#focus#mustwin#playoffs#drama? : 2013 NBA playoffs

a big man with that kind of jump shot fits my definition of "skilled"

so you only have to have one skill to be skilled and you dont even have to be that good at it, yokay

i'm pretty bullish on serge i just don't think he was worth keeping at the expense of harden, if that's what it came down to

he's a very good jump shooter for a big man!

things like passing and post moves he can develop as he learns the game more. he's still pretty raw in that area due to life circumstances.

he only takes open jumpers and cant create his own shot, that is not very good jump shooting, kg and chris bosh are very good jump shooting big men

ibaka is an okay shooter but he's really only good from the top of the key and corners http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/i/ibakase01/shooting/2013/

and i wouldnt wager on him developing post moves, he generally doesnt really have any basketball moves, hes just not a player in that sense

lagoon is right in that KG and bosh both have bigger hot spots for long 2's http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/garneke01/shooting/2013/ http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/boshch01/shooting/2013/

obvs its a tough comparison since kg and bosh are great jump shooters but not only do they shoot better than ibaka but they can create their own shot in multiple ways, ibaka just waits for someone to pass him the ball and if hes totally open he shoots it, his game is much closer to like brandon bass than any sort of legit jump shooter

I feel like Ibaka's weaknesses would not be an issue if they had a legit post guy to pair with him. A better Harden trade would've been with Utah for one of their bigs rather than a dime a dozen scorer like Martin plus change.

Yeah good comparison xp

david west http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/westda01/shooting/2013/

I just feel like hustle 4's are a dime-a-dozen these days and paying a slightly better one 12 mill a year is crippling.

ibaka is pretty unique, literally no one in the league has the combination of shot-blocking and deadly mid-range shooting like he does - and he's going to get better

not much better, he'll never average 20 points a game, but good enough to be a solid 3rd option on offense on a good team

does he do anything really positive on d other than get blocks?

i don't know what his synergy numbers or whatever are but he seems to be a plus - if a little overrated - defender

I feel like Ibaka's weaknesses would not be an issue if they had a legit post guy to pair with him. A better Harden trade would've been with Utah for one of their bigs rather than a dime a dozen scorer like Martin plus change.

― polyphonic, Tuesday, May 14, 2013 11:34 AM (28 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Every team needs a scoring post to go along with a hustle post but thats a tall glass. It's just hard to pay for both especially when you are already paying for KD and RW and overpaying for the hustle 4.

i think ibaka would have to become an outstanding defensive player before i could really get too excited about him

yep

It's just hard to pay for both

You don't need the best guy. You just need a guy who isn't the dessicated shell of Kendrick Perkins. It's insane how little depth the Thunder have.

the thunder have good depth! reggie jackson, nick collison, kevin martin, these are all valuable rotation players. even derek fisher isn't TERRIBLE as a 3rd PG. the problem is it's the playoffs now and star power matters more than depth (at least relative to the reg season) and their second best player is out. and scotty is clueless when it comes to his rotation

When Nick Collison is your second-best big man that's not a good sign

yeah it's not that jackson, collison, and martin are killing them, it's that they luxuriate in playing perk and thabo and did luxuriate in playing fisher (now a necessity tbf) and those first two guys just aren't gonna do it when they're not playing with two top-10 players

they need a nothing big man and a versatile wing player

ANOTHER, they have a nothing big man

ibaka is a career 55% shooter from the field as a 23 year old

brandon bass has shot over 50% twice in his entire career

Ibaka's only 23? Huh.

like, players do just get better even after being in the league for a handful of years. lamarcus aldridge is a perfect example.

he has to be at the top of the list of current great nba players who have one specific skill they need to master in the offseason or else it's gonna drag their reputation down

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, May 14, 2013 2:06 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

1. blake griffin, free throw shooting

2. james harden, defense

3. chris paul, not flopping

4. kyrie irving, health-iness

5. omer asik, hair

6. andrew bynum, bowling and/or dancing

7. Carmelo Anthony, Honey Nut Cheerios

blake shot like close to 70% from the line this year iirc and totes mcgotes sucked for the first month

hm ok looks like his pre/post ASB ft% aren't as dramatically different as i'd thought

yeah he was actually better overall than i thought and probably just needs like a 5% bump, really what he might need is the kg/timmy 17ft shot or a few more coherent post moves, he's definitely the #1 star who needs to add something specific imo

leaving aside the special case of one rajon rondo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCYkvTERF04

mesmerizing

ffs all the ibaka second-guessing here is nagl. dude is young, amazing defender, and has improved his jump shot every year. should really focus on the fact that he might have a legit case of bball yips right now.

or maybe hes not that effective offensively when playing w/o two top ten scorers because the only thing he can do is hit open jumpers

and hes a good defender but no where near amazing

Haralabos Voulgaris ‏@haralabob 33s
Apparently the real reason NYK's 3pt shooting was unsustainable in the playoffs was they were never gonna play their 3pt shooters.

Lagoon otm re Ibaka

that's part of it but indy is a real tough matchup for them, their defensive gameplan is all about denying layups and 3s - a team like nyk that relies on the 3 to the extent that they do is gonna be in some trouble

xp

its pretty miraculous that ny did as well as they did this year, you look at their roster and injuries and it just doesnt make much sense, woodson deserves props for sure

indy's got the best D in the league right?