First off in news I no longer care about the Boston Celtics defeated the Philadelphia 76ers to move on to the Eastern Conference finals against the Heat.
Now that we have that bit of nauseating news out of the way let us move on to the second part of our look back of the season that was.
In all honesty I could probably just do the entire post based on the first person we are going to review because I have a feeling that the responses to him are going to be both mixed and vast. I am pretty confident that my review will leave some of his fans less than thrilled with me.
Paul George:
See if this sounds familiar, this is from draft express in their review of Paul.
The first thing that pops off the page when looking at George’s numbers is his high turnover percentage. The Fresno State product coughed the ball up on some 18.8% of his total possessions. He seldom gave the ball up in spot up situations, as he often just took the first available shot, but he turned the ball over on 30% of his one-on-one opportunities and 25% of his transition touches. Obviously, his ball-handling ability will be something that he needs to refine in order to reach his potential as a player.
From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com#ixzz1w2yQGYzg
http://www.draftexpress.com
Has much about this changed in his two seasons in the NBA? Obviously being our young player with a very high athletic ceiling and talent has given him tons of benefit of the doubt points and he will still be given plenty more, even by me.
But at the point in time I think it’s time that some of us step back from the ledge and evaluate really how good this guy is and how good he is going to be.
The talent is there, that is not in question. The work ethic seems good, since the day he was drafted I’ve read his tweets and read articles about him going to train and where he was on this day or that day playing with this player or that player. So I don’t think he has a lack of drive or desire to get better. But there is something that is keeping him from taking that next step or at least there was something keeping him back this season from taking that next step.
This is the part where his fans are going to claim that “thing” in his way is Danny Granger and while that may be true to some extent I wonder how much if any of it is true.
My thinking on him now is that he will be a good to great player in the NBA for many years to come but I have kind of backed away from the thought that he is going to be a special player. When I say special I mean one of the top tier talents in the NBA. If I were to take a guess at where his ceiling will lie I would say Rudy Gay, Danny Granger, Joe Johnson level of player. There is nothing wrong with that btw, in fact that is the second tier of talent in the NBA and I would be thrilled with that. But because of his athletic ability and sometime his silky smooth moves I fall into the trap of thinking “wow we may have actually drafted that one special type player we have never had before”.
Let’s look at what he can do first of all. I don’t think he will be an elite level defender in the future because I believe he is an elite level defender right now. He has to work on fighting through screens and such but other than that he is by far the best perimeter defender we have and have had in a long time. I just laugh every single time I read someone say his natural position is small forward because what makes him special at the two guard spot on defense would just make him an above average defender at the three spot. Some day he might need to move to the three but as long as he is young and has the speed and the legs for it he is at his best when pestering the oppositions best perimeter player.
Don’t let his struggles against Wade the past few games fool you, his defense was for the most part fine its just that Wade was hitting everything he threw up and on top of that guess what, Dwayne Wade is one of the best freaking players in the world so it’s no ill reflection on Paul that he scored points.
He has great lateral quickness, he has tremendous leaping ability, and he has great timing and recovery. Also here is the main thing, he has a superb instinct for where the ball is going to go so he can play the passing lanes like few player can and I am going to go ahead and compare him to Pippen when he is playing the lanes (don’t get me wrong I’m not saying he is as good as Scottie). Also the one huge advantage he has that some people confuse for a disadvantage is his size. Yes he is tall, yes he is also long but this guy is not some leviathan lumbering around the floor. He is panther quick so he can alter shots, play the passing lanes and be a real force on the back board all at the same time.
That is his second great attribute. He rebounds very well for a guard. He has an instinct for it and when he is grabbing double figures on the glass more often than not we are winning.
On offense he has some moves but this is where we are going to start to have trouble.
He has a smooth jump shot and has a very long range from where he can be affective. I don’t believe he has Danny’s range yet and he may never but he is pretty close. He also has some decent moves going to the basket although he has an absolute maddening habit of throwing up some super cool swooping scoop shot that sometimes goes in and looks spectacular and other times is pounded off of the glass by the opposition making me generally cuss as though I have turrets syndrome.
His passing is also a mixed bag of nuts and sadly there are very few almond and cashews in there. I think the worst case scenario presented itself where he was leading a 3 on 1 fast break and decided that the best thing he could do was do a one handed (underhanded at that) pass directly to Shane Battier, the problem with this is that Battier was a member of the Heat.
