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Obviously, looks like defense was the focus opening day. Really, though, I LOVE the emphasis on drilling and fundamentals. The most frustrating aspect of Gentry's tenure was consistency in the little things.
And, once again, BI is an incredible interview. He might make another leap this season
Yea, it's kind of funny. BI always looks sleepy (or stoned) but he's a good insightful interview. He really seems to "get it".Originally Posted by pelafanatic
I’m just glad Stan is a defensive minded head coach. Those are infinitely more valuable than the glorified offensive coordinators. For so long people would give Excuse Gentry for the ‘brain dead lack of basketball iq our players have.’ Time to see if that argument holds any water or if Gentry was as incompetent as many thought he was.
I just want the team to be fun and show improvement. Obviously a playoff run would be neat, but given all the everything that's happened, I can't demand it reasonably: teams with this much turnover, new coach, shortened practice time, etc; it's hard to demand that much in such a loaded conference.
But if we're better in game 30 than we are in game 1, and the defense is trending up, and we're seeing the development, then I'm happy. The defense is what gets me: I love great offense, of course, but bad defense is the single most irritating thing in basketball on a team level, far more irritating than style or pace or whatever. The fact that we sucked so hard last year was disgusting. We were the 19th ranked defense in the NBA last year, and at times it was worse than that: I want us to be at least on the border of the top ten this year. Somewhere between 8-12 seems like a good aim. Obviously top 5 would be brilliant but I would be shocked if that happened.
Basketball.
Bad offense is just as bad, if not worse a spectacle as bad defense from a fans POV
You're never going to have bad offense with a healthy Zion and BI
Well even though they had this emphasis on defense, SVG already said they want to implement offense today and practice against it. Thats a relief versus the ridiculous "we concentrate on defense, offense will take care of itself" gibberish.
They seem generally relieved there'll be some structure on both ends from day 1.
As long as SVG doesn't say "we want to shoot at least 50 threes per game" I'm so happy.
Bad offense is bad, absolutely, but I think bad defense edges it out by a hair.
I like Brandon's new hair and missed Zion's smile, but what do I know?
Just finally got around to listening to Zion's media, somehow it took me this long, but here's my favourite parts:
- His emphasis on defense, really internalising it and making it something that ''wins us games'' is great.
- Mentioned that not having to deal with injury and rehab should let him remind people he's a ''complete basketball player'', including defense
- Repeated about 3 or 4 times how much he hates losing, says nobody likes to lose, and that losing is not fun. Good.
- His enthusiasm for Steven Adams is neat.
Is it a genetic thing why BI always looks so baked, just tiredness or what?
No more Marijuana testing + new contract
I think it's just the shape of his eyes/eyelids.
His eyes aren't red, so I don't think he's actually baked
I don't know the advanced metrics on this stat, but I remember being constantly infuriated about our flaming dumpster of transition defense last year. There are certain teams where you can see that "get back" hustle, and they HATE giving up cheap scores.
Edit: Holy crap. 29th out of 30 teams. I knew we were bad but dayum.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/sta...oints-per-game
Zion and Adams crash the offensive boards and everyone else play safety
That's bad. But the easy baskets inside was the biggest issue. Third worst in the NBA in paint points given up at over 50 points per game. If that can improve to even rank 10 - 15, the overall D will be vastly improved.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/sta...paint-per-game
Contributor
Just playing any semblance of defense at all and it’ll make a world of difference.
short and sweet... I sense we need to keep our eyes on Wenyen Gabriel, for more reasons than one....
"we might make dollars, but we don't necessarily make sense"
"always be sincere....whether you mean it or not"
All y'all talk forever about offense and defense but special teams is where you win games.
(Bad football joke)
(I'll see myself out)
Good positive energy.
But also, yo mama's fat.
?
Anyone know anything about Lamine Diane. He was a small forward at Cal State Northridge and led his league in scoring:
A 6?7″ undrafted rookie forward, Diane put up big stats for Cal State Northridge in his two college seasons, averaging 25.1 PPG, 10.8 RPG, and 2.1 BPG in a total of 52 games (35.5 MPG). He won the Big West Player of the Year award in consecutive years before declaring for the draft this spring.
He was just cut by the Sixers in the Hortford trade. Might be a much needed guy to develop as a shooter/scorer. 25.1 PPG and 10.8 RPG is nothing to sneeze at in any league. I had read about him prior to draft. I know folks will say camp fodder or "so?" but those are great numbers to work with and can't be any worse than some of the free agents just signed to compete in camp. There is one roster spot open.
Last edited by Lee2000; 12-08-2020 at 08:40 AM.
Following yesterday's practice
nothing at all to this other than my opinion... I just think he has some skills and can get better...
Lamine ''Cocaine'' Diane (pronounced La-Meen Juh-nay, for the record) is the kind of player who is going to be a G League legend but never really play it out in the NBA imo. He's a exceptionally talented scorer who cannot shoot worth a damn, and who is not really a defender of note - do not be fooled by the blocks. He's intensely fun, and really fantastic as a finisher at the rim, but he's just lacking that extra that makes me think it will work in the NBA.
That's not an insult: there are plenty of players who are college stars, or who are just built for the G League, and who will have long professional careers where they're really good, but it's just not in the NBA. Lamine is that kind of guy, imo. He's fun though, go watch him.
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