Podcast Episode 111: Trend or Outlier?
2016-10-31https://soundcloud.com/ctb-5/episode-111-trend-or-outlier
Taking a page from of Tom Pestak’s post earlier this week. Ben Werth and Nate Smith played a little game of “Trend or Outlier?” when it comes to the Cavs and this early NBA season. Will LeBron go full on Magic Johnson this year? Are the Bulls for Real? Is Atlanta better? Are the Warriors worse? Will Tristan Thompson score over five points a game? Will Kay Felder play a role? Is Kawhi Leonard the second best player in the NBA? We debated all these questions and more while gushing over the Tribe and watching Game 5 of the World Series as Nate tried not to jinx it.
As always, you can listen above, on SoundCloud, on iTunes, and coming soon, Google Play.
I think the Dubs will be very good, but I am skeptical if they will be better than their deep lineup last year. The most interesting stat so far: Last year, the Dubs averaged 323 passes/game. This year – albeit a small sample size – they are averaging just 279 passes/game, which is 6th fewest in the league. Hope this stays a trend and not an outlier. I said when the Durant trade was announced that the Warriors’ new motto should be Strength in Cap Space, as the Strength in Numbers lineup of last year is decimated.
My opinion, warriors became worse for regular season butprobably gotten better playoff team where the rotation will be shortened.
Maybe. Spurs seem much more well designed to take advantages of their weaknesses now.
Kawahi does scare warriors fans like me but that said, any team depending on volume shooting big in Aldridge and Gasol at this age, along with old players with lot of mileage like Parker and Ginobili, they are primed to lose in 2nd round of playoffs with little gas left by then. Spurs can lead league with wins in reg season but teams know they are beatable in playoffs.
There was one possession that was indicative of the problems Durant has brought along. Early in the first quarter against the Suns, Curry had the first 10 points for the Warriors having made 2 ridiculous 3s and 2 very nice layups when the Suns chased him off the 3 point line. Last year, they would milk Curry, either feeding him having the hot hand or, more often, acting as a decoy to create all sorts of open shots and 4-on-3 or even 4-on-2 situations that the whole team benefited from. This year, Durant brought the ball upcourt and pulled up… Read more »
I’m so nervous about the Tribe tomorrow.
LeBron is the Greatest! Nothing to worry about.
Great stuff guys… Won’t hold you responsible for jinxing the Tribe, Bauer does a good enough job of that on his own… I disagree on the Bulls and DWade’s three point shooting being new normals… Also disagree on the Hawks being in the upper echelon of the EC… Both of these will be proven to be outliers by mid-season…
I never knew there was an underground tunnel connecting the Q and the Jake (yes, I still call it that, cause it was called that when I left…)
Synergy. Someone was really planning ahead with that tunnel.
JUST THROWING THIS OUT THERE FOR CONVERSATION—-AMICO HOOPS LIST OF POTENTIAL PT GD’S —-J.JACK / CHALMERS / TONY WROTEN / KENDALL MARSHALL /HINRICH / ANDRE MILLER / JORDAN FARMER—-INTERESTED IN YOUR THOUGHTS —ANY CANDIDATES THAT YOU LIKE —–AT PRESENT SHUMP HAS PROVEN HE IS NOT A PT GD —AND AS MUCH AS I LIKE KILLER SHRIMP / HE NEEDS TIME / EXPERIENCE TO ‘ GROW ” (NO PUN INTENDED ) INTO THE POSITION ——YOUR THOUGHTS/ OPINIONS ALWAYS APPRECIATED —-GRIFF READS THIS EVERYDAY SO LET HIM KNOW / HELP HIM ON HIS DECISION MAKING
Chalmers is really the only one who provides us a 3 point shot. I’m still undecided on if we need to prioritize a defensive backup pg or one that can sufficiently slide into Kyrie’s role as the poor man’s version. Unfortunately, Delly was ideal as the backup PG, could shoot 3’s, run the offense, and play defense.
I don’t think we need to act yet until we see some run from Liggins and Felder. I do agree that asking shump to do anything more than defend and sink corner threes is probably asking too much so I’d like to see if Felder and Liggins can handle the ball. Delly was inconsistent on offense at times the past three years so all we would need from our backup PG is to just run the offense well and defend ok.
None of those guys sound all that good… I suppose Chalmers since he can shoot and has history with LBJ (although that might not be a good thing necessarily), but who knows when he’ll be ready to go? I’m sure the Cavs are waiting to see if he’s healthy enough to have a spot… I still think we need to see more than 10 minutes of KShrimp in action to make a call on whether or not he can be helpful…
a mark ( ¨ ) used over a vowel, as in German or Hungarian, to indicate a different vowel quality, usually fronting or rounding.
More like….to indicate a different BOWEL quality.
Ezeli was a great dive man in the regular season.
I think the Bogut love is overwrought. Lineup data just doesn’t suggest he was a lynchpin.
I think there are certain factors that Bogut brought to the games that doesn’t really show in data necessarily. For example, Bogut is in there bruising, wearing guys out getting rebounds, setting hard fouls, making it tough to score on the interior. Then, the death lineup comes in against guys who are already beat up and for a short burst, just destroys whatever hope was left. The point was made in last year’s finals, once you have to run the death lineup for a prolonged period of time, it becomes less effective. You start to see diminishing returns because it… Read more »
^this. The team, as constructed, also puts a lot of pressure on Draymond to defend centers for larger chunks of a game and for Durant to rebound/guard other PFs. That’s a lot of wear and tear to put on their bodies over the course of the season. Their two best bench players are both guards. They need two of Zaza, JaVale McGee, West or McAdoo to play 40 minutes at center a night and not be a catastrophe.
Bogut just had 14 boards and three assists last night against the Rockets…
Tom, Bogut is top rim protector in the league and even on offense, offense runs smooth with him because he was a great passer and screen setter. Warriors are really missing Bogut even if he plays only 20 mpg.
Whatever. Why are you posting this on a cavs blog? Quit trolling.
well, it has benefits like getting onto your nerve….
I just question why you come to a Cavs blog, that’s all about the NBA Champion best team in 2015-2016 Cavs, and post nonsense about the Warriors.
There has to be a Warriors blog for you to go post your sorrows about how America’s team is now the most hated in America.
I was responding to a smart poster talking about warriors. Speaking of trolling, you are the one that is trolling. Don’t respond to my posts, if you can.
Stop being a butt.
I am guessing WF comes here because of the interesting discussion that most of us have.
BTW, Cols, have you ever been diagnosed as bi-polar? In case you haven’t noticed, you often are participating in a totally rational discussion, making interesting contributions, when all of the sudden you appear to be possessed by a demon and go off on an insane rant. This is likely to be affecting your everyday life. Or, it might be the higher level of cosmic rays that are found at higher elevations.
I discussed this when we worked at gotbuckets. There’s a subset of players whose influence doesn’t end when they leave the court: Shaq, Tim Duncan, KG, Al Jefferson, Rodman, Ben Wallace. Mainly, these guys are guys who either A) draw a lot of fouls and put teams in the bonus that lasts after they leave the court B) “tone setters” who set a tone with their physical play – either through hard screens that let their team get into a rhythm and/or guys who dominate defensively with their physicality and set a tone for the game and take the offense… Read more »
+1, very well explained.
“Cavs:ThePodcast”. Finally broke through to Nate
Like LeBron said…
“It’s about damn time”