Interesting stuff from Zach Harper in the athletic on the beef between CP3 and scott fosters.
Pretty difficult to suggest below stats are random? What do youll think? Maybe something else is also going on during these games?
“Tom Haberstroh dug up the numbers. CP3’s teams are 3-17 (.150 win percentage) in the playoffs when Foster officiates, dating back to 2007. Bad luck? Maybe. An ax to grind? Considering Paul’s squads are 73-56 (.565 win percentage) in the playoffs without Foster reffing, I’d say so.”
Don't look now, but the Suns are now 11-6 and 7-2 on the road. They beat the following teams on the road: Warriors, Pistons, Bulls, Jazz (x2), Grizzlies, and Knicks. All of the road wins except for the Pistons and Grizzlies wins have been close wins, though.
On another note, the Suns have had the easiest strength of schedule so far, not including tonight's game. Clippers, Grizzlies, Mavericks, and Heat have the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th easiest schedules, respectively.
Some people might roll their eyes, but I think it's a lovely gesture for the city of Akron to open a museum in honor of the second best basketball player to have been born in the city.
I would think about it if I'm ever in the area tbh. I doubt they think it'll be a travel destination, but making a regional point of interest for the most publicly claimed hometown hero makes sense? I've seen weirder tourist traps in the US than this, at least.
The claims about Wembanyama having too high of a center of gravity to really operate down low in the NBA might have some real merit to them. One of the top posts on r/nba says that he has only attempted 40 shots at the rim in half court offense situations in his first 14 games.
The other issue is that he's not a very good shooter but he chucks a lot of them and has a negative A/TO ratio. If the body type prevents him from being a force down low (I'm not sure how much weight he can put on without putting himself at bigger risk for injury), then he's going to have to improve a lot as a shooter and playmaker otherwise how good of an offensive player is he?
Your comment made me have the random thought: do any advanced stats track passes specifically for assists vs TO? Shaq also has a negative assist to TO ratio, but I'm guessing most TO are not in passing situations but just times he got stripped down low/etc. For a guy like CP3, A/TO may reflect how successful his passing is, but for a lot of other guys A/TO really may have little to do with passing.
If "operating down low" means posting up or slow drives and bully ball, then I agree that he isn't quite built that way, at least not yet. But his potential as a roll man on a pnr seems sky high, so to speak. Same with step through stuff or other moves like spins that lead to finishes not quite at the basket: hooks, pushes, scoop shots, midrange. He should be able to get below the foul line on offense quite readily and then it's a matter of can he finish well if he's not dunking.
As far as how good an offensive player he can be, he's averaging 19 points a game despite not being able to shoot from distance, and he has scored 30+ a couple of times, including one 38-point game. So he doesn't suck on offense.
BBref lists Wemby as weighing 209. I expect he'll naturally gain some weight and muscle as his body matures. That doesn't mean he would be a heavyweight but maybe like KD or Kevin Garnett, who weigh about 240 at approximately 6'11" (or maybe 6'12" for KD).
He’s got the green light to try out whatever he wants. He’s got a 52% TS and attempting 5.2 3PA/game even though he’s hitting them at only 26%. He’s up to 82% FT tho, so there very well might be a real 3pt shot in there. If he can find a high shooting motion face up jumper from the elbow, he’s tall enough that he basically couldn’t be bothered… and he could prob hit that 55% or better, which would be excellent half court offense.
I can buy KD and LBJ weigh something closer to each other than you'd expect. 3ish inches of additional person is a lot of extra weight that we wouldn't easily see. Giannis would be like 260 or more in that case though.
He’s also clearly prioritized his skill development on perimeter skills. I do think his legs may ultimately be too long to gain leverage in the post, but I think we both expect him to get better at traditional big man stuff over the next few years. He needs to.
The hype with him was so intense that I think a lot of folks will be disappointed if he doesn't somehow become, simultaneously, the best defensive player in the NBA *and* the best offensive player. That standard was probably never very realistic, but it's interesting to consider that there might be some diminishing returns—or disadvantages, even—on the offensive end to those last three or four inches in height. Especially if their effect is, somewhat counterintuitively, to push his game further from the basket.
