Variatio delectat - Cicero
Whatever you do, do your best to not allow the struggles of life to interfere with the pleasures of living.
Simple question: Will Andrew Bynam suit up again this season?
Whatever you do, do your best to not allow the struggles of life to interfere with the pleasures of living.
Their style of play [bottom of the league in points in the paint Offensively, while not being aggressive enough defensively (other than Mo Williams no other Blazer is willing to commit a foul)] doesn't induce contact injuries to the Starters.
The early season failure of either Thomas Robinson (he was expected to be the guy) or Meyers Leonard (he was not expected to fill that role) to solidify the backup PF position has had a rippling effect on the Starters' minutes. Aldridge, especially, and the top six have had to log too many minutes. McCollum's arrival will reduce the minutes of Lillard, Matthews, and Mo Williams (and Dorell Wright, but that's not necessarily a good thing as Wright is a solid sub). Robinson, in the last five games or so, has shown he can be that backup PF. He has 10 or so games to prove he can or else Portland will have to make a deadline deal to get a big PF/C to reduce the minutes of Aldridge and Lopez. The preference is to continue to develop Thomas Robinson. Meyers Leonard is several years away from being an asset on an NBA floor, but very much worth keeping, as is Robinson. It's critical that Thomas Robinson play well in his limited minutes tonight and tomorrow if they are to have a chance at beating the Rockets or the Thunder. Terrance Jones was terrible the last time he went up against Aldridge, but Jones is playing well now. Should be an interesting matchup.
As expected, the Blazers couldn't win at Houston or at OKC (though they did 22 days ago). Houston dominated them throughout the game (turned out Batum's splint on his finger bent sideways, while Batum was useless against OKC because of the injury), while OKC dominate the last five minutes (which is the only ones that truly count in the NBA). 2-2 was still a good result on the road trip.
OKC at the Spurs Wednesday Night should be great.
I find the Carmelo Anthony narrative fascinating and almost completely wrong. It seems like he is getting much of the blame for the Knicks play this season which is really unfair. He gets blamed for the Knicks style of basketball, which again is really unfair. They built the worst possible roster to take advantage of his skills (as opposed to Miami for example who built a roster designed around LeBron).
-His point guards cannot get anyone shots. Anthony is playing with fat Ray Felton. Ask Blazers fans about him.
-They don't move the ball on the perimeter like they did last year. They really do miss that aspect of Jason Kidd's game. When the Knicks were playing well last year, they moved the ball frantically on the perimeter and got Carmelo easier shots.
-Why should he pass the ball? His perimeter teammates are J.R. Smith (37%), Felton (41%), Prigioni (41%), and Shumpert (39%). Down low, he has Chandler, who can only dunk and he was saddled with the disaster of Andrea Bargnani (nothing like 44% shooting 7 footers).
-His True Shooting Percentage (which takes into account 3's and FT's) is right around his career average.
-His Turnover percentage is a career low, he is getting 9 rebounds a game, and is shooting 41.5% from three. In a way, he has been incredible this year, despite being on one of the worst teams in the sport.
Variatio delectat - Cicero
There was a rumored Carmelo for Blake Griffin trade about a month ago or so. If the Clippers made that move, they would catapult into the top tier of NBA teams. Imagine facing a fourth quarter with Paul and Anthony together. They are both 4th quarter killers. Yet, you get articles like this.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/carmelo...0807--nba.html
He actually attempted to compare the two by the number of dunks they did last year. He really did that.
Variatio delectat - Cicero
It's a mess in the Knicks' front office. Has been for a very long time with no immediate help on the way. There's definitely an ownership issue here.
On to positive organizations....
Houston (minus James Harden) hosts San Antonio tonight. The Spurs are looking for only their second victory of the season against the NBA's top teams, Houston being among them. 32-1 vs everybody else, but 1-10 vs the elite.
The big game of the month is Wednesday as Miami, the team with the best record in the NBA against the elite teams, tries to stop the team playing the best basketball in the NBA, not only currently, but on the season, in Oklahoma City. Should be a great game.
Last edited by Kingspoint; 01-28-2014 at 05:04 PM.
Spot-on with all points.
Another completely wrong Carmelo Anthony narrative: New York lost the 2011 C.Anthony-based trade with Denver.
Granted, the Nuggets still get the Knicks first round pick in what, by all accounts, will be a deep draft, but as of right now, the Nuggets haven't advanced past the first round of the playoffs since '09, when they advanced to the Conference Finals with Anthony. Plus, Danilo Gallinari, the prize of the deal from the Denver standpoint, has been injured most of the time -- he hasn't and won't play this year.
The Knicks landed a Superstar and failed, as others have pointed out, to surround C.A with a balanced roster. The front office has been a mess since the Scott Layden days, but as ineffective as they've been, the Anthony deal and drafting Tim Hardaway Jr., at least at this point in time, shouldn't be in question.
Whatever you do, do your best to not allow the struggles of life to interfere with the pleasures of living.
So I don't know if anybody else has noticed this, but this Kevin Durant guy is pretty good at basketball.
“I don’t care,” Votto said of passing his friend and former teammate. “He’s in the past. Bye-bye, Jay.”
Revering4Blue (01-28-2014)
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