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2010-2011 NBA Thread


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QUOTE (Felix @ Jan 27, 2011 -> 12:43 AM)
Nope, Kevin Love sucks.

 

He's up 3-0 in 30/20 games on the rest of the NBA. Your move, NBA.

 

Oh, and for those that said something along the lines of Love never winning a game for you (Steve maybe? I don't remember all the stupid that gets said in here): he had 21 and 11 in the second half tonight, including 14 and 5 in the fourth quarter. 9-for-14 shooting, including 2-for-2 from three in the second half as a whole. Yeah, the Timberwolves lost, but this wasn't a case of Kevin Love not putting his team on his shoulders. It was a case of the rest of the team not doing their part.

Ah hahaha. Your point?

 

I never said Kevin Love wasn't awesome... or special... or a player I wouldn't love to have (hell, coming out of UCLA I was one of his backers). I said the statement that he was a top 10 player in the National Basketball Association was utterly stupid, and it remains as such.

 

Kid's got charisma, he's a great interview, and he's a hard worker, but he's nowhere close to a top 10 player in the League.

Edited by Steve9347
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QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 27, 2011 -> 10:11 AM)
Ah hahaha. Your point?

 

I never said Kevin Love wasn't awesome... or special... or a player I wouldn't love to have (hell, coming out of UCLA I was one of his backers). I said the statement that he was a top 10 player in the National Basketball Association was utterly stupid, and it remains as such.

 

Kid's got charisma, he's a great interview, and he's a hard worker, but he's nowhere close to a top 10 player in the League.

Yes he is. He's VERY close.

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QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 27, 2011 -> 04:45 AM)
If Love doesn't make the All Star team, it would be a shame. Don't even think Blake should make it over him.

 

They both should be there. Period. I'm going to puke if Duncan makes it. But I've got a feeling he'll be there. Looks like I picked a bad year to discontinue my league pass subscription. I had it from 2005 through last year. Combination of not really being all that interested in anybody outside of the Bulls, and the fact I didn't have the nearly $200 bones it cost yearly, and I said no thanks. There's more premium, in particular young, talent in the league today than at any point I can remember since the early 90's. I'm actually staying up late to catch Clipper/Wolves/Warriors/Grizzlies highlights.

Edited by Jordan4life
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QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 27, 2011 -> 09:51 AM)
They both should be there. Period. I'm going to puke if Duncan makes it. But I've got a feeling he'll be there. Looks like I picked a bad year to discontinue my league pass subscription. I had it from 2005 through last year. Combination of not really being all that interested in anybody outside of the Bulls, and the fact I didn't have the nearly $200 bones it cost yearly, and I said no thanks. There's more premium, in particular young, talent in the league today than at any point I can remember since the early 90's. I'm actually staying up late to catch Clipper/Wolves/Warriors/Grizzlies highlights.

 

Prepare to hurl

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QUOTE (Chi Town Sox @ Jan 27, 2011 -> 10:15 AM)
Prepare to hurl

 

This. They were talking about it during the SA/Utah game last night. It will happen and Griffin and Love will have to fight for the last spot. What a joke.

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An angry wind has since blown in from Chicago, dumping three feet of snow on my town, and three dozen expletive-laden e-mails on my gmail account.

 

90 percent of the anger is reserved for two words: "pretty bad."

 

As in "defender."

 

Maybe that was too strong. Sorry. Kind of.

 

Half of those e-mailers point me to an article by the TrueHoop Network's own Rob Mahoney on The New York Times site. Mahoney skillfully points out that for all the improvements to Rose's shooting this season, the Bulls' guard's biggest improvement has come on defense, where the Bulls have remained exceptional despite a rash of injuries to big men.

 

Even then, the story begins with the accepted premise that Rose has been, in the past, an atrocious defender. I can't find any person or metric that disputes that, and with time you could make a lowlight reel of Rose, in his first two years, losing his man at the slightest whisper of a pick, and losing his train of thought with every switch. Before this season, his default defense, with good reason, was to avoid foul trouble like the plague, which a lot of offensive stars do.

 

Rose is no longer an atrocious defender, certainly. But in his improvement, what level has he risen to? Passable? OK? Good? Excellent?

 

Individual defense is basketball's most inscrutable topic. After digging through a lot of analysis, Mahoney's opinion is that now, for the first time, Rose can make "a legitimate claim as a plus defender."

 

As in: He's probably helping his team on defense.

 

Mahoney then provides some video and Synergy data showing that in many different instances, especially in isolation, Rose has elite defensive numbers. So that means something.

