There's no shame in splitting a pair of games against the Knicks and Grizzlies. There is, however, shame in the defensive effort the Sixers put forth last night, and blowing a 17-point lead. Anyway, they need to shake it off and focus, because the schedule is smiling on them over the next seven days, and they need to take advantage.
Four out of five. Anything less than four wins in the next five games is a failure. Sure, they can take them one game at a time, and keep their focus narrow, but this team has been reeling for two months. Their effort level has been inconsistent, their execution has been poor, they've had very little to rely on from night to night. Somehow, some way, they need to pull it together and assert themselves in this easy stretch.
Washington tomorrow night, Sacramento on Friday, Orlando on Monday the Indy and finally Charlotte. Four out of five, at a minimum. The Wizards have been playing well, of late. Sacramento has the best big man to ever punch a teammate, get a coach fired, get suspended multiple times and have a .494 TS% on his first 2,600+ attempts, and Orlando has future star, Nikola Vucevic and his dazzling .14 FTA/FGA ratio. The Sixers are going to have to overcome those long odds and find a way to beat four teams with a combined winning percentage of .2994.
I'm heading out of town for a couple days, use this post as your game thread for the Washington and Sacto games, general discussion, etc. I'm sure Tray will regale us with intriguing statistical anomalies utilizing small sample sizes to justify Cousins' shitty career. When I get back, the Sixers better be 20-26 and well on their way to their first 3-game win streak since (hold on, I need to look it up)...yep, November 30th.
Enjoy.
"Keith Smart explained his fourth quarter benching of DeMarcus Cousins on Monday by saying "Thomas provided us with what we needed." via rotoworld
Yeah, Smart will probably be fired soon.
Is it just me, or does this guy look exactly like Michael Beasley?
the guy on Syracuse looks exactly like him
I can definitely see this team blowing opportunities to get easy wins this week. The Wizards playing better of late is just the type of team to upset us.
Some nice props for Thad from, who else, Zach Lowe:
Kyrie Irving, Manu Ginobili, and the most fun players in the NBA who won't be going to the All-Star Game - Grantland http://es.pn/WMyl2g
He also talks about a play they run w/ Richardson/Thad lower down in the article.
With Hollinger gone, Lowe is becoming my favorite NBA media guy. Really good articles from him of late.
heres that piece on Iguodala
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/eye-on-basketball/21622844/behind-the-screen-inside-the-defensive-mind-of-andre-iguodala
i don't know why he would talk about the trick where he grabs the hand of the guy he's guarding. you'd think officials would start looking for that if they hear about it.
You'd think they'd also look for the vast number of super duper stars who illegally use their elbows and forearms to push off on defenders.
Hickson and Aldridge combined for 55 and 28 tonight (29 and 13 for Aldridge, including the last 5 points in overtime and the game-winner, 26 and 15 for Hickson) to come back from a 17-point deficit against Dallas.
Wish the Sixers had listened to me and picked up Hickson on he cheap :) Jrue would have made him look good.
i think this is an incredibly interesting interview:
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8890734/chuck-klosterman-royce-white
It is interesting how so many teams are now relying heaviely on PG play- I think much more than in years past when stars more often wings or bigs.
How many teams rely on their PG as arguably one of their top 2 players?
Off the top of my head:
Phl
Bos
Bkl
Was
Clev
Det
Chi
SA
LAC
Min
OKC
Am I missing anyone?
Is 11 out of 30 teams living and dyiong offtheir PG a lot complared to previous times?
The NBA has changed a lot since the change of the hand-checking rule. Now it's a PG-driven league and i think that's no secret. There are more than 11 teams that completely depend on their PG play right now (off the top of my head GSW, NO, PHO, TOR... should also be there). And i think within 2-3 years, unless there is a rule change, most teams will have a PG oriented offense. And even some of those who doesn't have an offense that runs through their PG, have a wing that "acts" as a PG. Houston (and lately LAL) are good examples.
NBA offenses are mostly P&R and spacing nowadays and that means PGs are for the most part the most important player on the team.
And really all this gets me to the point, where i am truly excited about the Sixers future. In theory, if Bynum is healthy and producing, the Sixers can have the best of both worlds, PG-driven play with Holiday and post-drive play with Bynum. The only other team that i think can come close to having both is Minnesota and Rubio and Love (Pekovic) have shared very little time so far and we haven't been able to actually see how good the combination can be.
