2018 Around the NBA - November

I'm not rooting for LeBron the Laker. I'm rooting for LeBron the person.

Folks need to understand the difference.

 

I get it.

 

This kind of thing being done the way it is can be damaging to a career. I think the Warriors have had it with his shit. They are telling him they can effect his career even if he decides to leave. Trade value and future contracts are all in play here.

 

For sure they are tired of his shit. But isn't it really all about Durant and somehow hoping to make sure he returns? I was leaning towards KD staying, but now I would have to say the opposite unless Green is traded before the dead line and they end up winning it all this year without DG.

 

I feel like I am the LeBron of this forum. Great father/husband. Does tremendous things for the community. Handles his business at work with the best of ‘em.
Yet still is HATED on by most. We accept your HATE. We use it as fuel to better ourselves. We thrive off your HATE!
HATE on crackas..... HATE on!

 

I feel like you are not embracing your white Polish heritage enough.....

 

Pretty sure you still think i'm a newbie so i'll see your hate and raise you a stink eye.

 

They started 1-5, climbed to 4-5, lost two and a row, and have now climbed back to 6-7.

My point was, for a team full of older players with a history of missing significant time, playing them big minutes in early November does not bode well for their long term success. We all know CP3's history. He's 33 now and averaging the most minutes (35.2 MPG) since his first season as a Clipper, seven years age at the age of 26. The last two seasons, he's averaged 31.2 and 31.8 MPG, and even then only managed to play in 61 and 58 games. How can D'Antoni possibly think playing him 35.2 MPG in early November is a good plan?

Same for Eric Gordon. He's currently averaging 32.7 MPG, the most since he was in NOP, when he averaged 32.9 MPG and only managed to play in 45 games. Since his rookie year, he's averaged > 32 MPG six times. In those six seasons, he's played in 62, 56, 9, 64, 61 and 45 games. Playing Eric Gordon > 32 MPG has, historically, not been a good plan.

It just seems like D'Antoni is juggling a ticking time bomb playing his top five players so many minutes early in the season.

Here's two teams' top 5 players in minutes per game so far this season:



The one on the left is MIN. Their coach, Tom Thibodeau, has a reputation for playing his starters into the ground. His top five players are 29, 23, 23, 30 and 30.

The team on the right, is HOU. Their top 5 players are 33, 29, 33, 24 and 30.

Do you think HOU's current minutes distribution is sustainable over the course of an 82 game schedule? Given the history of the players involved, I do not. I think Mike D'Antoni, in his desperation to turn things around, may be trading a few early season wins for a potential disaster down the road.

BNM

 

Sure dont, but if Im houston / Dantoni would I rather climb out of the hole and play heavy minutes or just not be good?

 

Great post, with one minor difference. LeBron will never be replaced by one of these:



BNM

 

heh, awesome.

 

According to an insider on Clutchfans, Gordon Hayward is possibly on the market and Boston has reached out to Morey.

Do we have any interest? That 30 mil deal is a hard pill to swallow if Hayward doesn't come back close to his previous level of health.

 

Man I dont. He looks like that injury wiped out any athletecism he had once had. Now maybe he can come back and maybe hes just rusty but he doesnt look good...

 

Getting ET would allow them to let go of Rozier in a subsequent deal and they loved him there. Turner/Leonard/2019 1st for Hayward. Then pick up Melo off waivers.

Dame/CJ/Hayward/Aminu/Nurk

with Seth/Nik/Moe/Melo/Zach off the bench

I would do this. Ainge can't be getting great offers with a 100 mil left on Hayward's deal.

 

He needs to figure out how to beat the teams they should beat without playing his starters so many minutes. He also needs to learn when to throw in the towel and not continue to play his starters when he's down 20 with 6 minutes left in the game. I thought it was absolute insanity that he played CP3 37 minutes in the game against us. They were down 22 with 5:31 left in the game and D'Antoni didn't pull CP3 until 57 seconds left in the game. What the actual fuck was he trying to accomplish? Keep the point spread under 20 (we won by 19)? There was absolutely no reason CP should have been in the game. He should have pulled him when we went up by 25 with 8:45 left in the game. Those last 8 minutes CP3 played were pointless.

He also played CP3 late into the 4th quarter in a 20-point loss to the Clippers and an 18-point loss to OKC.

Look at the starter's minutes for both teams in the LAC vs. HOU and POR vs. HOU games.





In both cases, the winning coach was smart enough to rest his starters when he had a big lead. In both cases, D'Antoni continued to play his starters big minutes late into the 4th quarter, in games he had no chance of winning? That's almost criminal given the age and history of his roster. Why, when the other team has a >20 point lead in the 4th quarter, is he not resting his starters and using those minutes to develop the guys he has on the bench? It seems beyond stupid to me.

BNM