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2016-2017 Around The NBA

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Watching this Team USA game and Draymond Green is ass if he's not playing on a team with Klay and Curry.

Dude is useless
 
Klay and Green have by far looked like the worse players who have been getting solid minutes.

Crazy how some people act like they are both top 15 players.
 
Here's my article about the Dallas Mavericks' offseason: http://sportsbystats.com/2016/08/09/the-dallas-mavericks-free-agency-and-modernization/

"The second problem Dallas faced was poor transition defense. Last season Dallas had the seventh worst transition defense in the NBA. This acted as a dagger against Oklahoma City, who over the course of their first round matchup, consistently had difficulty guarding the Mavericks’ offense. Essentially, every time Dallas did not score, it felt that the Thunder did. This, in part, was due to the Mavericks inability to stop Westbrook and Durant in transition."

"Dallas’s third main problem was that their offense required points off screens, and more importantly, they were below average at generating these types of points. The Mavericks had the fourth worst points off screens in the NBA. Comparatively the Atlanta Hawks – who ran a nearly identical offense to Carlisle’s – ranked as the tenth best in the NBA in this statistic. Unless Carlisle changes the offense – something he has shown willingness to do every season since their 2011 championship – Dallas faces a statistical limit to success."

"This problem stems from the fact that five of Dallas’s six bigs expect and deserve to see playing time. Moreover, none of the Mavericks’ point guards are tall and/or physical enough to defend other combo guards. This creates a problem where, to play small, Dallas will need to play without Quincy Acy (who was brought in to play against other teams’ small lineups) or with Barnes at the small forward position (his weakest defensive role guarding smaller lineups). Furthermore, Dallas’s small lineups will have weak perimeter defense. In my mind, these are the two best five-men “small-ball” lineups for Dallas..."
 
Here is a really good article about the Sixers from The Ringer: https://theringer.com/dario-saric-r...adelphia-76ers-future-1873eaf99859#.pu78hktxe

Dario Saric is making a name for himself at the Olympics, following a game-saving block of Pau Gasol at the buzzer against Spain with a near triple-double against Argentina in Croatia’s first two games. Saric, who was a lottery selection acquired by the 76ers from the Magic in a 2014 draft-day trade, is coming over to the NBA after spending the past two seasons in Turkey, and he looks ready to make an immediate impact. He stuffs the stat sheet and plays with a combination of savvy and toughness unusual for a 22-year-old.

At 6-foot-10 and 225 pounds, Saric is a classic combo forward type who would have been used as a 3 a generation ago. He is Croatia’s 4 in Rio, and that’s the role he’s best suited for in the modern NBA. Croatia is playing him next to Miro Bilan, a traditional 7-foot big man, and three guards in Roko Ukic, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Krunoslav Simon, allowing Saric to operate in space, where he is most effective. Depending on the situation, Saric is the man bringing the ball up the court to initiate the offense, playing out at the 3-point line, or sliding into the post.

Saric is at his best when he has the ball in his hands and is making plays for others. He’s an excellent passer who has a great feel for the game and who knows how to manipulate the defense. He has an eye for cutters on the move, and can make tight interior passes through traffic. He’s always looking to move the ball and he rarely forces shots. In the context of Croatia’s offensive attack, he’s usually making the right play.
If there’s a concern with his performance so far, it’s that his jumper has not come across the Atlantic with him. The outside shot was the biggest question mark about Saric coming into the draft two seasons ago, and he has diligently worked on improving it in Europe, going from 32.9 percent from 3 in 2015 to 40.7 percent in 2016. The numbers are a little deceptive, though. Saric has never been a volume shooter from deep — he averaged fewer than three attempts from behind the arc in 61 games last season. He uses the threat of his 3-point shot to open up the rest of his game. The problem in Rio is that defenders are playing off of him, which means the right play is to take the open shot, and he hasn’t been making them. He is shooting 8-for-23 (34.8 percent) from the field and 0-for-8 from 3, despite the arc being much closer than it will be in the NBA.

It’s far too soon to come to any conclusions from such a limited sample size, but there’s a clear effect on his game when defenders don’t respect his jumper. While Saric is a solid athlete for his size, he doesn’t have a particularly strong first step to blow past guys off the dribble, and he doesn’t have the explosiveness to finish over the top of bigger NBA defenders in tight spaces. He has to take advantage of cracks in the defense, and there are fewer angles to exploit when the defender is playing 3 feet off of you. One way to counter that is to take smaller defenders in the post, but Saric doesn’t have the overwhelming size or length to bury them under the basket. When he’s playing with his back to the basket, he’s more comfortable drawing help and finding the open teammate.