So Gay to the Raptors about to get finalized according to Marc Stein:
Marc Stein @ESPNSteinLine
Going online now: ESPN sources say Grizzlies and Raps have deal in place to swap Rudy Gay and Hamed Haddadi for Ed Davis and Jose Calderon
Marc Stein @ESPNSteinLine
Sources say deal will morph to include third team to take Calderon, w/Detroit at front of line to land Spaniard after chasing him all season
Marc Stein @ESPNSteinLine
Third team not yet in stone but Pistons have had interest in Calderon all season & have two SFs to help MEM fill Gay void: Prince & Maggette
It's probably wrong of me to notice this but 'fill Gay void' just sounds odd
Dallas an option for Calderon as well.
This seems like a high price for Rudy Gay, who's really just an okay player, but I was looking at Toronto's on/off-court numbers and it seems they play better with Lowry, and better with Davis off the court. So maybe they don't lose much, or even get a bit better.
With Gay it's not about the player it's about the contract. Gay is a better player than Davis and Calderon but his contract will entrench the Raptors in mediocrity.
So the trade is done with the Pistons as the third team. Grizzlies get Davis, Prince, Daye and a second rounder. None of them is really a starter in this league but at least they got read of Gay's contract without killing their chances for success this year IMO.
I don't actually think either is a worse player than Gay; I'd say they're both better. Gay just soaks up possessions in a not particularly efficient way.
@preston76: #Sixers guard Jason Richardson traveling to Vail, CO tonight to have his left knee examined tomorrow by Dr. Richard Steadman.
beal out tonight
Remember Zendon Hamilton? You can pay him $500 to have a 2-hour lunch with you. Or $600 if you want him to play bowling with you.
Lopez will be the allstar injury replacement for Rondo.
I fully expect Nick Young to explode tonight vs his former team. It would be such a NYoung thing to do.
man oh man does that place look empty...guess that john wall fellow has not quite earned the elusive "superstar" status yet?
no wilkins tonight so wright should play
nick young jumper
wow those are some pretty awful shots boys
Is it just me or has Hawes actually been decent for the past 10 or so games?
thad having some trouble with nene early
jrue jumper
if this game is 40 minutes of the Jrue and ET show they should...should...win fairly easily...right?
What's the ET show, getting blocked when driving the lane and jacking up contested 18 footers?
bad shot jrue
several awful shots in a row
sure why not go to Swaggy when you can't score on the freakin wizards?
sissy jumper
Got a bad feeling about this one.
ugh Royal how do you miss that?? damn this team will be good when they have a real FUCK YOU HAWES AND ET lose that out of bounds dammit
Hawes said to Turner, "my fault Evan".
Turner is just gross tonight
that Friday night go red game might be worth buying tix for if only to see what World B Free and Sonny Hill wear...hmm...
ooo nice play Thad set up by the solid D by dorell..maybe that'll help him escape from the doghouse?
lavoy putback
bad jumper bad jumper bad jumper
Does Herb Magee provide clinics on shot selection too...
haha malik "it's a masonry convention out there" = quality
evan long 2
dribble dribble dribble shot clock violation..."that's not evan turner", really malik?
lol et just dribbled for 24 seconds
Turner pass the fucking ball, what was that??
et is one dribblin dude
It's grotesque
You'd have to pay me to attend this game in person.
hawes gets his shit rejected by wall
woah 00 hit both...ahahaha and then gets stuffed by wall!
And on that note the only 7 footer in the NBA gets blocked on a breakaway dunk by a point guard.
That could*
Hawes swatted by Wall. hehe
alright jrue come out and put these damn guys away before this gets dangerous
that possession was ugly but ends in points
well that was a solid attack by Jrue, at least if they had a real center they'd score on those...eventually...
this is so ugly
When you watch this team in a game like this it just makes you realize all the more that Bynum coming back is only going to serve to screw up a chance at a possible high draft pick. Too many warts for the big guy to fix alone.
woah nice Harden-esque bump and drop it in by Jrue...just learn how to do that 20 times a game and this team will never lose
YES this is exactly the kind of run they needed to go on...keep the pedal to the metal then dudes
nice of lavoy to show up tonight
16-0 when leading after 3...out of how many games are we into this season?
bad shot Jrue, gotta bleed more time...unleash your inner LouWill there...
might be kind of hilarious to see if 00 can pick up a...dare i say triple double??
ugh finish this game please
well done Jrue
brian you dont need to watch this one, just know they won
nice solid W fellas...do it again Friday and about 20 more times and things will get interesting...
