Outlaw played well in a loss. How often have we heard people claim that a similar scenario just proved that Zach or Sheed were a detriment to the team?
This thread is depressing me. Heck, even my cup of coffee is depressing me today. I think I'm going to go try not to think of basketball anymore... at least not until tonight's game!
Would it be more or less depressing to you if I tell you there is not another game until Friday night? Ed O.
Hmmm. Long wait. Highly anticipated matchup. National TV. Championship contender. Nope, I can't see how this could go wrong.
Sad thing from Outlaw's standpoint . . . imagine how fans are going to react when he has a bad game . . .
That is simply not true. Both Outlaw and Rudy played pretty well last night. I'm starting to wonder if Rudy will become the best player on our team.
Sad for Travis, but great for me. I can't wait for the anger that we'll see from some posters here. If 18 pts (8-15)/4 rebs/2 assists is worthy of criticism, I imagine we'll see a full-fledged meltdown from posters here who literally could not get a decent shot off against Outlaw in real life.
You think a 19 year old who has never played in the NBA before should've been thrown out there to play against the Western Conference champs?? It was the right move to put Outlaw out there. Outlaw is a veteran who knew how to handle the hostile crowd and he handled it great.
Why? He was in our closing lineup (Jack, Roy, Jones, Outlaw, LMA) all last season. He can obviously play well with the starters. Why do you have a problem with him starting? We have to figure out who will be our point in the closing minutes. Steve Blake hardly ever played down the stretch. I'm hoping Bayless starts and finishes. And soon.
The answers I derived from last night all included a criticism of Outlaw "just standing still". Umm, Martell Webster is pretty much a spot-up shooter in this offense, isn't he?
There's no anger, just criticism of a player whose style of play some feel doesn't contribute to a winning team. Outlaw's favorite shot, the contested jumper a step in from the 3 point line, is the "bad process." A good outcome, like 8-15 last night, doesn't make it a good process (a good shot). Utterly irrelevant.
Another thing people forget is that Outlaw is a damn good three point shooter. He shot 40% from the arc last year. He may be our best three point shooter on the whole team. He hit a couple wide open threes last night. Should he have passed them up?
Ridiculous. He hit wide open threes and then made some pressure shots because THAT IS ALL THE LAKERS WERE GIVING US.
First of all, if having a player who actually doesn't wilt in the 4th quarter and who was a heavy contributer to one of the best teams in the league in terms of games decided by 5 points or less isn't a positive, there is no reason for us to have a discussion. I've posted all of the 4th quarter stats for the team and for Outlaw in the completely stupid "Kyle Lowrey for Travis Outalw" threads on BBF. Your opinion mean jack squat compared to actual production. Hmm, your bias or the stats/coaching staff.
Yes, because his "favorite shot" is a contested 22' jumper, which he makes quite regularly. He was hurting the team taking/making open 3s!!
I'm not talking specifically about last night, more in general. Last night was an offensive debacle however you look at it, there's not much point in analyzing it given that just about everything went wrong.
A more efficient player (and a better offense) might actually hold a lead of more than 5 points. And I'm not arguing that he can't score, is utter crap, or anything at all like that. He's just a fairly inefficient scorer on a team that I assumed had better options. He doesn't make it regularly enough for it to be an efficient shot.
Then this thread wasn't created for you. I've pointed out many times that Travis is paid to score, which he does fairly well for someone who just turned 24 and was as raw as they come out of HS. That is his role, and it may not always be efficient. But it is his role.
So how do you think Outlaw is going to improve? He's 24, I think it's fairly clear that he's never going to be a Maggette style slasher. He's a jump shooter who's TS% isn't very good, that's not a good role player. My biggest disappointment with him this pre-season was the fact that his game hasn't changed at all. If he was attacking the hoop a la Bayless but still turning it over a lot, I could understand the "raw" argument, even after 6 years. But his game is deep jumpers, and the Blazers already take too many.
