SP On The Move
My future thoughts on the world of hoops will be posted over at NBAMate. Thanks for reading!
SP
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Clipper Fans, Meet CP 1.5
Dear fan base of the Los Angeles Clippers,
Coming from Chris Paul’s biggest fan on the planet, it pains me to write this, but Chris Paul may not be all you were hoping for when you’re management acquired him in the offseason.
While Chris’ skill set may at times seem a level above the rest of the point guard’s around the league, and while in-game announcers will constantly tell you about his killer instincts and desire to win, I urge you not to believe everything you see and hear.
Take this from someone who has watched Chris develop from an excited young rookie, in to the incredible talent that he is today. He may at times frustrate you to the nth degree, and you won’t understand what’s happening, or where CP3 went.
This frustration can be taken out on a character I like to call CP1.5. For those who aren’t mathematically inclined, 1.5 is exactly half of 3. Half seems to be pretty close to the amount of CP’s talent that is on show when he steps on to the floor during these ‘off-days’.
Why Chris Paul has these off-days I don’t always understand. Sure sometimes no matter how hard a player tries, they can’t get their shots to go down, sometimes the whistles just don’t blow their way. But to me this issue goes beyond the point of making shots and getting calls for Chris Paul. To me it’s purely mental.
Chris is intelligent, if you’ve ever seen a post-game interview with him after a big game, his answer to a question like “Why were you able to take over the game tonight?” will always be “My teammates told me to be aggressive, so I just came out aggressive”. And for those Clipper fans who may have today in the Clips loss to the Celtics caught their first glimpse of CP1.5, you will concur that this version of Chris Paul is far from aggressive.
Chris understands that for his teams to win games, and for him to succeed, the key is always to play with an aggressive mindset. So why not come out and do that every night? Naturally over the course of a season players will tire out and not be at 100 percent (Chris is currently playing with a broken nose). But far too often last season the Hornets fans had to watch a disinterested CP1.5 jog up and down the floor, and finish games attempting between 5 and 8 shots throughout the full forty-eight minutes, while leaving it up to David West to determine the outcome of the game.
Since his move to Los Angeles, he’s no longer had the burden of carrying a team on his shoulders and ultimately having to single-handedly determine his teams success, but that should never be an excuse to coast through games against teams that have no business beating you.
Chris Paul is a phenomenal talent, I fell in love with his game when I first really began loving the NBA and I haven’t looked back. His team will always be the first team I tune in to on League Pass, he will always be the first pick in my fantasy draft, and he is the one player above all, I want to succeed in the NBA.
Clipper fans, don’t expect that now you’ve brought in one of the best point guards in the world you’re problems are solved, and don’t expect that he will be able to carry your team all the way to a championship. So If you see Chris walking down the street, remind him to stay aggressive, just like his teammates did in New Orleans, and hopefully like his new teammates and coaching staff are doing in Los Angeles, and be patient, if the Clippers management can do a better job than former New Orleans GM Jeff Bower did of keeping CP3 happy, he will give your fan base years of happiness and entertainment.
Sincerely,
SP
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Despite Year Of The Point Guard, Size Is Key
In the condensed 2011/12 NBA season, the level of talent the league has been blessed with at the point guard position is second to none. You could take any of this seasons top floor generals (D-Rose, CP3, Deron, Nash, Rondo, Parker, Westbrook), place them in a different era, and they would succeed just as much as they do today.
However time and time again we’ve seen that no matter how great a point guard is, it’s the supporting cast that determines a teams success, and even more importantly, it’s the SIZE that determine whether or not a team can go all the way. Derrick Rose is having another MVP calibre season, and as a result the bulls are once again sitting atop the Eastern Conference, but didn’t we learn last year that despite Derrick Rose’s phenomenal play, and the stingy Chicago Bulls defense, they were coming up short in a crucial part of the game?
It was Dirk’s scoring and Chandler’s low-post presence at the defensive end which ultimately led Dallas to their first championship last season. The two years before that, aside from Kobe Bryant’s individual brilliance, it was the consistently terrific play from Pau Gasol that set the Lakers ahead of the pack en route to consecutive titles. Keep going back further, you have KG in his prime with the C’s, Tim Duncan’s last great season for the Spurs and if you keep going back further you have Shaq in Miami, Big Ben in Detroit, and some more Shaq and Timmy at the turn of the century. This list goes on, and it’s no coincidence. No matter how great a table setter your point guard may be, inside presence plays a huge part in winning championships, and right now it’s questionable that any of the league’s great floor generals have the talented front court that can win a championship.
