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Tuesday Afternoon Dream Links
by Only_A_Lad on Nov 17, 2009 3:36 PM CST
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I don't know about y'all, but I'm really excited about tonight's game. We have two teams that relatively few writers and fans thought would be doing much off to great starts facing one another. The total line for tonight is set at 221.5, and that sounds about right. It's going to be a fun game.
John Hollinger has the Rockets and Suns ranked 6th and 7th, respectively (thanks to Rockets4Life for making a fanshot about this). "What?" I hear you all saying. Well, that's true - ESPN's resident stat-dude has the plucky scrappy resilient talented Rockets ranked slightly ahead of the 9-2 Suns. Most of that has to do with scoring margin and opponents' winning percentage. And, indeed, if you look at B-Ref's Simple Rating System (here's a description of the stat), the Rockets are 7th in the league, while the Suns are 14th. And Tas at TBJ has taken the Rockets in their "book-off" tonight. Yes, the plucky little Rockets have come a long way from Barkley's "worst in the league" prediction.
Let's get to some news!
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Weekend Dream Links: Could Be Worse
by Only_A_Lad on Nov 14, 2009 4:22 PM CST
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Yes, my friends, it could be a lot worse.
In Jeff Bower's first game as head coach, the Hornets played an ugly contest (as I recall, the scoring was in the 30s for each time at the end of the first half) against the Blazers. And, from the 2/3 or so that I saw, it was clear that Hornets just weren't in this one. But fate didn't stop there in its continued onslaught against New Orleans, leaving Chris Paul with an ankle sprain (he'll be out for at least a week). To make it even worse, Bower didn't seem to be doing much as head coach. Chris Paul was the often the only one speaking during time outs, and he was clearly pissed at his teammates (though, to be fair, I remember a lot of that during the Byron Scott era, too). So, it could be worse: we could have our star player injured (wait...).
The Lakers were destroyed at home (on national television) by the Denver Nuggets, who held LA to just 23 points after the first half. Holy crap. Yes, much worse losses than ours were to be found around the league Friday evening.
More links after the jump.
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Friday Afternoon Dream Links
by Only_A_Lad on Nov 13, 2009 12:34 PM CST
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I've been filling out my all-star ballot for the past few days (personally, I agree with the sentiment that voting should begin much later in the year, but them's the rules; besides, Chuck Hayes isn't going to mount his all-star campaign all by himself), and I've come across a strange thing: the west doesn't really have any deserving centers on the ballot. That's partially because (as TBJ noted a few days ago) the NBA chose to not include Chris Kaman, who is having a great season.
Well, that's what I thought before I started looking at the stats, anyways. Andrew Bynum is having a pretty good season. He's averaging 19.2 pts on 61% True Shooting, and he's pulling down 10.4 rebounds per game. Those are all-star quality numbers. Not otherworldly or anything, but still very good.
I think a lot of us decent people non-Laker fans tended to get sick of the hype surrounding Bynum. As Lee put it prior to the game against LA, now that he's doing well it's not an issue, but we all were tired of fans speaking about him as if he were an all-star quality player, when his contribution on the court was clearly far below that. Now that he's starting to reliably play like an all-star, I'm willing to buy into the hype a little - he's good, and he still has room to grow.
Matt Moore over at Hardwood Paroxysm echoes that sentiment:
People always confused what it is I’ve said about Bynum. I’ve complained that he has poor work ethic and is immature. I’ve stated that he’s not the center everyone says he already is. Not that he can’t get there, but that he wasn’t there already. This sounds like some sort of revisionist history, but I assure you, not even I, in my seething hatred of everything Laker, could look at Bynum’s size, length, and touch and not say "there’s something there." But versus the talented players on other teams I tend to tout, Bynum was already given the attention, the hype, the standing. He was ranked at #24 by Ziller before he’d done anything. He was talked about as an All-Star simply based on projections. And I hated that. Because there were a lot of other centers who were working harder, playing better, doing more for their team than Bynum. And that speaks to the folly that is my unwavering support of the idea of fairness.
Well, guess what. It’s totally fair to say the kid’s an All-Star now.
