Interesting article from ESPN insider Kevin Pelton projecting the Western All-stars http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10168582/nba-early-leaders-west-all-star-squad His rankings are based on WARP, in which LaMarcus is a starter with Durant and Love. Lillard is a reserve behind CP3 and Curry.
TRADE BATUM AND WES!!! It's really quite funny to me that Pelton and Golliver said Wes would be traded, that he couldn't close games, and that he wasn't the answer at SG. Pelton needs a spread sheet to tell him who is good. Apparently, he can't determine that from watching a Blazer game.
One through five, we might have the best starting five in basketball. Dame and LA could be one of the best one/two punches in the league, and Batum is the perfect third start. He can do so many different things. Wes is really just icing on the cake.
Our core starting four is lethal. They were all very good together last year and have each improved. I love what Lopez is doing for this team but really if you put Freeland, Leonard, Jeff Withey, a lot of centers from any team with those four guys you have a special group.
I can understand Pelton, how is he going to follow every single player for every team in the NBA? Relying on stats for a lot of analysis is fine, and he admits to that being his basis for evaluation. But reporters who solely follow one team should know more about players than just box scores.
I disagree. Lopez is an integral part of what we do on offense. Joel isn't even remotely good at scoring. Leonard is probably a better scorer, but not nearly as good at defense or rebounding. Jeff Withey?
Hmm, then why weren't we MUCH better last year with that same core four and JJ Hickson as a center? Gramps...
If you use Hollingers EWA then Matthews is behind Harden Ellis Dragic and Martin. Batum is still ranked 2nd just barely above Parsons but is behind Leonard and Parson in PER. Matthews is behind Ellis, Dragic, Ginobili, Allen and Martin in PER. Both of them have been good this year especially Matthews shooting and the team has be great. I am not sure both of them are actually the second best at their positions in the conference. Still it is nice to get good press.
Because those four players have all improved a lot since last year, especially Damian. Lopez is a part of it but I suspect the team would be much better with anyone at center.