There are at least five point guards in the NBA today who, when it’s all said and done will be placed in the ‘all-time greatest point guards’ conversation. However the same can’t be said for the current list of seven-footers playing in todays NBA. With Howard being the exception, and Bynum being a future possibility, there really aren’t any front court players who have the ability to impact games the way Shaq could in his heyday. Nobody has a low-post presence comparable to guys like Hakeem or Patrick, and the skyhook, possibly one of the hardest shots to defend in the game of Basketball, has become a lost art.
So with the trade deadline right around the corner, the Orlando Magic are faced with a situation where they will probably have to let go of the games most dominant center, simply because they haven’t been able to surround him with enough talent to go all the way. And perhaps Orlando really are to blame for losing him. He’s the undisputed top-dog when it comes to NBA centers, and has been for the past five years, however throughout the bulk of Howard’s career, the Magic organisation have seemingly surrounded him with a bunch of perimeter shooters on bad contracts, mediocre point guards, and powerless power forwards, of course you would never say such a thing to the faces of Brandon Bass or Big Baby Davis… So why would he stay in Orlando? Howard is the only NBA center who can single-handedly legitimise an organisations front court. 2011 Dirk was nice, but without 2011 Tyson, that front court was not even close to title contending. Put the right pieces around Howard, and you have yourself a contender on a yearly basis.
It’s become an understanding that by March 15th, we’ll probably see Dwight Howard playing in a different city, so what will that mean for the rest of the league? If he is somehow paired with Deron Williams in New Jersey, Chris Paul as a Clipper or Kobe Bryant as a Laker chances are it will mean a lot. Howard has never had the opportunity to roll with an elite back court player. With no disrespect intended, how often can Jameer Nelson’s name be mentioned in the same sentence as Kobe, CP3 or DWill (this is one of those rare instances)?
It’s also become an understanding that Dwight Howard will most probably be paired with a great player no matter where he ends up (with the exception of a team like Golden State trading away a bunch of vital assets in an ill-advised attempt to persuade Howard to stay with the team long term), this is also a first. Aside from All-Star weekend, Howard has never had the privilege of playing alongside All-Star calibre players, but giving him the opportunity to do so on a nightly basis would be a migraine for the rest of the league.
If Howard does end up on a team with any of the aforementioned superstars, it will likely result in a legitimate dynasty, on a level beyond what James and Wade thought they were creating when they joined forces prior to last season (that is before they realised their starting center was Joel Anthony).
I was almost a believer that Miami would piece it together this season, just like I was the year before. I was almost willing to believe that a combination of Derrick Rose’s freak abilities and Coach Thibodeau’s incredible defensive systems would be enough to bring supremacy back to Chicago. I was even willing to believe that after the Knicks acquired Stat, Melo and Tyson within a one-year period, they would no longer be considered a laughing stock. But it’s going to take a never before seen LeBron James for Miami to have a realistic shot. It’s going to take one heck of an improvement by Boozer and Noah if they’re going to supply D-Rose with the help he needs to make magic happen. As for the Knicks, despite one of the most phenomenal stories in the history of professional sports, they’re still miles away from really turning any heads.
So for the betting man out there, hold on to your coin until at least March 14th before placing a wager on the 2012 NBA Championship, because upon Howard’s arrival in a new city, we may very well see a new contender emerge from thin air.
A Closer Look: Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving was the first overall pick of the 2011 NBA draft, and for good reason. Irving has revived the city of Cleveland barely a year after they suffered one of the biggest blows in the history of the game by losing LeBron James.
Irving has taken the NBA by storm in his rookie season, and with his potential relevance to Australian Basketball, I saw no better player to put under the microscope for the first player analysis column on hoopdownunder.com
Irving’s numbers:
Age: 19 | Height: 6’3″ | Weight: 191 lbs |
PPG: 18.5 | APG: 5.2 | RPG: 3.4 | PER: 21.28
Irving’s skill set:
Kyrie Irving is an extremely talented ball handler who can create his own shot and finish strong at the basket. Irving has already proven in his young NBA career that he’s a willing passer who can adapt to different coverages the defensive team throws at him.