Ugliest Sixers win in a long time. But a win is a win. It's nice to see them win those ugly games for change.
Need to go on a winning run now.
I actually liked the game because it was a true team effort. Lots of players contributed at different times. It wasn't pretty but it was collaborative. Also, the Sixers' defense was pretty tough. Washington's was pretty good, too. There's a reason both teams were struggling to score so much.
I guess Nick Young is the POTG. He was the only starter yesterday to have more points than shot attempts
POTG doesn't have to be a starter. Lavoy had a fine offensive game.
Really nice article bout measuring perimeter defense. While the approach is probably not perfect this is by far the best statistical analysis i've seen regarding perimeter defense.
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8894024/nba-ranking-league-top-10-perimeter-defenders
Iguodala is No.2.
I'm guessing Tony Allen is #1?
Nope, it's Josh Smith (yes i was shocked too), but the author admits that his numbers may be skewed a bit because he has only played 33% of his minutes on the perimeter and the rest as a PF.
Rankings:
1. J.Smith
2. Iguodala
3. Conley
4. Daniels
5. T.Allen
6. Wade
7. Mbah a Moute
8. Carter
9. LeBron
10. Kirilenko
The rankings are based on a composite statistic of 6 different relevant defensive statistics.
I don't have insider either, but you can find the article elsewhere. Google it :)
I'm surprised to see Mike Conley on the list. I didn't think he was a bad defender, but I've never heard anyone sing praises about his defense.
Who is Daniels? Marquis Daniels? Antonio Daniels? Cedric Daniels?
Vince Carter making the list is impressive considering the fact that he's 36. Lebron and Wade rarely take on the toughest matchup on the perimeter.
"Lebron and Wade rarely take on the toughest matchup on the perimeter."
How can that be? Either LeBron does or Wade does, unless Chalmers does (Battier doesn't start and only plays half the game); are you saying Chalmers usually takes on the toughest matchup?
Marquis Daniels.
It took a year but it looks like Billy Hunter is on his way out as the head of the NBPA
Any particular reason this game tips at 7:30?
Friday night
so for the last trip evah that Sacto takes here....plenty of fans dressed as red empty seats...
In reality, they always say, you are what your record is.
Well, us and the Kings are about the same as far as quality. And probably Detroit too. But for some odd reason, maybe it's because of when/how you watch your team play, it just seems like we're much better than them when I have thoughts about it. But really, we likely aren't.
havent won 2 in a row since November
Maybe Sacramento and Detroit are better then....heh
And seriously, for the record, that is a long fucking time. Way long. Too long. Just dammit long.
2 months? wow
Announcers: "Evan Turner as a 2guard, not particularly quick,... as a small forward, quick enough."
Really?
My prediction: Cousins will drop 40 and pull down 15 boards, and he will be ejected late in the game for kicking Spencer in the balls. Tray and Brian will both feel vindicated.
and I'll hope like hell we can somehow trade for him...
evan to hawes
nice 3 Jrue...and Thad stays after it underneath...
Hawes cutting backdoor, Evan with the proper delivery.
thad costs jrue an assist but eventually finishes
I bet Li-Ning does not like that Evan is always losing a sneaker or having to re-tie them on the floor. Doesn't look like a quality product to me, but maybe it's just his chubby ankles.
Spencer with his Mark Gasol-game defens. No hands up.
He actually pulled his hand down after originally having it up, probably cause he thought his slow ass was gonna get taken.
My goodness. What weak shit. By both Evan and Spencer. Evan for actually throwing an alley to him, Spencer for completely flubbing it.
jrue
Hawes with his no-hand-up defense again, Isiah Thomas actually finishes over his 7 foot ass. heh
Evan with the coast to coast early pullup
NYoung flush!
Thad layup.
If this game continues at this pace, Jrue's gonna drop 30. Easily.
bad evan shot gets bailed out by the ref
Hawes is the shit. I like him.
Evan blows both freebies.
ugh back into the doghouse for you dorell
Shit Dorell.... give it up man to someone else.
Thad J.
