thecampster

Dude just signed a multiyear, multi-million dollar rookie contract. I guarantee you he got laid out there and the legs were dead...Just sayin.

They were a healthy Millsap from the 5th seed (and Minny a healthy Butler from 3-4 seed). Denver should be a very nice team next year.

This is a direct result of playing the zone primarily in college. A ton of things happen in the zone. You are playing an area, not man so you only get back if the man in your zone goes cherry picking, you run back to your zone, not to men (except for centers). Many players struggle year one adjusting to man defense and screen switching as well as transition. Easier transition for big men. This is the main reason PG - SG almost never play big minutes year one. If I was Pierce and company, I'd be focusing a ton on how to defend man in every situation but half court (that takes forever) and how to attack in transition. You saw this game 1-2 in Utah...Trae was actually running at people on O in transition because he was expecting the defender to float to his zoned area. He really struggled getting man'd up in transition on offense. It was a new experience.

If you watch his feet...he's faking the mechanics. He looks like its a good base but that left foot travels way farther than the right after the jump. You'll see the left hand goes up with the ball but comes off completely at the start of the push...This creates too much variance.

Is he, I seem to remember a lot of blown layups from him. He wouldn't be the only player, but his offense on the court hasn't translated. Still think he's worth keeping, he just needs to stay healthy in order to actually show everybody what he can do. Bembry is NBA quality in every aspect of the game except shooting outside 10 feet. Yes, he's a good finisher around the basket as well as a good distributor. His shot is inconsistent mostly due to him being heavy right handed. If you watch this loop of him shooting, you'll see 90% of his shot is right foot, right hand. He starts balanced but as he pushes off he goes right into a right hand lean.

So in Euro weddings they throw shade instead of flowers?

See, I don't know where to go with that. It's the absolutes again...bad, good...no grey...no improving/no progress...good vs bad, white vs black, chocolate vs asparagus. The tank/rebuild is in action. It's like yelling at your teenager to drive safe over the cell phone when they've called you to say they're upside down in a ditch.

goal posts buddy...goal posts My post agrees with you in principle but points out there are exceptions and considerations.

and what I mean by talent is the comparison in talent between the lost 2600 minutes to G-Leaguers which will mostly be absorbed by Bembry, Dorsey, Trae, Huerter, Spellman, Anderson, Carter. I really think the veteran presence of Carter as a coach on the floor can't be overstated. He's seen it all.

1989 New Jersey Nets purposely tanked. Record 17-65. Drafted Derrick Coleman. Improved next season 9 games to 26-56. Coleman played 35 mpg scoring 18.4ppg, 10.3 rpg. In a 2 year rebuild...Seattle drafted Durant after going 20-62. The next year they went 23-59 (3 game improvement) and drafted Westbrook. They won 50 games the next year. There are problems with examples like this though...they are the exception to the rule. In general, tanking does not work as evidenced by http://wagesofwins.com/2012/04/02/why-tanking-doesnt-work-in-the-nba/ . The problem with your logic though is it doesn't allow for exceptions, good drafting or internal player growth during the rebuild. I think you need to take a hard look at my logic (2600 minutes not going to G-Leaguers this year, better 3 point shooting and better team defense, many close games last year). You see, the 24 games they won last year were for the most part wins that are wins that are wins. There were only a handful that were not solid 6 point or more wins. But there is an equally large sample of losses last year (about 1/2) that were a few possessions away from being wins. The odds state that with so many more minutes going to improving vets or 1st round picks and the subtraction of defensive problems, more of the losses can be turned than the wins. Basic logic says the team win totals improve. The question is by how much? 3 wins, 5, 10, 15....that's the variance, not a negative variance based on talent.

IMHO the 30 foot 3's are acceptable "in moderation". They do serve some purpose in forcing the defense to pick him up earlier, which creates bigger passing lanes, areas of movement. But as a scoring concept...no!

You know this wouldn't satisfy some. The tanking mindset is #1 overall or bust. There are some who would be upset at the progress that would be a lower draft pick.