 

That's about where I am, too. "Pretty bad" is, I think, still a generous assessment of his total defensive career, but it's probably a step too dour for his current effort. So, sorry. I should have said "average."

 

Just for fun, I called David Thorpe, too, who says that he sees Rose as a vastly improved defender but "average" for his position. "There might be some situations," Thorpe allows, "where he is above average."

 

But to me the biggest point here is that Rose just got the NBA's sharpest defensive mind running his team, in Tom Thibodeau. Ray Allen had a career as a miserable defender, then teamed with good defenders in Boston, in an amazing system where he got to excel in a limited role, and presto: He was a starter on the NBA's best defense.

 

The same goes for Hedo Turkoglu in Orlando. He was a bad defender everywhere, a good defender under Stan Van Gundy, a bad defender again for Toronto and Phoenix, and then boom: There he is back in Orlando, part of an elite defense again.

 

Is the lesson there that Allen and Turkoglu are great defenders? Hardly. (No one in Toroto or Phoenix is accusing Turkoglu of that, anyway.) What I get from that is that a really good defensive system, anchored by strong defenders (like Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, and Dwight Howard) and administered by an uncommon coach can accomodate lots of different kinds of players.

 

The Bulls have a great game plan on defense, and a number of good defenders. Watch Ronnie Brewer for ten or twelve straight plays. Everyone wonders why Keith Bogans gets minutes even though he's horrible on offense, and the reason is defense! Not that he's first-team all NBA, but he knows what's happening. Luol Deng has savvy and size, Taj Gibson is long and athletic. Put it all together, and you get Rose as the starting point guard on what is quite probably the NBA's best defense.

 

But let's just say you were to plug Rajon Rondo, Russell Westbrook, or Jrue Holiday into that same system, in place of Rose. Would the Bulls' defense improve even further? Heck yeah it would. And so long as that's the case, let's credit Rose with tremendous improvement. He's a great team player and worker who does more than enough on defense. But certainly his most important contributions are on offense.

 

To the bigger point about Rose's MVP candidacy: In that regard, being in the lower middle, middle, or upper middle of the pack is still not ahead of the pack. My point is that by every theory someone can win an MVP award -- team record, individual production and scoring have played massive roles in past years -- Rose is elite but not the best. Defense will not be the thing to seperate him from the pack, either.

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Bulls sent Johnson down to the D League, kind of disappointed that he wasn't able to get in the lineup this season. Definitely made some mistakes but considering Bulls have no legit backup SF and no SG whatsoever thought JJ would get a chance. I doubt he has much of a future with the Bulls, D-league seems kind of like a death sentence in the NBA.

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QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 27, 2011 -> 01:33 PM)

 

Watching about every single Bulls game (except when the Hawks are on), I can't call Rose an average defender. The guy still has no idea how to play the pick and roll, which is going to be shoved down the Bulls throat in the playoffs.

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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 27, 2011 -> 05:46 PM)
Watching about every single Bulls game (except when the Hawks are on), I can't call Rose an average defender. The guy still has no idea how to play the pick and roll, which is going to be shoved down the Bulls throat in the playoffs.

I haven't watched every single game...but I've definitely noticed a big difference in the effectiveness of teh P&R against the Bulls comparing the games I watched in Nov., when they were being torched, and the games I've watched recently, where they use it but it's not a big time option.

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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 27, 2011 -> 04:46 PM)
Watching about every single Bulls game (except when the Hawks are on), I can't call Rose an average defender. The guy still has no idea how to play the pick and roll, which is going to be shoved down the Bulls throat in the playoffs.

He's improved a TON throughout this season at that exact play.

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QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 27, 2011 -> 07:38 PM)
And it's official, D-Rose will be the Eastern conference all-star starting PG. The fans finally got it right for once. Can't argue with any of the starters for the east this year. The west is another story.

That east team is ridiculous.

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QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 27, 2011 -> 07:42 PM)
That east team is ridiculous.

 

Indeed. I've pretty much ignored the all-star game and the all-star weekend in general the past few years. But with Blake Griffin in the dunk contest and all the sick, young talent that will showcase itself in the all-star game this year I'll definitely clear my schedule for that weekend.

Edited by Jordan4life
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QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 27, 2011 -> 06:57 PM)
I haven't watched every single game...but I've definitely noticed a big difference in the effectiveness of teh P&R against the Bulls comparing the games I watched in Nov., when they were being torched, and the games I've watched recently, where they use it but it's not a big time option.

This. It's a night and day difference to be honest.

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QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 27, 2011 -> 09:15 PM)
This may be the first time Ive rooted for the Knicks, its odd but feels strangely good.

 

I will never pull for the Knicks or Pistons, no matter the circumstances.

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