Evan bitching at the ref as usual. When he went out of bounds all on his own.
nice duck in by lavoy
Good seal by Lavoy, good delivery by Evan. Bucket Lavoy.
Tyreke often settles for bricked J's.
Annnnnd on cue, Evan turnover, Tyreke layup.
Everything at the rim. Keep exposing it.
thad splits them
Dorell catch and load three. Thank you for not faking.
If we were to do nothing more than trade big men for big men with the Kings. We'd be markedly better.
Chuck Hayes, Demarcus, Thompson and Thomas Robinson. Instead of the collection of slop currently. If just two of those above guys pan out, we're in the black.
damn Thad playing a man's game so far
nice pass lavoy
Another tapout. Oboard
Lavoy good extra pass to Thad.
Ugh turnover. Heh they turn it right back.
jrue long 2
Jrue splash .... J.
NYoung early pullup.
Jrue with a tough swish!
NYoung ... put it on.
They possess so much chemistry. Of course, it helps playing the Kings, but they're glaringly cohesive.
Or maybe it's just efficiently. Either way....
jumper, jumper, come on
Didn't the Kings stink it up in the 2nd quarter of their last game? Or whatever game on this trip (think it was BOS)
Good coaching.
Jrue with the freezing-out assist to Evan under the rim, 2 foot pass.
evan putback
it's weird...kings have a lot of talent. they just suck, though.
and also, swaggy is so entertaining. love to watch him play.
"swaggy is so entertaining"
nothing personal, but I'll never understand this. hyperbole if there ever was
he's an exciting player to watch. i'm not sure how that isn't easily understood.
ok, to each his own.
just don't see it, that's all
much respect to your entertainment value
thx buddy!
i don't want to argue semantics -- i.e., "what does 'exciting' actually mean?" -- i just mean that he's a great scorer, and i'm on my toes whenever he gets a catch. as opposed to say, Lavoy Allen.
that's all I mean. this team is sorely lacking in "electrifying" players. can we agree on that or no?
ummm, no we can't agree on that.
He's neither electrifying nor entertaining.
i guess you'll willfully misunderstand me forever. exchange over. thanks for engaging.
touche
Evan o-board, lefty put-in.
Evan looks at the ref... come on he swiped you Ev
Evan stripped by Cousins. heh
RUnout for them.. .shit was a shit closing of this one
ET fouled, to the stripe.
Hit both. Close this one better guys....
Timeout Doug, a 20. Two for one opp here.
Annnnddd they DON'T go for a two for one.
Dorell fake, and kick to Evan for a missed 3 w/ 15 left. great
well that sure doesn't feel like a 15 point lead...guess we can't complain *too* much though
wait what bynum did this?? http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2106599/BCD73b2CYAELdCX_medium.jpg
Jrue missed a jumper with around 5 mins left in the 2nd and they gave the miss to Turner (who passed it to him). I thought so when it happened live and then I went back and checked on my DVR. How is it possible for a statistician to get that wrong?
Don't they go back and usually correct things like that? After reviewing tape, whenever.
I hope so because I have OCD with that shit
Bury these fuckers. Right now.
00!!! beastin'
damn Demarcus just showed ET who should've been drafted #2
Evan w/ the body into DeMarcus. Swatted!!!
Evan w/ the T. Stupidass crying mofo.
COme on !!! put them away.
Catch the ball Nick....
Jrue has improved significantly with his dribble. He's so useful of it. Whether transporting or picking his spots.
Heh Spencer....
Jrue with a pass to who? damn
nice pass hawes
wow this quarter may be even uglier than that Wiz game was...until that drop by Thad of course
Spencer's lard ass turns it over, instead of hitting Evan on the cut.
Thad. From Spence. heh
We have literally no bench contributions thus far. Telling you a lot about the Sacramento Kings.
"So how do you like your wings?"
"Uh...on a plate? in my hand?"
yea mark and malik are going to have a whole lot of dead air to fill during the 4th Q of this one
Come the eff on!!!! down to 12.
down to 10
Hawes with his usual weak ass soft shit.
and a runout on other end. typical of him dammit.
And I don't mean to be so deragatory, but I wish I was 7'.
His middle name has just got to be Charmin.
Kings are much more active on D here.
where has Lavoy been?
on the electrifying machine
Jrue w/ an inexcusable fucking turnover.
Layup on other end. ugh!!!!!!!!!
