DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Basketball Thread Part III

Up 15 at the half... (I know, it wont last)

Against this Laker team it might. They are a mess.It is glorious.

Mike Brown obviously wasn't the problem.

People can say what they want to about Kobe. However his skills will be missed by basketball fans.

Kobe 16 for 28 and 7/10 from the line ... 42 pts.

Such a stud. I feel like he's been doing this since I was still rocking my Huffy.

Really crazy that Kobe and Byron Scott were teammates for a season.

Kyrie is such a freakin'baller.

I like the Knicks under their current head coach.

If they are smart, they keep Amare on the bench and maybe put Felton on the bench too. Shumpart and Brewer are better defenders. Amare, Felton and JR Smith would give them a punch off of the bench when Melo is out.

Golden State and the Clippers are on a combined 13 game winning streak, and the Lakers are 5 games below .500 ... Well played Mayans ... well played.

Kyrie has a fractured upper jaw and will have to wear a mask. Love the kid, but he's made of glass.

link

Kyries mask was on some Batman ish tonight.

Career high 41 points

TDK and any other Batman reference is lazy topical nonsense.

The Phantom

much better nickname and appropriate for how he is able to knife through opposing defenses without them seeming to notice he's even there.

Why do the Raptors own us?

Dunno .... but they are knocking down everything, and that 4 point play was atrocious.

The Waiters drive to the basket was nice, but that's been about it. They look like they don't have any energy.

You have to start to wonder if Scott's job will be in jeopardy?

I know the injuries this year, but we have lost to some very bad teams. No excuse losing to teams like the pistons, and raptors. Plus we always get killed by the bulls, and bucks, teams in our division.

I know if I were Grant, I would look to add a veteran that could play. I was never a believer in rebuilding with all young players. Outside of Varejo, that's what we're doing. Get a guy like Jason Kidd in here that could teach these guys how to win. We're 3 years from the James debacle, and we're still not even close to sniffing the playoffs.

Yeah, I have thought about Scott's job as well.

We sucked even with both Irving and Waiters playing earlier, along with Andy playing well as well. We play basketball as though defense was a foreign concept.

How many times can the Cavaliers get beat by the exact same play?

Won't comment on the Cavs.

Maybe it's just me, but the Thunder are better than last year.

I will: They don't play defense.

Or offense other than letting Kyrie go 1 on 1

They are so incredibly inconsistent, from player to player, from game to game. (outside of, maybe, Irving)

Today Irving and Zeller had good games. Thompson had a double double. Waiters and Gee had decent games. CJ Miles did almost nothing though. He goes from 25 in one game to 3 tonight. He is probably one of the most frustrating players we have.

Tonight our bench gave us an incredible 14 points? Really?

Now I know that Andy was out, along with Gibson ....... but still ... someone has to step it up.

Why is Luke Walton still on this team? What does he bring to the table? Casspi? Is anyone more inconsistent than him? Pargo had some nice games, and now he's tied back to the bench. He's inconsistent as well ...... but is Sloan really better? Really?

I don't get the rotations. I don't see how anyone can be expected to improve their consistency when they are getting extremely inconsistent minutes. I think that this team does have talent ... and certainly enough to win more than they are winning. Irving, Waiters, Gee, Thompson, Andy, Zeller, Gibson, Pargo, Miles ..... these guys are all capable of producing to some degree.

Sloan, Casspi, Walton, Leuer, Samuels ...... how are these guys even on an NBA roster?

I don't get it. Most of our bottom guys should be tied to the bench. We should be trying to get some chemistry and routines with our primary backups. Instead it's almost liek Scott throws darts to decide who goes in next. I don't see any rhyme nor reason to his rotations and substitutions.

I am becoming increasingly negative on Scott. I just don't see development. That's his primary respinsibility, and I just don't see guys developing as they should.

I am beginning to think that we may need to make a change here as well. *Sigh* I just want one team to look like a team that actually belongs to the league they play in.

I agree, I'm starting to get a little sour on Coach Scott. His rotations confuse me and the team just does not play defense.

I cautioned people that the post-Lebron turnaround was going to take a lot longer than people thought. Right now we're in year 3, sporting a 5-22 record, good for second worst in the NBA, and don't look to be getting any better. Outside of Kyrie, Dion and Andy, the consistent talent just isn't there. This team is going to need to take a monumental leap over the next two seasons, or risk losing Kyrie.

I miss Mike Browns defense.

I think a young team like this is the kind of team he needs. Not a bunch of vets in LA

A young offensive minded squad (Kyrie, Dion) that he can let do whay they do while instilling defense into them.