Saric’s physical limitations haven’t been exposed much in the games against Spain and Argentina, but his lack of exceptional length (he boasts a 6-foot-10 wingspan) or athleticism would be an issue against Team USA. Teams don’t fear switching bigger defenders on him, and he was not able to create good looks at the basket in one-on-one matchups with Pau Gasol and Luis Scola. To reach his potential, Saric needs to be able to pepper jumpers from beyond 23 feet and force defenders to press up on him. Otherwise, he’s better off as a secondary creator, taking advantage of defensive rotations and creating plays within the flow of the offense.

On the defensive side of the ball, he’s usually in the right place at the right time and he’s not afraid to stick his nose in the action or bang against bigger players. But while he can do a credible job of switching screens, his average lateral quickness could turn that into an issue at the NBA level. He’s not long enough to contest shots without getting up in the air, which makes him susceptible to pump fakes that will get him into foul trouble. Like most young players, he would be best with an elite rim protector who could cover his mistakes and allow him to be more aggressive on defense.

The concern for the 76ers is how well his skill set complements no. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons. Saric is essentially playing the role for Croatia that Simmons will play in Philadelphia, but what will happen when they’re asked to play together? Playing Saric and Simmons at the 4 and the 5, respectively, would mean a lineup without a lot of rim protection, and playing them at the 3 and the 4 would mean one without a lot of floor spacing. They could be really interesting pushing the ball in transition, and would be a dynamic pick-and-roll combination, but finding the right mix of players to put around them will be tricky, even before the issue of allocating playing time up front for the 76ers’ three lottery centers in Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid, and Jahlil Okafor.

The key to making it work is Saric’s jumper, as he has shown way more growth in that department than Simmons, who pointedly refused to shoot from the perimeter at LSU. If Saric can be a consistent 3-point shooter, he will open up the floor for Simmons in what would be one of the most distinctive two-man games in the league. If he can’t, though, they might be better off playing without each other and taking turns running the offense. That’s a potential reality that highlights the biggest issue with the Sixers’ process over the past few seasons: Drafting for talent rather than fit works until you have to assemble all that talent into a puzzle — and none of the pieces fit together.

Saric looks great playing for Croatia, but he’s not going to play in that type of space with the 76ers, and he’s not going to be in as many lineups that accentuate the strengths of his game and mask the weaknesses. His playmaking, rebounding, and overall activity level have been huge in Rio, but what’s going to make or break his time in Philadelphia is whether or not his jumper is falling. That’s the biggest thing 76ers fans should be watching for in the rest of his time at the Olympics.
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Adam said:
It will be interesting to see what they run offensively. They could essentially target score first guards as they have so much playmaking in the front court
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I think they are one year and two big trades away from really winning some major games in the East. They have a ton of overlap in the frontcourt. Saric, Simmons, Noel, and one of Embiid or Okafor is arguably the best group of bigs in the NBA; but Saric and Simmons are both best served in playmaking forward roles, Noel will be a small-ball center, and that means not a lot of minutes for Embiid and/or Okafor.

If I were Philly I'd try and target a team to take on Embiid for future draft picks, and trade the received picks with a combo of what they already have for a shooter. I also think Okafor could net them a bench scorer, and maybe even a spot starter, but both guys are better served as trade chips for Philly than scoring centers.
 
I was looking at Team USA's roster randomly and realized Kyrie, Klay, and Jimmy came from the same 2011 draft. That draft was rather deep:

Bismack Biyombo
Jimmy Butler
Kenneth Faried
Tobias Harris
Kyrie Irving
Reggie Jackson
Enes Kanter
Brandon Knight
Kawhi Leonard
Nikola Mirotic
Markieff and Marcus Morris
Chandler Parsons
Iman Shumpert
Isaiah Thomas
Klay Thompson
Tristan Thompson
Jonas Valanciunas
Kemba Walker
 
ClevelandOwnz said:
Klay and Green have by far looked like the worse players who have been getting solid minutes.

Crazy how some people act like they are both top 15 players.
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Good grief. Recency bias combined with general personal dislike of golden state players is taking over rational analysis here. They are top 15 players. The tiny, tiny amount of games played in the olympics should, quite obviously, change nothing.
 
Rich said:
Good grief. Recency bias combined with general personal dislike of golden state players is taking over rational analysis here. They are top 15 players. The tiny, tiny amount of games played in the olympics should, quite obviously, change nothing.
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Agreed. I do think Curry's situation will be interesting in particular though. Given the fact that he's a free agent at the end of the year, I could absolutely see him bolting if he's unhappy in his new role and the Warriors don't win a title.

The Lakers would be the team to keep an eye on. They have enough space to sign two max level guys and will have the young players/picks to acquire a 3rd via trade. They also have Curry's former coach in Luke Walton, something I'd assume would appeal to him.

Theoretically, they could sign Curry and Griffin and trade for a guy like Butler. Ingram, Russell, Clarkson, Randle, and whatever high pick they have in 2017 can get them an all-star and then some.
 
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