The Best Option for Kevin Love and the Cavs? A Trade.

I heard Timofey Mozgiv being interviewed the other night.  While apologizing for his English, he was able to convey, quite well, the reason he enjoys playing with LeBron James.  LeBron plays at such a high level and wants to win so badly that you, as a teammate, want to do the best you can so that you do not  "let him down" by how you play.

When I was 25-35 years old, I played on a team with a guy who was the LeBron of our league.  We always won.  I spotted up and hit threes and tried as hard as my body would let me on defense.  We won 7 titles in 8 years.  All the guy had to say after a few bad plays was, "Come on fellas, we don't need that."  And while you could get mad, because you were trying, you really felt more embarrassed to be called out as the guy who was fucking up and letting the team down.    When you have the best guy, you just need to do the small things you are asked to do, try very hard, and not be a burden on the team.

Mozgov understands the limited purpose for which he is needed -- be big, play defense, block shots, score 6 points a game and rebound.  If he happens to score 10-14-18 points, no one is happier for him than LeBron.  It makes LeBron's night easier.

The same can be said of Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith -- Shumpert is a HIGH END defender.  Even on shitty teams, his defensive rating was good.  He can guard both guard spots.  J.R. Smith is, well, a gunner.  He has had something like 13 games in which he has hit at least 8 threes.  That is just silly.  Both guys understand their role.  And you know what?  Shumpert has actually had some good scoring games and J.R. has given far more defensively and rebounding-wise than anyone might expect.  Do what you can do, and if through effort or luck some nights you are better than expected, great. 

Kyrie Irving fought and fought and fought to play the game his own way.  Then LeBron took a week off and Kyrie's club was 19-20 and looking bad.  Kyrie finally realized that his way was the losing way.  Let LeBron run the offense.  He will get tired or rest sometimes, then you can go nuts and take over.  But it has to be related to what LeBron wants to happen.  You are a supporting player.  Play hard, try on defense, and we will get your offense when we need it.  They seem to have come around somewhat as a duo.

Kevin Love?  Um, no.  Kevin Love sees himself as a star player on the same level as LeBron.  He does not feel, in any way, a concern about letting down LeBron James.  Kevin Love plays for himself.  If his team happens to win, all the better, but he isn't going to be happy about scoring one fewer point or grabbing one fewer rebound to gain another win.  He just isn't.  And when you play with a great player, what is the one thing they demand out of you?  Constant defensive effort.  Kevin Love does not provide constant defensive effort.  If his guy gets 25 or 35 or 45, well, he guesses that just happens.  I saw Kenneth Faried beat Love down the floor 5+times for dunks one game at Target Center.  One would think that after time 2-3-4 that the foremost thing in Love's mind would be "I will foul out before he gets another dunk."  One would think wrong. 

The reason that Tristan Thompson is so much better for the Cavs than Kevin Love is that Tristan Thompson is an effort player.  He dominated Paul Millsap on defense and on the boards.  He provided a physical presence.  He provided help defense.  The worst thing that happened to the Atlanta Hawks this playoffs was the loss of Kevin Love.  Paul Millsap would have eaten up Kevin Love.  If you search, you can find a lot of early season footage where guys strolled to the rim against Kevin Love's "help defense" and LeBron stared at him like "Jesus, come on!"  Love didn't care.  He wasn't going to get hurt or in foul trouble.

Traditionally, if you are going to be a top flight defensive club, you need to play two shot blockers.  Thompson qualifies; Love does not.

So where does this leave us?  Well, Love can opt out or he could opt in for a year.  I believe (although I could be wrong) that under either scenario the Cavs could do an extension+trade or a sign-and-trade.  This would allow Love to receive more money.  Now, who has anything to give?  Do the Celtics want to give Sullinger and Smart?  Do the Lakers want to give up Julius Randle or their #2 pick?   Who knows?  But certainly acquiring a player like Okafor or Randle or Sullinger or Smart of Olynyk makes a lot more sense for Cleveland than keeping Kevin Love at some ridiculous salary.  He just isn't a good fit to play with LeBron.  If we was willing to play 20-22 minutes off the bench for the Cavs and have Thompson start and finish games, great.  But that is Ryan Anderson, that is not Kevin Love, especially a Kevin Love who is making $15-$17M a year.

