Houston may not be a title contender, but it's definitely a playoff contender. Wood is playing at an All-Star level.Originally Posted by Kingspoint
Houston may not be a title contender, but it's definitely a playoff contender. Wood is playing at an All-Star level.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
Kingspoint (01-29-2021),Revering4Blue (01-29-2021)
Yeah, that's a team that has some upside to it. If Oladipo and Wall stay healthy and Cousins or Tucker come around, they have a chance to be a tough out.
I'm guessing they'll finish with Wood, Tucker, 'Dipo, Gordon, and Wall. Those guys can guard across spectrums, for the most part. Not much girth and very little rim protection, but it's an interesting lineup, at any rate. They need, IMO, to go full-tilt boogie pretty much all the time and depend on easy transition scores rather than half-court sets. For them to create a first-round upset, somebody's going to have to get hot from distance, opening up the floor.
I'm guessing their ceiling this season is a 5-6 finish. It's looking like a fault line is starting to develop between the top four in the West - Lakers, Clippers, Jazz, Nuggets - and everyone else. Yet Houston seems like it's going to be in a fight with half the conference for the remaining spots. I definitely don't expect it to fall away anytime soon.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
Rockets play 9 of their next 11 on the road.
No team has been effected more by COVID than MIA. MIA is always a quality team because through full-contact practices and full training camps they are able to take undrafted free agents and turn them into quality NBA players. This is physically impossible to do during COVID. Raw talent is winning games during COVID. Teams that need practices in order to make put together the cohesiveness necessary for five inferior talented players to defeat more talented players are suffering the most.
No season will show more growth during the last part of it than this one. I wish the 7-10 was more of a best of three instead of the single elimination for the lower seed.
The two practices POR got are paying immediate dividends.
Since we had our practices, we have this lineup used in all three games for a total of 31 minutes: Melo/Enes/DJJ/Dame/GTJ with a Net Rating of 19.1 (113.0 Off Rat/93.9 Def Rat). Any Def Rating under 106 is good and under 100 is great. Any Off Rating above 116 is good and above 122 is great. Any Net Rating above 6 is good and above 12 is great.
The lineup of Melo/Enes/GTJ/Dame/Ant has been used in all 3 games for a total of 13 minutes and has a Net Rating of 46.2!!! Only one other lineup has been used in more than one game for more than a total of 7 minutes (they only had 7 players available the 2nd Half against OKC). The lineup of Melo/Giles/Hood/Ant/GTJ has been used in 2 games for a total of 19 minutes with a Net Rating of -2.1 (93.0 Off Rat/95.1 Def Rat).
One thing to notice is that the three lineups used the most, and I didn't include the 13 minutes of 1 game of RoCo/Enes/DJJ/Dame/Hood that had a Net Rat of 29.2 (150.0 Off Rat/120.8 Def Rat) is that they all had great Defensive Ratings, 93-1, 95.1 and 76.9 over 31 minutes, 19 minutes and 13 minutes, respectively. The practices are paying off immediate dividends even if we are 1-2 in W-L, which is mostly the result of losing RoCo for two full games, Hood for 1-1/2 and clearly wasn't healthy last night when he played limited minutes, and DJJ, who got hurt again last night and couldn't finish his 3rd straight game. However, the 1st half effort against OKC by the 8 who were available was terrible and inexcusable. That got corrected at halftime and didn't show itself against Houston (except for those 15 fast-break points given up in the 2nd Qtr, mostly because Gary Trent just stands around and stares at everything when he's not shooting 3's, though the whole team was responsible for those 15 fast-break points...only 3 fast-break points given up in the other three quarters, but the game was won by HOU in that 2nd Qtr). Any of RoCo, Hood and/or DJJ getting healthier for CHI Saturday will help tremendously.
In a league where DET can beat the LAL, there are no "should wins" just by showing up.
For POR, it's literally one game at a time for the rest of the season.
Last edited by Kingspoint; 01-29-2021 at 07:24 PM.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
More like a chasm, not a faultline.
That gives POR (and most every other team) a great chance to finish 5 or 6 and not have to get into that want-to-avoid 7-10 group.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
POR actually played really well, their best non-Nurkic game this season. But, they couldn't stop Wood, while Oladipo, Wall and House all gave HOU an edge when they were on the floor.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
Revering4Blue (01-29-2021)
Well, except for the fact that every time Jordan DID take more threes, he shot them better.
