Thunder

Positive - Westbrook is having his best season of his career

Negative - Eric Maynor is a shell of his former self

Spurs

Positive - There are a number of positive developments this year, but in my opinion the most important is that Spurs now have a legitimate backup PG in De Colo. By the end of the year there are going to be some teams looking at him for the starting spot.

Negative - Manu is fading fast. He shows flashes every once in a while and he's still putting up comparable per minute stats, but when you watch him it's pretty clear that he can't do the things he used to do. He's still clever, but he's not the Manu Ginobili that scared teams to death as time wound down in close games. A couple steps slower with the ball, no explosion getting to the rim, and he's a hair late on a lot of those crazy passes, which turns them from crazy assists into dumb turnovers.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 12/16/2012 8:47p).]

Grizzlies

The Good - Best start in franchise history, and they are generally healthy.

The Bad - They really struggle more than they should with good teams that have active/aggressive power forwards when they match up ZBo. They really struggle with the Nuggets (Faried), Jazz (Milsaps), Suns (Scola), and Warriors (Landry).


The Ugly - Darrell Arthur continues to miss games with injuries, and the fans don't show up that well. It is a college town, and Memphis fans still would rather support the Tigers, and not so much the Grizzlies.

Positive: Omer Asik wasn't a waste of money

Negative: Jeremy Lin was.

quote:

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Positive: Omer Asik wasn't a waste of money

Negative: Jeremy Lin was.

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This

Grizzlies

Good-15-6
Bad-Grizzlies paying the luxury tax
Ugly-Very weak bench

Rockets

Positive - New scoreboard.

Negative - Royce White's existence on this planet, online and in real life.

quote:

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Positive: Omer Asik wasn't a waste of money

Negative: Jeremy Lin was.

This

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Lakers

Positive: Kobe Bryant is ageless

Negative: EVERYTHING ELSE

quote:

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Negative - Royce White's existence on this planet, online and in real life.

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FREAKING THIS

Positive- Asik is a rebound-grabbing machine

Negative- Royce White is a lazy, complaining, trash human being that wastes the Rockets money and perfectly good oxygen

Houston Rockets

Positives - James Harden proving he is a starter in the NBA and not just a sixth man. The surprise play of Toney Douglas, Greg Smith, Omer Asik, and Carlos Delfino.

Negatives - Royce White, Inconsistency, and still no ability to watch the games on tv at home.

Mavs:

Positive - Mayo
Negatives - Turnovers (Could go with a lot of things here obviously but the turnovers drive me crazy).

Thunder

Good - Ibaka developing offensive game.

Bad - Russ' shot selection/fg%

quote:

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Thunder


Bad - Russ' shot selection/fg%

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least of my worries

his improved play protecting and passing the basketball far overshadows his missing insane layups that even though he might miss, will soften the defense for other guys. even his misses force the opponent to play differently.

Good- harden, parsons getting better, delfinos shooting, asik rebounding

Bad- parsons inconsistency, no real pf threat, morris is bad way more than he is good, kevin mchales daughter , and defense

Lin is neither a positive nor a negative. He is a lot like lowry at the same age.. maybe better.

Rockets

Good: Chita Johnson weather reports at home games. Harden. Asik and Parsons. Kelvin Sampson subbing for McHale.

Bad: Lin & his airball 3 against the Heat, Royce White, Omer Asik's spin moves under the basket

I'd have to add Kevin McHale's hatred for playing rookies as a negative

Mavericks

Positives - We won it all 2 years ago.

Negatives - We won it all 2 years ago.

Positive - Chris Kaman is actually pretty good
Negative - he ain't no Tyson Chandler

Positive: OJ Mayo thriving in his role here. Hope he hangs around.
Negative: The window is closed.

posted 11:22p, 12/18/12



quote:
Thunder


Bad - Russ' shot selection/fg%


least of my worries

his improved play protecting and passing the basketball far overshadows his missing insane layups that even though he might miss, will soften the defense for other guys. even his misses force the opponent to play differently.

Still feel that way? 5-19 today with more TO than assists.

As someone who has had to watch his team lose to the Thunder in the playoffs, Westbrook doesn't worry me and it is because of his decision making. Yes, he can put his team on his back and win a game. Over the course of the series though, he's actually not that difficult to deal with because he's stubborn and really forces his game.
1. Beat him to his favorite spot at the free throw line and he'll still take the shot but off rhythm, which is a miss 95% of the time.
2. Keep your shotblockers close to the rim and he'll force bad layups that brick off the backboard.
3. Play the passing lanes.

You live with his three point shooting and everything else. He has been successful because the Thunder have/had high caliber scorers drawing double teams and lots of defensive attention, but Westbrook has plenty of flaws to work on.

Put Durant on some random bad team and he scores 35 ppg and takes them to the playoffs. Put Wesbrook on some random bad team and he scores 20 ppg and watches the playoffs from home. Westbrook can be stopped. You can put all 5 guys on Durant and he's still going to score.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 12/25/2012 11:18p).]

Is the Lin hate something that you can only understand if you watch him play? I'm looking at his stats and they're rock solid. In his last 10 games, he's shot 51% and averaged 14pts and 7assists/game. He's turned the ball over too much in the last 4-5 games, but that looks like an outlier (2-3/game seems to be the norm).

If he improves just a bit more, he'd be a pretty good PG statistically.

The Jeremy Lin hate was 2-3 weeks ago when he was shooting 21% from the field and was a turnover machine. He has played much better lately, and hopefully has found a rhythm and comfort in the offense to continue. He started out the year horribly, but has been very solid lately.

Mavs

Positive. Dirk is back

Negative. I don't have enough time

mavs

positive: mayo, losing out on d.will's fat ass

negative: everyone else new on the roster with one year contracts is garbage

Rockets

Positive: Awesome offense
Negative: Crappy defense and turnovers galore

quote:

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Positive: OJ Mayo thriving in his role here.

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He's finally accepting his role as a scorer like Jason Terry or Manu, which is what Lionel Hollins wanted him to be.

But OJ wanted to be a PG, and wanted to be more than a scoring SG.

He can also be as inconsistent as sushi at a gas station.

Spurs

Positive: Defense getting back to championship level. Popovich made it an emphasis to get back to concentrating more on defense this off-season and it has payed off. The Spurs lost in the conference finals because they couldn't get a stop when they needed to and the defense is much improved from last season rising into the top 5 in defensive efficiency. (The Spurs finished 11th in this category a year ago) This rise has also been with 2 of our best defenders being sidelined for substantial time. Leonard has missed 18 games and Jack 16 games. If the Spurs continue to improve defensively and finish in the top 3-5 in this category they will find themselves with a team that is more built for playoff basketball compared to the last 4 years.


Negative: Still have a "big" problem. Inconsistent play from our bigs in Splitter and Diaw and relying on them two next to Duncan come playoff time is still a risk. Bonner and Blair are proven to be useless once the bright lights turn on and this could continue to hurt the Spurs in the playoffs. Rebounding rates being down is also a concern.

[This message has been edited by Sher Thing (edited 1/7/2013 3:34p).]

Negative: we have lost 9 outa 10 games.

Positive: we are 10 games closer to this season being over.