benhillboy

Why you wanna rain on my joy Jay?! I feel you, but it isn’t any less fascinating to me when you can reach the Con Finals under these circumstances ever since the Thunder set the benchmark with KD and them. Gallo, Bogi, and Clint turned out to be near perfect signings at the time alongside 4 great rookie value deals and one astronomical in Trae.

Compared to salaries nowadays only 4 years ago seems like 40. You could hang this payroll up in the Louvre Museum it’s so artful: Schlenk took a fair amount of flack here, and that’s cool. None from ya boy. Why Nathan and Skylar could t feed their families tho

True dat, I totally forget about the G League at times. His size and possible shooting pedigree is promising as a Garrison replacement or slightly better.

Joey Hauser, Hawks Agree To Exhibit 10 Deal. I know this isn’t a big deal if I’m the first to mention it. If we actually had CASON Wallace and SAM Hauser we’d be cooking with a little grease. Hawks living in worse-brother bizarro universe.

Excellent data, I may have to check this guy from time to time. Name sounds familiar. Metrics love on Clint and OO even in down years partly due to how much they help but I didn’t know it was to this extent. This is where some intangibles and voice come in, as defensive leaders and problem-solvers you have to hold your guards and wings more accountable. I used to feel sorry for Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom for how often Kobe criticized them in the media, obviously after he did it to their faces. In the end it worked out because they didn’t have any business winning anything, let alone two. Obviously I don’t expect our longtime Cs to be Kobe or giving out media fodder but I can tell they aren’t taking charge in practice on that side. I don’t buy “they didn’t have any POA defenders” and if the team did that’s a sad state of affairs. Never pressing in the backcourt ever only exacerbates the issue. Water under the bridge but I was highly disappointed in DJ on the ball. Many say he was defending out of position, eh. A lot of the dudes who dropped on his head is combos like he is. And I’ll believe Vit and Kobe are actually gonna log rotation minutes when I see it. Dyson isn’t gonna magically catapult the Hawks to a 10-14th defense alone, as great as he projects to be. The coaching has to step up as well.

Dre is a fascinating metrics/ tracking case. Why the Hawks rarely ever win when he’s the high scorer is a mystery. I’ll be tracking his catch and shoot, shot gravity, and defensive matchup difficulty metrics in relation to the league and DD. I don’t have any expectations for Zac until he bulks up but I’ll definitely highlight strong points of his game, which I think he’ll have a decent +/- off floor for a rookie due to the absence of his feel when sitting and good cutting data.

Oh I didn’t take that as a shot. You regularly like my complimentary posts on Trae, no one is highlighting his defensive play-makes of effort and quickness more than me and North in game threads. We can agree to disagree how important PG defense is tho. I’ll always think Trae is fatal to any team defense and on a painfully similar Damian Lilliard career arc (without the 50 win seasons). Just an opinion, I won’t be able to “prove” it with a phone book full of data, same as those who say he isn’t won’t. But many of the league’s worst defenders have some size, athleticism, and length at their disposal to aid team defense, unfortunately Trae can’t mitigate those limitations over long stretches.

I totally agree. Who are “people”?

Oh BBIndex does an excellent job, I’ve been following headshot plots for a minute although I think NBA Math developed it first. I never bought a subscription because their free data is great but I will this year to follow their more in depth career, legacy, league-wide play type, and role data.

If the Hawks had a C who just turned 22 coming off a 21/9/5 season due to make $5.4M he’d be my avatar. Arguably nothing more valuable than rookies ridiculously outplaying their contract, something I’m sure Jalen will continue to do until his time comes. I do think Udoka wants to see a little more defensively outta Sengun before they throw a max at him tho.

Metrics say Jalen Green is a horribly hurtful player. From the little I’ve seen I’d have to agree. Rockets fans hated him up until the second half of last season where he supposedly “turned a corner,” maybe coincided with more Aaron Holiday minutes who’s a much better fit alongside Green than Van Fleet. Athletic af tho. I think Jimmy will retire with the heat, Pat’s petulance and posturing be damned. Any trade involving the Rockets should be Amen Thompson + a whole helluva lot more. Sengun and Sheppard aren’t going anywhere, I don’t see any validity to this rumor. They can trade Rozier for a catfish dinner.

A career 2:1 assist to turnover ratio for a Big is always a huge plus for me. His three point shooting is respectable, I’d like to see a slight boost in attempts. I’ve always loved the Trae give-and-go (they call it “chasing the pass” now) but it doesn’t happen nearly enough for us. It’s usually successful but that ain’t nothing new. It was developed out of necessity in the early days because dudes legit couldn’t dribble and wanted to come off screens quicker. Then it became prettier with Wilt and Kareem serving as great screener/ passers and then Nash took it to another level. Now you’d seldom see Steph or Jamal Murray ever keep their dribble all the way through a screen action with Draymond or Jokic, respectively. Bam is a hub because of it. Long story short that little hand-off and get back, a meshing of on and off ball skill, allows the ball handler to “pause” his dribble to get around the screener a bit faster. It also confuses the defensive duo because the screener is actually on ball for a split second with the option to drive into open space if permitted. Nance’s ability to dribble once and explode bode well for that. The ballhandler can also manufacture catch and shoot opportunities on miscommunications, an easier, more effective shot for Trae than off the dribble. I think Nance has the IQ, passing chops, and handle to run this action with Trae a lot more than Clint or OO has. If so I’m gonna love that little wrinkle.