This goes directly to a huge problem I have with Paul and this is where his fans are going to get upset with me. I like to call this the “too cool for school” attitude that Paul often displays on the court.
I think part of his swooping scoop shots and his one handed passes are part of a problem of Paul trying to look cool and above it all when he plays. Where some would think that slamming home a dunk is showing off in Paul’s case he knows he can dunk so to him getting up this acrobatic shots is more of what he likes to do when he could easily just go lay it up at the rim or slam it home. This drives me crazy when he does it but I have a feeling that his fans like that type of stuff as much as he does.
I know that this is part of him being young so I’m hoping he will grow out of it. But my God did he **** off some of the vets during that last game. David West barked at him for about a solid min. after a blown play, which I’ve not seen West do before.
Now let’s just go ahead and address the elephant in the room.
Is Danny Granger standing in his way? First before we all just scoff at the idea I will say we have seen it done before and oddly enough the player who was having it done to them was Danny Granger. For the first few years of Danny Grangers career he deferred to an older veteran who honestly was stunting his growth and that player was Jermaine O’Neal.
So I won’t just dismiss the idea out of hand for that reason and that reason alone.
But there are also very significant differences between Jermaine & Danny vs. Danny & Paul.
First and foremost Danny Granger has shown that he is more than willing to step back and share the offensive load and not have the entire offense be focused on him. Sure he struggled initially with it but even his biggest critics have to admit that he did not force himself into the center of the offense. Jermaine adamantly refused to not be the focus of the offense and one of the little known secrets about him demanding to be traded was that he was not happy with O’Brien’s offense and it’s de-emphasis on low post play. Obviously nobody agrees with Jim’s coaching but Jermaine had long been past his ability to be efficient in the post.
Secondly Danny & Paul compliment each other quite well on the defensive end. While Paul is superb at guarding quick perimeter players often times bigger wing player can over power him and he can not keep them from getting what they want. Danny on the other hand lacks quickness but other than for a very few small forwards in the NBA he is stronger than most of them.
Paul has been given several opportunities to assume a larger role on the offense when Danny has been injured or limited by fouls and not once has he really stepped up to take the role he was given.
In fact I think it’s safe to say that he actually had a very disappointing first round of the playoffs and only a good second round.
What concerns me the most about Paul is this and there is no stat to back this up nor is there any real logical way to explain what I am talking about other than to just say it.
Paul is not a killer. I don’t think it is something you can learn or train for and frankly very few players have it. Extreme cases of this are Jordan, Bryant, Barkley and even Reggie Miller. These are the guys who not only don’t shy away from the big moment they run at it and demand to be in the center of it. I contend that while he is nowhere near the talent level of the above named players I think Danny Granger is a killer and it’s just in him, not something he learned.
Big moments of the game Paul so far has tended to shrink and there are times that he treats the ball like a hand grenade with the pin pulled trying to get it out of his hands as fast as he can when the game is on the line.
Now like I said I can’t back that up other than just by anecdotal evidence so if you disagree with me that is fine, I’m not claiming to be 100% correct there. It’s just something I feel.
Now comes the part that will really **** off people. It has been said over & over that we should trade Danny Granger to try & get Eric Gordon. This is often said so that Eric can come home and Paul can move to his natural position of small forward (which I think is b.s. btw).
Well first I don’t agree with getting Gordon unless it is super cheap as a free agent because his knees have not shown the ability to stay healthy. But if there is this absolute need to make this trade to “bring him home” then let me be the first to throw this out there.
Paul George & filler for Eric Gordon. Now remember I am already on record as saying I wouldn’t do any trade for him, but I’m turning the tables on the Paul George fan club here with this and here is why.
Right now I am not convinced that Paul will ever be as good as Danny is and Danny is in his prime right now and still have probably a good 3 years left of being at the top of his game. If we want to win right now and stop waiting on development and such then why wouldn’t it make more sense to keep your best player and just add another great player with him instead of trading away your best player in hopes that another player eventually becomes as good as he is?
Yes I know that is a totally outlandish idea to many of you and I have probably derailed this whole thread with that thought and I’m sure I am about to get the whole “he will be growing for many years to come” routines. I don’t disagree with any of that. I’m just saying that if we are looking to make a move and do it to win right now not 3 years from now then this might make more sense.