By the end of Cavs/Warriors, LeBron, Jordan and Magic Will Have All Played About the same number of Playoff Minutes

http://bkref.com/tiny/Ph7M9  It will be around 7,400-7,600. 

Clear edges -- Magic with assists, Jordan if you include "Steals+Blocks" as a category, LeBron in fewest fouls

Close ones -- Effective FG%, True shooting %. 


Where will they rank:

Win Shares:
1 Jordan
2 LeBron
3 Magic


Value Above Replacement Player:
1 James
2 Jordan
3 Magic

Box Score Plus-Minus:
1 James
2 Jordan
3 Magic

Titles Won:
1 Jordan
2 Magic
3 James

The Timberwolves: Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor? An Analysis.

As a 26 year Timberwolves season ticket holder, I know their capability to fuck up a one car parade.  So, to figure out what exactly is keeping the Wolves from just saying "We are picking this guy: [fill in the blank]" I actually sat and watched 8 minutes of Karl-Anthony Towns' highlight reel footage.  (As will be explained later, I have no need to watch Jahlil Okafor footage).  This is my resulting analysis.

Karl Anthony Towns: 
I think the thing that surprises me from watching the footage is that Towns isn’t really that explosive.  You don’t see him turning on guys and dunking on them or beating everyone down the floor and dunking.   Most of his dunks are uncontested or come off alley-oops where he is 6 inches above the rim. 

I have heard an Al Horford comparison, and that appears to me to be a good one,  Solid, hard worker, strong, good on both ends.  I would add as a possible comparison -- Rasheed Wallace.

One thing I saw that I really liked is that Towns seems to know how to correctly and efficiently perform every aspect of the game (catch, dribble, pass, fake, shoot, footwork).  I think his greatest skill is probably his shot blocking.  His timing is impeccable;  he gets the ball early and he always seems to be in the right spot.  Towns can guard on the perimeter, and he can guard down low. 

 

Towns seems to be a bit top heavy, and his leaner lower body is a plus while moving in the open court, but he can be pushed off his spot down low. 

Jahlil Okafor:

I am a big Duke fan, so I have watched Okafor play on TV a lot.  Jah will certainly wow you with his size and power.  His dunks are often 12-18 inches above the rim and extremely powerful.  He is tougher inside on offense and certainly heavier and stronger than Towns.  He has explosive spin moves and a whole variety of ways to score.  You will not move Okafor off the block on offense or back him under the basket on defense.  He is a mammoth man, broad through the shoulders and chest and seems even bigger from the waist to the knees.

 

Okafor, however, has gaping holes in his game and when double teamed is not a very effective offensive player.  Defensively he has the ability to be an average post defender, since he is big and has long arms and won’t get pushed under the basket.  But he lacks lateral quickness and does not move his feet well to cut off dribble penetration.  (Note here the comparison to Towns -- Towns can be moved around a little due to his lack of lower body bulk, but all of Okafor's bulk slows him down and reduces his lateral quickness). 

 

Okafor is terrible as a pick and roll defender and (worst of all) his effort defensively is awful.   On run-out opportunities with a chance for Duke to score, Okafor would often be the 3^rd guy down the court for Duke, resulting in some scary dunks in transition.  But on defense talented offensive teams could just torch Duke because Duke had two 6’1” guards back on the break and Okafor jogging behind 40 feet behind the fast break.  I watched at least 20 Duke games on TV;  I never saw Okafor bust his ass back on defense to stop a break or chase a guy down for a block.  Never.  So that is around 600 minutes of play and he had 0 such efforts.  That is embarrassing.  Any team that selects Okafor will have to have a long talk with the kid and say, "Look at this defensive footage -- can you possibly explain this?  Are you just extremely slow in only one direction, or do you not give a damn about defense?"