On the other hand, Dave Berri at WoW questions the prevailing wisdom surrounding Bynum (as well as Jordan Farmar):
What about Bynum and Farmar? Well, both have improved. But despite the numbers reported at the start of this column, neither is back to what he was in 2007-08. After seven games here is what each player has done:
Andrew Bynum after seven games (okay five games) in 2009-10: 0.181 WP48 in 200 minutes
...
Let me close by noting that the analysis of 2009-10 is obviously based on a very small sample size. Bynum could change his overall performance with one great game (or decline quite a bit with one really bad performance)... All that’s being said at this point is that if people were hoping to see the Andrew Bynum from 2007-08, that Bynum hasn’t appeared yet (and of course, Bynum has already missed two games because of injury — which is a completely different story).
Whatever. I voted for Stoudemire yesterday, anyways.
More links after the jump.
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The Dream Links - November 12th, 2009
by Only_A_Lad on Nov 12, 2009 1:26 PM CST
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Two things:
1) I'm adopting Tom's name for his links posts from the summer, because it's a much less generic and boring name.
2) There won't be any editorial pontification from me today, since I have much work to do. I'm sure you're all very disappointed.
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KD recaps the beatdown from last night:
Trevor Ariza is still stepping out of his comfort zone more than I care to see (though I submit that the Rockets badly need someone to create shots, and Ariza is at least attempting to), but he had a sound floor game with 17 points and seven assists. Just one turnover. And Kyle Lowry always seemed to be a foot away from the basket and in the air — eight points, 10 assists, eight rebounds, three turnovers and two steals for the Rocket reserve.
I'd also like to remind everyone to check out Straight Outta Vancouver - SBN's resident Grizzlies blog. DJ Turtleface and company write a lot of really good stuff over there. Here's what they had to say about last night.
More links after the jump
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Wednesday Afternoon Rockets/NBA Links
by Only_A_Lad on Nov 11, 2009 2:07 PM CST
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Tough loss last night, right? A lot of fans are going to take a loss like that hard - make stupid posts about how the season is over. Fortunately for us, Dwyer is there to keep things level.
This is how it's going to be for Houston. The team is talented, I'm not passing off an early 4-3 (and nearly 5-2) record as some bit of luck. But the team also creates its own fortune in a way that's somehow different than the 29 other teams out there that are creating their own fortune. The Rockets have to work hard, and they have to hope that a lot falls into place.
The work was there, in this loss, but the shots dried up after a while. Good shots, too. Even as Dallas stormed back from what seemed like a blowout loss of its own to turn it into a blowout win, the Rockets were still getting fair looks more often than not.
Where have I heard that before?
Houston just can't create good shots, at this point. It's why Scola and Shane Battier(notes) combined to miss 12 of 15 shots, and why the team nearly had as many turnovers (16) as assists (18). It'll be a hallmark. But it will be up to other teams to take advantage of because they're never going to give up.
Right: immediately after the loss to Portland.
It seems to me that all of us do basically what I was criticizing in regards to the McGrady story yesterday: we take a narrative we created independent of any sort of evidence and then project it upon reality. If the Bulls or Cavs or whoever lose by twenty to a good team, it's because they had a bad game or the other team played out of their minds or just because shit happens. If the Rockets do it, however, it's because "that's just how it is for this team - they're scrappy, but they need to create shots." That might really be the issue, but the evidence so far doesn't seem to support that. Is that really different from how the Mavs have to win games? I don't think so. Things have to go right for them, too. If none of their good shots fall, then they're going to lose. I remember this happening last year, too. It happens to all teams.
The problems last night were, from my view, caused by a great deal of bad luck (shot just didn't fall - go figure) and by relatively poor defense (something the Rockets have faced all of this short season). In other words, the Rockets had some bad luck and there wasn't a strong defense to bail them out like last year.
The important thing is to not overreact to this loss. The Rockets have done well so far - beat the bad teams we expect them to beat and play the good teams relatively evenly. Good basketball, but nothing spectacular.
More links after the jump, as always.
