part two of the nba 2020-21 anything but regular season

Clippers have a +9.1 Net Rating since the All-Star break (2nd overall) despite Serge Ibaka missing 20 games, Patrick Beverley missing 19, Kawhi Leonard missing 6, and Paul George missing 4 during that span.

Beverley-PG-Kawhi have played 22 of 60 games together this year.

— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) April 21, 2021

i'm starting to think the hawks might be scary come playoff time. they're rolling (over bad teams mostly) and Hunter and Reddish are about to return

the changes under Nate have been pretty dramatic

Trae with goggles is more likeable

The vision is elite. pic.twitter.com/jCt4LcDyw9

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 21, 2021

Watching the 4th Q of Pels Nets last night, couldn't help but feel a little sad that Jrue isn't there to set Zion up. I get why they made the trade, it was the right thing to do with their timeline, but painful to see Zion floundering around trying to create for himself out away from the basket. Obv he can do it sometimes but he needs to build up those ballhandling skills before he has it in his hands that much. Which is not to say they shouldn't be running the offense thru him, but they need more dynamic playmakers for him to work with

hes been insanely good with the ball in his hands

seems like those hawks injuries were a good thing for the likes of bogdon and huerter?

that thing zion does where he does a short range shot and then suddenly is on his own rebound before anyone else for a fast lay-in

he's had plenty of moments but i think they could've won that game without a few of the bad ones - dribbled the ball off his foot, had it taken away a couple of times. just want to take the pressure off our boy so he can wreck

yeah spottie it's opened up a ton of time for them and they've taken advantage. huerter's game really opened up with rondo leaving. he's taken a lot of the play-making responsibilities when trae's on the bench. he's deceptively good at getting in the lane

he's had plenty of moments but i think they could've won that game without a few of the bad ones - dribbled the ball off his foot, had it taken away a couple of times. just want to take the pressure off our boy so he can wreck

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Wednesday, April 21, 2021 11:35 AM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the zion williamson fan club appreciates your interest in zion and encourages you to watch more than one quarter of him playing or look at a box score or something lol

ok fair lol

if the pelicans could play defense people wld prob be talking about him as an mvp candidate and hes still played less than one full season of nba ball, freaking crazy

of course some of that bad defense is his fault but as i said hes only played 77 games and has all the tools to be a good defender, and hes is scoring more points in the paint than anyone since shaq, and hes doing it on drives, without a jump shot, its paranormal

and now hes their primary ball handler and just seems cool with it, wild stuff baby

stan might be a bad coach tho idk its a young team im willing to withhold judgement

playing so well that the team signed three other centers while also playing a point guard as a small ball 5. you just can't keep deandre off the floor

deandre is fine like not great but fine, what the nets could really use is 2014 deandre jordan he would solve some problems for them

nets minutes last night

kyrie irving - 38
landry shamet - 33
jeff green - 33
joe harris - 32
blake griffin - 28
bruce brown - 26
timothy luwawu-cabarrot - 22
deandre jordan - 21
alize johnson - 7

take it up with steve nash, man

I know it's early days, but I'm going to have to be convinced that Zion will be a good defender. I could see him making eye-popping blocks/steals, but generally not being a good defender otherwise.

what happens if the nets get all their dudes back and then get completely shredded on defense, seems likely cause a. kyrie/harden is an insanely bad defensive backcourt and b. they havent had time to gel

zion is the strongest person in the world, hes also the most athletic person, moves his feet like a guard, has amazing hands, and is a true baller, id say the chances of him being an elite defender and better than him being bad xp

*are

This is true - but plenty of amazing athletes end up being not that good on defense, whether because of interest, aptitude, whatever.

the longterm issue the pelicans will need to figure out is that it's obvious the best way for them to play on offense is w/ zion as the "big" and a bunch of floor spacers around him. the problem is that if you put him at center on defense you're going to get destroyed and i don't think that's probably ever gonna change. they really need like a jarren jackson, knicks era porzingis or heatles era bosh type player who can hang around the three point line on offense but give them some facsimile of rim protection on defense

yeah a stretch 5 makes a lot of sense, tho fwiw theyre a top 10 offense playing steven adams and jaxon hayes both total zeros on O who cant shoot next to him thats how good hes been

This is true - but plenty of amazing athletes end up being not that good on defense, whether because of interest, aptitude, whatever.

― i bought biden some thin mints with my stimmy (PBKR), Wednesday, April 21, 2021 12:36 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

not sure what your argument for zion being a career bad defender is

I never argued he was going to be a career bad defender. He is a bad defender now and

I'm going to have to be convinced that Zion will be a good defender.

I want to see something other than highlight blocks here or there.

He could just be a dude who likes offense!

so youre going to have to see him be a good defender before youre convinced its possible or likely ok thats... fine

most high level NBA players get to at least passable on defense, i mean even harden, kyrie, steph etc don't kill you on defense. it's a bit trickier w/ zion bcuz of his position but the odds are that he becomes at least fine. i'm not taking either side of this current debate, just saying

having watched almost every kyrie game for two seasons i can definitively say he is an awful defender up there with the worst in the league, obvs hes at a physical disadvantage, and the effort is often poor, but even when hes locked in on ball hes just a terrible scheme defender, constantly getting lost on switches getting cut backdoor the whole enchilada, suspect the same is true for harden but i havent watched him as closely and hes is bigger and very strong so that part isnt a problem

but anyway zion has all the tools and has already proven to be a basketball genius, i wouldnt bet against him

i kinda checked out of the blazers season a few weeks ago, just had that old sinking feeling.

most fans don't grasp that losing is what the regular season and playoffs are really all about. one winner. twenty nine losers.

i think with zion's defense the challenge is that his wingspan and standing reach (at least the most recent ones i could find) are nothing special. he's certainly not a defensive 5 and his best physical skills like explosion and second jump aren't as helpful on defense.

in theory he would be best as a switch defender which they could maybe try with him and hayes although initial returns will probably be ugly.

atheism is helpful on defense! idk whats gotten it to you all today

well atheism is helpful in all sorts of contexts

god never broke up a fast break

no atheists in foxholes

lol

lol @ atheism.

as usual, cad stating a better version of what I was trying to express.

still wrong tho

i mean he even has long arms, hes not center size is anyone saying hes a center idgi

i might be but i doubt it. one thing i feel like i've learned about defense over the past few years is that standing reach and wingspan(to a lesser extent), relative to position, are like much, much, more important than other things. so if i was told about an abstract guy who's a natural 4 and moves his feet really well but has the standing reach and wingspan of (checks notes.....) romeo langford, i think i would say hmmm sounds like an average defender who would be best at switching.

(again i'm pasting together measurements from old draft stuff which may be a little wrong but i don't think he's going to break the scale in either category)

hes 6-6 with a 6-10 wingspan how are you trying to make that into a bad thing its ridiculous, call him a small forward who cares, its prob more accurate to how he plays anyway, not a ton of 4/5s are primary ball handlers, and switchablity is also something worth considering

doesnt ben simmons have a short wingspan?

no defense is completely dependent on arm length

lol it's not "bad" i think it just closes an avenue or two for how you can be a really good defender.