Hawes block. heh
Young lost his shoe, JRue probe and deposit. heh
Come on Jrue, at least get a hand up and better contest there. sheesh
dang Evans is an exciting player to watch
F me!!! annnd another fucking caused by Jrue turnover.
RUnout by Thomas.
SHit another fucking runout and layup for them
Hey!!!!!!! get the fuck back will ya?
SWAGGY!!!
NYoung 3 stems the raging tide. whew. get a clue will you
ugh these Kings are doing exactly what the sixers should have to start this period...how the hell is this only 3 points??
thaddeus turning garbage into gold
Evan Tunrer airball. Thad scoop and make.
Tyreke suddenly sees Evan is slow as shit on D.
sweet move 'Reke!!
Tyreke gets too happy dancing with it on Evan, palming violation.
FUck you Hawes.
F me. A foul from 32 feet by JRue on THomas? shit..................
jrue has been a mess this quarter
ugh what the hell is spence doing taking threes??
i got the away broadcast here in NYC -- you guys should hear these play by play guys!! they love their Tyreke out there in Sacto
What an abomination of nothing but sheer effort in this quarter.
All that cohesiveness and effort you showed in the first half may not have been that at all, it may have just been the Kings sleepwalking through.
Guess what? Not anymore....
yep this is gonna happen
holy shit what a fucking disaster
what the hell Jrue??
The Kings are doing nothing but out-efforting them.
thad jumper
They're so active on D.
Thad J. come on
Thad off the glass turnaround.
I'm disgusted with Holiday. He sees Lavoy Allen with two guys draped on him in the post and nobody guarding Turner, and he passes it Allen for an easy steal. Its hard to understand what he has been thinking this half.
thad and/or jrue must step up. it's sure as hell not gonna be anybody else.
What?? ?ANother fucking turnover Jrue. well you're a machine too son
Jrue almost has another turnover there on the lab inside to Allen. He's become obsessed with forcing the ball inside even when nothing is there.
Jrue with a pass Lavoy's not ready for, Lavoy pass back out, Jrue forced a runner, fouled. to the line.
lavoy putback
Thad blows it, Lavoy follow.
Thad taking the fuck over. You go boy!!!
welp it sure looks like Thad wants POTG for this one
Jrue tough pullup, guy all in his face.
Isiah Thomas is 9-9 from the line.
Jrue is 2-2. They both have 19 pts on the same amount of shots.
And just for good measure, Jrue has 7 dimes and 7 turns, Isiah has 5 dimes and 2 turns.
Things that make you go hmmmnnnnnn...in Arsenio voice.
swaggy!
swaggy $
And I'm harping on this Jrue vs Thomas thing because, I thought earlier when it started that Jrue would just abuse that little guy backing him down and posting him up. And he would at least contain the little fellah on the other end.
But that was so far from the case of what actually took place, that I'm spazzing about it.
well doug is going to be in rare form after this one, hope they don't 5-second-delay his presser
So Ivey is playing over Turner down the stretch here?
dc's jerking him around again only 31 min tonite
Not too sure about that. They're winning handily. And 31 is no slouch.
whatever how do you freakin play ivey over him
Well F me and you too JRue. terrihle man just fucking terrible.
As bad as the Kings 2nd quarter was, our 3rd was just as bad if not worse.
Annnnnddd Jrue, I hear Ice Cube's "No Vaseline" playing in the background, his 9th turnover not getting the shot off before the expiration of it.
Grrrrreeeeaaaaatttttt
Yeah this one didn't matter at all
Oops sorry, is a shot clock violation just a team turnover? Think it is, it's not on the individual is it?
Back to back wins!
Jus win baby
NYoung 7-7 from the stripe.
Thad with 15 rebs.
Sixers w/ 18 turnovers. Sac with 12 steals.
Annnnd the kicker???? Hawes with ..... wait for it .... you problably could have guessed it ...... 1, ONE REBOUND.
Oh wait
Is this really the 1st time since Nov that they won two in a row?
wow didn't even feel like it after seeing that Wiz replay heh
Good for them. 2 damn whole months.
jrue holiday's box score line omits what was evidently the najor accomplishment of his game in his mind-shutting off any possibility of an evan turner triple double in the second half
You're a funny mofo that's for sure. lol King conspiracy theorist.