Before you hang me remember I said I would much rather just keep Danny & Paul together because unlike some of you I do not believe that they do anything but compliment each other.
Ok that’s probably enough about Paul and should generate discussion for a good while.
Predictions: He will be the starting two guard next year and for several years to come and he will eventually take his place on the 3rd and maybe even 2nd team all defensive players.
What I would like to see: Learn to dribble and stop being lazy with the ball.
Will he be an all-star? Not next year but in the future maybe.
George Hill:
Not really sure at the end of the day what his role should be. Honestly he is one of those true hybrid guards who is not really a point guard nor really a shooting guard. He’s a little of both and while that has its advantages it also can be a detriment as well.
Our team struggles to score, some of that is on the point guard but most of it is on the offensive scheme and the type of players we have. While I love Frank we still have the very bad habit of having players not move without the ball and there are very few cutters so frankly you could have Steve Nash running our offense and at the end of the day he would still get a good number of assists but not nearly like he does now.
So while I will say that George is not a natural passer or point guard I will also point out that our system is mostly the problem.
Overall he took a step backwards in field goal % which seemed to be a common theme on our team this year. He was down across the board in field goal, three point shooting and free throw shooting.
Some of that could be because he was adjusting to a new team and a new way of doing things. Not sure how or why that should affect his free throw shooting though.
Obviously the team responded very well with him being the starting point guard but I think we have to look at some of those games and wonder if we weren’t playing against teams that were shutting down for the year or missing their primary point guard (the Cavs. come immediately to mind here).
But that is not to say that the team wouldn’t have responded very well to him in either case.
Defensively he is far better at guarding the pick and roll than Darren is. He can fight through a pick and even when he can’t he recovers faster, not because he is quicker than Darren but because he has Inspector Gadget type extension arms.
This is so very important because while Collison has good things he does as a guard the problem is he is hideous at guarding the pick and roll which causes a cascading affect of defensive lapses that usually ends up with Danny Grangers man getting an open shot right at the basket because Danny had to rotate away to cover the middle because David West was to slow and Roy was to far away and no one got back to help on his man. This all happens because Roy has to go so far out to help Darren.
This stopped happening when Hill entered.
With Hill in the game along side Danny & Paul we actually have quite a buzz saw for defender to try and go through often times with them having to climb Mt. Hibbert usually unsuccessfully.
But just like Paul George the offensive end can sometimes be an adventure when George is out there. He is at best an average passer for a point guard and he certainly is miles away from being elite there. He is a decent shooter and can at times hit big huge three point shots. He is also very good at getting to the basket.
But then there are times that he will miss a wide open layup.
I just honestly don’t know what to think here. I like him with the starters and if it is between him and Collison I would prefer George to start. But if there were an elite level point guard out there I would have no problem at all with George going back to being the first combo guard off of the bench.
Now this is where it gets tricky. He’s good but how good is he? How much money do we want to sink into a player who plays the position that most national pundits say we need an upgrade at?
Also there is the question of how much money do you give him vs. just letting Darren Collison play the point?
My thoughts on that are this. If by some miracle we manage to get a Deron Williams (not going to happen but just go with it here) then I would have zero problem letting him walk. If he decides that he is worth 10 million a year I would have zero problem letting him walk and good luck to him in trying to get anyone to sign him to that.
But if we don’t sign him and we don’t upgrade the position I will go ahead and say this now. That trade with San Antonio was a disaster. If he comes back and plays, even as a backup, then I think it was a good trade for both teams.
But if Hill is just a one year rental and we don’t upgrade above Collison, then no that trade will go down as one of the worst trades we have pulled and the worst of the Bird era.
Predictions: I think we re-sign him to around 6 million a year, he won’t be happy with that but he won’t get a better offer in this market. He will be the starter next season.
What I would like to see: Improve his court vision and work diligently in trying to make us no longer the worst fast breaking team in basketball
Will he be an all-star? No
Ok that’s it for the starters. I think this will give us something to talk about and I will start working on the bench either tomorrow or the next day.
In keeping with our theme of beautiful music I present you with what I consider the most beautiful song ever written.
