NBA Regular season thread 2019

[Steven43]

I am sorry, Steven43, but this seems like a personal attack. Just make your point and move on. You don't need to either characterize or mis-characterize other posters... "mischaracterizing"..."you know quite well"... "seems you are just looking at excuses"... "inappropriate"... "excuses to attack." None of that needs to be in a DBR post.

Sorry. I must be having a bad day. Three doctor's appointments within 24 hours will do that.

Thanks, Sage. You make some fair points here.

[Steven43]

I'm hesitant to jump in on Steven's side here and I don't know where he stands, but I'll note that there is a sizable contingent that both recognize LeBron is a transcendent talent (but perhaps not clearly the greatest player ever by some wide margin, although he is certainly in that discussion with a handful of others) who also revel in his failures at LA and elsewhere. That is how I would describe my position at least.

I am 100% with you on this. You encapsulated my thoughts on the matter.

[MrPoon]

Looks like Cook is going to play a lot against Boston tonight in the 4th. Who saw that coming?

[JasonEvans]

Looks like Cook is going to play a lot against Boston tonight in the 4th. Who saw that coming?

Who saw that game by Hayward coming? 30 points on 16 shots with 7 rebounds and 4 assists. That is the player to whom Boston gave that monster contract. GHay scored more points last night than he has scored in his past 6 games combined. Is he maybe, finally, finding his form again?

-Jason "I really hope Philly can find their way into the #3 spot in the East. I don't want a Philly-Boston matchup in the first round" Evans

[Troublemaker]

Who saw that game by Hayward coming? 30 points on 16 shots with 7 rebounds and 4 assists. That is the player to whom Boston gave that monster contract. GHay scored more points last night than he has scored in his past 6 games combined. Is he maybe, finally, finding his form again?

-Jason "I really hope Philly can find their way into the #3 spot in the East. I don't want a Philly-Boston matchup in the first round" Evans

Boston's 33-pt beatdown of GSW was GSW's worst home loss of the Steve Kerr era.

Like I've been telling Boston fans, let's see this through. The Celtics still have a lot of talent and if they're healthy, they might just come together at the right time.

[Acymetric]

Who saw that game by Hayward coming? 30 points on 16 shots with 7 rebounds and 4 assists. That is the player to whom Boston gave that monster contract. GHay scored more points last night than he has scored in his past 6 games combined. Is he maybe, finally, finding his form again?

-Jason "I really hope Philly can find their way into the #3 spot in the East. I don't want a Philly-Boston matchup in the first round" Evans

Maybe he is, but he's had other games like this over the course of the year and they've generally been followed up with poor performances afterwards, so I'm going to need to see him show it consistently to believe he's "back". I think Hayward has been more of an issue for Boston than Kyrie this year, despite Kyrie getting most of the negative attention.

[weezie]

Looks like Cook is going to play a lot against Boston tonight in the 4th. Who saw that coming?

K saw it coming. He chatted with Kerr during the last episode of Inside Basketball and they spent a few minutes complimenting our man Cook!

[ice-9]

It’s interesting. Kyrie has taken a lot of the heat because he keeps saying the wrong the things...but on the court he’s taking fewer but better shots, passing more, booking assists, and generally higher effort on defense. It’s more the other Celtics players who have disappointed on the court.

[mr. synellinden]

It’s interesting. Kyrie has taken a lot of the heat because he keeps saying the wrong the things...but on the court he’s taking fewer but better shots, passing more, booking assists, and generally higher effort on defense. It’s more the other Celtics players who have disappointed on the court.

Look at the stats for the Celts with and without Kyrie on the court. They are 10-2 without him and point differential with him is about 4.8 and without him 9.2 They are statistically and W-L a much better team without him.

[Duke79UNLV77]

Look at the stats for the Celts with and without Kyrie on the court. They are 10-2 without him and point differential with him is about 4.8 and without him 9.2 They are statistically and W-L a much better team without him.

