lol, drama if clarknasty takes him now? (because its not your turn JoA)

Oh come on you know that wasn't really homerism. I just talked about how crappy the refereeing was, and besides, I was in a weird place at the time.

I'm just making the point that I don't think every player on the Nugs is god, you agree to that right?

It has nothing to do with me saying that one of your arguments for JR Smith was that I didn't know enough about him to comment on? Really? Is this where I put LOL, or should I make a snappy reading comprehension remark?

DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.

Actually wouldn't surprise me if Clark took him.

was thinking the same thing. if eddie johnson got taken before my pick, i was heavily considering him

Actually you're right. You made a comment that was false, and I guided you to previous writings that refuted what you were saying. I don't think that qualifies as a lazy argument though, because clearly you were wrong. You knew it, and resorted to trolling as you've done here.

And still have not come up with anything other than "I saw him play in high school."

Ok I'm done with this, on ignore now.

The Nugs defense is weird. FWIW I think Kenyon and Camby are a bit overrated and merely "good" defenders. They have this weird opportunistic style of defense that preys on mistakes, getting lots of blocks and steals and using that to trigger their very overrated offense. The problem with that is, good teams don't make those mistakes, and can make them look downright foolish. This is evidenced by just how bad their defense looked against the better teams, yet they still had a respectable defensive ranking.

agreed. Camby is way overrated at D. He's fallen in love with the weakside block. Opposing Cs have a 52% eFG against him.

sergsz please delete your post, its fixed now

What makes it worse is that Kenyon is really bad at helping him out on the boards after he's left. So yeah Camby alters a ton of shots, but those shots end up being glorified passes under the rim. Nene is much better at that.

Round #7 / Pick 269 via LurchySoprano: Nene





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0JBqMiIsAQ

Nene is a unique player for many, many reasons. First, he has only one name*! Second, to go along w/ his one name, he only has one ball too - he had to have one removed due to a benign testicular tumor. Third, he is a Brazilian player who is not known for flopping, and on the contrary, is actually known for his toughness! *Nene actually does have a real name, which is Maybyner Rodney Hilario, but we'll just call him Nene - I'll do what I've done with everyone else, which is to list his basketball accomplishments, show his stats, and explain his role for my team.

Team BobboFitos
PG - Terrell Brandon (5'11)
SG - Andrew Toney (6'3), Danny Ainge (6'4)
SF - Eddie Jones (6'6), Bryon Russell (6'7)
PF - Derrick Coleman (6'10), Nene (6'11)
C - Shaquille O'Neal (7'1)

Nene is a 6'11/260 lbs. PF/C (he fits with my "heavy" frontline of Shaq & DC!) from Sao Carlos, Brazil. Nene is still currently active in what will be his 7th season (he entered the league as a 20 year old) and has actually played professional basketball longer than that. (They are "professional" at a young age outside of America!) Nene has been with the Denver Nuggets for his entire career, and has yet to receive any honors like All-Star Games or All-Defensive teams. (Although he made the 1st All-Rookie team!) As a rookie through his 24th year, Nene has been fairly consistent with a 15.5, 14.8, and 15.6 PER mark - his "breakout season" was his the year before last, as a 24 year old, where he put up a 17.8 PER to go along w/ his 113 ORtg and 104 DRtg. Clearly I hope that's the player I'm getting - even still, his 15.6 career PER and 105 ORtg/101 DRtg are nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, the 101 career DRtg is very impressive - I will not be starting Nene, but rather will use him as a boost for "big man energy" off the bench. Similar to Toney's role for my guards, that's how I forsee using Nene. I also may use some him instead of DC in some defensive-oriented lineups, although DC is no slouch on the defensive end either.

