NBA 2011-2012 Season

[aeu]

Nash is not the fastest player on the court, but he is one of the quickest in his moves the same can be said for Lin

Nash has an ability to find the open guy off the dribble and so does Lin

Nash has a killer three point shot, and so does Lin

I think you have good sense of Nash's game but it seems to me like you are pushing it with this comparison. The last one just seems wrong. I know Lin made a couple of big threes at the end of games, but overall, he is just not that good a three point shooter. Nash is a great shooter overall, an excellent 3 point shooter in particular even now in his old age. He has been extremely good ever since he became a starter. There is no comparison, really.

And I know this will seem odd given that Lin racked up huge assist numbers for a while, but he does not seem like a natural passer to me. You can see it in the turnovers; many of them are because he drives with scoring in mind and not always keeps an eye out on the open guys. But there were also a few instances in every game that shows he is thinking too much. This is way different than how Nash plays the game.

The NY Times article linked above was very interesting, it says that Lin couldn't shoot at all when he first came to the NBA and also tried to take it to the basket every time and couldn't pass. You can still see those tendencies, though it really is incredible how far he has come.

[Greywolf2375]

Ainge was interviewed yesterday and came out and (around about) said he is not trying to offload Rondo...but if a blockbuster came along that they would have to think about it. I know they really can't come out and say "yes, we want to get rid of him" but they need to do something or else his stock is going to drop even more.

Wouldn't be fun, but they need to start shopping the contracts they have, Rondo and start looking forward to rebuild.

[Young Wolf]

Rondo is really the only piece they have that would make another team give up some pieces or draft picks for. The "Big 3" are too old and no one wants to deal with those contracts.

[Greywolf2375]

Rondo is really the only piece they have that would make another team give up some pieces or draft picks for. The "Big 3" are too old and no one wants to deal with those contracts.

Oh absolutely - the only way I see them getting rid of KG or Allen is to a contender that needs a shooter or another long body as a small piece. If they are unable to do something, I see them going back to the mid/late 90s team structure of a group of 6th men if they can't do anything with Rondo.

[Greywolf2375]

So 50 years ago today Chaimberlain scored his 100 in Hershey Park, PA - one of the greatest individual performances in a sport, ever. The thing that has always amazed me about his scoring 100 wasn't that he took 63 shots from the floor, but that he went 28-32 from the line. A career 51% shooter hits for 88% that night.

Another irony from that night...the Knicks had 3 over 30 in the game.

[Howdyphillip]

Mark Cuban just sent Lamar Odom down to the D league. He has been terrible this year with 7.7 points a game, and capped it off by taking the last couple of weeks off to take care of his "ill" father who wasn't really ill. I can't believe that the current 6th man of the year is not even playing in the league right now.

[Commodore]

MIT Sports Analytics Conference is this weekend, lots of big names there. Unfortunately they are charging to stream this year.

Bill Simmons podcast with Rockets GM Daryl Morey, must listen for anyone interested in moneyball talk.

[Caliban2]

This is one nitpick of mine as well. JL is not lacking at all in athleticism. Are people just stereotyping that an Asian-American PG must be entirely based on hard work and IQ? Dude has very solid quicks and hops even at the NBA level, and 6'3" is plenty tall for PG.

Turd, you and that other guy must be stupid. In the post I said "incredibly gifted". It's so much harder to make the NBA at lins height than at 6'10 or above, due to the competition at your position. I shouldn't need to spell everything out for you idiots but I guess I do.

[Young Wolf]

Mark Cuban just sent Lamar Odom down to the D league. He has been terrible this year with 7.7 points a game, and capped it off by taking the last couple of weeks off to take care of his "ill" father who wasn't really ill. I can't believe that the current 6th man of the year is not even playing in the league right now.

Wow...I bet he regrets making that trade demand now. He was well loved in LA and was an invaluable piece to the team.

[BLU-RAY]

When you're 6'10 + (I actually think the cutoff for this is more like 6'8) it's way easier to make the NBA than it is at a shorter height. This should be obvious statistically; there are a ton more folks under that height than over. I read/heard someone say recently that there are a lot of 7-footers who look like they're just mailing it in; well, no shit, they've been told "Hey, you're probably great at basketball" their whole careers, and are essentially just getting paid; you might be able to get drafted at 7' into the NBA even without having played hoops. Meanwhile, at 6'3" or whatever, you have to be a more exceptional athlete to make it, and you have to want the fuck out of it.

[Caliban2]

This is one nitpick of mine as well. JL is not lacking at all in athleticism. Are people just stereotyping that an Asian-American PG must be entirely based on hard work and IQ? Dude has very solid quicks and hops even at the NBA level, and 6'3" is plenty tall for PG.

Turd, you and that other guy must be stupid. In the post I said "incredibly gifted". It's so much harder to make the NBA at lins height than at 6'10 or above, due to the competition at your position. I shouldn't need to spell everything out for you idiots but I guess I do.

