25% complete, 1st in the NW Div...

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BrianFromWA

BrianFromWA

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My apologies if I've missed it in other threads, but just kinda thought that this little factoid should be posted a little more prominently...and probably deserves more of an article than a thread, but you guys are way smarter than I am at this...

25% of the season down, 12-8, T-1st place in the NW Div., T-4th in the (ABSOLUTELY LOADED (TM)) Western Conference, 3.5 up on the 9th place team (OKC?!?!?!). They are #5 in Team +/-

Seems like a mix of Defense...
#1 in Opponent eFG%
#3 in DRtg / #5 in NetRtg
#4 in DReb%/Opponents' ORb%
#4 in Blk% (and #29 in steals, for a #28 in Opponents' TOV%)
#5 in fewest opponents' fastbreak points allowed
#8 in opponents' 2nd chance points
#12 in opponents' points in the paint

...and Offense...
#20 in ORtg
#30 in Ast%
#18 in TOV%
#27 in eFG%
#22 in TS%
#19 in Pace
#11 in FTA Rate

hold on, that can't be right. That seems to show that our team defense is Elite Adonal Foyle while our offense, well...

giphy.gif


More to follow later for potential reasons why (Dame shooting 41/34/93 while maintaining a 24.5 PER may have something to do with it, as maybe Ed Davis being #2 in the league in ORB% would as well) but I guess this is a TL;DR way of saying...

coming-to-america-gif.gif


discuss-amongst-yourselves.jpg
 
Great post.

I believe the offense can come around without losing any of our defensive improvements.

It comes down to Stott's finding his rotation. This will help alot on turnovers, guys knowing their roles and fluidity on the court.

We have 2 of the top 20 scorers in the NBA and a top 10-15 Center. Scoring will not continue to be an issue as long as roles are developed and consistency in rotation. Until then our offense will be sporadic.

If we can get our offense into the top 10-12, which I believe it certainly can be, and we can hold onto our Defense, we are poised to make a big splash at the end of the season and open some eyes in the playoffs.
 
Our schedule has been really weak. The signs are encouraging, however-- we still should have about 2 or 3 more wins than we do now given our SOS. But for historical perspective, our record after 20 games:

2017: 12-8
2016: 10-10
2015: 8-12
2014: 16-4
2013: 17-3
2012: 8-12
 
The good sign that our offense looks like it starting to improve. Dame looks like he shooting better and CJ has shooting the ball all season except couple games and Nurk starting play better on both side of the ball. Scoring 108 points against a good a Washington team last game and of course the points we sore on the Nets. Our biggest problems has been turnover this year and if we can correct that part of the game our offense stats should go up.
 
Against this early schedule, I actually expected them to be a couple of games better. It has just been so soft. Even on this trip, 3 of the 4 teams were without their top player. The only team that had their starting lineup, pounded us by 20.

I still want to see what they will look like when they play tougher teams at home and healthy teams on the road. If they are still in 1st place (and with HCA) in another 6 weeks, I'll be impressed.
 
TBpup said:
Against this early schedule, I actually expected them to be a couple of games better. It has just been so soft. Even on this trip, 3 of the 4 teams were without their top player. The only team that had their starting lineup, pounded us by 20.

I still want to see what they will look like when they play tougher teams at home and healthy teams on the road. If they are still in 1st place (and with HCA) in another 6 weeks, I'll be impressed.
Click to expand...

This.

I still think we are a solid starting SF away from being a good team. Right now we are not that good. We could barley beat Nets without their best player. Against the Wiz they dominated us all game without their best player. We lost against the garbage sac kings. Lost to the Nets at home.

Honestly this season has been somewhat a disappointment so far for how easy our schedule is.
 
BrunoSOC said:
We're no playing our best basketball yet. I think we can play better offensive.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm hopeful we continue to improve because most seasons we start out very hot and intense but then drop off after a couple months.
 
BrianFromWA said:
So, not to rain on it with a SSS Alert, but going +61 in the first two games against PHX and IND without being around for the last 12 games of regression, may have something to do with these. I'm intrigued about his fit when he returns, though... tossing Chief in as the starting 3 (with Noah at the 4) would be interesting to see.
Click to expand...
Aminu only played 19 minutes of that first Phoenix game so it’s not counting for that much spread out over those lineups.
 
Eh. Lets see how they do when the schedule gets tougher.
 
I'll be honest I didn't think there was a chance in hell that we'd ever be the division leader after this past summer where every team in the division added all star players.
 
I think the soft starting schedule means you could probably shave a win or two off if they were playing a more robust set of opponents with the same level of production. So, what does that mean? I have no idea. Maybe they'll start putting it together on offense, and maybe the defense isn't a mirage? Ultimtely though, I still think they'll have about 43 wins when it's all said and done; there's just too many "so-called" good teams in the West that still feel like they're getting it together (OKC, most notably) and it's all going to make for a very crowded field in slots 3-10, without a lot of separation.
 
A 12-8 record with the 4th best offense and 17th best defense would feel worse than a 12-8 record with a 17th best offense and 4th best defense.

In scenario 1, that would be our presumed ceiling. Nobody would expect our defense to be better than that, and that would be our ceiling offensively.

In scenario 2, our defense is surprisingly elite, and although it was built off of an easy schedule we've also been missing Aminu. Our offense is underperforming, so if that can improve (which it easily could) and our defense remains solid, we could be very good.
 
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Driew said:
I'll be honest I didn't think there was a chance in hell that we'd ever be the division leader after this past summer where every team in the division added all star players.
Click to expand...
Millsap hasn't been a good fit, Utah list Hayward, Minnesota is solid but lacks shooting and Butler+Wiggins is an awkward wing pair, and OKC is less than the sum of their pieces because of their lack of bench and cohesion.

It should be a lessen to everybody that simply adding a very good player doesn't necessarily make a team that much improved. Cohesion is underrated, and having players who's skillsets compliment each other and who's games work well off each other is very important.

Basketball is more than paper. Most "experts" or "analysts" don't realize this though.
 
And what's amazing is that we haven't won more than two games in a row all season.
 
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