as much as i criticized love before, this recent piling on against him is kind of unfair. guys like pau gasol do not receive the same criticism despite being in the same mold of immobile big on defense.

zoLo

United States5896 Posts

January 13 2015 05:58 GMT

#1822

Jennings with 34 pts and 10 ast tonight against the Raptors. Still amazed how they've been playing as of late.

DystopiaX

United States16236 Posts

January 13 2015 06:32 GMT

#1823

On January 13 2015 14:44 oneofthem wrote:
as much as i criticized love before, this recent piling on against him is kind of unfair. guys like pau gasol do not receive the same criticism despite being in the same mold of immobile big on defense.

I would agree that the recent criticism is slightly unfair but if you watch Cavs games the difference between Gasol and Love is that while both are slowfooted Gasol doesn't seem to give up on defense, whereas Love will often not bother to rotate and help and can be seen giving little effort on defense sometimes. Also Gasol's had a better offensive season than Love so far.

XaI)CyRiC

United States4471 Posts

January 13 2015 07:45 GMT

#1824

Gasol is also taller and has longer arms, which has allowed him to be a capable shot blocker his entire career. Love has succeeded despite his physical limitations, but they will always limit his effectiveness on defense, particularly because of the position he plays.

Scarecrow

Korea (South)9172 Posts

January 13 2015 08:27 GMT

#1825

When was the last time Love had a 9 block game? Pau is a far better defender, getting his blocks through sheer length and a ton of contests. Love is an oversized traffic cone.

oneofthem

Cayman Islands24199 Posts

January 13 2015 14:34 GMT

#1826

kevin love has been notably ponderous so far and is less than 0 on help and transition defense, but if we don't look at quantified badness but just general defensive profile i think gasol can look just as bad. gasol is a better defender yea but there is also good reason for chicago to run a noah + gibson lineup late in games, if noah can get good again.

Jibba

United States22883 Posts

January 13 2015 15:06 GMT

#1827

On January 13 2015 09:59 Doraemon wrote:
my god kg is a freaken nutcase.

KG is a tool. I kinda wish Howard had given it to him. He always goes running when it's a big guy responding.

MassHysteria

United States3678 Posts

January 13 2015 17:39 GMT

#1828

I watched the condensed version of the HOU vs BKN last night so didn't get to see that part =( (nba app is top notch).

Harden is a beast though. And Monte has looked good in the 2 games in the last week I've seen him.

Other Euros with nice games I hadn't seen until recently: Bodanovic (?) looked good in the little of that game I saw (can't really see the bad stuff on there though). And Mirotic (no secret) for the Bulls also.

Jibba

United States22883 Posts

January 13 2015 19:16 GMT

#1829

Vindicare605

United States16093 Posts

January 13 2015 19:24 GMT

#1830

So apparently the Nets are for sale. http://deadspin.com/report-mikhail-prokhorov-is-trying-to-sell-the-nets-1679248584?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

To recap: Prokhorov bought the Nets for $220 million, ran the organization poorly, and is now in line to dump his ownership stake for somewhere around $2 billion. It's going to be hilarious when NBA owners try to convince us that owning an NBA team isn't a great racket during the next round of CBA negotiations.

cLutZ

United States19574 Posts

January 13 2015 20:06 GMT

#1831

Why is every deadspin writer so angry?

Jerubaal

United States7684 Posts

January 13 2015 20:47 GMT

#1832

Because indignation is a good substitute for analysis.

Also, while the potential resale value of a team might possibly be a factor to look at, taking such a casual, simplistic view is problematic.

oneofthem

Cayman Islands24199 Posts

January 13 2015 21:10 GMT

#1833

that's a funny way of saying it is indeed a racket. it's a real estate deal

oneofthem

Cayman Islands24199 Posts

January 13 2015 22:16 GMT

#1834

excellent al horford article by lowe

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/al-horford-atlanta-hawks-superstar/

was on the horford bandwagon last summer but it is now clear cleveland was never getting this guy. atlanta depends on horford's health

slyboogie

United States3423 Posts

January 13 2015 22:54 GMT

#1835

It's more of an appreciating asset. With a meager operating cost.

slyboogie

United States3423 Posts

January 13 2015 22:54 GMT

#1836

EDIT: oops double post

RowdierBob

Australia13282 Posts

January 13 2015 23:28 GMT

#1837

Love has actually been pretty good offensively this year. Not as good as he was at Minny but certainly well above average. He's just getting a lot less opportunities to contribute on that end, which makes sense given LeBron and kyrie. But his defense has been so bad it's negating much of the good he does offensively.

And yet somehow Adelman made a starting 5 of love, Rubio, Martin, pekovic and brewer one of the better defenses in the league.

oneofthem

Cayman Islands24199 Posts

January 13 2015 23:30 GMT

#1838

wolves last year were good at limiting possessions with turnovers and rebounding (from pekovic boxing out and love energy rebounding) but they were pretty bad at making stops. this is reflected by their end of game badness on defense.