Nice comment by Brad Botkin of CBS Sports in regards to Ja Morant "he's virtually indefensible (unless you're Gary Payton II, who could smother a tornado)."
Mavs lose to Knicks, Jazz lose to Cavs. Lakers losing to the Kangz (down 10 with 3 minutes left, still a toss up). Bad day for the west, but good for the Dubs.
If Lillard is going for surgery, I gotta think the Blazers are getting close to being sellers at the deadline and just outright tanking. McCollum, Nurkic, Covington, Nance, they have a lot of guys I could see teams wanting.
Not a trade discussion, but a question on my mind is how people would compare this year's team and the dynasty teams. Assuming this year's team at its best so far, how good is it? Obviously the dynasty teams had different configurations, but I'm thinking about how certain player vs. player comparisons seem -- that is, I'm not thinking about how the system is or the overall team impact, etc. So for example, would you value HB or Wiggins more? I'd argue that given all strengths and weaknesses, Wiggins is becoming more valuable. But someone like Otto vs. say Speights; I think Otto is clearly better. Poole is I better than Barbosa but not by that much, really, yet. Livingstone vs. Poole I'll take Poole. Livingstone vs GPII who knows? Curry vs. himself is now worse, Draymond might be now better due to understanding the game. Klay, the jury is out. Iguodala old now. [Leaving KD out of this, no one is as good as him, pretty much ever anywhere]
Ok, thinking about trades. I have a longer analysis below, but my basic conclusion is that the only assets that would make sense to trade now are OPJ, GP2, Poole, and possibly the rookies. I'm not saying the Warriors SHOULD trade. But if they do, those are the guys that are most likely to go.
But - it's gotten me thinking about what I'd want in return for a starter. In other words: Wiggins. I figure he's the only one that is even vaguely trade-able. What would actually be an upgrade? I'm thinking a proven big center that can play both offense and defense would be worth it.
It seems that the really good ones are Jokic, Embiid and Gobert. Plus maybe a healthy Anthony Davis. We're not getting any of those players. Sabonis has been putting up pretty gaudy numbers, but every time I watch him play I'm not overwhelmed with greed for him.
No, I don't think a trade that adds a starter to the Dubs is very likely.
About 18 games into the season I noticed that the league was shooting well below historical average on threes. The league average 3P% was the lowest since the late-90s, if I remember correctly. And more interestingly, the percentages on Open and Wide Open were far below what they had been since '13-14 (no prior data).
There was some discussion around the changes in rules (eg. more contact) impacting shooters and I mentioned the new ball as well (TM2007's comment about the new ball is what made me think about this again). The rule change explanation didn't make sense to me since I was looking at Open and Wide Open shots (ie. no defender nearby).
So it's now a little past the mid-point mark of the season and the numbers are still down significantly, though slightly better than through the first 18 games. This season teams are shooting 33.6% when Open on threes (up from 32.8% at the start of this season) and 37.7% when Wide Open (up from 37.2%).
BBALLBREAKDOWN had a video about Steph recently and he pointed out an interesting thing that defenses have been doing specifically to Curry (but I have a feeling it might not be specific to Steph). What he showed in the video was how defenders were intentionally defending him from behind to bother his shot.
One theory I have is that this /might/ explain the drop in Open/Wide Open percentages because either shooters are getting bothered by the defender they can't see, or a trailing defender is not being picked up as being close to the shooter.
The other theory is that the new ball is actually affecting shooters... could be a combination of boths things.
Happy Klay Week indeed! Be even better if we can go on a little win streak starting tomorrow. Maybe I am putting too much into that Utah game, but I believe these guys can rise to the occasion. They usually do after a loss.
Since Klay can't play back to backs yet, if you all had your choice would you sit him vs the Buck or the Bulls? I'm thinking play him vs Bulls so we can have a fresh scorer. Go with the starting lineup from the Utah game vs the Bucks. Starter Otto has been great this season and it will also give Wiggins more room to be aggressive as the number 2.
So... Steph is officially mortal this year, with a 42/38/91 split and a 59% TS. Any ideas? I don't see much... other than missing shots I'm used to watching him make.
Nice comment by Brad Botkin of CBS Sports in regards to Ja Morant "he's virtually indefensible (unless you're Gary Payton II, who could smother a tornado)."
Mavs lose to Knicks, Jazz lose to Cavs. Lakers losing to the Kangz (down 10 with 3 minutes left, still a toss up). Bad day for the west, but good for the Dubs.
If Lillard is going for surgery, I gotta think the Blazers are getting close to being sellers at the deadline and just outright tanking. McCollum, Nurkic, Covington, Nance, they have a lot of guys I could see teams wanting.