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Tuesday Afternoon Rockets/NBA Links
by Only_A_Lad on Nov 10, 2009 11:45 AM CST
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As I mentioned yesterday, with the victory against OKC Rick Adelman tied Jack Ramsay's total for wins. Jonathon Feigen talked to Adelman about tying his mentor.
"When you hit milestones like 500, 600 or 700 wins, that’s something that indicates you’ve had good teams," Adelman said. "But if I’ve matched him, to me that’s a personal milestone that means something, because he’s one of the best coaches ever in this league.
"So when you attain that status equal to him as far as wins — not as a coach but as wins — it just makes you feel pretty good. Because I know what kind of coach he was, and I was around him a lot, and that means a lot to me."
Adelman is one of the NBA's greatest coaches, and (as much as he gets criticized around here) it's important to remember that. He has had some good teams (something he's quick to mention), but he doesn't screw up those teams, either. Yes, those Kings and Blazers teams were pretty good, but he did a lot more with them than many coaches do with more talented teams.
More links after the jump.
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Friday Afternoon Rockets/NBA Links
by Only_A_Lad on Nov 6, 2009 12:24 PM CST
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An intriguing game is scheduled for tonight, featuring your Houston Rockets and the NBA's finest rising star: Kevin Durant. The Oklahoman looks into Durant's growth as a player, as well as his contributions on the court.
More after the jump.
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Thusday Afternoon Rockets/NBA Links
by Only_A_Lad on Nov 5, 2009 2:45 PM CST
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Jerome Solomon has a column posted on the Chronicle's website, accusing Ariza of seeming "out of place" as a leader.
OK, maybe not the face-making, but Adelman wanted some attitude.
Ariza kind of brought it, but kind of didn't. He is just not that guy. Never will be.
Ariza just doesn't have the assassin's mentality that makes stars super. Prior to this season, he had never taken 21 shots in a game as he did Wednesday, and it seemed he didn't want to take some of those.
Kobe Bryant was the only other player on the court firing up shots at that rate. Bryant got off 30 attempts and scored a game-high 41 points. Unlike Ariza, Bryant is quite comfortable firing away.
If Ariza had more Aaron Brooks or Kyle Lowry in him, he might be a perennial All-Star. But he is what he is, and that's OK.
The Rockets knew what they were getting when they signed him with their mid-level exception.
There's good analysis, there's bad analysis, and then there's no analysis. And I'm having a tough time deciding if this is just bad analysis or a failure to even deal with what's happening on the court.
Look, it's fine to discuss "mentality" when we talk about players. Basketball, unlike baseball, allows players to take over the game, and so a player's thought process, emotions, etc. really do matter. But at the same time, we (as fans and as writers) need to be able to distinguish between "stuff happening in a player's head" and "stuff happening in reality."
Ariza's problem is not that he lacks some mystical "killer instinct," nor is it that he doesn't have "ice water in his veins" or whatever other cliche you want to use. Ariza's problem is that he can't create off the dribble. His ballhandling isn't pretty, and the result is turnovers and forced shots. A "mentality" is not what makes a star a star: it's pure ability, and Ariza isn't there yet.
Did his emotional desire to play well against his old team lead him to take bad shots? Maybe, but that has nothing to do with an "assassin's mentality" (whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean). Indeed, it seems to contradict that: he wanted to take those shots, and so he took them and failed. The point, however, is that the difference between the Kobe/Lebron/Wade wings of the world and the Arizas of the world is one of skill, not mentality.
The lesson to take from this game is not that Ariza has to "step up and be a leader." That's ridiculous. He, like everyone else, needs to play to his strengths and the system. And if the coaches, front office, and Ariza want him to become something more, then he needs to work on that in practice and in games against the Kings/Thunder/Nets of the league, not against the reigning champions.
As for being a "leader," I think it became fairly clear around March of 2008 who the Rockets' on-court leader is, and it isn't Brooks, Ariza, Yao, or McGrady. He's the guy running the defense and being the real "floor general." But I wouldn't want Battier to try to "take over" the game with his "assassin's mentality," either.
With that particular pile of crap dissected, let's get to some news:
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