When Irving participated in this years BBVA Rising Stars Challenge in Orlando, he made it known to the rest of the league that if he has time to set his feet and finger the seams, he’s automatic from deep. So far in this NBA season Irving has been shooting over 43% from deep, over 48% from the field and over 85% from the foul line.
Irving’s tendencies:
Offensive: Irving’s game is far more developed than you would expect for a nineteen year old kid who played in just 11 college games before entering the big league. Very rarely does he force the issue when he has the ball in his hands, which is often the biggest issue for young point guards at the start of their NBA career.
Defensive: Irving has the physical package to be a great on-ball defender, he’s quick, athletic, and doesn’t seem to have an issue putting his body on the line. However it’s at the defensive end that he displays most of his weaknesses. He makes little effort to communicate when he’s defending the pick and roll, and as a result, often gets caught guarding a big man in the post, or gives up wide-open jump shots if the screener decides to flair out.
Off-Ball: When Irving is playing off the ball, he has a tendency to fade in and out of the action. As an off-ball defender he often gets caught watching the ball and stops thinking about his own defensive assignment.
Go-to move:
One of Irving’s most powerful moves he can make on the floor is the in and out dribble (For those who aren’t sure, the in-and-out dribble is a ball handling move where you fake a crossover by bringing the ball to the middle of your body, then push it back out to the dribbling hand). He always seems to use it at the right time and can make the move just as comfortably with his left hand as he can with his dominant right hand. Irving’s in and out dribble is lethal in the open court and when he pushes the tempo, he will often use the in and out to leave his defender dazed and confused.
Irving at his best:
When Kyrie Irving is splitting double teams out of the pick and roll and finishing strong at the ring he is almost unstoppable. He has an unbelievable crossover and his ability to finish at the ring is comparable to some of the league’s best point guards.
Irving at his worst:
One part of Irving’s game that needs some serious work is his ability to pass out of the pick and roll/pick and pop. He often makes up his mind whether he’s going to make the pass or take it himself before he sees what the defender’s are going to do, this sometimes leads to the wrong decision being made and it contributes heavily to Irving’s undesirable turnover rate (3.5 per game). Irving’s decision making in this situation will be improved with time, and more importantly, team training sessions.
When Irving begins to understand where his teammates want the ball and in which circumstances he’d be better served taking it himself, his offensive game will be extremely well-rounded.
How to slow down Irving:
One part of Irving’s game which we haven’t seen a great deal of yet, is the mid-range game. Most rookies enter the league wanting to drive hard to the basket whenever there’s an opening, the same can be said for Irving. Until his mid-range game is developed, the best way to beat him is by collapsing in the paint upon Irving’s penetration. Taking away Irving’s chance at a layup will force him to settle for a bad shot. However Irving is still a dangerous outside scorer, so letting him shoot from outside isn’t the answer.
The New Orleans Hornets of all teams did one of the best jobs of covering Irving, with their defensive system installed by Coach Monty Williams, the Hornets defensive philosophy revolves around forcing the opposing team to take contested mid-range jumpers, rather than allowing them in to the paint for easy baskets, or letting them spread the ball for wide open shots from the perimeter. When the Cavs met with the Hornets at the Q on February 22nd, Irving was forced in to bad shots throughout the game and managed just 6 points on 2-13 shooting.
Why you want Irving on your team:
When Kyrie Irving begins to take the leadership role that comes with being a point guard in the NBA seriously, he’ll be one of the sharpest tools in the shed. He doesn’t yet seem comfortable ordering some of the senior Cavaliers around, but when it’s gut-check time and Byron Scott needs Irving to take ownership at both ends of the floor, that’s when he’ll become the great player many people are anticipating.
It might be a little while before Irving can call any team his own, but once he’s given the green light from his coaches, he’ll be hard to slow down.
Byron Scott, who coached Chris Paul during his rookie season, has mentioned that Irving’s style of play as a rookie reminds him a lot of a young CP3 back in 2005. Chris Paul, like Irving was aggressive at getting to the rim, looked for his teammates before himself and preached defense as a leader on the floor. Irving has already shown his capabilities as a scorer, and if he can begin to understand the importance of a good defensive system and become a more vocal leader, he could have a very similar career to one of the guys considered an all-time point guard in the NBA.
Coming Soon: A Closer Look
The newest segment to hit the new look hoopdownunder.com blog is ‘A Closer Look’ where I’ll break down some of the finest up and coming talent in the NBA and the NCAA with extreme detail. A Closer Look will be run on a fortnightly basis starting this week…
