Around the NBA - March 2018

[KingSpeed]

good post, but honestly I don't know if it's really about trust or glory.

Really good point.

 

[Boob-No-More]

good post, but honestly I don't know if it's really about trust or glory.

Yeah, if Westbrook couldn't trust Durant, a 4-time scoring champ and member of the elite 50/40/90 club, than he's an even bigger dumb shit than I thought.

In Russ' case, it's definitely all about individual glory. Why the hell else would he freeze out Durant, Harden and PG13? Those guys are all much more efficient scorers than Westbrook, yet he's the one calling his own number with the game on the line.

BNM

 

[SheedSoNasty]

Vonleh has been having some nice stat lines lately. Put up 14/13 tonight. I’m still bummed we let him go.

 

[KingSpeed]

Yeah, if Westbrook couldn't trust Durant, a 4-time scoring champ and member of the elite 50/40/90 club, than he's an even bigger dumb shit than I thought.

In Russ' case, it's definitely all about individual glory. Why the hell else would he freeze out Durant, Harden and PG13? Those guys are all much more efficient scorers than Westbrook, yet he's the one calling his own number with the game on the line.

BNM

But but but he gets lots of assists and triple doubles!!! He's a team player!

 

[Boob-No-More]

Vonleh has been having some nice stat lines lately. Put up 14/13 tonight. I’m still bummed we let him go.

I'm happy for Noah. Always seemed like a good dude and a good teammate. I wonder what kind of offers he'll get this summer and if CHI will match. He's still very young and a solid defender and rebounder.

But, he lost his spot here in the rotation to an even younger player. It sucks that we had to let him go, but it was a numbers game. He was the odd man out and keeping him would have put us over the tax line and started year one of the inevitable repeater tax penalties. Simply not worth it for a guy who wasn't even in the rotation.

BNM

 

[Boob-No-More]

But but but he gets lots of assists and triple doubles!!! He's a team player!

They may fawn all over his meaningless triple doubles, but I don't think even the biggest Westbrook fanboi has ever called him a team player. Russ is all about one team, and one team only - Team Westbrook.

BNM

 

[jlprk]

Here's a strange site. Usually you see a list of the BEST players in a particular stat. This page lists the WORST players. They call them "trailers."

https://www.basketball-reference.com/trailers/

 

[AFully22]

I'm happy for Noah. Always seemed like a good dude and a good teammate. I wonder what kind of offers he'll get this summer and if CHI will match. He's still very young and a solid defender and rebounder.

But, he lost his spot here in the rotation to an even younger player. It sucks that we had to let him go, but it was a numbers game. He was the odd man out and keeping him would have put us over the tax line and started year one of the inevitable repeater tax penalties. Simply not worth it for a guy who wasn't even in the rotation.

BNM

I’m not sure if anyone heard the Charlotte play by play guy on local radio a couple weeks ago but he said they essentially gave up on Vonleh half way through his first year because he just couldn’t make changes to his game or learn from coaching.

He said it would take Vonleh 3 weeks to learn something that Kaminski learned in a day. Mentioned how they were going to move him no matter what that off season and were stoked they were able to get Batum in return because they knew Vonleh was more than less always going to be the player he was when they drafted him. I thought that sounded about right when looking back at his time here.

 

[jlprk]

Vonleh has been having some nice stat lines lately. Put up 14/13 tonight. I’m still bummed we let him go.

I'm bummed that we got nothing for Batum. And for how slow Olshey is to make a decision early and get something while he can (e.g. Leonard). Charlotte decided about Vonleh fast.

they essentially gave up on Vonleh half way through his first year

Same Olshey mistake: Thomas Robinson.

 

[Sarni]

It's all about trust. Westbrook wants to win and he doesn't trust anyone but himself. Look at our team. Aminu can miss 5 straight threes but his teammates still trust him and he often delivers a clutch three late in the game. Dame trusts CJ. Dame trusts Nurkic. Everyone trusts Mo from behind the line. You have to earn the trust sure but you must trust each other to win this game.

I actually reckon it’s more about the highlights. The shots like the one he has against Nuggets last year (which was a pretty meaningless shot, to be fair) are what will eventually make his career highlights clip exciting and they appear on so many NBA commercials that Westbrook wants to have as many of them as possible during his career. He probably knows his team is not good enough to win the titles and has been disillusioned with any competitiveness they might provide to the big boys that ever since Durant left it is all about having as many spectacular nights as possible and as many highlight reel moments as he can possibly get.

He seems like the sort of player who would choose one 35 ft buzzer beater against Hawks over five wins in a row against good teams with someone else on his team putting up the big numbers instead.

 

[joeBlazers]

Remember what Oladipo looked like when playing with Russ last season? See how he is doing this year in Indiana.
I wonder how Carmelo feels ... When they are bounced in the first round by Houston, PG and Melo will be gone from that village called Oklahoma City.
disclaimer: I just hate that they stole the Sonics from Seattle.

 

[H.C.]

See the main difference between Lillard & Westbrick to me is this.
Lillard doesn't care about personal numbers like Westbrick does.

 

[Sarni]

Remember what Oladipo looked like when playing with Russ last season? See how he is doing this year in Indiana.
I wonder how Carmelo feels ... When they are bounced in the first round by Houston, PG and Melo will be gone from that village called Oklahoma City.
disclaimer: I just hate that they stole the Sonics from Seattle.

Oladipo is an amazing case, he wasn’t that good at Magic to begin with which is why they even had to add a good first round pick to exchange him for an expiring Ibaka. He was actually better last season at Thunder than he used to be at Orlando but still wasn’t really all that good.