"As they say, the best ability is availability. If the combination of old man nagging injuries and immature behavior knocks Dray out, then that is part of what the Dubs have as a team--they WILL play some games without Dray. It is folly to act like you can assume Dray will be there when it matters. He knocked himself out of what would probably have been the final Finals game of the 73-win season, for Christ sake. The man is getting increasingly unreliable when it matters."
Interesting stuff from Zach Harper in the athletic on the beef between CP3 and scott fosters.
Pretty difficult to suggest below stats are random? What do youll think? Maybe something else is also going on during these games?
“Tom Haberstroh dug up the numbers. CP3’s teams are 3-17 (.150 win percentage) in the playoffs when Foster officiates, dating back to 2007. Bad luck? Maybe. An ax to grind? Considering Paul’s squads are 73-56 (.565 win percentage) in the playoffs without Foster reffing, I’d say so.”
5 minutes of GP2 being a shot-blocking menace https://youtu.be/QG6I3zLuOYs?si=dRRbEOjNnOf1AQ5j
It would be cool to see a GP vs GP2 defensive video comparison at some point.
Explain 2 Paytons
E2P! E2P! E2P!
GPII terrorizing the poor souls in the G-League https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chLWrwN5Hws
Don't look now, but the Suns are now 11-6 and 7-2 on the road. They beat the following teams on the road: Warriors, Pistons, Bulls, Jazz (x2), Grizzlies, and Knicks. All of the road wins except for the Pistons and Grizzlies wins have been close wins, though.
On another note, the Suns have had the easiest strength of schedule so far, not including tonight's game. Clippers, Grizzlies, Mavericks, and Heat have the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th easiest schedules, respectively.
have had? or will have?
Have had. They went up against a lot of teams below .500 so far: Spurs (x2), Jazz (x2), Pistons, Grizzlies, Lakers, Warriors (sorry!), and Blazers.
I’m about halfway through this Draymond presser. More “I yam what I yam” talk. https://youtu.be/qn2h-IivCRc?si=qwIW7SC-f_RAouRq
Thanks, he always talks like someone with enough self awareness that he'd be under control, and then the game starts.
"Everyone has a plan until I punch someone in the mouth"
The second half was far more interesting; him addressing the team’s performance
Some people might roll their eyes, but I think it's a lovely gesture for the city of Akron to open a museum in honor of the second best basketball player to have been born in the city.
I think its really odd. Do they really think anyone is going to make a visit to Akron to see it?
"Visit to Akron" isn't really a thing.
I would think about it if I'm ever in the area tbh. I doubt they think it'll be a travel destination, but making a regional point of interest for the most publicly claimed hometown hero makes sense? I've seen weirder tourist traps in the US than this, at least.
Yeah, we came across a Lucille Ball museum in her home town between Buffalo and Pittsburg. All kinds of funny small museums out there in America.
Yeah but that's actually awesome.
Portland up 81-58 on the Bucks in Milwaukee… Bucks have everybody except Middleton playing… yeesh
Lol 3 point game now. You jinxed them
This was the objective for the Blazers!
We got 3 days off between games… and we’re still not going to have a rest advantage. Sigh.
lmao what is our schedule. It's like the schedule maker was a Cavs fan
The claims about Wembanyama having too high of a center of gravity to really operate down low in the NBA might have some real merit to them. One of the top posts on r/nba says that he has only attempted 40 shots at the rim in half court offense situations in his first 14 games.
The other issue is that he's not a very good shooter but he chucks a lot of them and has a negative A/TO ratio. If the body type prevents him from being a force down low (I'm not sure how much weight he can put on without putting himself at bigger risk for injury), then he's going to have to improve a lot as a shooter and playmaker otherwise how good of an offensive player is he?
Hard to nitpick his defense though.
