on a given night. They can hide him on defense more easily with Iguodala around; Klay Thompson is generally guarding opposing point guards, and Iggy is taking the tough wings. They take a ton of 3s, as they should; only Houston takes more as a percentage of overall shot attempts. http://

They've only scratched the surface of their lineup versatility, since a foot injury has limited Harrison Barnes to 103 minutes so far. The Dubs have played just seven minutes total with Barnes as a small-ball power forward in the lineups that blitzed Denver and troubled San Antonio in the previous postseason, per NBA.com. Draymond Green can play either forward position, and the Dubs have used Green and Barnes as a gigantic wing combination in bigger lineups. They've played heavy minutes without a point guard, an intriguing big-ball look that could persist even when Toney Douglas comes back from injury.

They're "only" 6-3, but they've compiled that record against a brutal early schedule. So, yeah, the Warriors are really good — better than I had anticipated at this stage, honestly. They have some uncertainties, like any team, but it's clear they're going to be very good at basketball.

But they're also fun as hell. The boss and I rated them as the runaway no. 1 in our watchability rankings, and they've only widened the gap over the other 29 teams so far this season. They are irresistible. They have two of the greatest shooters in the league, including perhaps the greatest 3-point bomber ever. Oracle Arena starts buzzing the moment Curry begins dribbling the ball over half court; no other player has such an effect. Four of their five starters bring elite passing — not just good passing, but elite passing — for their positions.

They are watchable in very obvious ways. But they've got the subtleties down, too. Witness the glorious bastardry of Andrew Bogut, one of the league's great purveyors of dirty tricks the referees always seem to miss:

Did you catch what Bogut did there? The play is a routine Iggy-Bogut pick-and-roll. Bogut's man, Steven Adams, shows fairly hard on Iggy, forcing Serge Ibaka to shift away from David Lee along the baseline and prepare to help on Bogut's roll to the hoop. Iggy reads the help and dishes to Lee, who coaxes in a tough righty layup even though Ibaka has recovered to challenge the shot. Give a dirty-trick assist to Bogut, who clearly has Ibaka's left arm hooked:

Oh, there were more. Bogut manages to poke the ball away from Ibaka in the lane on this Durant-Ibaka pick-and-roll without losing track of Adams:

The tight spacing here helps him patrol both guys, but so does the arm lock he has on Adams:

Here's my personal favorite from last night's thrilling Warriors win:

Ibaka is faster than Bogut, and since Bogut briefly slides out of bounds to give David Lee room to post up in the lane, Ibaka has a head start getting down the floor after Lee's miss. What better way to combat that head start than by grabbing Ibaka around the neck and holding him back?

It feels icky to like this stuff, given that I have also called for strict enforcement of illegal screens. But I can't help it. Illegal screens are often blatant, right there in front of referees, easy to spot. (Ditto for those instances in which the defender guarding the screener just shoves the dude out of position with two hands.) Overlooking those calls seems like willful allowance of rule-breaking.

This stuff that Bogut (and other dirty-trick artists) pulls every game? It's a form of basketball art. It lurks in the shadows, in crowds of arms of legs that obscure the referees' vision. It's sort of delightful.

But probably not if you're an opposing big man trying to, you know, move your body around the court in an exercise of your own free will.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/82680/the-glorious-bastardry-of-andrew-bogut

 

[grandtheftbike]

he will be back to a 20ppg scorer if his attempts/game goes up 2-3 shots

this will also depend on houston's lineup and how the defense plays them. the decline % of his fts dont help either

 

[wavycrocket]

 
Man that Magic team was awesome.

Shame how quickly they fell apart, because they really seemed to have some nice pieces that year.

It's always sad when a franchise player leaves his original team and becomes hated, then gets worse.  This vid makes me feel bad for Dwight,  I was definitely a fan back then.

The Blame should be placed on Hedo. He broke that team apart, then went to Toronto and ate his life away. Even though they lost 4-1 in the finals, they were that Courtney Lee missed alley oop from a win, and a derek fisher long 3 from the series being in their favor. SMH.

 

[don ramon]

I think it's safe to say we've seen Dwight Cowards ceiling

i mean is there really anyone willing to argue against this statement?

 

[don ramon]

that's a really good article on bogut by the way

 

[100027]

 
The Blame should be placed on Hedo. He broke that team apart, then went to Toronto and ate his life away. Even though they lost 4-1 in the finals, they were that Courtney Lee missed alley oop from a win, and a derek fisher long 3 from the series being in their favor. SMH.

Yep you're right, they definitely could have beaten L.A.

You know, watching that game (40 pts vs. the Cavs) at the time, I felt like Dwight had just answered a bunch of these questions.  "Can you go to this guy and depend on him to make it happen in a big game?"  Well yeah, he just put up 40 in the closeout game to go to the finals.  He's done it, he can carry a team.  If you remember when they lost Dwight stayed on the court while the Lakers celebrated and said like "I wanted to know how bad it felt to make sure I have the drive not to lose in this position again."  

It's crazy how much our perception of him has changed since then.  And sad, imo.

