Sometimes I feel like this thread is about the professional basketball league in a parallel universe

I think age sometimes gets overvalued.

When I look at Knox, I see a potential for him to be a scorer who doesn't play much defense. He could be like a more efficient Jabari Parker, but he could be closer in value to Carmelo Anthony if he tried on defense. Maybe he's more likely to be somewhere between Kelly Oubre and Tobias Harris.

I tend to be pessimistic about offensive specialists know for lack of effort on defense. That's why I was probably much less interested in a 20-year-old Jahlil Okafor who scored 17.5 ppg. Knox has talked about playing defense, but I'm not sure if that will happen.

Knox has the size and physical tools to be a good defender. Someone convince me that he will be at least average. Saying that he is young and that improvement is inevitable is not a good argument in my book.

You are right. I was too enraged by Dolan.

Mea Culpa Shimmy. I did you wrong.

+500 TZ Points for Perhaps Shimmy



LOL

+300 TZ Points

...Do you even read your own posts? FOH

The universal hate for Knox is beyond ridiculous. I get NY clown fans and NY clown media saying clown things, but what the heck is wrong with you people? Basketball is a beautiful game. Just enjoy the show.

So, anyways, which playoff-minded team is so desperate for guard depth that they could use Austin Rivers? New Orleans?

He could be a good defender. That doesn't mean he will be. I am agnostic on whether he will be. I just don't think that him being young with good physical tools means that he is destined to be a good defender. Someone tell me whether or not he has the intelligence and instincts to defend well at the NBA level.

I like watching defense more than I like watching offense and I really loathe scorers who suck at defense (I have worlds of hate for prime Melo), so my personal assessment of Knox is going to rely heavily on how I project he will fit into a team defense concept.

Well there's reason for optimism. He's one of the youngest players in the NBA, he has a great defensive coach, and as someone very recently pointed out he has the size and physical tools to be a good defender.


But yeah man I dunno sure seems like he has no shot at being at least average, might as well just cut him now.

As someone who still players poker, I view the entire world in terms or ranges and probabilities. I can see a path for him being a good defender, but I can also see a path for him being a horrible defender. There are players who can be good defenders, but aren't. Size and physical tools aren't enough.

I tend to profile scorers with a reputation for being lazy or having a low motor on defense as usually undesirable, but some players can change and some players have undeserved reputations. All I need is for a non-idiot who watches a lot of Knicks games to tell me that Knox tries harder and more consistently than reported or that he shows signs of intelligence and capacity to change and i might become more optimistic.

If i say that I project him as likely having a career as valuable as that of Enes Kanter (not saying i do, just if), am i saying that he is a bust who should be cut right away?

Still lol'ing at sealwow.jif

How do the refs miss this?




Maybe this wasn't a joke (see comment below)...

Some are saying that's not a travel? They got a makeup call on the other end that gave Mitchell a gifted 3 FTs so I figured they realized the massive officiating error.

Ain't no make-up call against James ****ing Harden

It's called justice

Sounds like someone's salty about giving me free monies.

The fix was in.

But I won’t be missing TZ points on this one.

+300 TZ Points

I was expecting 500. 100 for each step!

jarrett allen and john collins balling out tonight and this year. you might not have heard much about them because they're not on the raptors, but they're providing a ton of value to their teams.

Studley Dudley!!!

NBA refs always get there eventually:




Not sure how they're going to explain LNJr.'s move on his game winner tonight tho

The Joker-JamaL-Morris combo to close games is pretty neat. Murray has kinda sucked this year but he has a giant set of balls on him.


Also wow Jarrett Allen that was nasty.

+200 TZ Points for this Reverse Poaster.

I’m calling dunks that get blocked Reverse Poasters. Yep. You got that right.



A+

I bumped you to 500.

+200 TZ Points

Looks like Larry Nance took the "no foul on a rebound" streetball rules to the NBA

Still a massive error. If they call the travel, it's Jazz ball down 3. Instead with a bad call-makeup call sequence it's Rockets ball up 3, now with less time on the clock.

Went to the Lakers / Nets game last night

My second NBA game of the year, turned out to be another good one. Figured I needed to be able to tell my kids I saw Lebron. Sat right behind the Laker bench to get the full effect.

The Jarrett Allen block was pretty wild. Was about 50/50 Lakers fans vs Nets fans, so was a pretty fun atmosphere.

Will spare you all my casualfan analysis about how good Lebron is. Things I noticed:
-Mo Wagner seems like kind of a goober. Kooz threw down a tomahawk dunk and Mo is up there yelling "ball movement!" like some kind of cornball

-Lance is exactly how you'd expect. Dude seemed like he was on another planet. He's like the best version of that guy who is always playing pickup at the rec center.

-Lebron seemed really annoyed. Every time somebody would mess up, he would give this disapproving/annoyed dad frown, and he seemed somewhat exasperated by the refs, his teammates, etc. Zo seemed to be the only guy who didn't annoy him. Even when Lebron would do something good, it was less like he was fired up by it and more like he was annoyed that he had to carry everyone. Demeanor aside though, he was still the GOAT and it was sick to see him. A couple unbelievable passes, a couple amazing rebounds, and then 4 or 5 times a game he just gets a rebound, decides that the team needs a bucket, and bullys his way down the court to the bucket and drops it in. It's absolutely unstoppable. Weirdly, it's never when the game is tied or when they are down 1, it's always when the other team stretches a lead from like 6 to 8 or something, and then he just goes down and generates a 95% shot and gets a bucket and then takes the next play off.

That's the other thing, he's just so high intensity and so physically dominant, but he would kind of ebb and flow. He wouldn't try to go dominate like 10 plays in a row like Kobe would... he goes in, manufactures a bucket, then kind of fades back for a play or two, then goes and gets a sick rebound, then hangs back, then goes and manufactures another bucket, then makes a nice pass, then fades back on defense again

Is there a strength of schedule metric anywhere?

http://www.espn.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS

doesn;t account for home/away