He also tends to pick games against the weaker teams to rest for injuries or fatigue. Apples and oranges.

[Acymetric]

Look at the stats for the Celts with and without Kyrie on the court. They are 10-2 without him and point differential with him is about 4.8 and without him 9.2 They are statistically and W-L a much better team without him.

He also tends to pick games against the weaker teams to rest for injuries or fatigue. Apples and oranges.

Yeah, I've heard the same thing mentioned but that really demands some additional information. A quick look indicates that those 10 wins came against either non-playoff teams or borderline playoff teams. That they shellacked Dallas, Cleveland, and Charlotte without him doesn't really tell me much (those three games probably are the only reason they have a better point differential without him than with...easier to skew a 12 game sample with a few blowouts than it is looking at an entire season).

[Troublemaker]

Look at the stats for the Celts with and without Kyrie on the court. They are 10-2 without him and point differential with him is about 4.8 and without him 9.2 They are statistically and W-L a much better team without him.

It's a very recent phenomenon (meaningless in small sample), and more importantly, it's not schedule-adjusted. Boston's very capable front office has dug into it, per Boston beat writer:

Chris Forsberg‏Verified account @ChrisForsberg_ Feb 14
Danny Ainge on @Toucherandrich about idea that Celtics are better without Kyrie: “It’s completely illogical. It makes no sense. If you just look at the data over the last two years, our team is so much [more efficient with Kyrie]. … No, I think it’s ridiculous."

[Acymetric]

It's a very recent phenomenon (meaningless in small sample), and more importantly, it's not schedule-adjusted. Boston's very capable front office has dug into it, per Boston beat writer:

Chris Forsberg‏Verified account @ChrisForsberg_ Feb 14
Danny Ainge on @Toucherandrich about idea that Celtics are better without Kyrie: “It’s completely illogical. It makes no sense. If you just look at the data over the last two years, our team is so much [more efficient with Kyrie]. … No, I think it’s ridiculous."

This is unsurprising (both that Boston has already analyzed it and their conclusion). Thanks for sharing.

[JasonEvans]

A few years ago, I was one of the louder voices arguing that the Cavs made a mistake when they dealt Kevin Love (plus the worst #1 draft pick ever) for rookie Andrew Wiggins. I said Wiggins was sure to be at least a solid player in the league and would be cost efficient and allow the Cavs to also sign a free agent. Though we will never know how the league would turn out had the Cavs not made that deal, I think we can say for certain that Andrew Wiggins is not good at basketball.

Andrew Wiggins is at least 10 percentage points worse than league average from basically everywhere. He is, broadly speaking, 10 percentage points worse at scoring than the rest of the NBA.
...
What I am saying here is that Andrew Wiggins is not just having a bad season, and he is not just an inefficient scorer. Andrew Wiggins is having one of the worst all-around seasons by any high-usage player in the modern history of the NBA.

-Jason "no wonder Jimmy Butler wanted out of Minny" Evans

[Troublemaker]

This is unsurprising (both that Boston has already analyzed it and their conclusion). Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome. Another way to look at it is through ESPN's RPM (Real Plus Minus), where despite Boston's recent struggles, Kyrie is still 12th in the league as of today: http://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/rpm

There's no way Kyrie can rank that high in RPM (and he was even higher before) if he didn't have a hugely positive impact on Boston when he is on the court.

[budwom]

Kyrie's only problem is attitudinal (periodically). They collectively need to straighten that out, and may have done so already...

[JasonEvans]

How many games will Serge Ibaka be suspended? I say 5. Dude went for the choke hold and the NBA does not like that.



-Jason "I'm dying to know what Chriss said to him... musta been nasty" Evans

[JetpackJesus]

How many games will Serge Ibaka be suspended? I say 5. Dude went for the choke hold and the NBA does not like that.



-Jason "I'm dying to know what Chriss said to him... musta been nasty" Evans

3 for Ibaka. 1 for Chriss.

[duke2x]

Wrong thread. Apologies.