You have to look at this one this way: the Lakers tonight got drafted into helping our rebuilding effort.
Kings stat of the night BTW: the Kings shot 7-30 from 3pt land. Why we took 30 chucks, other than the presence of Donte on the court? Do not know.
Theme: ok, were three possible ways to go on this one. One, Pretty Girls are clearly called for, but it would have to be a special crew in "honor" of how riled up people get by this matchup. And I am not sure I have left myself any "even prettier girls" in the hopper. Thought about chucking my all not prevoiously used girls rule, and just going back to the beginning and putting up the absolute hottest of the hot all in one thread, or making it into an all time list with the all time famous ladies like Marilyn etc. (Liked the Whedon suggestion BTW, in that it was suggested by somebody other than me and there were natural hot guys to include, but I have literally used just about every single one of the "Whedon babes", and Angel as well in the past year+, so I would be retreading. If we get two more blowouts to finsih this season though may do it anyway.)
So that left option #2, where I slip my history professor hat back on for "Great Historical Turning Points", in honor of us maybe turning the corner here this summer, in much the same way Great Construction Projects were in honor of the rebuild. And option #3, which is something a little less esoteric and closer to home and may be better comfort food (or not, given how much of it has been done). So theme will be: Successful Rebuilds: How the Top Teams Turned It Around
Nocioni ( C- ) -- ok, everybody was bombing in the early going, and nobody more than Noc, who had 8 points in the first 6 mintues, including two open threes and a flying drive down the lane since the Lakers weren't stopping anything early. Ariza was countering back the other way though, and Noc grew very quiet in the second quarter as the Lakers opened this one up. Nothing changed at half, as the early charge got exposed for being just that: an early charge based on a rush of emotion. And Noc, who opened up killing the Lakers, was himself killed by the end. 8 points in the first 6 minutes, only 2 for the rest of the game, and finished the night 4-13 from the field, and losing the battle to Ariza.
New Orleans Hornets
Nadir: 18-64 (2004-05)
Current: 48-29
Key Personnel: Chris Paul, David West, Tyson Chandler, Peja Stojakovic, Byron Scott
Key Transactions: Drafted David West #18 overall in 2003; Signed Byron Scott as head coach 2004; drafted Chris Paul #4 overall in 2005; Signed Peja Stojakovic to FA contract summer 2006; traded J.R. Smith + picks for Tyson Chandler summer 2006
How it worked: Well, it wouldn't without the drafting of Chris Paul -- that is always the trick to most rises to the top. Gotta find that star, normally near the top of the draft (and the Hornets only drafted #4 despite being 18-64, but stilll came up wiht their franchise guy). But they made a committment to a good coach back the year before they drafted CP3, already had a slow developing sleeper in David West from the 2003 draft, and with those cornerstones in place, got aggressive and opened up the pocketbooks in 2006 to add the interior rebounder/defender (Chandler) and outside marksman (Peja) that they needed to complete the puzzle.
How we compare: we are somewhere a ways back, like the Hornets were in 2003 or 2004 maybe, but in somewhat better position. We may have more young talent on the frontline than the Hornets did with West alone, but do not yet have the coach they signed in 2004, nor the star from the draft they drafted in 2005. Certainly we totally lack the rebounding/defensive type roleplayers they have been filling in around the edges as they got serious -- Chandler, Butler, Posey etc.
Question: Is Kevin a seperator between the two franchises at similar stages -- in essence meaning that we don't have to go out and sign Peja because he's already here? Or is he like Baron Davis was for the Hornets in 2003? The former (and still young) star that would eventually be moved for the new regime to take hold.
Thompson ( B+ ) -- powered inside in the early going as we hit the Lakers with this crew's best punch, but began to slow in the second quarter as the Lakers made adjustments, including one to actually guard him. Ended up sitting for a long spell as Natt started to smallball us to death. Got active again in the third, and benefitted from several Spencer hi-lo passes to him on the interior for little finishes. Still no presence inside for most of the night, but did come up with a couple of nice little hustle blocks to supplement Spencer. Felt like he got the better of Odom, although it was basically a statistical standoff. Difference, if there was one not in my head, was that it felt like Jason was getting his numbers through, and over, Odom more often than Odom was doing things in direct competition with Jason. But of course Odom's team won, he was very very efficient, and while Jason's offensive rebounding was exciting, Odom's work on the defensive glass is often more important for winning. So maybe just best to call it a draw.