What's the plan? Are we still primarily counting on ping pong balls to get better? Or we will ever try to make a splash in free agency/trade to try to improve the roster.? IF we could get a small forward or big man that could score, that would do wonders. Gee, Thompson aren't starters. I agree with you, that we only have 3 guys that could bring it every night. The others may be bench guys at best. No way should Gee, and Thompson be starting for 2 years now.

Well, we don't really have any trade assets outside of Andy, and that's contingent on him staying healthy, something he hasn't done the past two seasons. The Cavs aren't an attractive free agent destination, either, and I don't think that it has anything to do with the city or the weather, but just the fact that they're not very good. It also is dependent on the caliber of free agents available.

If he's constantly injured then he's no good to us, either, so it's a moot point.

How does johnny manziel afford courtside tickets to a Heat game?

Early Christmas gift, obviously

Coach Scott also wanted to get rid of JJ Hickson because he couldn't reach him. Now maybe no one could reach him until he was bounced a few times, but it really seems like Scott might have been able to with a different approach. A bottom of the roster guy like Samuels had to go to the final chance before he would work himself into shape.

I look at those who are not starters, and I wonder how they manage to prepare for games when they are yoyo'd in and out of games with no rhyme nor reason. Today you start, tomorrow you get 2 minutes off the bench.

We have a guy like CJ Miles, who has always been best when he has a defined role. What is his role right now? This is a moderately talented kid who can be a real help for this team if he has a defined role that he can prepare for.

I know that some guys have been hurt. Most lately we have had Gibson, Varejao, and Casspi have had issues, but we have a guy like Pargo, who was effective in some games when Irving was out being passed over for minutes in favor of Sloan. Really? Pargo is a much more talented player, and maybe we should look at the distribution of minutes at the point if Irving is going to have injury issues. Maybe 5 or so fewer minutes, with him available at the end of games, might be a better way to go.

I dunno ..... I am concerned. This team isn't the most talented team in the NBA, but I think that they have decent talent. I think that they have solid starter level talent in Irving and Varejao. I think that Waiters is young and promising. I think that Gee can be a contributor on a winning team. Further, I believe that guys like Miles, Thompson, Gee, and Pargo can be contributors to a good team. I think that this is better than a 5 win team at this point of the season. I think that some of Scott's game decisions have helped this team lose games as much as some player mistakes. I understand the injuries, but all teams have injuries. However, this team struggled even before the injuries. Hell, with Irving, and with Varejao going wild in the middle, we opened the season what ... 2-8?

I just don't see improvement in the team, or in individual players for that matter. That's why we have coaches ... to develop players. I think that a huge part of this is because of Scott's inconsistent rotations, and players not having anything even remotely resembling roles. I underatand there have been, and continue to be injuries, but still, guys need to know what their default is, and then they can adjust to a change necessitated by injuries.

This is my biggest reason for being so discouraged.

That's why I prefaced it with the statement that maybe no one could have reached him. However, Hickson is playing very well this year. He is playing Center, something he damn near refusd to do here, and is doing a great job for the Trail Blazers.

I dunno. This is Scott's 3rd year. I know that we've had a lot of turnover, but we have infused the year with some young, good talent. There are probably a lot of lower tier teams who would love to have Irving, Waiters, and Varejao on their rosters. (and probably quite a few mid to upper tier teams who would love to add Irving and Varejao)

As I have said ..... his refusal to set any kind of rotations even when the team is healthy, is troubling. That's his whole purpose ... to decide who plays when, and to teach them how to play his system. I just see serious flaws in these regards.

I'm with you on that, I've really never thought of scott as a great coach. He has always had great players make him look smarter than he was...kinda like mike brown with lebron. Scott has always had a top notch PG, which lets face it, really run things on the court. This team lacks so much fundamentally. It's glaring everytime I watch. I hope he turns it around, but it seems to me every game, we have a lead at half and then get blown out in the second half. Thats almost all coaching. I'm not sure if its him or his nobody asst. coaches. Atleast Mike brown admitted he needed help offensively and Kuester came in and did a great job. Scott needs that on the defensive side. And for the love of God, make these losers shoot FT in practice. This will be a big off season coming up for grant and scott. Grant for the most part has gotten a bye. He made the kyrie pick, which was a no brainer, but waiters at 4 and thompson....to be determined. I think both will be ok nba players, nothing spectacular, especially thompson..watching him play offense hurts. Waiters will be pretty good i think, he just needs to work on shot selection and finishing at the rim. I'm of the mind set we need to keep andy, he is def. the glue that holds any semblance of a team together, and he is light years ahead of where he's been in the past. I think we need a legit 3 and we should be ok. Gee is ok defensively and he gets streaky, but man...learn how to dribble...turnover machine.

Honestly it still amazes me how physically impossible it is to stop Dwight once he gets close to the rim. Dude is way to powerful and quick for his size.

Thunder should trade Westbrook for Cousins to drastically increase the IQ of their team.