Official Game Thread: Hawks at Hornets

[shakes]

11 minutes ago, AHF said:

Unfortunately, it is super common for people not to shoot these.  And it isn't a secret.  Kevin Durant has openly admitted he doesn't shoot them if they will hurt his shooting %s in a given game.

Shane Battier addressed this back when he was playing in a characteristically thoughtful way:

 

 

Battier's quote doesn't make sense to me.  He says the heave is a plus play but players aren't judged by that?  Last I checked plus plays lead to wins and last I checked players are most definitely judged by wins.  

 

And I don't care how super common it is.  Does Steph shoot them?   Is Trae similar to Steph in terms of long range shooting ability?   That's all I need to know.   

 

Stop making excuses for and enabling the prima donna or else he's never going to be anything but a prima donna.

[JayBirdHawk]

Can someone explain this?????  

 

He's getting eaten alive. Are we sure Nate is a defensive coach?

[AtLaS]

7 minutes ago, shakes said:

 

Battier's quote doesn't make sense to me.  He says the heave is a plus play but players aren't judged by that?  Last I checked plus plays lead to wins and last I checked players are most definitely judged by wins.  

 

And I don't care how super common it is.  Does Steph shoot them?   Is Trae similar to Steph in terms of long range shooting ability?   That's all I need to know.   

 

Stop making excuses for and enabling the prima donna or else he's never going to be anything but a prima donna.

This is an NBA wide issue.  Hardly anyone shoots these.  Trade Trae for someone else and that new person isn't going to shoot them either. 

It's probably the most annoying thing to me that has not been addressed by the league.  Just count these like a shooting foul/and1, the attempt only counts if you make it.  You don't get penalized if you miss.  It's such an easy and obvious fix.  How much more exciting would games be if players were legitimately shooting these at the end of every quarter.  Full court shots when made are one of the most exciting plays in basketball.  But players don't shoot them because it hurts their percentage.

[swanlee]

I saw Trae try and even hustle a bit on defense. Hes just to small to really make a huge impact on D but he did try last night and actually hustled a bit on D.

I think we need a couple of more good bench guys focused on defense but we really need a coach that can create a better defensive scheme for us. 

This is not working on the defensive side and its not all the players fault. A good scheme and more timely coaching can over come that.

 

 

[AtLaS]

Many players also have bonuses in their contract for shooting a certain percentage for the season, efficiency is judged when comparing top players, all-star game votes, all-nba teams, etc etc.  They just aren't going to shoot these shots, it literally costs them money.  NBA just needs to address it as a clear, obvious problem

Edited February 14, 2023 by AtLaS

[kg01]

Know who'd be great for this team?  

Kent. Bartholomew. Bazemore.

His fake hustle 'defense' and shaky shooting stroke would really..... yeah, I don't know where I was going with this..

[macdaddy]

2 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Know who'd be great for this team?  

Kent. Bartholomew. Bazemore.

His fake hustle 'defense' and shaky shooting stroke would really..... yeah, I don't know where I was going with this..

I had a little panic attack last night when i heard Bob say "and Bey(z)has the rebound".  

[shakes]

8 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Know who'd be great for this team?  

Kent. Bartholomew. Bazemore.

His fake hustle 'defense' and shaky shooting stroke would really..... yeah, I don't know where I was going with this..

 

What would take longer to complete, a 1v1 game up to 10 between Bazemore and Bumbry or a glacier melting down to an ice cube?

[sturt]

8 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Know who'd be great for this team?  

Kent. Bartholomew. Bazemore.

Hope Baze gets into coaching, no kidding. Have no clue if he's cut out for it Xs and Os wise, but it's easy to imagine him being really good with the rest of the job description.

[sturt]

3 minutes ago, shakes said:

 

What would take longer to complete, a 1v1 game up to 10 between Bazemore and Bumbry or a glacier melting down to an ice cube?

... orrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... a shakes post where he composes a single sentence (at least one noun and one verb... an adverb or adjective being a bit too much, of course) applauding someone or some thing about this team he (supposedly) otherwise supports?

My money's on the glacier/ice cube.