How many minutes did the guy officially play in that half? Seriously.... (is Jrue freezing him or Doug)
....And not to boot, you toss around 'evidently' so freely when criticizing Mr. Holiday. How cruel. Or is it how dare you?
dude say what you will about evan's play. but jrue would NOT pas him the ball. it was extraordinarily obvious. that's twice on the homestand that this has occurred, the other being the last minutes of the memphis game
seemed like every time jrue forced a pass and turned the ball it was cause he didn't want to feed an open turner in a favorable location
i just think there is little love lost between the two.
if jrue is gonna do that they should trade evan
no conspiracy
just what's
on tv
OK man, if I'm gonna say what I will about his play, it's never ever his fault. Ever.
btw, You still didn't answer the question....
Trading Evan could be prosperous. If Jrue's gonna do that, as you say.
And you really made me laugh aloud again when you said 'extraordinarily',
did you instead mean Evanordinary!
......And as usual, such hyperbole with Jrue's 'every turnover' reference. Like, yeah really,.... Jrue's nearly every, seemingly turnover was because he wanted to fucking purposely ignore Evan Turner.
did you not ontice jrue waving evan away umpteen times in the second half?i knew two minutes into the third that evan was done
turner is way too fragile mentally. a good point guard and teammate would try and build his confidence, because the team is so much more dangerous when turner is playing well.
not like evan was killing the team in the first half. eight points five boards five dimes.took one shot in the second half and barely touched the rock. that is just what happened
ET was 3-9 with 4 turnovers. He had 8 points on 15 possessions used. That's pretty fucking terrible.
Analogously, the team is way more dangerous in the 20% of games when Nick Young plays well, so a good point guard would pass the ball a lot to Nick Young, building his confidence and thereby making us way more dangerous. Except, wait, no, Nick Young just lacks the talent to play well on a regular basis and no amount of confidence-building can cure that.
right but nick young is not someone who struggles with playing with confidence. basically he comes in and shoots without conscience and seems like a pretty mellow dude. so this doesn't quite work. a good point guard would feed tyoung when he got in the game, and continue to do so if his shot was falling and if it was not, try to avoid getting him the ball as you know if he touches it he is most always gonna shoot it
The point is, Turner kind of sucks so a good point guard doesn't pass him the ball too much. Jrue, Thad, our motley crew of big men at the rim, and Hawes pick-and-popping or shooting open jump shots are all better options than Turner.
the specific play that inspired my original post featured an open turner moving through the lane while jrue was on the elbow with an open passing lane and he forced it elsewhere for a bad shot
There might be something to his complaint but this phenomena isn't limited to Jrue and sometimes I get the impression that Turner doesn't really want the ball anyway. Probably half of Jrue's turnovers tonight came when Turner wasn't in the game so I don't think you can blame a "starve Turner" strategy for the turnovers.
Hawes doesn't seem to pass to Turner much although Turner passes to him all the time and Thad doesn't seem to pass to Turner much either although Turner regularly passes to him. Maybe there are just a few guys on the team who don't like Turner much or maybe don't trust him or maybe a combination of both.
Whatever it is, Turner probably should be traded. He seems fairly superflous on this team. He's an OK substitute playmaker when Jrue is on the bench, but they would do just as well with a more traditional backup point guard filling that role. I like Turner well enough but neither he nor the Sixers are getting the best from this relationship. I think both he and the Sixers could improve their futures from a divorce.
thanks for the thoughtful reply. i suspect you are an attorney as you right with a certain precision and clarity which is quite persuasive. i think that objectively, you hit the nail on the head regarding turner and the sixers. i'm a fan of et and wish things were different, but i believe his best chance as an nba player is a fresh start. perhaps things will be different with bynum on the floor. hope springs eternal.
It might be amazing if the franchise still had Iguodala. Stefanski blew that up with the no-bid offer.
money dictated.
Iggy/Jrue/AB, just think.
Title contention?
a big seven points from the bench bums
something im noticing lately, jrue is a little hesitant when shooting the open 3, most of the time he dribbles in and shoots a long 2
I think he's always been like that. That's why he has a solid percentage from 3 IMO. He is not that good of a shooter. He only takes the shots he is very confident he will make. He is not the kind of three point threat legit 3 point shooters are.
The book on him has always been: If he can attempt more threes or FTs he can be a very good point guard. As it appears he managed to make the allstar team without managing to do either. Makes you wonder how good he could become if he suddenly took every open three and figued out how to draw fouls.