Interested to know what you'll think Wiggins role is now that Klay is back to being Klay?
Not a trade discussion, but a question on my mind is how people would compare this year's team and the dynasty teams. Assuming this year's team at its best so far, how good is it? Obviously the dynasty teams had different configurations, but I'm thinking about how certain player vs. player comparisons seem -- that is, I'm not thinking about how the system is or the overall team impact, etc. So for example, would you value HB or Wiggins more? I'd argue that given all strengths and weaknesses, Wiggins is becoming more valuable. But someone like Otto vs. say Speights; I think Otto is clearly better. Poole is I better than Barbosa but not by that much, really, yet. Livingstone vs. Poole I'll take Poole. Livingstone vs GPII who knows? Curry vs. himself is now worse, Draymond might be now better due to understanding the game. Klay, the jury is out. Iguodala old now. [Leaving KD out of this, no one is as good as him, pretty much ever anywhere]
Ok, thinking about trades. I have a longer analysis below, but my basic conclusion is that the only assets that would make sense to trade now are OPJ, GP2, Poole, and possibly the rookies. I'm not saying the Warriors SHOULD trade. But if they do, those are the guys that are most likely to go.
But - it's gotten me thinking about what I'd want in return for a starter. In other words: Wiggins. I figure he's the only one that is even vaguely trade-able. What would actually be an upgrade? I'm thinking a proven big center that can play both offense and defense would be worth it.
Looking at stats (and please substitute your preferred stat) like http://insider.espn.com/nba/hollinger/statistics/_/position/c
It seems that the really good ones are Jokic, Embiid and Gobert. Plus maybe a healthy Anthony Davis. We're not getting any of those players. Sabonis has been putting up pretty gaudy numbers, but every time I watch him play I'm not overwhelmed with greed for him.
No, I don't think a trade that adds a starter to the Dubs is very likely.
Steve Kerr said Green won’t play the next two games, and it’s unlikely he’ll fly in for the Minny game.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Con_Chron/status/1481352306805420034
So no Green for the road trip.
We lost 3 of 4?!? This team is trash! We should have picked LaMelo! Fire the manager!!
Wait, this isn’t a Bucks site? Nevermind, carry on.
I'm predicting that Kerr will have all of the players that are available to play against the Bucks tomorrow evening, then rest the starters on Friday.
About 18 games into the season I noticed that the league was shooting well below historical average on threes. The league average 3P% was the lowest since the late-90s, if I remember correctly. And more interestingly, the percentages on Open and Wide Open were far below what they had been since '13-14 (no prior data).
There was some discussion around the changes in rules (eg. more contact) impacting shooters and I mentioned the new ball as well (TM2007's comment about the new ball is what made me think about this again). The rule change explanation didn't make sense to me since I was looking at Open and Wide Open shots (ie. no defender nearby).
So it's now a little past the mid-point mark of the season and the numbers are still down significantly, though slightly better than through the first 18 games. This season teams are shooting 33.6% when Open on threes (up from 32.8% at the start of this season) and 37.7% when Wide Open (up from 37.2%).
Historical averages going back chronologically:
Open: 0.356 0.345 0.338 0.349 0.352 0.342 0.335 0.349
Wide Open: 0.390 0.384 0.380 0.388 0.382 0.384 0.381 0.391
---
BBALLBREAKDOWN had a video about Steph recently and he pointed out an interesting thing that defenses have been doing specifically to Curry (but I have a feeling it might not be specific to Steph). What he showed in the video was how defenders were intentionally defending him from behind to bother his shot.
One theory I have is that this /might/ explain the drop in Open/Wide Open percentages because either shooters are getting bothered by the defender they can't see, or a trailing defender is not being picked up as being close to the shooter.
The other theory is that the new ball is actually affecting shooters... could be a combination of boths things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n14-krkSvww (BBALLBREAKDOWN vid)
Is Klay going play in the bucks or bulls game?
Happy Klay Week indeed! Be even better if we can go on a little win streak starting tomorrow. Maybe I am putting too much into that Utah game, but I believe these guys can rise to the occasion. They usually do after a loss.
Since Klay can't play back to backs yet, if you all had your choice would you sit him vs the Buck or the Bulls? I'm thinking play him vs Bulls so we can have a fresh scorer. Go with the starting lineup from the Utah game vs the Bucks. Starter Otto has been great this season and it will also give Wiggins more room to be aggressive as the number 2.
So... Steph is officially mortal this year, with a 42/38/91 split and a 59% TS. Any ideas? I don't see much... other than missing shots I'm used to watching him make.