 

Okafor, however, has a skill set that is very valuable in the NBA regular season – he kills bad teams.  If Duke played a bad team, Okafor would go 20-10 or even 20-20 and shoot 80% from the floor.  He likes to score, and he does not let up or grow tired of scoring against weaker opponents. 

 

 

My Conclusion

Knowing what I know today, I would take Towns #1.  But I am disappointed that his highlights don’t show a guy who is a Dwight Howard type of athlete.  But if he can go 18-11 with 2-3 blocks a game and anchor the defense, that is a very valuable guy to have.

I hear rumors that Flip really likes Okafor's upside.  He is certainly the far more explosive force, but you would really have to bet on substantial improvement in roughly 60% of the game (defense, defensive transition, free throw shooting would need to go from 50% to 70%).    There are certain players that are so raw and strong that you know they have further improvement in them.  I don't see Jah, who has been the best player in his class since 3rd grade, as "raw" or with huge upside potential.  That said - no one in the world could be less interested in playing defense than Blake Griffin was as a rookie, and he has progressed to the point where he is passable.  So, miracles do happen..  

Kobe -- Soon to Be Quitter

http://hoopshype.com/rumors/r/5W3H/next-season-will-be-kobe-bryants-last-with-lakers-says-team-gm-mitch-kupchak

Quitter.  Will be interesting to see if the Lakers take Russell in the draft and move Kobe to the bench.  (Laugh stifled).

The KG/Chris Paul Puzzle

Back in the day, Kevin Garnett regularly led the Minnesota Timberwolves to the playoffs.  From 1997 through 2004, Garnett was the star player on the only good teams the Wolves ever had.  The Wolves regularly lost playoff series.  As a result, Garnett was pilloried by the media as "not that good."  He went to Boston and won a title, and suddenly he gained a great deal of respect, even though by the time he got to Boston he was 75% of the palyer he had been in, say, 2002.  I have him as the #22 player of all-time.

Chris Paul, as I have previously reported is ranked by me as the 26th best player of all-time.  But he has never played in a conference final.  Even I have deducted points from Chris Paul's resume because he has failed to win playoff games. 

Is it fair to just destroy NBA players for not winning titles or reaching the finals?  I mean, as I have said on Twitter - do we really believe that Matt Dellavadova (I am not looking up the spelling) is a better player than Derrick Rose?  Would we say that after the Clips/Rockets series result we know that Josh Smith is a better player than Blake Griffin?  Prigioni (sp?) better than Chris Paul?  All of that sounds just ridiculous.  Would any idiot take that position?

Well, we have seen people say Dirk is better than LeBron and Kawhi Leonard is better than LeBron - right?  Remember that?  A lot of people going through and saying, "Well, Kawhi really shut him down and he scored easy baskets on the other end...."  If you think Kawhi Leonard will be ranked as having a better basketball career than LeBron James, you are a moron.

Similarly, there are those who cannot accept that Wilt was a better player than Russell.  Now, the voters who voted first-team all-NBA back when they both played preferred Wilt.  And Wilt once had 55 rebounds in a game against Russell, and Wilt was far better statistically.....but Russell won titles.  So, ergo, people assume that Wilt was worse.  If Wilt couldn't will Tom Meschery to a title over Havlicek and Jones and Jones and Saunders and Heinsohn, Wilt just wasn't that good.

Have we lost our minds?  Is Luc Longley (3 titles) better than Moses Malone (one title)?  Is Will Perdue (5 titles) better than Karl Malone (0 titles)? 

We have 82 games a year to evaluate players, and players who deserve to be evaluated have played at least 8 seasons.  You can take those 600+ games and evaluate whether the player plays well and helps his team, or whether he is someone who isn't really that good.   After 600+ games, Chris Paul is obviously very, very, very good.

