I don't have NBA League Pass, but in looking at the online stats just now I see that Nolan is actually playing with the 2nd unit late in the first quarter at Toronto. So he's not just getting burn in mop-up time! Go Nolan!!
I don't have NBA League Pass, but in looking at the online stats just now I see that Nolan is actually playing with the 2nd unit late in the first quarter at Toronto. So he's not just getting burn in mop-up time! Go Nolan!!
Due to the compressed schedule this season I would expect that the bench players - which I guess would be Nolan, Shelden, and perhaps Dahntay Jones - should have good opportunities for minutes as the season progresses, players start wearing down, and the back-to-back-to-back games begin to weigh on people. In that sense I feel like Kyle is sort of missing an opportunity by staying overseas, but at the same time he's probably developing a lot more over there so more power to him.
Also, I don't think of Nolan as a combo guard at the NBA level. He proved last year that he can do it all as a pure point guard so there's no reason he should ever be playing the 2.
Update: Nolan has only logged 4 minutes but is stuffing the box score with 1 FG, 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
I'm a bit late posting this, but here's a video (from a site I enjoy a lot) breaking down the Bulls in a rather positive way for Deng and a pretty negative way for Boozer: http://www.bballbreakdown.com/why-de...boozer-is-not/
Haven't seen this posted anywhere, but if it has I apologize. This is a short article comparing Kyrie to Chris Paul and Lebron James as rookies - it's a very favorable analysis. Even though I don't think Kyrie is quite in that category, I think he's exceeded expectations, even as a #1 pick.
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/pos...bron-as-rookie
By the way, along with DBR, truehoop is one of the only (basketball) sites I read on a daily basis. I highly recommend it.
Trinity '09
Nelson, Redick, Richardson, Anderson, Howard.
That is just an awesome line-up. 1-4 are better than average 3pt shooters and Howard anchors the D. Why didn't van Gundy use this more?
Love that Redick is such an important player on the Magic and all the key players look for him to be open.
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill
President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club
He hasn't been using it as much b/c he's had Turkoglu, who's out hurt, I believe.
I also don't think its that great of a lineup. Besides Howard all are average defenders. And while JJ and Anderson have really become productive NBA guys, Jameer and JRich are really struggling this year and seem to have declined over the past few years. JRich's best years are definitely behind him and his numbers are pretty depressed since arriving in Orlando. Both are averaging career lows in pts (minus Jameer's rookie year) and their stats are pretty down across the board. While its early and there was no training camp, they've both largely been on slow but steady the last couple years so I don't expect them to take major leaps as the year goes on.
If you had paired Jameer & Jrich ~3 years ago with JJ and Anderson today, that would be a really good squad around Howard. Today? Just an ok squad. Howard has the ability to hide a lot of flaws, but they are probably a second round playoff team at best--the Bulls and the Heat would beat them in 5 or 6 max. Heck, the Hawks beat them in 6 last year in the first round.
Hedo was playing really well before tweaking his back, and Ryan Anderson is having a career year. A finishing line-up of Jameer, JJ, Hedo, Ryan and Dwight is pretty strong. I don't think they can beat the Bulls or the Heat this year- but they are playing as well as anyone else in the East (Atlanta without Horford is not going to beat them)
Bad news for Luol and the Bulls - the injury to his left wrist is a torn ligament. No surgery is planned, but he's expected to be out for several weeks.
Singler is IRON
I STILL GOT IT! -- Ryan Kelly, March 2, 2013
This is huge news for the Bulls and Deng. The Bulls need Deng for his defense, rebounding, and second banana offense. Deng was a borderline All-Star (I say borderline because the All-Star game is too much based on numbers and Luol's, on the surface, are only decent) and now this injury will almost guarantee that he misses the cut. Again.
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill
President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club
I hate this for Deng, but it might actually help Deng and the Bulls in the long term. Even with the compressed schedule, Luol was playing ridiculous minutes for Chicago night in and night out. They have enough depth that they can still manage a top finish in the East without him and, when he comes back, he'll have fresher legs for the playoffs than last season.
Here's a good article from grantland on ranking NBA rookies. It mainly talks about how efficient Kyrie is on the offensive side of the ball. The past couple times they've had Rubio at #1 but Kyrie has surpassed him, at least according to the writers, for the time being.
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/...cky-rubio-more
In case no one noticed, JJ Redick had a notable achievement in last night's game - he blocked a shot! In the 298 games played in his NBA career to date, JJ has blocked a total of 10 shots, so this is something of a rare event. I think it has to do with the Aurora Borealis being seen so far south as well on Tuesday night...
JBDuke
Andre Dawkins: “People ask me if I can still shoot, and I ask them if they can still breathe. That’s kind of the same thing.”
Please don't ask for the link cause it will take me forever to find it more than likely but I believe a read somewhere on ESPN last year that Kyrie Irving is the highest rated PG coming in as a rookie ever! 2nd on that list was Chris Paul. If I recall the whole list of top players coming in turned out to be very very good NBA pgs. I will try to find it once the Maryland game ends.
Kyrie was one of those rare talents who are extremely well developed at a young age; Lebron and Magic were both like that.
I mean, he was clearly a better player than two stars off a national championship team, one of whom went on to be 1st team
AA and an NPOY contender. It isn't surprising he's that good now in the pros; he should be a great pro for a long time (if he doesn't get hurt).
A good Xs and Os breakdown from NBA Playbook of Kyrie's game:
http://nbaplaybook.com/2012/01/26/ir...aul-territory/While Rubio’s style of play is a hybrid of Jason Kidd and Steve Nash, Kyrie’s game has a lot of Chris Paul in it. It was even apparent in last night’s (ugly) win over the Knicks. Irving finished with a mere seven points, he was still able to control the game and dish out seven assists. His playmaking, pace and precocious understanding of game management were all very much on display.
Kyrie was incredible last night with 32 points in 30 minutes, he is shooting 50% on the year. Rookies just don't do that regardless of the team.
Scored another 21 today, including his first five shots and a really good game winner, against the Celtics,
while being guarded by Avery Bradley, a pretty good defensive guard. What's amazing about him is the
intelligence and confidence he shows out there. No bad passes, bad shots, wasted time dribbling, nothing.
An incredibly mature talent for a 19 year old player; amazing decision making. Can't wait to see
how good he's going to be.