2022 NBA Playoffs thread

I watched the J.J. Reddick podcast and he made an interesting point about Draymond Green. Reddick said that Green is one of the most important players in the history of professional basketball.

Why? Because when Green came into the league he was a second round draft pick because he was basically a SF and considered to small to be a good PF. But Green's ability to stop most much larger post players while also being to play on the perimeter lead teams to rethinking the whole concept of having a C and a PF inside and three perimeter players and the game will never be the same.

 

I liked the Suns in five when they dominated the first two games at home, too. Dallas has shooters who can absolutely kill you if you're lazy. The Suns were lazy and careless for the back half of that series, lost guys like Bertans and Bullock and Kleiber and DFS and paid the price. Maybe Golden State learns lessons from that and keeps those other guys in check, because outside of Luka and Brunson, no one can really create for themselves. I won't watch this series until at least Game 4, because I need a little time, man.

 

First saw Draymond leading Saginaw to a state title when he was a flabby point center
Izzo didn’t really recruit him
He was busy chasing Delvon Roe, who was an All-American
Izzo only got Green after Tubby Smith left Kentucky and Green decommitted
Draymond then remade his body at MSU and became an NBA player
I think being overlooked as a recruit and in the draft, where he fell to the second round, motivates him to this day
One reason he’s so polarizing is he has said how much he admires Bill Laimbeer and the effect he had on opponents
I think that’s why he does the crap he does

 

I'm kind of wondering when the next shoe is going to drop with this. Meaning - Will a team try to play five legitimate guards at some point, for extended stretches? There is probably more room for lineup experimentation in the NBA, especially if the opposing team doesn't have a player that can kill you down low. (This player doesn't necessarily have to be a center, since plenty of SF, PF and C can score in the post.)

 

I don't think you will ever see a five guard team. I think that teams have realized that if a shorter, quicker player can body up most taller players that a turn around jump shot is not that high a percentage shot. While a team might have one guy talented enough I don't think there is any team that has two seven foot types that can effectively hit a turn around jump shot enough to beat you. But a team will keep one to try to stop the Jokic's of the world.

I listened to a podcast with Darly Morey when the Rockers were playing small ball with a 6'5 Trent tucker as their inside guy. He said for the experiment to work the Rockets would have to create a lot of turnovers to offset the lack of rebounding. I think virtually every NBA team handles the ball well enough that you can not consistently count on creating huge positive turnover margins as a winning strategy.

 

Given the long range shots and that 3s are missed 2/3 of the time, rebounding under the basket isn’t what it used to be. On offense all 5 guys are standing or moving around the perimeter, there’s not a consistent low post presence. You’ve got guys 6’8” and above handling to ball 15 feet out and beyond. Rebounding is more like being there when the ball hits the rim and travels 10 feet from the basket. Rodman wouldn’t survive in todays game. For all his height and strength, LeBron has the rebounding stats of an off guard. He’s a guard. Luka is a guard, Magic was guard. You can have a team of guards when sone are 6-7 to 7’. KD and AD play guard or SF, soft forward. It’s not the height, it’s the desire to get under the basket and be physical vs looking to get the ball 15-19 feet from the basket and shoot it from there as much as drive thru the lane

 

The game is layups and 3s. What's going away are the midrange shots because they are lower percentage. You live with a lower percentage on 3s because they give you points faster 2 3s vs 3 2s. So going to the rim give you a higher percentage of making a 2. Which if you make greater than 50 percent of those plus 33 to 40 percent of 3s, you're gold. So you'll always need someone who is a little bigger than a guard to protect the rim and keep the game from turning into a track meet. Offensive rebounds matter. It nearly killed the Warriors against Memphis. Boxing out still matters, especially on a contested layup. Forcing a guy into a lower percentage shots still matters. You need a bigger bodies to keep guys bottled up.

 

I agree with that. But I don’t see that on the court that often. The rebounds are further from the basket.

 

I was at a bar not too long ago - the Heat were up 18-8.

 

At the half... Marcus Smart, 2-for-11. All other Celtics, 22-for-30 (73.3 percent). Seems not-great for the Heat.

 

...and 6-11 since.

Bam has been invisible.

 

If teams go with five guards, the Cleveland Cavaliers will become more powerful than we ever imagined.