Chris Paul (except for one very bad games against OKC) does not play poorly in the playoffs.  His stats are good to great every year.  Kevin Garnett always played his ass off in the playoffs.  He had a couple rough years, but overall, he has very good playoff stats.  But people for years blew him up for losing.  The same thing is happening now with Chris Paul.  (Today's "hot take" - Paul is no better than Carmelo Anthony.  Really, wow, go review playoff stats for both guys.)    It doesn't matter whether Paul plays well, it just matters that he hasn't won it all or come very close.  http://www.aol.com/article/2015/05/17/chris-paul-quotes-ricky-bobby-after-game-7-loss/21184319/?cps=gravity_4518_-2213031448139548500  If you are not first, you are last.


So what, really, is the perception here based upon?  Well, there are two factors at stake - one obvious and the other not so obvious.

First -- even people who do not follow "Win Shares" can understand that early playoff exits means very few Win Shares.  Paul and Garnett both suffer badly when you compare their 10 WS regular seasons and their lack of 2+ WS post-seasons.

Of active players, guys with the most 10+ WS seasons:

Duncan and Dirk 12 seasons
Kobe and LeBron 11
KG - 9
Paul and Pierce 8


Of the active players with the most 2+ WS seasons in the playoffs:

LeBron 8 seasons
Kobe and Duncan 7
Durant, KG, Ginobili, Wade 4

Tied for 16th -- Chris Paul, 2

So Factor #1 is that being so consistently good in the regular season sets the bar very high. 


Factor #2 is kind of a tricky one -- does your team win even though you don't play well?  Tony Parker has won 4 titles.  Do you know how many 2 WS playoffs he has had???  1.  In his entire playoff career, he has accounted for less than 9 Wins Above a Replacement Player.  He has played 203 games.  Kobe's WS/48 during the Lakers' first title with him?  0.115.  Not good. 

When your team wins, you get the reputation as a "winner" even if you had little to do with it, or were just OK.  So there is a little luck involved.

Happy Birthday Andre the Giant

Would have been 69 today. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_GxT-WmM44

Top 101 Win Share Per 48 Seasons of All-Time - 2.5 years later

http://hoopramblings.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-101-best-win-shares-per-48.html  is the old list.


New list, Kevin Love at #101 (it sorts funny, trust me, Love is #101).    http://bkref.com/tiny/yMZ2J

Notable -- 5 new entries in the top 20 (LeBron 1, Durant 2, Curry and CP3 1 each).

Youngest -- Shaq and then Anthony Davis.  Oldest -- Karl Malone and Wilt.

Longest ago -- 4 guys in 1951-52
Latest -- 4 guys this year.

Year with the most -- several tied with 4 guys.

Huge drought -- from 1978 through 1985, only one guy had a WS/48 high enough to make the list -- Moses Malone in 1982-83.  Weird, huh?  Bird and Magic were young players, Dr. J was in the league, none of them played well enough to get on the list.

Chris Brown May Be a Domestic Abuser, But He Has Cool Stuff

Historically Awful Efforts By Starters In A Playoff Series/Playoff Season

http://bkref.com/tiny/2sQFw

Some of these efforts you just have to gasp in horror.  I mean, Kyle Lowry and Tony Parker were extremely awful in this year's first-round series, but look at some of the guys on this list -- negative 50+ for offensive rating versus defensive rating!?!?!?!

You have guys shooting under 27%.  You have guys like Cliff Robinson and Glen Rice putting up Defensive Ratings of 129 and 130....in the early 1990s.  In the early 1990s it was basically legal to decapitate guys on drives and grab them with two hands when they started to dribble by you.  And that got WORSE during the playoffs where it was "let the players decide the games".   How anyone  could allow 130 points per 100 possessions under those rules is puzzling to say the least.