Oh, LeBron with more perimeter shots? GIMME! For his career, LeBron James has posted the following distance numbers from inside the three-point line:LeBron, meanwhile, have almost assuredly benefit from the opposite happening. During Jordan's era, teams would get back on defense and immediately pack the paint. leBron would get hacked every time he drove the ball. As a corollary, he would almost assuredly take more wide open shots at the perimeter and less closely guarded low-percentage shots.
10-16 feet: .367 FG%
16 feet-3 Pt Line: .388 FG%
LeBron James is a putrid mid-range shooter. Pure awful. Where he excels is 0-3 Feet (.733 FG%), which are the shots he'd be losing with the paint packed. Even if you assume that he'd increase his mid-range rates slightly, you're not going to get to a point where LeBron James taking those shots is anything but a net negative. You really need to check the stats on stuff like this.
No, your point, as always is, "BUH' TEH THREEEEEE POINTERS!!!!"And that's my point, really. LeBron is already great enough as a rebounder, a passer, and a scorer to dominate in Jordan's level against lesser athletes and those unaccustomed to massive men being able to do what he's able to do. Jordan would have to adapt his game to fit this era. That's what makes LeBron the GOAT.
He'd have to learn how to shoot.Now, feel free to tackle that supposition, Steel: What would LeBron have to change about his game in order to be dominant in Jordan's era?
"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer
"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams
Kingspoint (01-29-2021)
Pulling out your inner Embiid is, like Embiid himself, bush league. But this is what happens when you literally have nothing else. At this point, you're just a troll desperately trying to find a way to save face.
He shoots better than Jordan from three and from two. Even with Jordan getting to shoot from two feet closer for almost half his career. Moving LeBron's three closer to the basket (as Jordan enjoyed) would mean an even larger difference. Only in your world does this make any kind of sense.
Well, maybe Kingspoint's too.
Flop. Flop. FLOP. Flopper.
Ok, let's parse this out. LeBron James stinks from 3 feet out:He shoots better than Jordan from three and from two. Even with Jordan getting to shoot from two feet closer for almost half his career. Moving LeBron's three closer to the basket (as Jordan enjoyed) would mean an even larger difference. Only in your world does this make any kind of sense.
3 feet to 10 feet: .417 FG%
10 feet to 16 feet: .367 FG%
16 feet to 3-point line: .386 FG%
3-pointers: .346 FG%
And you think that represents "shooting". Now, let's pair that with your claim that he'd be shooting more from mid-range. That's not NOT good. It's the opposite of good. That's very bad. And, he'd be shooting less from where he's awesome- 0 to 3 feet (which are dunks and layups, BTW)- because the defense would clog the lane. Instead of those dunks and layups (read: not "shooting"), you're stating that he'd get more free throws on drive, where he's a VERY pedestrian .734 for his career. Oh my.
What you're describing would be dwarfed by someone like Karl Malone. It's actually scary how closely those two players would likely resemble each other. Malone a better shooter (by any meaningful non-Zee definition of the word), rebounder, and free throw shooter. LeBron with a better handle, slightly better finisher, better passing, and a decent three point shot. That's a GREAT player. But it ain't no "GOAT".
And before your next post, I'd really like to know what your definition of "shooting" is, because previously you've reduced it to three-point shooting. But now it appears to be driven by dunks and layups. If you could share before it changes again, that would be appreciated.
"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer
"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams
SAC/TOR finish is great.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
...
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
That's just doo-doo you always make up. My evaluations of the NBA are astute. I know this the way Jordan knows he was a better shooter than LeBron....from any range, and especially in clutch situations. LeBron had a cakewalk to the Finals most years. Jordan never had a cakewalk to the Finals. Never.
Last edited by Kingspoint; 01-29-2021 at 10:09 PM.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
Nice win for the Kings tonight (unless something bad happens). Super win for the Pelicans.
DEN/SAS 4th Quarter looks to be killer.
CHA continues to come up with surprising win after surprising win.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
What thin-skinned ref called a technical foul on Lowry in that situation?
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
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