NBA Season 2017-2018 - Page 84

On January 14 2018 21:32 Yaqoob wrote:
GSW's bench really dropped the ball in the 3rd by giving fouls out like candy but Durant was too clutch in the 4th lol

"Fact or fiction: A year from now, Zach LaVine will be deemed a better player than Wiggins. The answer is I don't know, and that's not a good sign for Andrew Wiggins at this point. Ask Pelton that one."

-- Brian Windhorst

Though he didn't use the hashtag, my ESPN colleague had a question for me in this week's 5-on-5 on the Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder in response to a question about whether Wiggins has lived up to his forthcoming max extension.

LaVine, who made his season debut and Chicago Bulls debut Saturday night, has the chance to become a go-to scorer after trading Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns as teammates for Chicago's less talented starting five.

Offensively, that could work quite well. In Minnesota, LaVine showed the ability to create his own shot when those teammates were off the court, averaging 21.3 points per 36 minutes in those situations with adequate .520 true shooting, according to NBA.com/Stats. LaVine's strong 3-point shooting allows him to remain efficient even if he's forced to take more difficult shots off the dribble, in addition to the 3s.

The issues are twofold. First, there's the matter of defense. LaVine's minus-2.4 defensive rating per 100 possessions by ESPN's real plus-minus dropped his rating nearly to replacement level last season. That's unlikely to improve after coming back from a torn ACL. And as I noted on Twitter earlier this week, the history of players returning from ACL injuries suggests LaVine will probably be a less accurate shooter than usual for the remainder of this season.

So, I think his value is likely to go down rather than up after his comeback. If he's deemed a better player than Wiggins when we do next year's #NBArank, I think it will say a lot more about Wiggins and the high expectations for him than LaVine.

On January 14 2018 22:36 Twinkle Toes wrote:

Kinda off topic, and I don't mean to be overthinking this really... but I have to ask, in your last sentence, "...but Durant was too clutch in the 4th lol", what does the "lol" stand for, and is there a real life equivalent to this kind of place holder?

I understand the nature of internet talk, but I am curious how this particular one acquired it's supposed use. For example, there is "That's amazing, lol" for natural funny topic laugh, and there's "You're an idiot lol" for insult, and there's "Why is there a dead rat in my bag lol" for the awkward pause. But the "lol" you used was off, and it is used without any regard for original meaning at all. Like "Whats that, lol", "I dunno lol", "Hello lol".

It must be the age talking, but I really find it delightfully weird.

On January 15 2018 00:41 JimmiC wrote:

It was a odd game. It felt like TO got destroyed but they snuck back in it and almost won. 2 point game but didnt feel like it.