The Indy Talks To Himself (NBA) Thread.

I don't think that is possible

 

The first one that comes to mind is Ken Hitchcock, who parlayed the Stanley Cup he won in Dallas into five more head coaching gigs.

 

That is a solid choice.

 

Solid. Doc might beat it if he keeps coaching.

 

Hard to blame Doc for what's going on with the Bucks, but yeah, him getting that job in the first place was always weird.

Will be curious to see how Bud's trajectory goes as well. Won a title, but everyone seemed to agree he really wasn't that great of a coach.

 

Also, I'm not an NFL guy, but Mike McCarthy might be in the early stages of his journey to a top spot on that list, no?

 

Are they aware if you are fouled it’s not a fg attempt? So if Jordan shot 4 more from 3 feet but was fouled and shot fts instead, the attempts wouldn’t count.

 

I'm not 100% sure if they're accounting for that or not. I'm sure there's a way to do so with the depth of stats out there today, but can't say for sure whether this specific person is accounting for it.

But I'm also not really sure how it matters. The numbers are what they are when comparing him to other players in the playoffs. It's really hard to see how the guy who is #1 in each of those 3 categories (FGa within 3 feet, 5 feet, and at the rim) can be 25th in FTa's.

And with the Jordan comparison, at MINIMUM, it's showing them shooting similar attempts and Jordan getting more than double the FT's. And that's if you read this the way you outlined, which is favorable towards Jordan. Add 3 FGa's and take away the corresponding 6 FTa's, and he's still at 8.9 FGa/4.6 FTa compared to Bron's 9.5/4.0. Not as bad as it seems in the post, but still worse. And the bottom line is that that isn't how it happened - he actually got the additional 6 FTa's.

 

The discussion about ANT right now is super interesting to me.

I'll start by saying I love watching ANT. Love that he's a 2-way player. Love the explosiveness and excitement of his game. Love that he's stepping up at the right moment and leaning into the pressure. He's doing everything right and emerging as a superstar right before our very eyes. So this isn't really about ANT or me thinking he's not good or anything. It's more about the way people are talking about him right now.

I can't believe how fairly people are treating him, to the point of it edging on borderline excessive veneration. It's like people can't wait to give him his flowers, to the point where they are overpraising all the good he's doing while failing to acknowledge anything else about the situation.

I'll give an example - on the Hoop Collective today, the guys were talking about how he has 100% passed Devin Booker as the best shooting guard in the NBA. They're basing it on the fact that ANT's team just swept Booker's team, and ANT was outstanding during the series. And like, yeah, I get it, but that's failing to take a lot of different pieces into account:

1. Are we just going to pretend that ANT didn't score 15 points on 3/12 shooting in game 2? Most superstars get roasted for that, but I don't hear it discussed at all.
2. Are we just going to pretend that the Wolves winning that game anyway, DESPITE his poor performance, doesn't say something about the supporting cast around him? And yeah, I get that he played well overall despite the poor shooting. But the point still stands.
3. How is it fair to compare Booker's performance in this series with ANT's when ANT has the DPOY on his team and is surrounded by other GREAT defenders like Jaden McDaniels (All Defense candidate), Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Kyle Anderson? One guy is going up against a defensive juggernaut and the other is going up against a team who might not have a single guy in his prime who is known for his defense.
4. Are we giving him too much credit for the sweep when he's on a 3 seed that finished 1 game back of the 1 seed? And it's not like the Suns have ever really shown that they are a great team this season. Everyone wanted to believe it was possible, but we never really SAW it.
   
5. Ask yourself this - if you switched these guys onto the opposite team, how different is this result? Do the Suns suddenly win the series? How many games do they win with ANT instead of Booker?

Again, I'm not trying to take anything away from the guy. I'm not even saying that any of the above questions should lessen his achievement. I'm just surprised no one is asking any of the questions in the first place. I'm surprised at how willing everyone is to crown the kid. People are comparing him to Jordan. Bonified top 10 player. Best SG in the NBA. Again, the guy hasn't played in a 2nd round playoff series yet.

It has just caught me off guard after how hesitant people seemed to be when it came to giving the previous generation guys their flowers.

 

If lebron goes up for a patented off 1 foot dunk, he’s not getting fouled. He’s too big and they don’t want any. I’m not sure how many other shots he’s taking from 3 feet?
This is just a stat stretch to complain about refs. Reality is the more somebody flops, the fewer calls they get. Had refs tell me that 30 years ago and it hasn’t changed.

 

You know why you're not sure how many other shots he's taking from 3 feet? Because you don't watch the games. If you did, you would know that he's 39 [uck fay]ing years old and not taking anywhere near as many "patented off 1 foot dunks."

Feels like we do this every year during the playoffs. I call out something I'm seeing, in the moment, as I'm watching the game. You disagree with it or tell me I'm whining or complaining and then make generalized comments about what might or might not be happening in games that you literally see nothing of outside of MAYBE the 2 minute highlights the next day. It's just such a weird cycle, but I'm not sure how to break it. Because I'm not going to stop watching games, and you're apparently never going to stop talking out of your ass.

Oh look, another assumption based on absolutely nothing. LeBron has apparently been flopping in all of the games that ssmiff hasn't watched., which is why he's not getting the calls.

Here's another "stat stretch" for you:

Devin Booker shot 21 FTa's in last night's game 4 against the Timberwolves. It was more attempts in a single game than LeBron has shot in the entire series against the Nuggets. Devin Booker must be the least floppy player in the NBA.

 

I see lebron shoot 3s and fadeaways and dunk. Didn’t realize he was shooting a lot of off 2 feet layups in the paint

 

I have no idea where the "off 2 feet layups" thing is coming from. What is the difference between an "off 2 feet" layup and an "off 1 foot" layup, with regards to how frequently or infrequently they draw fouls? And why is there a need to dictate "in the paint?" They're layups. They're always at the basket, which is in the paint.

Bron is averaging 20 FGa's per game against the Nuggets and just 5 per game are 3's. That means 15 non-3 point shots per game, the vast majority of which are layups that look like this:



Again, I find it so weird how willing you are to speak from a position of authority about how a specific player plays despite not watching any of his games. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if you've consumed less than 5 in-game minutes of this Lakers/Nuggets series live.

 

Holy shit, look at all of those TV's in the Replay Center. You know they're showing that because LeBron called them out the other night.

 

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2024/4/29/24144320/denver-nuggets-title-defense-cracks

Assuming the Lakers fail to do the unthinkable, Wolves/Nuggets should be fun in the 2nd round.

 

Porzingis injury feels like a big deal for the Celtics, but I’m not sure it even matters until the finals.

 

LMAO not even three [uck fay]ing minutes in and the Lakers are ALREADY having to use a challenge against a foul called on a [uck fay]ing 3 pointer.

This shit so [uck fay]ing ridiculous.

Edit: And, of course, they win the challenge. Because there wasn't anything even resembling a foul on the play where they just tried to give 3 FT's to a 90%+ FT shooter.

 

I wonder how many times in my life I've watched LeBron drive, draw multiple defenders, kick to a WIDE ASS OPEN teammate in the corner, just for the teammate to miss the corner 3.

 

Rui has missed back to back wide open 3's. Like, the level of wide open is hard to explain. No one anywhere close to him. No one even making an attempt to run towards him. Multiple seconds to gather, spot up, and pull the trigger.

Dude was a 42% 3-point shooter this year.