[shakes]

14 minutes ago, sturt said:

... orrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... a shakes post where he composes a single sentence (at least one noun and one verb... an adverb or adjective being a bit too much, of course) applauding someone or some thing about this team he (supposedly) otherwise supports?

My money's on the glacier/ice cube.

I like the way AJ and JJ have played this season.    

[kg01]

27 minutes ago, AtLaS said:

Many players also have bonuses in their contract for shooting a certain percentage for the season, efficiency is judged when comparing top players, all-star game votes, all-nba teams, etc etc.  They just aren't going to shoot these shots, it literally costs them money.  NBA just needs to address it as a clear, obvious problem

The NBA has a problem with what they choose to incentivize.  As you said, as long as fg% gets people paid, we'll have people avoiding these low percentage shots.  This is not a Trae issue, it's an NBA-wide issue.

[JayBirdHawk]

31 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Know who'd be great for this team?  

Kent. Bartholomew. Bazemore.

His fake hustle 'defense' and shaky shooting stroke would really..... yeah, I don't know where I was going with this..

 

22 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

I had a little panic attack last night when i heard Bob say "and Bey(z)has the rebound".  

Cue the headless chicken gif.  

[JayBirdHawk]

Sometimes a team just has your number, but why it gotta be them, smh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shakes]

36 minutes ago, kg01 said:

The NBA has a problem with what they choose to incentivize.  As you said, as long as fg% gets people paid, we'll have people avoiding these low percentage shots.  This is not a Trae issue, it's an NBA-wide issue***.

*** = except in Golden State and Charlotte

[AHF]

1 hour ago, shakes said:

 

Battier's quote doesn't make sense to me.  He says the heave is a plus play but players aren't judged by that?  Last I checked plus plays lead to wins and last I checked players are most definitely judged by wins.  

 

And I don't care how super common it is.  Does Steph shoot them?   Is Trae similar to Steph in terms of long range shooting ability?   That's all I need to know.   

 

Stop making excuses for and enabling the prima donna or else he's never going to be anything but a prima donna.

Let me see if I can explain it.

(1) It is a plus play because while the chances of anything positive happening is very low, it is only a positive play (unless you turn it over or shoot it too early, etc.).  So that is a "plus play" as far as the team's chance at winning even if the impact is pretty marginal over a full season.

(2) Players are primarily judged on their own play.  So for awards like 6th man, All-Star, All-NBA, etc. nobody really cares if you shoot a ton of "plus play" low % shots.  They care much more about what your FG%, 3pt%, TS%, etc. are.  When players are negotiating new contracts it works the same way.  Teams will use a lower % shooting against the player and agents can leverage higher shooting %s into real dollars.  So his point is that players are individually incentivized to not take those shots because their low % is rolled in with all their other shots and it hurts their resume, reputation, recognition and renumeration (had to go with alliteration).

Here is a quote from Durant where he basically says if he is shooting well he'll take the shot because he can still end up the game at a good % but he isn't going to worsen a mediocre or poor shooting performance by taking those shots:

Quote

It depends on what I’m shooting from the field. First quarter if I’m 4-for-4, I let it go. Third quarter if I’m like 10-for-16, or 10-for-17, I might let it go. But if I’m like 8-for-19, I’m going to go ahead and dribble one more second and let that buzzer go off and then throw it up there. So it depends on how the game’s going.

Why would he do this?  He obviously wants to only have high % shooting games and will only take those shots if he is doing well enough that he is likely to still end up shooting just fine and it is for all these reasons.  The only thing that is different for Trae, Durant, etc. is the $$ because they are going to get max deals regardless.  But Durant's reputation is built on being an ultra efficient scorer and he doesn't want to diminish that reputation for the sake of taking a low % shot -- even though it objectively increases his team's chances at winning.

[macdaddy]

Man this is the strangest thing for us to focus on after giving up 140 points to Charlotte. 

[JayBirdHawk]

5 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Man this is the strangest thing for us to focus on after giving up 140 points to Charlotte. 

Say it again please.

[kg01]

12 minutes ago, shakes said:

*** = except in Golden State and Charlotte

Lies detected. 

[shakes]

9 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Lies detected. 

Did I miss something.  Do Steph and Lamelo shoot those heaves or am I lying?