Flotsam and Jetsam Around the League 2019-2020

Loved Kirk in a lot of movies. See a lot of him in Michael.

How about the Nuggets beating the Jazz on the second nite of a back to back with only 7 players available. This may have been best team win of the year. 7 players? Unreal.

Watching Sixers blow another one, Sixers have no identity, Bucks know exactly what to do offensively, they attack, everyone plays off of Giannis. Sixers have no system that I can see, offense looks terrible, no identity, they so don’t know what works for them or what to do....they are not even feeding Embid down low. Their parts all don’t fit, turnovers galore, no leadership, nothing.

Poor coaching.

WOW!!!! just saw Rockets beat Lakers with extreme small ball and a very below average game from Harden. Beginning of game Harden was jumping center and thought this is not going to work, they are gonna get killed, shows how little I know....they won in Staple Center, totally unexpected.

cowens/oldschool wrote:WOW!!!! just saw Rockets beat Lakers with extreme small ball and a very below average game from Harden. Beginning of game Harden was jumping center and thought this is not going to work, they are gonna get killed, shows how little I know....they won in Staple Center, totally unexpected.

Cow,

I agree!! I watched most of that game and thought the exact same thing. I thought that if the Lakers could just do good transition defense and reduce the number of possessions they could pound the Rockets into paste in the inside and offensive boards. The tallest Rockets starter was 6'6"!

Rondo with 1 assist in 15 minutes. Kuzma with 4 points on 2-8. Caruso was the only player on the Laker bench that showed up, and he's their 9th man.

It's a new NBA and I am, to be honest, struggling to wrap my mind around it. The good ol' days are over. Everybody has to be a 3pt shooting gazelle or be relegated to a role player bench position.

The good news is that Danny's our GM and not us. We have some of the finest wings in the biz, we can come at them in waves (waves of wings!) and we have Theis, the new NBA type of center. Not tall but mobile and springy. Offensively spreads the floor and can run it too. For all of us who were assuming that Danny was going to trade Gordon Hayward for a center because we've got too many wings and not enough height, and were surprised when Danny sat pat at the deadline, should have watched the Laker/Rockets game last night.


bob


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bobheckler wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:WOW!!!! just saw Rockets beat Lakers with extreme small ball and a very below average game from Harden. Beginning of game Harden was jumping center and thought this is not going to work, they are gonna get killed, shows how little I know....they won in Staple Center, totally unexpected.

Cow,

I agree!!  I watched most of that game and thought the exact same thing.  I thought that if the Lakers could just do good transition defense and reduce the number of possessions they could pound the Rockets into paste in the inside and offensive boards.  The tallest Rockets starter was 6'6"!

Rondo with 1 assist in 15 minutes.  Kuzma with 4 points on 2-8.  Caruso was the only player on the Laker bench that showed up, and he's their 9th man.

It's a new NBA and I am, to be honest, struggling to wrap my mind around it.  The good ol' days are over.  Everybody has to be a 3pt shooting gazelle or be relegated to a role player bench position.  

The good news is that Danny's our GM and not us.  We have some of the finest wings in the biz, we can come at them in waves (waves of wings!) and we have Theis, the new NBA type of center.  Not tall but mobile and springy.  Offensively spreads the floor and can run it too.  For all of us who were assuming that Danny was going to trade Gordon Hayward for a center because we've got too many wings and not enough height, and were surprised when Danny sat pat at the deadline, should have watched the Laker/Rockets game last night.


bob


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Poor Rondo, heard some pundit, can’t remember who saying Lakers need a point that can play with Lebron....they have no depth. D’Antoni is going back to his old Suns foundation, it worked last night. If this works big men are going to be out of jobs and it will all be a 3 point contest, with players all based on shooting analytics....

Charles Barkley has put the kiss of death on the Lakers.  Has guaranteed the Clips will be 1st out of the West.  Which begs the questions how far will Lakers fall in the West by Game 82?  

TNT was saying last night that LeBron basically can't leave the floor for every game.  It goes downhill in a hurry.  Plus LAL sat like Danny did.  But Lakers can take it.  They're #1 in the West saying come get us.  

db  

P.S. I'm still sticking with my original prediction of 4th in the West.

dbrown4 wrote:Charles Barkley has put the kiss of death on the Lakers.  Has guaranteed the Clips will be 1st out of the West.  Which begs the questions how far will Lakers fall in the West by Game 82?  