Theology/Civilization by Basil Polidaris
Also here is a kick @ss version of this song on acoustic guitar
Now that we have that bit of nauseating news out of the way let us move on to the second part of our look back of the season that was.
In all honesty I could probably just do the entire post based on the first person we are going to review because I have a feeling that the responses to him are going to be both mixed and vast. I am pretty confident that my review will leave some of his fans less than thrilled with me.
Paul George:
See if this sounds familiar, this is from draft express in their review of Paul.
The first thing that pops off the page when looking at George’s numbers is his high turnover percentage. The Fresno State product coughed the ball up on some 18.8% of his total possessions. He seldom gave the ball up in spot up situations, as he often just took the first available shot, but he turned the ball over on 30% of his one-on-one opportunities and 25% of his transition touches. Obviously, his ball-handling ability will be something that he needs to refine in order to reach his potential as a player.
From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com#ixzz1w2yQGYzg
http://www.draftexpress.com
Has much about this changed in his two seasons in the NBA? Obviously being our young player with a very high athletic ceiling and talent has given him tons of benefit of the doubt points and he will still be given plenty more, even by me.
But at the point in time I think it’s time that some of us step back from the ledge and evaluate really how good this guy is and how good he is going to be.
The talent is there, that is not in question. The work ethic seems good, since the day he was drafted I’ve read his tweets and read articles about him going to train and where he was on this day or that day playing with this player or that player. So I don’t think he has a lack of drive or desire to get better. But there is something that is keeping him from taking that next step or at least there was something keeping him back this season from taking that next step.
This is the part where his fans are going to claim that “thing” in his way is Danny Granger and while that may be true to some extent I wonder how much if any of it is true.
My thinking on him now is that he will be a good to great player in the NBA for many years to come but I have kind of backed away from the thought that he is going to be a special player. When I say special I mean one of the top tier talents in the NBA. If I were to take a guess at where his ceiling will lie I would say Rudy Gay, Danny Granger, Joe Johnson level of player. There is nothing wrong with that btw, in fact that is the second tier of talent in the NBA and I would be thrilled with that. But because of his athletic ability and sometime his silky smooth moves I fall into the trap of thinking “wow we may have actually drafted that one special type player we have never had before”.
Let’s look at what he can do first of all. I don’t think he will be an elite level defender in the future because I believe he is an elite level defender right now. He has to work on fighting through screens and such but other than that he is by far the best perimeter defender we have and have had in a long time. I just laugh every single time I read someone say his natural position is small forward because what makes him special at the two guard spot on defense would just make him an above average defender at the three spot. Some day he might need to move to the three but as long as he is young and has the speed and the legs for it he is at his best when pestering the oppositions best perimeter player.
Don’t let his struggles against Wade the past few games fool you, his defense was for the most part fine its just that Wade was hitting everything he threw up and on top of that guess what, Dwayne Wade is one of the best freaking players in the world so it’s no ill reflection on Paul that he scored points.
He has great lateral quickness, he has tremendous leaping ability, and he has great timing and recovery. Also here is the main thing, he has a superb instinct for where the ball is going to go so he can play the passing lanes like few player can and I am going to go ahead and compare him to Pippen when he is playing the lanes (don’t get me wrong I’m not saying he is as good as Scottie). Also the one huge advantage he has that some people confuse for a disadvantage is his size. Yes he is tall, yes he is also long but this guy is not some leviathan lumbering around the floor. He is panther quick so he can alter shots, play the passing lanes and be a real force on the back board all at the same time.
That is his second great attribute. He rebounds very well for a guard. He has an instinct for it and when he is grabbing double figures on the glass more often than not we are winning.
On offense he has some moves but this is where we are going to start to have trouble.
He has a smooth jump shot and has a very long range from where he can be affective. I don’t believe he has Danny’s range yet and he may never but he is pretty close. He also has some decent moves going to the basket although he has an absolute maddening habit of throwing up some super cool swooping scoop shot that sometimes goes in and looks spectacular and other times is pounded off of the glass by the opposition making me generally cuss as though I have turrets syndrome.
His passing is also a mixed bag of nuts and sadly there are very few almond and cashews in there. I think the worst case scenario presented itself where he was leading a 3 on 1 fast break and decided that the best thing he could do was do a one handed (underhanded at that) pass directly to Shane Battier, the problem with this is that Battier was a member of the Heat.
