This and that around the League 20-21

bobheckler wrote:https://www.yahoo.com/sports/report-heat-concerned-tyler-herro-191203649.html



Report: Heat concerned about Tyler Herro’s personal life



Dan Feldman
Tue, April 20, 2021, 12:12 PM

Heat guard Tyler Herro played like a star as a rookie in the 2020 playoffs.

This season, he has regressed… while continuing to embrace his celebrity status.

Ethan Skolnick on the “Inside the Paint” podcast:

Everybody is entitled to their own personal life, and we don’t try to bring it up. And, look, the greatest player in Miami Heat history, there was a lot of stuff that we knew about that we didn’t talk about. It’s just the way that this played out. And he grew through some things. And we all know who we’re both talking about. But ultimately, the team starts to get a certain level of concern. In this particular case, the team has been concerned now for months. And that’s kind of where it’s at. But they were concerned with players during the big-three era. But this one is different, because this kid is 21.

It’s telling that the Heat were also concerned about similar issues when they were winning big with Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

Though it’d be ideal to get players who care about only basketball, this seems like a good tradeoff: Get players good enough to garner major-celebrity status, try to manage the potential distractions and hope for the best. It sure beats trying to win with players who aren’t talented enough to draw significant attention.

The problem: Herro isn’t playing anywhere near like a star.

There could be several reasons unrelated to his focus level: He has been hurt. He’s shooting just 33% on 3-pointers, and that’s a stat prone to fluctuation.

Expectations also grew way too high after his bubble run. That was a small sample with a unique shooting background. While it was possible Herro would pick up where he left off, assumptions he’d be an All-Star – or even good starter – this season were unfair.

But Herro has embraced his fame. The Heat should be concerned about that – though not necessarily panic about it. Succeeding in the NBA requires massive commitment and leaves little room for outside interests.

Miami teammate Jimmy Butler could help guide Herro. Some Bulls once felt Butler enjoyed the trappings of stardom too much. But Butler maintained his elite work ethic. That’s why he’s such a good player. And he still finds room to bask in attention.

It’s possible for Herro to have it all. But right now, he’s just not playing well enough.

The Heat should be concerned about every possible reason for Herro’s sophomore slump.


Bob


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bobheckler wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:Wilt never gets enough credit, because of Russell and Red. Missed him in his prime, but read so much documented evidence of him coming up small at crunch time of the biggest playoff games. Bill Simmons covered this and even named all his sources of multiple writers and players and game logs about Wilts failure in the clutch. This scoring streak is still amazing/phenomenal and Wilt should get his due....

Cow,

Anytime the league has to change the rules to make it harder for you because you're just SO good nobody else has a chance, you know you're something special.  They expanded the paint because of Wilt, to make him have to go further, and make it easier to box him out, to get position for a rebound.  They changed the rule about fritos and made the frito shooter not be allowed to leave the line until after his shot hits the rim.  That was because Wilt would just follow his misses, and there were many of them, in and get a dunk off his own frito miss.

They don't do this anymore, and haven't since MJ.  Quite the opposite.  They changed the rule regarding handchecking because of MJ, but they changed it so it was easier for him, not harder.  The Little General, David Stern, wanted to market individual players so he changed the rule to make it harder to defend Jordan.  Do you think they'll move the 3pt line out further, because of Curry (and Dame and Trae coming up behind him) or do you think they'll just add a 4pt shot?  I'm betting a 4pt shot.  More scoring and harder to defend.  It doesn't level the competitive landscape, it exalts and elevates top shooters like those guys by catering to their strengths because there will only be a few of them that can take and make 25'+ 4pt shots with efficiency.


Bob


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bobheckler wrote:For those who didn't know, Trae Young of the Hawks exited the game vs the Knicks with a left ankle sprain.  He's having an MRI this morning.

The Hawks were up 8 when he went down.  They went on to lose in OT.

Hate to see players get hurt.  This is just sports.

The Knicks are now in 4th place.  The Hawks are in 5th and we are in 6th.  The Hawks are tied with us in the loss column, but have an additional win in hand to be 1/2 game up on us, but they own the tiebreaker.

Depending upon the seriousness of Young's injury, and he looked bad coming off the court, Atlanta could drop like a stone in the standings.  NY, however, is feeling its oats.


Bob


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cowens/oldschool wrote:

bobheckler wrote:For those who didn't know, Trae Young of the Hawks exited the game vs the Knicks with a left ankle sprain.  He's having an MRI this morning.

The Hawks were up 8 when he went down.  They went on to lose in OT.

Hate to see players get hurt.  This is just sports.

The Knicks are now in 4th place.  The Hawks are in 5th and we are in 6th.  The Hawks are tied with us in the loss column, but have an additional win in hand to be 1/2 game up on us, but they own the tiebreaker.

Depending upon the seriousness of Young's injury, and he looked bad coming off the court, Atlanta could drop like a stone in the standings.  NY, however, is feeling its oats.