I don’t see why Haliburton wouldn’t slot into that role having been through the experience already. The coaches and managers covet his three point shooting, assist to turnover, and makeup, which are all elite. With Spo at the Head though he definately is gonna have to show more defensively. I think Tyus Jones will definitely garner some consideration based on what he does in the next few years in Phoenix and on the deal he wants, he’ll be 32. If he’s anywhere near .578 TS with a 7:1 assist to turnover like he was last season in true starter minutes I guarantee he will. Ja looked much better as a playmaker for the few games he came back. Obviously not near Traes level but he was at a very impressive 8:3 ratio. I value his dribble drive game in the NBA a huge deal but in FIBA with less space and better team familiarity amongst defenses I’m not sure. Over the past few seasons Trae and Ja are pretty much the same in PNR defense, around 46th percentile per BBall Index. No PG is really put in true isolation that much but Ja has a clear edge at 77th to Trae’s 56th. I would like to see Trae’s crazy passing creation in FIBA but you have to accept there will be some image changing he has to do for the “eggsperts”, whether you agree or totally scoff at his perceived “standing.” Maintaining his improved effort on defense from last season now he has better personnel and cutting the turnovers some will bode very well. All of the guards that played (Steph, Jrue, Ant, White) can rebound in traffic. That is also a factor.

Whatever happened to Tom Hanks running for prezzy? Mike Vick leaving Atlanta, Peyton Manning retiring, and Julio Jones’ awful last years turned me off from the NFL, among other things. The Falcons look pretty damn stacked right now tho. I was skeptical of Fontenot but he’s wheeling and dealing with the Blank Bank. I ain’t worried about London he’s a stud but imma need Pitts to regain his rookie season form. I don’t know how they calculate official broken tackles nowadays but he’s way too damn big of a human being to only have 2 all last season. Tony G would break 2 on one play If Bijan has gotten even a teeny bit better he’s gonna be a circus. Aight my role in derailing this thread is over.

He doesn’t have a modern player comp. BBRef stopped updating their win share similarity scores for the past two seasons but he went from Stockton to Mikhal Bridges to Rolondo Blackmon from year 2 to 5. He was trending toward obscure ABA/ NBA-style small guards of the 70’s.

Bottom-tier rebounding for a starting guard and leading the league in turnovers per game won’t do him any favors with the metrics either. During Nash’s peak he posted offensive ratings and on/off that Trae will never sniff unfortunately. Like you and I been saying for years he really doesn’t know how to run sound, varied team offense and metrics capture that as well.

Yeah, I’ve always been more opposed to Trae on a max than literally anyone (as if anyone gives a f&@k ) but I totally understand it. It’s just as his Hawks career comes to a close it’s gonna be a clusterf&@k of silliness.

If you’re a fan of Trae’s you probably should totally disregard LEBRON metric scores as nonsense. He was paid $77,160,720 the past two seasons combined. His LEBRON Contract Value in that span was $40,060,526. For reference Clint came out at $34,223,071.

He’s a fan favorite and I guess it’s fun to call him “B-Ball Paul.” He can shoot, dribble, pass, and steal very well for a bum BU C so it’s kinda like a backhanded compliment, running joke type of thing. The fans gas him up and he can do some spectacular sh*t or get sat at the end of the bench all the same

Trae putting on his analyst projection/ GM hat, I can dig it. And adding herbs and spices to the Sarr draft beef. There’s gotta be at least 2-3 future AS tho. Teams are emphasizing two way play much more than they did just recently in the mid ‘10s when even the MVP of the league was a walking blooper reel on D and defensive specialists like Andre Roberson and Thabo were regularly hitting the side of the glass on corner threes

Giannis would be well within his right to pass on ‘28. Gonna slip a few discs in his back trying to carry Greece all alone pushing 34. I think we’ll see a slight improvement in Bogi defensively. He was pressing up on the ball and taking tougher assignments. Even if unsuccessful on those possessions it helps in the long run.

That really puts Ja, Haliburton, and Brunson in jeopardy of making the team. Spo prefers 3&D at the PG spot, starting and backing up. Think FIBA Dennis types who obviously aren’t as quick but stockier. It’ll be interesting to see who emerges.

Here’s were BBall Index placed him in terms of LEBRON contract value last season. Games missed are a factor: Ranges from 13 to 11 million. I don’t know what to make of his defensive awareness/ positioning/ reading yet. I need about 50 more games. Metrics suggest he’s pretty good. John improved next to Clint, hopefully Jalen can make that jump to solid consistency.

Yeah I figured as much. He’s gonna have them more cohesive for set plays, better defensive rotations, and definately more zone lol. It ain’t gonna be easy but Spo is as thorough as they come. I would have loved to see what Jay Wright could’ve done with NBA players. I think Mazzula could’ve led the ‘24 Team to gold as well.

In 4 years Tatum will be 30.5 and in peak mind + body form, I expect even more polish. There just weren’t many minutes for him in 40 minute contests with KD and Bron to get into rhythm. The next team definitely needs his team defensive approach and rebounding. He’ll just have to tell his mama to pipe down about rotation decisions she knows nothing about.