TNT was saying last night that LeBron basically can't leave the floor for every game.  It goes downhill in a hurry.  Plus LAL sat like Danny did.  But Lakers can take it.  They're #1 in the West saying come get us.  

db  

db

The Round Mound of Rebound never hesitates to go with the guaranteed to happen statement. Not sure what his batting average is on getting it right.

I'll stick with Lakers to win the title this year. I think there's enough of a supporting cast to go with James and Davis, and that LeBron still has enough left. They're going to need better production from their point guards to make  it happen, but I think they'll get there.

The Lakers have a very good chance of upgrading the point guard position, if they sign free agent Darren Collison.
Collison was at the Lakers game last night with Jeanie Buss.
He's a solid point guard who has shot over 40% from the 3 pt line over the last 4 years and led the NBA two years ago when he shot 46.8% from 3.
He will be an upgrade over Rondo or Caruso.
His career FT percentage is over 85%.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28651269/free-agent-darren-collison-lakers-game-la-quiet-trade-deadline

tjmakz wrote:The Lakers have a very good chance of upgrading the point guard position, if they sign free agent Darren Collison.
Collison was at the Lakers game last night with Jeanie Buss.
He's a solid point guard who has shot over 40% from the 3 pt line over the last 4 years and led the NBA two years ago when he shot 46.8% from 3.
He will be an upgrade over Rondo or Caruso.
His career FT percentage is over 85%.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28651269/free-agent-darren-collison-lakers-game-la-quiet-trade-deadline

I had read Collison is looking like a real good possibility. I think your guys can still get there with Rondo and Caruso, but I believe Collison could be the best available upgrade.

Davis and James will keep LAL in contention because they are elite but the configuration of this team is still flawed.

Until Davis becomes more of a fulltime center the Lakers will not be able to put enough wings on the court together.

The Celtics do not have a great big man but the team is configured to compete in today's NBA.

NY Celt,

I'll take the other side of your this year LAL Title prediction. Maybe next year if they don't shoot themselves in the foot over the summer and blow another one of Lebron's last chances to get a 4th. I just don't see them losing all the games they have to top teams in both conferences during the regular season and then mysteriously turning it around in the playoffs enough to win 4 games a round.

db

dboss wrote:Davis and James will keep LAL in contention because they are elite but the configuration of this team is still flawed.

Until Davis becomes more of a fulltime center the Lakers will not be able to put enough wings on the court together.

The Celtics do not have a great big man but the team is configured to compete in today's NBA.

I think the Lakers are best built for the playoffs when the game slows down and there are many more half court possessions.
The Lakers have the best interior defense in the league.
Their interior defense will matter most in the playoffs.
If you think wings will win the title, then I guess you believe in what Houston is doing by trading Capella and going with ultra small ball.
I believe size matters a lot, especially in the playoffs.
The Lakers shooting this year has been much improved.
Their 3 pt percentage has been ranked from 5-11 most of the season.
Right now they are 12th in the league.
If they add Collison, they will probably finish as a top 10 team in 3 pt field goal percentage.
To put 3 pt FG percentage into perspective, 5 of the 10 teams with the highest 3 pt FG percentage are projected lottery teams.
As for wings, yes, the Lakers are light on wings.
KCP has done a good job filling in at SF this year.
He's shooting a career high in FG and 3 PT FG percentage.
He's shooting almost 42% from 3.

Just an update with 21 games left:

We are 2 games behind Toronto, but only 1 game in the loss column.  So if they ever lose, and we win, we could be in business for 2nd.

We have a 2 game advantage over Miami AND we own the tiebreaker.  So that is effectively a 3 game lead for 3rd.

Miami has a 3 game lead on Philly, 4 games in the loss column and I wouldn't be surprised if they own their tiebreaker.

Philly is 1 game up on Indiana for 5th.  So if the playoffs started today we would host the Pacers.  If we can catch Toronto we would host the 23-28 Brooklyn Nets.


bob

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bobheckler wrote:Just an update with 21 games left:

We are 2 games behind Toronto, but only 1 game in the loss column.  So if they ever lose, and we win, we could be in business for 2nd.

We have a 2 game advantage over Miami AND we own the tiebreaker.  So that is effectively a 3 game lead for 3rd.

Miami has a 3 game lead on Philly, 4 games in the loss column and I wouldn't be surprised if they own their tiebreaker.