This goes directly to a huge problem I have with Paul and this is where his fans are going to get upset with me. I like to call this the “too cool for school” attitude that Paul often displays on the court.
I think part of his swooping scoop shots and his one handed passes are part of a problem of Paul trying to look cool and above it all when he plays. Where some would think that slamming home a dunk is showing off in Paul’s case he knows he can dunk so to him getting up this acrobatic shots is more of what he likes to do when he could easily just go lay it up at the rim or slam it home. This drives me crazy when he does it but I have a feeling that his fans like that type of stuff as much as he does.
I know that this is part of him being young so I’m hoping he will grow out of it. But my God did he **** off some of the vets during that last game. David West barked at him for about a solid min. after a blown play, which I’ve not seen West do before.
Now let’s just go ahead and address the elephant in the room.
Is Danny Granger standing in his way? First before we all just scoff at the idea I will say we have seen it done before and oddly enough the player who was having it done to them was Danny Granger. For the first few years of Danny Grangers career he deferred to an older veteran who honestly was stunting his growth and that player was Jermaine O’Neal.
So I won’t just dismiss the idea out of hand for that reason and that reason alone.
But there are also very significant differences between Jermaine & Danny vs. Danny & Paul.
First and foremost Danny Granger has shown that he is more than willing to step back and share the offensive load and not have the entire offense be focused on him. Sure he struggled initially with it but even his biggest critics have to admit that he did not force himself into the center of the offense. Jermaine adamantly refused to not be the focus of the offense and one of the little known secrets about him demanding to be traded was that he was not happy with O’Brien’s offense and it’s de-emphasis on low post play. Obviously nobody agrees with Jim’s coaching but Jermaine had long been past his ability to be efficient in the post.
Secondly Danny & Paul compliment each other quite well on the defensive end. While Paul is superb at guarding quick perimeter players often times bigger wing player can over power him and he can not keep them from getting what they want. Danny on the other hand lacks quickness but other than for a very few small forwards in the NBA he is stronger than most of them.
Paul has been given several opportunities to assume a larger role on the offense when Danny has been injured or limited by fouls and not once has he really stepped up to take the role he was given.
In fact I think it’s safe to say that he actually had a very disappointing first round of the playoffs and only a good second round.
What concerns me the most about Paul is this and there is no stat to back this up nor is there any real logical way to explain what I am talking about other than to just say it.
Paul is not a killer. I don’t think it is something you can learn or train for and frankly very few players have it. Extreme cases of this are Jordan, Bryant, Barkley and even Reggie Miller. These are the guys who not only don’t shy away from the big moment they run at it and demand to be in the center of it. I contend that while he is nowhere near the talent level of the above named players I think Danny Granger is a killer and it’s just in him, not something he learned.
Big moments of the game Paul so far has tended to shrink and there are times that he treats the ball like a hand grenade with the pin pulled trying to get it out of his hands as fast as he can when the game is on the line.
Now like I said I can’t back that up other than just by anecdotal evidence so if you disagree with me that is fine, I’m not claiming to be 100% correct there. It’s just something I feel.
Now comes the part that will really **** off people. It has been said over & over that we should trade Danny Granger to try & get Eric Gordon. This is often said so that Eric can come home and Paul can move to his natural position of small forward (which I think is b.s. btw).
Well first I don’t agree with getting Gordon unless it is super cheap as a free agent because his knees have not shown the ability to stay healthy. But if there is this absolute need to make this trade to “bring him home” then let me be the first to throw this out there.
Paul George & filler for Eric Gordon. Now remember I am already on record as saying I wouldn’t do any trade for him, but I’m turning the tables on the Paul George fan club here with this and here is why.
Right now I am not convinced that Paul will ever be as good as Danny is and Danny is in his prime right now and still have probably a good 3 years left of being at the top of his game. If we want to win right now and stop waiting on development and such then why wouldn’t it make more sense to keep your best player and just add another great player with him instead of trading away your best player in hopes that another player eventually becomes as good as he is?
Yes I know that is a totally outlandish idea to many of you and I have probably derailed this whole thread with that thought and I’m sure I am about to get the whole “he will be growing for many years to come” routines. I don’t disagree with any of that. I’m just saying that if we are looking to make a move and do it to win right now not 3 years from now then this might make more sense.
