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

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?

ya

Kinda curious if there's some advanced stat that people are going on w/r/t Ibaka being an overrated defender (or, in the context of Thunder sticking w/ Ibaka, something that says he's not still improving). Or does ILH just think Ibaka has hoodwinked the league into two 1st Team All Defense in his first four years?

he gets a ton of blocks, blocks are impressive, is how i break it down to an extent

probably ibaka would thrive given the right defensive system to play in

hes def still got a lot of unfulfilled defensive potential, and being an interior defender is one of the hardest things to learn in the nba, i wouldnt be too surprised if he developed into an elite dude on that end, but ive never seen a thunder game and thought to myself wow serge is just dominating out there, on this point all the play diagraming blog nerd types seem to agree

Kinda curious if there's some advanced stat that people are going on w/r/t Ibaka being an overrated defender (or, in the context of Thunder sticking w/ Ibaka, something that says he's not still improving). Or does ILH just think Ibaka has hoodwinked the league into two 1st Team All Defense in his first four years?

Yeah, check out the Sloan sports analytics presentation from this year re: interior d. He's an amazing shotblocker but the rest of his defensive game is not that impressive.

People look at the shotblocking champ and think he is one of the league's best defenders unless he's Manute Bol or Shawn Bradley.

He's a pf that's a really, really good perimeter defender, a skill that is becoming more and more important as more bigs find themselves on the perimeter to draw larger defenders out of the paint. And idk, when I've watched Thunder games it's not just the blocks, but his ability to change shots when he's in the vicinity. That's what makes him great imo, the same way that LeBron just creepin around fucks with an opponent's shots. Like, 3 blocks a game is great, but negatively altering opponents' fg% is basically what you ask from your defenders. On top of all that, he can defend the post well; but, he's always seemed pretty amazing outside the paint.

I mean, I'm actually interested to see blognerds break down his defensive game. Maybe his opponents actually shoot close to a normal % when he's guarding them, would love to know.

Ah xp will read

http://www.pornoimg.com/images/2013/05/15/0SakN.gif

ha

So, all the Dwight Effect paper seems to say about Ibaka is that his block numbers are probably inflated because Ibaka allows so many near-the-rim shots, which are typically more blockable. The paper just says, basically, that the best thing a defensive inside guy can do is not allow close shots. Which, fair point, but it doesn't really say anything about Ibaka's actual defense; rather, just that he allows an awful lot of shots in this high-% area.

Is there a tidy defensive stat that measures defender's fg% allowed vs. scorer's normal average?

just that he allows an awful lot of shots in this high-% area.

this does say something about ibaka's actual defense, or rather, the defensive system in which he plays

Woodson otm, feel 4 u.

im slowly coming around to advanced stats..... im burning my fingerprints right now

but ive never seen a thunder game and thought to myself wow serge is just dominating out there

yeah it's not quantitative but this is exactly how i feel. he's an intriguing player and has plenty of room to grow but i'm not sure how much i would pay him to wait around and see.