Three Casually Deep NBA Observations
3>2.
Cat is officially out of the bag. Three points are worth more than two points. Sorry, I know that you know that. I’m just struggling to wrap my head around the new NBA. In 1997/98 the Seattle Supersonics (RIP) led the league draining 7.6 three point shots on 19 attempts per game. Fast forward to 2013/14 when the Rockets top the league with 26.6 attempted threes a game. Pretty significant bump. Hold on, now is when it gets juicy. Just four years later the Rockets are taking 42.8 three point shots per game. That is not a typo. Half of all shots being released from the hands of Rockets players are behind the three point line. That is not a typo. That is not a typo. So far the Toronto Drake’s are averaging 36.7 threes per game. If you abduct somebody who has never watched a basketball game and show game film from Kings vs. Pistons on 11/14/2010 and then footage of Tuesday night’s Nets vs. Magic game…they would be totally befuddled. PLAYERS ARE PASSING UP SLIGHTLY CONTESTED LAYUPS FOR SLIGHTLY CONTESTED CORNER THREES. I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing. It’s just different. And I need to stop bitching about it.
Philly Fucked Up.
Intentional tanking works. You lose. You get rewarded with a high draft pick. You stockpile young talent. Odds are you strike gold with at least one of them. You win. You just need to “Trust the Process”, man. Or you can pull a Bryan Colangelo and gift the Celtics a future 1st round pick in order to move up in the draft by 2 spots. Sam Hinkie must be rolling in his grave.
The 76ers should have this:
Instead, they paid extra for this:
Yikes! Sure Fultz is dealing with a bum shoulder and he’s young enough to get that shooting motion sorted out…I think? But could you imagine the 76ers with Ben Simmons at Point Forward, Jayson Tatum as the stretch four and Embiid as the anchor? Yikes.
The Clippers are Better Without CP3.
This is a sensitive topic…so let me first say Chris Paul will go down as a top-10 point guard of all time. But as a fan who’s watched countless Clippers games…and as a basketball junkie who has played/monitored thousands of pickup runs…I can identify a specific breed of hyper competitive point guard who needs to be the floor general at all times and can make less aggressive players very uncomfortable. If you’ve played enough ball, you know what I’m talking about. I believe Chris Paul is that type of player. And now that he’s gone the barometric pressure in that locker room has dropped. Small sample size, but I saw it the other night. With CP3 as their leader the Clippers were the worst when it came to yelling and arguing with officials. It seems to be noticeably less intense. Could be because they’re winning. But it’s something worth keeping an eye on. And also Blake doing Blake.