Before you hang me remember I said I would much rather just keep Danny & Paul together because unlike some of you I do not believe that they do anything but compliment each other.
Ok that’s probably enough about Paul and should generate discussion for a good while.
Predictions: He will be the starting two guard next year and for several years to come and he will eventually take his place on the 3rd and maybe even 2nd team all defensive players.
What I would like to see: Learn to dribble and stop being lazy with the ball.
Will he be an all-star? Not next year but in the future maybe.
George Hill:
Not really sure at the end of the day what his role should be. Honestly he is one of those true hybrid guards who is not really a point guard nor really a shooting guard. He’s a little of both and while that has its advantages it also can be a detriment as well.
Our team struggles to score, some of that is on the point guard but most of it is on the offensive scheme and the type of players we have. While I love Frank we still have the very bad habit of having players not move without the ball and there are very few cutters so frankly you could have Steve Nash running our offense and at the end of the day he would still get a good number of assists but not nearly like he does now.
So while I will say that George is not a natural passer or point guard I will also point out that our system is mostly the problem.
Overall he took a step backwards in field goal % which seemed to be a common theme on our team this year. He was down across the board in field goal, three point shooting and free throw shooting.
Some of that could be because he was adjusting to a new team and a new way of doing things. Not sure how or why that should affect his free throw shooting though.
Obviously the team responded very well with him being the starting point guard but I think we have to look at some of those games and wonder if we weren’t playing against teams that were shutting down for the year or missing their primary point guard (the Cavs. come immediately to mind here).
But that is not to say that the team wouldn’t have responded very well to him in either case.
Defensively he is far better at guarding the pick and roll than Darren is. He can fight through a pick and even when he can’t he recovers faster, not because he is quicker than Darren but because he has Inspector Gadget type extension arms.
This is so very important because while Collison has good things he does as a guard the problem is he is hideous at guarding the pick and roll which causes a cascading affect of defensive lapses that usually ends up with Danny Grangers man getting an open shot right at the basket because Danny had to rotate away to cover the middle because David West was to slow and Roy was to far away and no one got back to help on his man. This all happens because Roy has to go so far out to help Darren.
This stopped happening when Hill entered.
With Hill in the game along side Danny & Paul we actually have quite a buzz saw for defender to try and go through often times with them having to climb Mt. Hibbert usually unsuccessfully.
But just like Paul George the offensive end can sometimes be an adventure when George is out there. He is at best an average passer for a point guard and he certainly is miles away from being elite there. He is a decent shooter and can at times hit big huge three point shots. He is also very good at getting to the basket.
But then there are times that he will miss a wide open layup.
I just honestly don’t know what to think here. I like him with the starters and if it is between him and Collison I would prefer George to start. But if there were an elite level point guard out there I would have no problem at all with George going back to being the first combo guard off of the bench.
Now this is where it gets tricky. He’s good but how good is he? How much money do we want to sink into a player who plays the position that most national pundits say we need an upgrade at?
Also there is the question of how much money do you give him vs. just letting Darren Collison play the point?
My thoughts on that are this. If by some miracle we manage to get a Deron Williams (not going to happen but just go with it here) then I would have zero problem letting him walk. If he decides that he is worth 10 million a year I would have zero problem letting him walk and good luck to him in trying to get anyone to sign him to that.
But if we don’t sign him and we don’t upgrade the position I will go ahead and say this now. That trade with San Antonio was a disaster. If he comes back and plays, even as a backup, then I think it was a good trade for both teams.
But if Hill is just a one year rental and we don’t upgrade above Collison, then no that trade will go down as one of the worst trades we have pulled and the worst of the Bird era.
Predictions: I think we re-sign him to around 6 million a year, he won’t be happy with that but he won’t get a better offer in this market. He will be the starter next season.
What I would like to see: Improve his court vision and work diligently in trying to make us no longer the worst fast breaking team in basketball
Will he be an all-star? No
Ok that’s it for the starters. I think this will give us something to talk about and I will start working on the bench either tomorrow or the next day.
In keeping with our theme of beautiful music I present you with what I consider the most beautiful song ever written.
Theology/Civilization by Basil Polidaris
Also here is a kick @ss version of this song on acoustic guitar
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