He is none of those players. He is a superior passer/play maker than Steph but not as good a scorer. We talked about this a month or so ago but he really plays like Mike Bibby but a better scorer. His play style is very similar to Bibby's but with higher usage. Same height, but Bibby was 10 lbs heavier as a freshman. Trae is a slightly better passer and much better shooter but they are very similar players. The main difference is Bibby was slightly less of a risk taker and better coached at Arizone (more controlled).

More math for you and your Dorsey is a G-Leaguer. There are a total of 19,680 player minutes to distribute in a season (48x5x82). 13.56% of those minutes went to actual G-League players. 1 in every 8 minutes went to a G-League player last year. Yes, this year's roster is better. When you also include that Delaney got another 6% of the team minutes, Babbitt got 3%, you have to start wondering how we won 24 games at all.

Here is what is better than last year. Isaiah Taylor, Andrew White III, Tyler Cavanaugh, Damion Lee, Josh Magette, Jaylen Morris, Antonius Cleveland, Jeremy Evans and Nicolas Brussino go a combined 2,669 minutes last year. That's 74 - 36 minute ballgames worth of minutes for a number of players who will mostly not get any minutes in the league next year.

You see, this is what I see interesting about you and I. You know that I had Trae rated as the #1 positive impact player and who I would have chosen (though I suggested previously I would have done exactly what Schlenk did in trading down to get him). We also agreed on Huerter who I thought was going 12-15 before he hurt his hand. But then we get to Dorsey who I see as a future 6th man type of player. I see Dorsey as having gotten bad coaching in his life, which is why he's been working on breaking bad habits on the court and working on his body (adding good weight/toning). I can't see how you see him as a G-Leaguer. Your opinions (though right more often than not and usually mirror mine) seem to be much more extreme...either feast or famine. Dorsey's net negative per 100 possessions last year was -2.3. Which was acceptable for a 2nd round rookie and significantly better than a G-Leaguer. As far as sunshine and rainbows, Nobody is saying NBA finals but we are saying...better and I've laid that out. Specifically, better defensively at 3 rotational positions, better 3 point shooting overall and a player with selfish tendencies (some reported distractions) gone. The team is not worse based solely on Collins, Dorsey, Bembry, Prince all being one year older and more experienced. The fact that White, Cleveland, Cavanaugh, Magette and the other G-Leaguers aren't getting significant minutes makes us better. Our draft picks this year > G-League promotions from last year.

You're not my daddy! You can't tell me what to do!

Excellent, it means they aren't that practiced at losing (see that's how optimism works).

I've been discussing this for about a week now. Statistically speaking, Dennis was a -4 points per 100 possessions on defense last year (on court vs off), Belinelli was -4.9 points per 100 possessions on defense. The minute swap of these 2 players and Alex Len vs Muscala makes the Hawks significantly better on defense over last year's 24th ranking. Last year, the Hawks lost 24 games by 10 or last points, 30 games by 12 or less points. A 5 possession improvement one either and or a combination of defense and offense = 24 more wins. I'm thinking 11 more wins isn't asking that much.

Statistically speaking, Dennis Schröder was a net -1.2 points per 100 possessions. So if Trae + Lin is just a net break even for us, its a win.

The interesting thing is the vast majority of us see ourselves as the voice of logic and reason. Welcome to the fun house

You see, you picked out a few random comments out of a hundred with a positive tone. But Buzzard's post deals with the plethora of others that deal in absolutes. It's like when someone says something like "Martha is the worst cook in the world," but somewhere every so often that same person says, "awesome, Martha didn't burn my toast." He is still not saying Martha is a good cook and just because he didn't suggest burning Martha's recipe book in effigy doesn't mean he is now on board with Martha making Thanksgiving dinner.

KB predicted we'd be the worst team on defense in the league. Last year we were 24th. Sounds like he says we'll be worse to me. Yes, you're missing the point of his post by exchanging your definitions for his. His statement "There are those who think Schlenk is a horrible GM and none of his off season moves have made us better, In fact, every move in some of the debbie downers opinions, have made us a worse team." Your interpretation "Again, can you ID any posters that have thought we made nothing but bad moves?" These are not the same things, this is putting words in his mouth and it is the kind of thing that happens regularly on this board.

Dude....I posted a video of him with a double chin and moobs...if you can't see it, its because you don't want to.