Bob


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Thibs should be CoY, to get this young undisciplined team to buy into to defense and team ball has been an amazing turnaround.

gyso wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:

bobheckler wrote:For those who didn't know, Trae Young of the Hawks exited the game vs the Knicks with a left ankle sprain.  He's having an MRI this morning.

The Hawks were up 8 when he went down.  They went on to lose in OT.

Hate to see players get hurt.  This is just sports.

The Knicks are now in 4th place.  The Hawks are in 5th and we are in 6th.  The Hawks are tied with us in the loss column, but have an additional win in hand to be 1/2 game up on us, but they own the tiebreaker.

Depending upon the seriousness of Young's injury, and he looked bad coming off the court, Atlanta could drop like a stone in the standings.  NY, however, is feeling its oats.


Bob


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Thibs should be CoY, to get this young undisciplined team to buy into to defense and team ball has been an amazing turnaround.

One of my son-in-laws is a Knicks fan.  He said that the team is really fun to watch this year.  They work so hard at both ends, every possession.  

cowens/oldschool wrote:Knicks are hottest team in the league right now, just won their 9th in a row....

bobc33 wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:Knicks are hottest team in the league right now, just won their 9th in a row....

It is always a good thing to have excellent basketball in Madison Square Garden!

bobheckler wrote:Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Daniel Theis back in the lead for Celtics MVP as he puts up 23 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists for the Bulls to hold off the Heat and keep the Celtics tied for 6th place. Great to see him continue to play at the top of his game after moving to a new team ahead of free agency.


Bob


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cowens/oldschool wrote:

bobheckler wrote:Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Daniel Theis back in the lead for Celtics MVP as he puts up 23 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists for the Bulls to hold off the Heat and keep the Celtics tied for 6th place. Great to see him continue to play at the top of his game after moving to a new team ahead of free agency.


Bob


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Right him a Vucevic are a very good 4-5 combo going forward. When was the last time 2 white guys played together on a winning team at the 4-5? Theis was huge last night, outplaying Bam. Now with RWill’s durability issues going on again, looks like a stupid move by Danny. Should have kept Theis until the end of the year, could have gotten rid of GWill, Semi, Waters or even TT to create some more money for Theis. The line up we never got to see enough was Kemba/Smart Jaylen Jayson Theis Timelord.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Bob in all seriousness glad Theis got a fair shake on Bulls, they could have Theis being a 10-12 minute a game back up for Vucevic, and started Lauri Markenson. Glad the coaches can see other defensive intangibles that Theis brings.

worcester wrote:We could resign Daniel as a FA.

Danny has a lot of work to do on this team, and now he has tied his hands with Brad, a no discipline coach  who has to be a kindergarten cop.

bobheckler wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:Bob in all seriousness glad Theis got a fair shake on Bulls, they could have Theis being a 10-12 minute a game back up for Vucevic, and started Lauri Markenson. Glad the coaches can see other defensive intangibles that Theis brings.

Cow,

In the 16 games he's played in Chi-town Theis is averaging about the same number of minutes, shooting about the same fg% (but worse from 3).  His rebounding is slightly off, as is his blocks but his assist numbers are up.  He has started in 7 of those 16 games.  He started in 37 out of 42 in Boston this year, so Brad started him more than Billy Donovan.  Admittedly it'd be hard to start Theis over Vuc, if Brad had Vuc too, but those are the facts.  Same minutes/game, starting a smaller % of total games played, comparable results despite coming in off the bench against their 2nd stringers.

Not knocking Theis, I like Theis, he had a good game.  Billy D has the luxury of a high quality, durable big and a high quality, durable back up big.  Brad has the oft-injured Robert Wiliams, who seems to need a lot of Time off Lord knows, and Tristan Thompson, who doesn't spread the floor like a modern big has to.


Bob


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Vankisa wrote:I wonder, have you guys forgotten we were discussing exactly those points in the trade thread ? Regarding the Fournier addition and the loss of Theis.

Also I think I even asked someplace, why had everyone suddenly forgotten that RWill cannot play full time minutes due to his "condition"? I thought at the time I have overlooked some news that says it was not as bad as it sounded when it was announced by both Brad and Danny.

RWill does not seem destined to play as a starter ever. Unless something is done to take care of his "condition". (I always put it in quotes as I have never understood what exactly is wrong with him tbh)
This has been known for a while now I am not that beat up over it. It is why I said Theis was a big big loss. To be fair TT has been playing great for long stretches since then, I had completely given up on him. So our center situation is just the same as it has been ever since Theis was traded and is not really the biggest issue for me.

A MUCH more ominous and damaging situation for this team however has been the complete lack of accountability and consistency and the lack of effort that just gets brushed aside and "play on". This is how this team can FAIL in the future. In the now it seems doomed, but we still have the pieces to grow and come back to contend next year... Unless...

Unless where there is smoke there is fire and this team needs to either lose a coach, a GM or needs to be blown up. My suspicion is on the first.
Simple evidence: Look at the Knicks. Have anyone seen a Knicks game recently? I have by chance watched parts. You know the difference between last year Knicks and this year's Knicks? NOT Talent. EFFORT. Oh and by "coincidence" they changed the coach before the players started showing that...