He's a rhythm shooter that doesn't catch and shoot so I don't see much opportunity for him to make a substantial leap in threes made unless he starts gunning from behind the line like Rose. But, like you suggested, his three point percentage would fall quite a bit.
It would fall a lot, but he'd still become more efficient if he replaced the long twos he dips in to take with threes, even if he only made 33%. Because that's about what he shoots on long twos. In fact, because of how poorly he shoots long twos, he'd have to shoot under 23% from three for it to be a bad tradeoff.
yknow it sure would be nice to see this guy in the red white and blue again, wouldn't it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_0fyUYB3cA
Tonight Vucevic had 20, 12 (5 offensive) and 6, 2 steals and 2 blocks; Harkless had 19, 14 (6 offensive) and 4 steals.
Well, can't argue with back-to-back wins. Two pretty rough games for Jrue in the turnover department.Though Spence was solid vs. the Wiz despite poor shooting, not great against the Kings. Cousins continues to do absolutely nothing to change my perception of him.
I find it kind of funny that the usual group was bitching about Turner losing minutes in the fourth quarter of the Kings game. Did you not notice Tyreke Evans absolutely eating him alive? The game turned for the final time when Collins put Jrue on Evans, and suddenly he stopped getting to the rim on every play. Turner went to the bench at the 5:52 mark, mostly because they had a 10-point lead at the time, and it was more important to keep Ivey in to guard Thomas than to worry about Turner's ego.
After watching the two games back-to-back, I'm still concerned Jrue's relying on the long two way too much. Also a little concerned that he either has trouble, or is less likely to try to get into the lane when teams put longer wings on him. Something to keep an eye on.
Overall, good to see Wright get some burn. The team is better when he's the wing off the bench rather than Wilkins. Wonder how long Richardson's going to be out, and what his role will be when he comes back. Hawes/Nick Young in the starting lineup looks much better to me, at least until Bynum gets back.
Enjoy the Super Bowl, then it's the Magic on Monday.
Forgot to mention Thad's big game vs. the Kings, and Nick Young's seemingly reliable shooting in the starting lineup, both revelations.
i didn't have a problem with turner sitting. he was getting burned by evans and jrue showed no interest in even trying to get him involved on the offensive end so it was senseless to have him out there
So the Celts are 3-0 without Rondo. Admittedly, two against bad teams. But here's my question. Rondo puts a ton of pressure on a defense with his penetration and his floor vision, but if the end result of that penetration and court vision is long twos, how hard is it to find other ways to create open long twos without him?
Well, when you are not a real threat from anywhere else even getting long twos can be hard :).
I think there is no doubt that Rondo is overrated in my mind, but he is not useless. The Celtics may have won these games but Rondo's injury will eventually hurt them in the W column. As soon as other teams realize how this new team plays they will probably figure out a way to completely shut them down. The defense might be even better than before (Rondo gambled too much), but i think the offense might end up as the worst offense in the league. And with Sullinger out for the season as well, i can't see them winning more than 50% of their games this season. They were bound to start playing better anyway i guess, but they will start losing as soon as they hit the road.
And maybe most importantly i'd be shocked if the Celtics didn't make a trade. And who knows how much left Garnett and Pierce have i their legs.
welp so much for Jrue starting the ASG over Kyrie...and interesting how a certain former Sixer seems to be fitting in there so far: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20130202_OKC@CLE/irving-scores-35-to-lead-cavs-over-thunder
rondo goes down and the celtics go on a tear. of course. eming theory
rudy gay with twenty in the first half vs the heat, raps up eight
Completely missed the Rudy Gay trade, this is the first I heard of it.
So MEM gets Prince, Ed Davis, Austin Daye and a second rounder for Gay. The Pistons get Calderon for Prince. Mavs get Haddadi and Gay. Prince has two more years left on his deal after this one. Calderon is an expiring. Wonder why they even included Detroit in the deal, unless they really like Daye.
you mean raptors instead of mavs
I think they really wanted a SF that can play in return, so that they won't need to tank the season. Some writers even made the case that the Grizzlies might be better with Prince than with Gay, because he is a better fit. Like you though, i wouldn't do it. The Pistons made out like bandits in the trade.
big celtics lead cut to four on furious clipper run...bledsoe tearing it up