Philly is 1 game up on Indiana for 5th.  So if the playoffs started today we would host the Pacers.  If we can catch Toronto we would host the 23-28 Brooklyn Nets.


bob

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There are 31 games left Bob.

steve3344,

Bob's been all over the world, he uses the metric system when doing math.

steve3344 wrote:

bobheckler wrote:Just an update with 21 games left:

We are 2 games behind Toronto, but only 1 game in the loss column.  So if they ever lose, and we win, we could be in business for 2nd.

We have a 2 game advantage over Miami AND we own the tiebreaker.  So that is effectively a 3 game lead for 3rd.

Miami has a 3 game lead on Philly, 4 games in the loss column and I wouldn't be surprised if they own their tiebreaker.

Philly is 1 game up on Indiana for 5th.  So if the playoffs started today we would host the Pacers.  If we can catch Toronto we would host the 23-28 Brooklyn Nets.


bob

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There are 31 games left Bob.

You think Steve isn't paying attention to the board because he doesn't post often anymore and then, poof!, there he is.

31 it is. More opportunities to catch Toronto.


bob
P.S. Steve is a friend of mine off the board too. We speak or text on a fairly regular basis.

.

bob



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bobheckler wrote:Just an update with 21 games left:

We are 2 games behind Toronto, but only 1 game in the loss column.  So if they ever lose, and we win, we could be in business for 2nd.

We have a 2 game advantage over Miami AND we own the tiebreaker.  So that is effectively a 3 game lead for 3rd.

Miami has a 3 game lead on Philly, 4 games in the loss column and I wouldn't be surprised if they own their tiebreaker.

Philly is 1 game up on Indiana for 5th.  So if the playoffs started today we would host the Pacers.  If we can catch Toronto we would host the 23-28 Brooklyn Nets.


bob

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With however many games are left, we're in good shape considering the number of games lost to injury.

3rd in the East and get healthy for the playoffs. We could make some noise.

tjmakz wrote:

dboss wrote:Davis and James will keep LAL in contention because they are elite but the configuration of this team is still flawed.

Until Davis becomes more of a fulltime center the Lakers will not be able to put enough wings on the court together.

The Celtics do not have a great big man but the team is configured to compete in today's NBA.

I think the Lakers are best built for the playoffs when the game slows down and there are many more half court possessions.
The Lakers have the best interior defense in the league.
Their interior defense will matter most in the playoffs.
If you think wings will win the title, then I guess you believe in what Houston is doing by trading Capella and going with ultra small ball.
I believe size matters a lot, especially in the playoffs.
The Lakers shooting this year has been much improved.
Their 3 pt percentage has been ranked from 5-11 most of the season.
Right now they are 12th in the league.
If they add Collison, they will probably finish as a top 10 team in 3 pt field goal percentage.
To put 3 pt FG percentage into perspective, 5 of the 10 teams with the highest 3 pt FG percentage are projected lottery teams.
As for wings, yes, the Lakers are light on wings.
KCP has done a good job filling in at SF this year.
He's shooting a career high in FG and 3 PT FG percentage.
He's shooting almost 42% from 3.

I know I can always expect a response from you even if it comes from the Strawman Book Club.
I never said anything about Houston.   I just pointed out again as I did at the beginning of the season that AD not playing center hurts the configuration of the team.

As far as big men are concerned, you have to have bigs although their impact on the game has declined.  The Lakers lack having guys that can take it off the bounce and get to the rim.  But perhaps the most glaring flaw for the Lakers is their inability to knock down free throws.  

You know LA is top heavy with Lebron and Davis.  Kuzma does not get enough playing time because there is no where to play him when they have the big front line.  As teams move to more small ball lineups,  LAL looks like an albatross.  If you put AD at center they would be able to play a combination of 3 guards/small forwards along with Lebron.  LAL have a fantastic post scoring game but the NBA game has change.

It's good to hear from steve, my cd of the Red interview is a prized possession.

Matty wrote: It's good to hear from steve,   my cd of the Red interview  is a prized possession.

Thanks Matty. Getting to interview Red in 1982 was an unforgettable experience. He was a challenge, but a fun challenge.

Prior to this season Jason Tatum only had three games each year in his first two years with ten made field goals in a game. He's now done it four games in a row. I'd say he's made the leap to superstatus this year. He still needs to improve his passing though.