As far as the downfall of the Magic, Hedo leaving was the big one, but there were a series of poor decisions by Otis Smith, and regressions from everyone except Dwight and SVG.  Hedo had played at an all star level that year, they ran the offense through him, Toronto gave him a big offer that he had to take and the Magic didn't feel they could match, even though Toronto really had no plan for what to do with him.

Meanwhile Courtney Lee, who'd been great as a rookie, was traded for Vince Carter, who was statistically fine but the opposite of Hedo in the fact that he had no leadership skills and was scared of the big moments.  Rashard Lewis got busted for steroids and suspended, never played at an all-star level again (damn shame that guy's career).  And Jameer Nelson remained pretty good for a couple years but never got any better and eventually fell off.

That Magic team actually remained really strong for a few seasons and were very competitive in the East, but yeah, without Hedo and with some bad luck it just never came together again...  Until it all really fell apart.

 

[victor page]

Back then ****** acted like trading Courtney Lee away was like trading Michael Jordan away 

 

[Peep Game]

I think it's safe to say we've seen Dwight Cowards ceiling

Though this may be true, with how frequent it's mentioned, it sounds more like "I hope he never reaches his ceiling again"

 

[do work son]

possible trades for omer asik:

tristan thompson and alonzo gee
brandon bass and jordan crawford
ersan ilyasova and john henson
thad young/spencer hawes and tony wroten
channing frye and gerald green
thomas robinson and wes matthews

 

[100027]

 
Back then ****** acted like trading Courtney Lee away was like trading Michael Jordan away 

Yeah he had that Landry Fields career trajectory.

 

[kevin cleveland]

I wouldn't trade Henson alone for Asik.

And you shouldn't want Jordan Crawford on your team.

Frye and Green sounds alright if you're sticking with this two-for-one thing. Not sure the Suns do it, though.

 

[coldcity]

Back then ****** acted like trading Courtney Lee away was like trading Michael Jordan away 

bulls didnt want to trade asik for coutney & then after he got swindled those idiots didnt even look at courtney in the offseason

 

[do work son]

i can honestly say on the offensive end he has failed to elevate his game. that will forever be the flaw on his resume. with that being said, he's 10 years in. at some point we have to stop expecting him to turn into hakeem on the block. he is what he is. a dominant defensive center, a rebounding machine, and a guy who gets you lots of easy garbage buckets with effort on the offensive end.

Except he isn't even doing that well/consistently... yet. Not at a star level.

I agree it's unfair to expect Shaq or Hakeem-like dominance out of him on the offensive end, simply because he plays the same position they did. He can still be a juggernaut, a franchise player, and a $90 million man by being a game-changing defensive force. But he's not doing that.

He's changing possessions, protecting the basket, and being imposing... just not at a "star" level. His defensive ability a few years ago was star-level; this is far removed. For now.

he's in the top 5 in scoring amongst centers, top 5 in the league in rebounds, and top 5 in blocks. he's doing what is realistically expected of him, in my opinion.

I think it's safe to say we've seen Dwight Cowards ceiling

i mean is there really anyone willing to argue against this statement?

a ceiling of 20/10 isn't really a bad thing.

Reported.

Bro I got hacked, chill out.

I wouldn't trade Henson alone for Asik.

those were done very hastily, via trade machine solely based on what i thought the rockets would look to get back

 

[coldcity]

Reported.

Bro I got hacked, chill out.

 

[beh235]

 

How do NBA players get paid? like twice a week? and do they have to use BBVA?

Its up to the players I believe. Some get paid up front, others weekly/biweekly/monthly etc.

They get paid bi weekly actually, just like regular folk.

Those GM assessments of Carmelo were spot on. Didn't know about that piece of Denver being in dysfunction when he got drafted, but it makes sense since they were a lottery team. They also let him do what he wanted when he got there with little to no veteran leadership, plus he got a pass for winning the tournament. 

 

[markangelo]

They get paid bi weekly actually, just like regular folk.


Those GM assessments of Carmelo were spot on. Didn't know about that piece of Denver being in dysfunction when he got drafted, but it makes sense since they were a lottery team. They also let him do what he wanted when he got there with little to no veteran leadership, plus he got a pass for winning the tournament. 

Jalen and bill simmons talked about this in one of their podcast. Intredasting stuff

 

[beh235]

 

They get paid bi weekly actually, just like regular folk.


Those GM assessments of Carmelo were spot on. Didn't know about that piece of Denver being in dysfunction when he got drafted, but it makes sense since they were a lottery team. They also let him do what he wanted when he got there with little to no veteran leadership, plus he got a pass for winning the tournament. 

Jalen and bill simmons talked about this in one of their podcast. Intredasting stuff

I need to get on the BS report, Simmons is my dude, but I just don't catch the podcast like I should

 

[proshares]

I don't get the "I got hacked"

 

[Moheezy]

Sixers got their 1st rounder this year in the Jrue deal and it's only top 3 protected.

Correction, it's top 5 protected.

 

[lynchpin33]

I think on the podcast they said they have choices to get paid like such:

twice a month during the season
twice a month for the year
or if you have Kobe Bryant money twice a year