Your comment made me have the random thought: do any advanced stats track passes specifically for assists vs TO? Shaq also has a negative assist to TO ratio, but I'm guessing most TO are not in passing situations but just times he got stripped down low/etc. For a guy like CP3, A/TO may reflect how successful his passing is, but for a lot of other guys A/TO really may have little to do with passing.
If he develops a Skyhook will they rename it to something higher?
My memory may be faulty (MAY be??), but some uber tall player (Manute? Yao? Bradley? Mureson?) had a hook shot and they called it a space hook ...
Good recall! I think they tried to pin that on Manute's ugly hook .
A Stratosphere hook?
Wemby's Comet?
If "operating down low" means posting up or slow drives and bully ball, then I agree that he isn't quite built that way, at least not yet. But his potential as a roll man on a pnr seems sky high, so to speak. Same with step through stuff or other moves like spins that lead to finishes not quite at the basket: hooks, pushes, scoop shots, midrange. He should be able to get below the foul line on offense quite readily and then it's a matter of can he finish well if he's not dunking.
I could definitely buy him modeling his game on KG - he also had strong perimeter skills and a lot of finesse in his post up game.
As far as how good an offensive player he can be, he's averaging 19 points a game despite not being able to shoot from distance, and he has scored 30+ a couple of times, including one 38-point game. So he doesn't suck on offense.
BBref lists Wemby as weighing 209. I expect he'll naturally gain some weight and muscle as his body matures. That doesn't mean he would be a heavyweight but maybe like KD or Kevin Garnett, who weigh about 240 at approximately 6'11" (or maybe 6'12" for KD).
He’s got the green light to try out whatever he wants. He’s got a 52% TS and attempting 5.2 3PA/game even though he’s hitting them at only 26%. He’s up to 82% FT tho, so there very well might be a real 3pt shot in there. If he can find a high shooting motion face up jumper from the elbow, he’s tall enough that he basically couldn’t be bothered… and he could prob hit that 55% or better, which would be excellent half court offense.
I’m not buying that KD weighs 240. That listed weight puts him just 10 lbs less than LBJ and 3 lbs less than Giannis.
For what it's worth, the NBA also lists KD at 240. LeBron is a couple of inches shorter and 10 lbs heavier, per the NBA.
I can buy KD and LBJ weigh something closer to each other than you'd expect. 3ish inches of additional person is a lot of extra weight that we wouldn't easily see. Giannis would be like 260 or more in that case though.
Lebron’s so much beefier though. Each of his legs is like two of KD’s and don’t get me started on about their upper bodies.
He’s also clearly prioritized his skill development on perimeter skills. I do think his legs may ultimately be too long to gain leverage in the post, but I think we both expect him to get better at traditional big man stuff over the next few years. He needs to.
The hype with him was so intense that I think a lot of folks will be disappointed if he doesn't somehow become, simultaneously, the best defensive player in the NBA *and* the best offensive player. That standard was probably never very realistic, but it's interesting to consider that there might be some diminishing returns—or disadvantages, even—on the offensive end to those last three or four inches in height. Especially if their effect is, somewhat counterintuitively, to push his game further from the basket.
My Comment of The Week:
Happy Thanksgiving!
Runner-Up:
"As they say, the best ability is availability. If the combination of old man nagging injuries and immature behavior knocks Dray out, then that is part of what the Dubs have as a team--they WILL play some games without Dray. It is folly to act like you can assume Dray will be there when it matters. He knocked himself out of what would probably have been the final Finals game of the 73-win season, for Christ sake. The man is getting increasingly unreliable when it matters."
Sorry for the lack of footage, Eric.
Stop teasing him. Everyone knows EA has a Footage Fetish.
Explain one player
Exactly.
What is this referring to?
Check the Comments of the Week for GlueAndBold’s comment to see how it started, but commenters wanted me to do an E1P on GAB’s date
Stats?
Random ending?
0 completed passes
How many passing attempts?
Very few
Pretty sure there was at least one rebound.
36-24-36? Haha, only if she's 5'3"
Per Sportsvu