[BLU-RAY]

THAT is an impressively split double post.

[Slurktan]

So 50 years ago today Chaimberlain scored his 100 in Hershey Park, PA - one of the greatest individual performances in a sport, ever. The thing that has always amazed me about his scoring 100 wasn't that he took 63 shots from the floor, but that he went 28-32 from the line. A career 51% shooter hits for 88% that night.

Don't forget that they actually changed the rules for free throws because of Wilt as he could dunk a free throw without a running start. This might have been before they changed the rules. And yes when I learned that fact my head almost exploded. He dunked from the fucking free throw line without a running start, repeatedly.

[Calibandar]

Saw the Utah Jazz-Miami Heat game. That was one hell of an excellent match. Tense right up until the end.

Wade was fantastic. Lebron James is just a phenomenon, definitly one of the best players I have ever seen on a court. Unbelievable.

Lakers vs Heat on Sunday, will be seeing that live.

[BLU-RAY]

Ugh. I've been watching this stupid Lakers-Heat game (actually a pretty good game, but I don't really like regular season basketball that much) waiting for somoene to clobber Wade, and now he's fouled out. Gah.

[Greywolf2375]

Not sure if Rondo is making a case for himself to stay or to try to put the negatives - whiny, tossing the ball at the ref - behind him and dazzle with play. Either way, was a good win for the C's to come back the way they did - just don't know if they will be playing themselves into mediocrity again if Ainge doesn't pull the trigger.

[Sir Thursday]

Watched the Rockets-Clippers game from last night. Really close game throughout. Unfortunately despite the best efforts of Courtney Lee, the Rockets didn't have an answer for CP3 down the stretch - that and a couple of key turnovers late on consigned them to defeat. But it seemed like the Rockets were really fired up for this game. They were humiliated by the Clips in Los Angeles, and I think they were out for revenge...couldn't quite get it though.

ST

[Exa Inova]

Turd, you and that other guy must be stupid. In the post I said "incredibly gifted". It's so much harder to make the NBA at lins height than at 6'10 or above, due to the competition at your position. I shouldn't need to spell everything out for you idiots but I guess I do.

Making the NBA at a certain height without clarifying the position is absurd. Lin isn't trying to be the next Charles Barkley.

As the 'other stupid guy': Lin is as incredible gifted as any other 6'3 player who made it to the NBA.

[Exa Inova]

Care to elaborate a bit? Saying that is stupid without giving any reasons for you thoughts is a little vague.

I am not saying that Lin is better than Nash, only that they have a lot of things that are comparable. The question, was which rookie or sophomore PG you would take. I said Lin because his skill sets are an awful like Nash.

Nash is not the fastest player on the court, but he is one of the quickest in his moves the same can be said for Lin

Nash has an ability to find the open guy off the dribble and so does Lin

Nash has a killer three point shot, and so does Lin

Nash can take over a game on the scoreboard when he needs to, and Lin just gave us a good sample size that he can do the same.

If the question is who is the better basketball player and I answered Lin over Nash, that would be stupid. I would take Nash hands down right now because Lin needs to grow into his game, but to say that they are incomparable is a little short sighted in my opinion. What PG would you compare Lin to?

Lin isnt that quick in his moves. Nash has the ability to keep the ball alive in almost every situation. Thats what makes him special. He can dribble into the paint and traffic and still keep his dribble. He can dribble with both hands. Lin is far from that level.

Nash finds guys of the dribble, Lin tries to find guys of the dribble and has some succes. But his turn overs say he needs far more succes to be compared to Nash.

Lin a killer 3 point shot? please. One of the reasons teams cut him was because of his iffy outside shooting. He might have improved but terms like 'killer' or 'deadly' are very out of place. Nash is a proven 3 point shooter and whats more, can shoot of the dribble going right and left. He can also shoot off balance. These are some of the reasons writers consider Nash to be the best pure shooter in the NBA over Ray Allen.

Take over games? I saw those games too and I agree Lin did a perfect job. I also saw a Knicks squad with lots of players who have trouoble creating their own shots and/or who need the ball delivered (Amare). Because a pg has the ball in his hands the most, he can be the hero or scapegoat in close games. Lin was the hero and i congradulate him for it.

Maybe I havent looked good enough but I see very little articles about how the Knicks were looking for a decent point guard all season long. Wasnt Douglas their starting pg at the start of the season? Followed by Bibby? and then Shumpert? Werent they waiting for Baron Davis?

Lin was a move by a coach who was pretty desperate but it worked well for him. He got a pg who mimickes his best pg ever.

Whatever may happen from now on I wish Lin the best although I fear he will be servable at best in the end.

[Calibandar]

Just watched an exciting game between Lakers and Celtics. That was very close. I saw The Celtics pulverize the Trailblazers just two days ago, but this time they were up against an opponent just as strong as they were. In the end, the Bryant-Bynum combination was just too much for the Celtics. Rondo was the highest scoring Celtics player, coming in at 26 I think ( outscored only by Bryant).