2021 NBA regular season thread

[WiggyRuss]

It's well beyond those players too. Caruso is a hit that's still with the team. Elsewhere, Thomas Bryant has become a good rotation center as has Ivica Zubac. Mo Wagner and Issac Bonga have been decent NBA players as well. Most of the players they've picked stick in the league as oppose to busting out after 2 to 4 years. They're really good at identifying players late in the draft that can be viable NBA players. Of all the teams in the NBA, I think I'd trust the Lakers scouting department at identifying a talent late in the draft over any other team. Maybe the Spurs, but the Lakers are definitely towards the top

the spurs draft and develop

drafting doesnt mean much if you cant develop and all the guys get better elsewhere.

 

[tlance]

Yet Gobert is the runaway leader in defensive rating. Stats will always have an impact.

Defensive rating is heavily skewed towards traditional centers.

So it really shouldn’t have that much impact.

 

[Black Adam]

He hated the Heatles waaaay before he hated the Lakers.

true...

 

[SteelersPride]

I have a DK account and a fan duel account.

Have you seen the daily free pools section? Also has the pools you can enter for cash.

 

[fightinfunbags]

Have you seen the daily free pools section? Also has the pools you can enter for cash.

I think so. Haven’t really checked them out though

 

[SteelersPride]

I think so. Haven’t really checked them out though

One of those. Was the only one to hit every choice.

 

[fightinfunbags]

One of those. Was the only one to hit every choice.

That’s awesome. Whatcha win?

 

[SteelersPride]

That’s awesome. Whatcha win?

Couple grand!

 

[fightinfunbags]

Couple grand!

Bang! Great pull brother.

 

[SteelersPride]

Bang! Great pull brother.

Best part was i didnt wanna enter lol

 

[bksballer89]

 

[shopson67]

Defensive rating is heavily skewed towards traditional centers.

So it really shouldn’t have that much impact.

If you can't point to data to compare, all evaluations will subject to playing favorites. We already know steals is a bad stat, given that it often means a player is gambling off his assignment rather than playing solid positional defense. Steal % is all perimeter players in the top 10 other than Dray. Of course, defensive rebound % is all bigs except for Russ.

If you want to go by defensive +/-, Noel is first, followed by Dray, Freak, Butler/Gobert/Jokic tied, Bam, and Simmons.

Defensive win shares? Gobert, Randle, Noel, Dray, Jokic, Freak, Simmons, O'Neale, Capela, Bam

 

[shopson67]

Who is Miami letting go to get to that amount of cap space though? They have team options on Dragic and Iggy for $19.4M and $15M respectively. Free agents include Oladipo, Ariza, Bjelica, Nunn, Duncan Robinson, etc. If they keep Dragic and Iggy (and Yurtseven's nonguaranteed contract, although only $1.5M), they are already over the cap ($112M).

If they do have that cap space, that's really with only Butler, Bam, Herro, Precious and KZ on the roster.

Miami Heat 2021-22 Salary Cap

Miami Heat 2021-22 salary cap table, including breakdowns of salaries, bonuses, incentives, cap figures, dead money and more.

www.spotrac.com

 

[tlance]

If you can't point to data to compare, all evaluations will subject to playing favorites. We already know steals is a bad stat, given that it often means a player is gambling off his assignment rather than playing solid positional defense. Steal % is all perimeter players in the top 10 other than Dray. Of course, defensive rebound % is all bigs except for Russ.

If you want to go by defensive +/-, Noel is first, followed by Dray, Freak, Butler/Gobert/Jokic tied, Bam, and Simmons.

Defensive win shares? Gobert, Randle, Noel, Dray, Jokic, Freak, Simmons, O'Neale, Capela, Bam

My opinion?

There isn’t a single defensive metric out there that comes close to telling the full story.

Jokic more defensive win shares than Bam?

Cmon now.

Most weigh rebounding numbers, steals and blocks too heavily. Some of the best defenders out there don’t score as highly as players like Jokic because Jokic gets blocks, steals and rebounds.

The eye test and opposition % numbers are more valuable to me than those metrics.

 

[flyerhawk]

The eye test and opposition % numbers are more valuable to me than those metrics.

Which is why it is so tough to judge how good a player is defensively because even the most dedicated NBA observers watch maybe 20% of all the games. We rely a lot on highlights and, ultimately, metrics that are deeply flawed.

 

[tlance]

Which is why it is so tough to judge how good a player is defensively because even the most dedicated NBA observers watch maybe 20% of all the games. We rely a lot on highlights and, ultimately, metrics that are deeply flawed.

Totally agree.

 

[flyerhawk]

Totally agree.

I don't know if you listen to the Mismatch podcast but they talk about Gobert a lot with Chris Vernon saying that Gobert is a very good player but his defensive prowess is wildly overstated because he is just a really good defensive center and their defense is designed to funnel guys to him. If you swap him with 5 or 6 other good defensive bigs, would the Jazz be demonstrably worse defensively? I dunno but it is a good question.

 

[tlance]

I don't know if you listen to the Mismatch podcast but they talk about Gobert a lot with Chris Vernon saying that Gobert is a very good player but his defensive prowess is wildly overstated because he is just a really good defensive center and their defense is designed to funnel guys to him. If you swap him with 5 or 6 other good defensive bigs, would the Jazz be demonstrably worse defensively? I dunno but it is a good question.

I have not listened to that.

Just simply going by the eye test and what I see.

Gobert is a great traditional defensive center, but when I watch him, he doesn’t wow me.

Bam wows me with his versatility.

Ben Simmons wows me too.

To me, they were the 2 best defenders in the league this past year.

 

[flyerhawk]

I have not listened to that.

Just simply going by the eye test and what I see.

Gobert is a great traditional defensive center, but when I watch him, he doesn’t wow me.

Bam wows me with his versatility.

Ben Simmons wows me too.

To me, they were the 2 best defenders in the league this past year.

I would probably agree with that.

Although Thybulle has been just incredible. Like Hall of Fame good defense. His lack of offensive abilities limits his PT but I've watched him change the entire approach other teams have.

 

[DJ]