SpongeWorthy

I'd consider 45 wins, even without Noah for 2+ months, a disaster considering the start we've had and the remaining schedule. I agree with whoever said we can still go something like 20-10 over the next 30 and would've expected better with a healthy Noah.

I hope Minnesota loses the game because they refuse to pay $10 an hour for backbreaking labor.

I dunno I guess I'd just prefer a defensive oriented guard at the 2 with the starting lineup we have. We already have supposedly below average defenders in Rose and Boozer in the lineup, and as awesome as Noah is he struggles in certain situations against bigger matchups. Adding a 3rd bad defender could really cause the starting lineup to struggle. I mean I guess he would be ok. He only shot 33% from 3 last year though, and 6 attempts per game. Is that even beneficial? I am asking seriously because I didn't think 33% was all that good. I don't prefer a defensive oriented SG. I would like a guy that can shoot the 3 like JR, but can also at least serviceable on defense. Since Smith can't play D at all, I would like to keep Brewer around and play the matchups. Sometimes you use JR for offense, sometimes you use Brewer for D. Sometimes you use both when Deng disappears. I will say though, that the 33% last year (closer to 34% actually) was an anomaly for JR. He's 37% for his career, and if you include this year so far he's had 4 of his last 5 years over 39%, which is wonderful. My problem is JR doesn't have an off button. You're as likely to get a 1-8 from 3 from him as you are a 5 for 7. He shot 40% in 08-09, yet he still had 15 games where he shot under 35% with at least 6 shots. In 2 playoff losses to the Lakers that year he went a combined 3-20 from 3. Yeah, he has his flaws. That's why you're looking at a rumored swap centered around Brewer/Bogans types. The defense would suffer but you're still putting Deng on the best offensive wing player anyway. I do think Rose would be able to generate cleaner looks for Smith than Billups does. Billups doesn't collapse defenses like Rose does and while Melo can, he's not a PG. Imagine all the WIDE open corner 3s going from Bogans to Smith.

I dunno I guess I'd just prefer a defensive oriented guard at the 2 with the starting lineup we have. We already have supposedly below average defenders in Rose and Boozer in the lineup, and as awesome as Noah is he struggles in certain situations against bigger matchups. Adding a 3rd bad defender could really cause the starting lineup to struggle. I mean I guess he would be ok. He only shot 33% from 3 last year though, and 6 attempts per game. Is that even beneficial? I am asking seriously because I didn't think 33% was all that good. We're 4th in defensive rating and 19th in offensive rating. Even with Korver, Rose, and Deng all hitting 3s, we could use some more shooting. I don't think giving Bogans and Brewer's minutes to JR Smith is going to cause our D to plummet but the shooting immediately improves. Bogans is a decent defender (not great by any means), has terrible foot speed so he doesn't help in an up tempo game, and can't do anything offensively. So maybe you get him to guard pretty well but the other guy has to expend absolutely no energy at all in defending him.

A high volume, high percentage three point shooter at SG would help a lot. He is a chucker and a head case which is why someone with his talent is even available at such a low reported price in returning players. Plus he's a 6 million dollar expiring contract.

Did you guys actually read/hear something that Favre playing is actually a possibility?

Smith would murder playing off of Rose.

And nobody has given me a satisfactory answer as to why Rose is being discriminated against by referees. "There oughta be an investigation" is not an acceptable answer Stacey They don't know how to ref him fairly. I don't think there is some systemic conspiracy to keep him off the line.

Naw, we're just homers. There's no data at all to back up any of these claims.

Probably getting robbed of free throws on those too! On a serious note, 21% of Rose's shots are 3s, whereas 7.7% of Rondo's are. And still, more FTs for Rose. Only 3 guards take more shots at the rim per game than Rose: Westbrook, Wade, and Parker. Westbrook and Wade take a LOT more free throws than Rose does. Parker's never been a high FT guy but according to the stats, Rose plays more like Parker than he does Westbrook or Wade. I don't buy that for a minute. If you combine shots taken within 10 feet of the basket with shots at the rim only Westbrook takes more among guards (.1 more per game) and he attempts 4.5 free throws more per game. He literally takes more than double the free throws per game by taking virtually the same amount of shots around the basket. And that's completely ignoring free throw attempst off of jump shots where Rose clearly takes more. It's extremely unlikely that referring doesn't explain some of the difference between Rose and the other high FT guys. Christ, 85% of Durant's shots are jumpers and he gets to the line more than Michael Jordan ever did.

And it's a good thing, what with him being such a marksman from the line. If the entire NBA wasn't so busy inadvertantly attacking him, maybe he'd be healthy enough to hit his free throws. Rondo takes half as many shots as Rose, and is not even the 3rd scoring option that defenses key in on stopping. Rose is cutting through double teams and driving to the hole constantly. And Rose takes more than twice as many free throws. What do # of shot attempts have to do with anything? Where do you think Rondo's assists are coming from? Just standing at the top of the key handing the ball off to Ray Allen? He creates through dribble penetration and opens up teammates by drawing defenders to him. Despite drawing these secondary defenders, he does not get to the free throw line. # of shot attempts and the type of shots one takes has a huge amount to do with how often you get to the line. Rondo doesn't get to the line because he only shoots when he's unguarded.

All I can say is I wouldn't be confident at all about Chicago beating Orlando in a 7 game series unless big changes happen between now and playoff time. They're a nightmare matchup for Chicago.

I forget, if a team wins its division does it finish with a higher seed than every other team that didn't win its division?

He's fine. He landed mostly on his chest. Probably tweaked the wrist and got the wind knocked outnof him.

Great

7/16 from the line

Charging?

The UC is the world's largest morgue.

His defense is decent but it's easily outweighed by his horrible O and the fact that no one, especially Kobe types, has to expend any energy at guarding him.

Rose finally got Td

Good start. One explanation I read for Rose's lack of free throws is that he has smaller hands and shorter arms than some other guards. He goes in to the paint smaller than most and avoids sticking his limbs out so he gets less obvious contact. But he absolutely does get jobber by the refs because he can muscle through or contort himself around defenders. He also doesn't act like a disgusting fraud like Durant. He should learn.

Again? When's the last time that its happened? We're not going to win this game either. McCarthy should be fired at halftime. um, remember the game that rodgers suffered a concussion and they played him the next week? but it looks like they finally made the right decision. Yeah, FINALLY

Let the Matt Flynn era begin

Good hit

Anything around 40% on this volume for an entire season would completely blow any expectations I had out of the water. I was thinking like 32% on maybe 2/3rds this # of attempts.