Then something happened to his confidence when he joined Indiana and he reached a totally different level of basketball. I think he just found a perfect system to play in, one in which he is the focal point of their attack but also he is surrounded by good, experienced players who know how to help the team. He is definitely a top 5 shooting guard this year.

Indiana have been the biggest surprise of the season for sure. They are the equivalent of our team from 2015-16 season and Oladipo is their slightly superior McCollum from that season. They don’t have a Lillard though but they also have better players at wings and in the front court.

 

[Lukee]

And I’d ALSO argue that if Lillard played next to a superstar like Westbrook has his whole career his percentages would be even higher. He doesn’t take crazy shots because he’s selfish. He takes them because most of the time, he has to. Westbrook only cares about Westbrook.

THIS

 

[stampedehero]

LeBron should and will go to the Sixers.

Ya...If he could play for any NBA Eastern Conference team, is should be the fresh exciting Sixer team. Lebron should help the NBA by joining an Eastern team rather than overload the West with his great abilities.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

That was fucking awesome!

 

[handiman]

It's not a double standard. .370 is above league average. Someone posted a while back and they mentioned it during one of the national broadcasts that Steph Curry is the only player who shoots a higher percentage on deep 3s than Dame.

Hmm, I remember a contradictory stat earlier this year, showing that Dame was actually below league average on "deep" 3's. Sounds like someone is fudging the numbers one way or the other.

 

[Scalma]

Remember what Oladipo looked like when playing with Russ last season? See how he is doing this year in Indiana.
I wonder how Carmelo feels ... When they are bounced in the first round by Houston, PG and Melo will be gone from that village called Oklahoma City.
disclaimer: I just hate that they stole the Sonics from Seattle.

There's like a 0% chance Melo opts out. OKC is stuck with him. They'll most likely lose George though.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Hmm, I remember a contradictory stat earlier this year, showing that Dame was actually below league average on "deep" 3's. Sounds like someone is fudging the numbers one way or the other.

The numbers I've heard are 38% and 39% on "deep" threes. Someone posted it here and it was also mentioned on one of the national broadcasts. I think it may have been Reggie Miller on one one the "Players Only" games.

I'm sure it's gone up and down multiple times over the course of the season, and it also depends on how "deep" is defined, but I don't think anyone is actually fudging anything.

BNM

 

[Boob-No-More]

There's like a 0% chance Melo opts out. OKC is stuck with him. They'll most likely lose George though.

Agreed. In this climate, after the crap season he's had, no one is giving 34-year old Carmelo Anthony anywhere near the $28 million he will cost OKC by opting in.

His days of big money contracts are in the rear view mirror as he transitions from highly paid franchise player to veteran ring chasing role player. Next year will be his last big payday.

BNM

 

[Haakzilla]

...what's up with RoLo this year?! this is not the first time he has completely lost it this year -- does he really miss Portland THAT much?!

NOTE: the chair throwing incident --> http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...-ejected-sacramento-back-back-ts-throws-chair

 

[handiman]

and it also depends on how "deep" is defined, but I don't think anyone is actually fudging anything.

That's what I meant by fudging. Selective data.

 

[dviss1]

PREFECT!

 

[Lanny]

Anyone know of a website that lists player stats by quarter? I'd like to check Russ's.

Mike Rice used to subscribe to such a site but he had to pay for it.

 

[KingSpeed]

Oladipo is an amazing case, he wasn’t that good at Magic to begin with which is why they even had to add a good first round pick to exchange him for an expiring Ibaka. He was actually better last season at Thunder than he used to be at Orlando but still wasn’t really all that good.

Then something happened to his confidence when he joined Indiana and he reached a totally different level of basketball. I think he just found a perfect system to play in, one in which he is the focal point of their attack but also he is surrounded by good, experienced players who know how to help the team. He is definitely a top 5 shooting guard this year.

Indiana have been the biggest surprise of the season for sure. They are the equivalent of our team from 2015-16 season and Oladipo is their slightly superior McCollum from that season. They don’t have a Lillard though but they also have better players at wings and in the front court.

Magic Johnson said Oladipo was going to be the next Jordan. I remember Olshey trying to trade up for him.

http://www.espn.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/60575/is-victor-oladipo-the-next-michael-jordan

 

[DDolla]

So Go Blazers!, Cavs, Mavs and ugh OKC?

 

[Boob-No-More]

So Go Blazers!, Cavs, Mavs and ugh OKC?

No, we want DEN to beat OKC. DEN isn't a threat to catch us.

Go POR (over LAC), CLE (over NOP), DAL (over MIN), MEM (over UTA) and DEN (over OKC)!!!

BNM

 

[KingSpeed]

No, we want DEN to beat OKC. DEN isn't a threat to catch us.

Go POR (over LAC), CLE (over NOP), DAL (over MIN), MEM (over UTA) and DEN (over OKC)!!!

BNM

If Cleveland and Denver win and Houston beats SA on Sunday, and we win our next 3 games (LAC, Memphis, @Dallas), we are three seed and can chill for the last week of the season.

Go Blazers

 

[BonesJones]

If Cleveland and Denver win and Houston beats SA tomorrow, and we win our next 3 games (LAC, Memphis, @Dallas), we are three seed and can chill for the last week of the season.

Go Blazers

Not counting on Denver.. They're trash.

 

[BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94]

TIL that Mo Williams and Corey Brewer have the #1 and #2 top single game scoring record for the Timberwolves lol