For you folks who don't want to follow the link. the worst ORtg versus DRtg for playoff efforts by guys playing starter minutes:

5th -- Greg Ballard  minus 43
4th Mike Mitchell   -47

3rd - Jack Sikma    -57
2nd - DeShawn Stevenson -57 (wins tiebreaker for more suckiness due to more negative WS)

1st - Tayshaun Prince - negative 59. 

DeflateGate -- Patriots Cheated (With PDF of Report)

https://nfllabor.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/investigative-and-expert-reports-re-footballs-used-during-afc-championsh.pdf

Look - what happened here?

Tom Brady always had a guy (who worked for another guy) who worked for the Patriots who would take the balls after the refs got done checking them and deflate them.  Cuz Brady liked them softer.  It is simple as that.  When the balls were too hard (overinflated) Brady bitched - not to the NFL, but, rather, to the two guys whose job it was to make sure the balls were deflated after the refs got done inspecting them.

When Brady was afraid it would rain during the playoff game, he made it very clear in advance that he really needed the balls deflated.  This was difficult to accomplish, because there were so many people around during a playoff game.  So "the deflator" (as he actually called himself in texts) took the balls into a locked one-person bathroom in the tunnel and deflated them.  He probably panicked some given the stress of cheating and the fact that he usually deflated the balls in better conditions (when no one was looking in the locker room) and he inflated the balls to under 12.5 psi.

Then, when the Patriots were caught, the cover up began -- Brady started suddenly making phone calls to one of the culprits (after not calling for six months).  The two guys started making up ridiculous cover stories that don't pass the straight face test. 

When the investigator discovered the email with the reference "the deflator" the investigator requested a second interview with the deflator.  The Patriots (who allegedly had nothing to hide and who wanted any wrongdoer sniffed out and properly punished for sullying their good name) got counsel involved and started placing conditions on a second interview with the deflator.   Let me repeat that -- the organization went into full out panic mode when confronted with evidence that they had an employee calling himself "the deflator." 

Why?  Because the organization knew DAMNED WELL that they had a guy deflating balls.   And they knew that the balls were being tampered with after the official inspection AT THE DIRECTION OF TOM BRADY,  Are the actions in lawyering up and refusing to produce a witness the actions of an organization that wants to help uncover the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?  Uh, no.

Another key finding that does not get much ink in the report?  Tom Brady is asked to turn over his phone to the investigator and refuses to do so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Why?  What possible good reason can exist for doing this?  Is this not specific conduct designed to obstruct the investigation?  If you are worried that there are texts to your mistress or your gay lover or whatever else, what you do is give the phone to a third party that you trust and the NFL trusts and you pay the person to review everything confidentially and hand over all texts that possibly have anything to do with the investigation (and not the others).  Did Tom Brady do that?  No, he did not.

In my opinion, it could not have been more obvious that the Patriots were cheating and the cheating was encouraged by their quarterback.  Allowing Belichick to get off the hook is the triumph of "plausible deniability" over common sense.  Here is a guy who is a micromanager and control freak.  He has NO IDEA what his quarterback is doing to the footballs that are being used in the game 50% of the time?  No idea?   OK.  I guess it is plausible.  But ask yourself whether this is more akin to me saying that I have no idea whether my wife uses a lot of garlic in her cooking.  Sure I am a fat tub of goo who loves food, and sure I eat her cooking virtually every single day, but because I can say that I don't stand there and actually watch her cook, I can profess ignorance and you really don't have a lot to go on to dispute my claim that I am ignorant.

Brady should be suspended for a year, the two guys at issue fired, and the Patriots forced to surrender at least two first round picks.  Anything else is a slap on the wrist.  You have a team systematically cheating to obtain an unfair advantage, and it isn't their first time doing so......come on Goodell, let's see if you care about the integrity of your game.

22 Year Old Student Filmed Spitting In and Putting Windex In Roommates' Food

http://www.aol.com/article/2015/05/05/cops-student-spit-and-put-window-cleaner-in-roommates-food/21179884/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl19%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D-1824922714

All I could think as I watched the footage was, "I would still do her."