January 6th - New Orleans Pelicans VS Oklahoma City Thunder - 4-3

[wuggie]

I'll be captain obvious of things that are unlikely to happen.

We need to trade our role players for some decent defenders and shooters.

[6warddude]

I'll be captain obvious of things that are unlikely to happen.

We need to trade our role players for some decent defenders and shooters.

19pts from 4 backups last game...hart didnt score at all......griff put together a bad roster for backups....he need to fix this soon..

[Creative]

Jesus Christ... What was that?

[Nichols]

We do both accept that shot attempts matter, but you know, at this point they're both taking fairly similar quantities. Yes, Lonzo is taking a few more, but then we're at the quibbly point of exactly where the cutoffs lie. We both know volume matters, and we both know percentages matter. The exact ratio-of-mattering is the question at work here: is 7 attempts at 32% more of a threat than 5 attempts at 38%? Is 2 attempts per game, which is what the actual on-court production is so far this season, worth 6% shooting efficiency?

That's a question that I can't set firm limits on, and I would be highly distrustful of anyone who said that they could unless they could provide massive quantities of evidence. What I do know is that so far this year, if I'm a defender, I'm more likely to pay attention to a feet-set, catch and shoot three that toes the line from Bledsoe than I am a janky stepback 28 footer from Lonzo, and I don't think that's a controversial statement among most people.

Lonzo is at his best when he is handling the ball in the half-court fairly infrequently, and when his shooting comes off-ball. Again, not really sure that's controversial at this point. The consequence of this is that when Bledsoe has the ball in his hands - this season - I am tending to be more worried about him than I am of Ball. This is partly because of the shooting but also partly because I know Bledsoe is (and has been for years) a legitimate threat to drive, and I also know that in the event of him doing so he's probably going to make the FTs if I foul. Lonzo presents none of those challenges. So the real question is not ''Is Lonzo a better shooter than Bledsoe'', which is debatable so far this season, but rather, ''is Lonzo's higher volume from 3 compared to Bledsoe worth all of the sacrifices that you make when you place Lonzo on the ball?''

To me, the answer to that is fairly clearly no, which is partly why this discussion came up in the first place: why play Lonzo 36 minutes and Bledsoe 25? Why Lonzo closing games over Bledsoe? That's the initial discussion a lot of this came from, and there doesn't seem to be a satisfying answer to me.

Gravity is the simple answer.. very simple.. This isn't about Ball's 32% from 3 after a bad game. The question was.. thus far.. why has Ball gotten more minutes. And up until the last game he was shooting better from deep, and had a reputation of shooting better from deep. That reputation creates more gravity, which produces more space. I'm not making an argument for either one of these dudes. I'd replace them with NAW personally.

[As I See It]

Run the NAW - Kira duo out there tomorrow night. If we have to lose, let it be while we building for the future.

[Pelicanidae]

Gravity is the simple answer.. very simple.. This isn't about Ball's 32% from 3 after a bad game. The question was.. thus far.. why has Ball gotten more minutes. And up until the last game he was shooting better from deep, and had a reputation of shooting better from deep. That reputation creates more gravity, which produces more space. I'm not making an argument for either one of these dudes. I'd replace them with NAW personally.

Except he wasn't shooting better until last game. He was shooting about 3% worse until last game. Now he's shooting 6% worse, because he went 2/9 and his percentage lowered.

The question is, why does Ball have more ''gravity'' than Bledsoe? Because I'm not really sure if you've noticed by the majority of the time people just ignore him on the perimeter. He's not some guy who has earned a reputation and therefore gets defenders to stick to him regardless of his actual percentages: guys spent the last 3 years just blatantly pretending he wasn't there when he was sat up on the perimeter, and that hasn't drastically changed thus far this year.

The answer is, he doesn't really have much more gravity than Bledsoe, and other teams certainly don't play him as though he does. And they feel safe sagging off him on D because they know that, odds on, he's not going to drive it on you anyway so who cares? Let him shoot.

[Nichols]

Except he wasn't shooting better until last game. He was shooting about 3% worse until last game. Now he's shooting 6% worse, because he went 2/9 and his percentage lowered.

The question is, why does Ball have more ''gravity'' than Bledsoe? Because I'm not really sure if you've noticed by the majority of the time people just ignore him on the perimeter. He's not some guy who has earned a reputation and therefore gets defenders to stick to him regardless of his actual percentages: guys spent the last 3 years just blatantly pretending he wasn't there when he was sat up on the perimeter, and that hasn't drastically changed thus far this year.

The answer is, he doesn't really have much more gravity than Bledsoe, and other teams certainly don't play him as though he does. And they feel safe sagging off him on D because they know that, odds on, he's not going to drive it on you anyway so who cares? Let him shoot.

We can agree to disagree.. There is certainly a perception around the league and among commentators that Bledsoe can't shoot from deep, and Ball has improved in that area. Bledsoe's career stats from 3 make this clear. And from what I've seen, Ball clearly has more gravity than Bledsoe on the perimeter. I'm done talking about it though.. I'm not high on either one at the moment.

[DaPelFromHell]

I think we should try starting JJ cause he for sure isn’t getting it done on the second unit. Maybe he gets back in form by starting the game. Then we could have a fresh Ball coming into run the 2nd unit. I think Ball, NAW, Hart, & Hayes coming off the bench could have us with one of the better bench units. Bring in Ball & Hart in for JJ and Bled to get some minutes with BI, Zion, & Adams. I don’t think it would hurt to try and hopefully get JJ going. Not having his double digit scoring is killing us.

[Taker597]

The West having a lot of parity to start the season. 12 teams at 0.500 or lower.