I want to hit on the intangibles that I get w/ Nene, since they are pretty important. For one, he's great in the locker room. Everyone loves him! But that's not what people want to hear about. Rather, he has been plagued by both injuries and cancer. His rookie year he played 80 games, then 77, then 55, then... 1. Yes, as a 23 year old, he blew his ACL and "boom" was done for the year. However, he rebounded the following year, when I get him, came back a little after the start, managed to play 64 games, and that's when he put up massive numbers. Last season he only played 16 games due to cancer, not because of any recurring ankle, knee, muscle, etc. stuff. It's worth noting he's also been able to play 27.5 mpg for his career, so even though people say he's "overweight," this in no way impacts his stamina. Getting back to missing games, I know he does not have a perfect bill of health, but I don't think any injury is a nagging one so it shouldnt impact his performance. The second key part is his cancer: Clearly this is a "freak" injury (and luckily for his sake it was benign in real life anyway) so by no means should he miss a season (or, most of a season) due to cancer treatment.

Defensively, Nene is very strong and big and has the height and quickness to guard either the 4 or 5. This is perfect, since he'll be my major rotation player to sub in for Shaq or DC, depending on personal fouls. I likely will pair Nene with Shaq when I need my best defensive frontline, but during crunch time I don't think Nene will be on the floor. (64.6% FT doesn't do it for me) In terms of boxscore stats, Nene has incredibly quick hands, averaging almost 2 a game per 36 mins. He also gets about a block a game. He fouls a normal amount (4.5 per 36) so it's nothing to worry about, especially as he'll only get ~24 mpg with me. It's worth noting his steal and block metrics have steadily increased with age - he hasn't hit his peak yet!

Offensively, Nene will generally be my 4th or 5th option on the floor. He is athletic enough to finish off passes (check his highlight real) but isn't known as a good midrange shooter. He has a decent post game, but with DC and Shaq paired with him, I just can't see feeding him the ball too often. For whatever it's worth, his usage is 18.4% career-wise, which is about what I see him for my team. (Oh, now is a good time to drop the fact he has a career .568 TS mark!) He is also a solid rebounder, grabbing 11.8 per 36 his past season. The last thing to note is Nene draws a LOT of fouls, which is something I've been interested in since I started drafting. Nene gets to the line 5.5 times per 36 mins, which is above average, and quite sexy - teams will be in severe foul trouble against me.

Going back to my overall philosophy (balance) I think Nene at this spot offers me a very good defensive big off the bench, a guy that can play either the 4 or 5 with ease, and will bring the intensity night in and out. Nene does a decent job forcing TOs and can finish on the break as well (hey, the Nuggets are fast pace and he does fine!) so clearly he's capable of that, too.

Ok now that Bobbo has finished his writeup (which was vv good), I'll comment more on Nene.

His weight - This was only an issue at the beginning of 2006/7. After blowing out his knee the previous season, he came in at ~280lbs, which was 15-20 lbs over his normal weight. He was back at 265 by the middle of November, and actually got as low as 245 over the course of the season. Towards the end he was getting pushed around by larger centers, and made it a point to come in heavier the next season. When he showed up at 265 the next year, people thought he was overweight, which wasn't the case. So his weight isn't nearly the issue that people make it out to be.

His defense - Perhaps I shouldn't metrics that compare him to TD and KG, because it wasn't my intention to say that he's on that level. But he's definitely an excellent defender, particularly in the post. The numbers are there, and from what I've seen I agree. Check out the job he did on Timmay in the playoffs last year. My favorite sequences start around 2:40. Notice how he doesn't over commit, very Duncan-esque.

His offense - Here's where I really think he's good. Simply put, I can't think of any other big man who plays as well as he does off the ball, perhaps Tyson Chandler. He's the perfect teammate, because he's great at setting picks and finding space when his man leaves him. Sure he'll never be considered an elite player with those types of skills, but then again we aren't talking about a first option. As a 3rd option or lower, he's perfect because all he does is make his teammates better. Here's a video that shows what I'm trying to explain. Notice how he moves off the ball, when his man leaves, he puts himself in a position to get an easy bucket. Also notice how effective Nene is after setting picks, and how quickly he gets to the rim coming off of them. If you can find someone who does this better let me know. I can think of a few, but not many and none drafted in the last three rounds. All this and he's one of the few current guys in the NBA with a low post game--he's not strictly a garbage man like so many defensive big men taken recently.

Bobbo mentioned his breakout season (@23), but that's only half the story. Nene was fat for the first part of that year, and improved as the season wore on. This is evidenced by his post-ASB numbers, where he put up 16PP/36 (14PPG) on 70% TS!

Nene fits PERFECTLY with Bobbo's team because he's got great passing bigs and great PnR guards. Shaq/Nene is just going to be murder down low, and DC/Nene will be no picnic either. Nene's power and off-ball skills will make it a very easy bucket if defenders double off him, which will make scoring quite a bit easier. I know Bobbo wanted Chris Gatling, but Nene's skillset is much better suited to his team. Chris was more of a creator and tended to play on his own. Nene is the type of player that needs and uses his teammates to put himself in high percentage situations, and Bobbo's team is just the type to do that.

Here's another vid from the DEN/SA playoff series, check out the D.

More Nene defense. Now this is how you defend a pick and roll.

I think we're talking about different things. I was talking about this:

















Yea, I was just joking around with you(hence the smilie face at the end of my post there).

Umm... that wasn't me who wrote that. That's my defense and I'm sticking to it

Still, let's not confuse Laker hate with Nugs homerism. They did end up sucking in the finals amirite? That's something I'd definitely cop to, being a Kobe hater. It's something I need to work on, but categorically refuse to because he's a douche.

[edit] GL tomorrow. Try to last more than a few hands this time...

huh?

oh hear we go

huh?

I dunno if it's freak because there is evidence that it's hereditary. More importantly, testicular cancer generally has one of the best prognoses of all cancers. It's been a long time since I read about it, but IIRC the survival rate is very high, especially if diagnosed early. I think just being in the NBA puts you in the category that discovers it early.

I think it's safe to say that Nene is no more at risk than anyone else of death from this disease. perhaps an infantessimal amount..

good question...

Wheres Fadi - hes really good at using wikipedia...so I will PM him to see if he could pull somehting up on cancer being a freak injury.

Serioulsy though - I dont know if classifying Cancer as a freak injury is correct here Bobbo. Most are 'destined' to have Cancer...no matter what. Im not a veternarian or anything like that - but Im pretty sure this is the case with Cancer..no?

....and we're not talking about treating it (and the speed of the recovery)....just the point of having cancer period.

I tried finding more information, but ended up linking to a photo that grossed me out (why did I buy these huge monitors?). Bobbo, you're on your own on this one.

pretty much EXACTLY what I thought, KC.

cliff notes? i sorta wish i was involved in this, but sorta not

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?k...RG_QO_r1EoIoaA

or check the stickied thread at the top of Sporting Events for write ups of each pick.

Check the OP of this thread for a link to the rules.

Round 7, Pick 271: Cuttino Mobley




As starter most of his career, Mobley will be a great 6th man coming off the bench for me. He is the first penetrating guard/wingman I've taken since the first round, so he fits a need there. He can finish, shoot the three at a decent clip, hit his free throws, get some steals, and even averaged nearly a half a block per game for his career, very good for his position. Though defense is not a strength, Cuttino does have two double digit d-win share seasons on his resume, and he, not Maggete, often covers the best wing scorer on the opposing team. As with the rest of my team, he has stayed healthy throughout his career, so I can expect him to provide offensive energy for the duration of the league.

Seven picks into the draft, I am happy with the variety of lineups I can throw out there including a more defensive oriented one of Sammy, Herb, Rashard, Kobe, Hinrich, and maybe my favorite, an ultra small, up tempo style with Big Al, Rashard, Kobe, Cat, and Hinrich that will be very hard to defend against.

Team so far:

Kobe Bryant - SG
Al Jefferson - PF
Rashard Lewis - SF
Samuel Dalembert - C
Kirk Hinrich - PG
Herb Williams - C/PF
Cuttino Mobley - SG