Orlando Magic
Nadir: 21-61 (2003-04)
Current: 57-20
Key Personnel: Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson, Stan Van Gundy
Key Transactions: Drafted Dwight Howard #1 overall in 2004; Traded for draft rights to Jameer Nelson #20 overall in 2004; Signed Hedo Turkoglu to FA contract summer 2004; Signed Rashard Lewis to FA contract summer 2007; Signed Stan Van Gundy as head coach 2007;
How it worked: In the classic pattern, the Magic drafted their superstar coming off their worst year (21-61 in '03-'04), jettisoned their old star (TMac), and then began constucting a team around Howard. In 2007 they found the coach to bring it all together, literally stealing him right out from under our noses after we had him in town to talk contract. Like the Hornets, they went to the FA market to horribly overpay for a 2nd tier player to play designated shooter (Lewis). But as they are now a 60 win team running with the big boys, it was worth it.
How we compare: this comparison is a stretch, beause we still have not accomplished the first thing the Magic did -- found our star. But certainly the rest of our personnel are considerably more advanced than were the holdover players around Dwight in his first year, so if by some miracle we came up with a superstar it could come together for us quicker than it did for Orlando, who still had to find all the appropriate support staff.
Question: You could ask the Kevin question here as well -- is he like TMac? The guy who gets moved as the rebuild kicks? Or is he an accelerant as a built in #2 or #3 guy to support an incoming star? Question #2 of course is whether this draft is going to provide any stars to build around at all.
Hawes ( A- ) -- came out dueling with Pau early as both he and Jason got off to great energetic starts. Was on the glass, hit a three, then started finishing inside. Was not really slowing Gasol's inside work however as they scored back and forth in there. As Jason began to fade a little, and so did the whole team actually, Spence kept it rolling in the second quarter and had himself a very strong first half, inside, with jumpers, on the boards. 13 and 9 before the break. Was not able to slow Gasol, and the two basically neutralized each other, but sitll, you'll take that against a guy of Gasol's caliber. Started off the 3rd with a couple of active hustle blocks, and kept on scoring. Once scored a hoop at the end of the thrid after Odom tried to save a ball along the baseline by throwing it off Spence, but the ball smacked the side of his face and stayed in as he scooped it up for the gimme layup. I was very close to going straight A with this one. In fact I would go so far as to say that this might be the best game Spencer Hawes has played, when you take into account attitude, production, opponent, "big game" etc.. This was maybe the first time Spencer has ever really looked like a dominant center out there. Not a promising one. Or one who dominated for a few minutes, but one ready to play in a "big game" against big opponents and be rock solid for you. In the end though, broke the minus back out. We got blown out, our defense was shredded again, and nobody shredded us as badly as Spencer's man. It was an impressive performance in all other ways, but if Spencer, or we, think we are ever going to be anything other than losers in this league allowing 122 points as people run over us inside, he is kidding himself. Very encouraging game, but he may have still lost the battle inside vs. his opponent, so A- it was.
Utah Jazz
Nadir: 26-56 (2004-05)
Current: 47-30
Key Personnel: Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Andrei Kirilenko, Jerry Sloan
Key Transactions: Signed Jerry Sloan as head coach in Late Cretaceous Period; Drafted Andrei Kirilenko #24 overall in 1999; Signed Carlos Boozer to FA contract summer 2004; Signed Mehmet Okur to FA contract summer 2004; Drafted Deron Williams #3 overall in 2005;
How it worked: You could say that the Jazz inverted eveything, acquiring their most important piece last -- you will note everybody was already there during the 26-56 campaign that netted them Deron in the 05 draft, and that it was really the addition of the young stud PG that brought it all together and sent them on the rise. But its probably more true to say that the real core of the team was already there, and had been since the 1980s -- the Jazz are basically the only team in the league built around their coach.
How we compare: well, if you accept the built around Sloan hypothesis, then the Jazz rebuild is how we might have done it had we kept Rick around as our own institutional coach. But obviously we did not and are going to have to start all over on the coaching front, so if that's the Jazz reality we are not even at stage one. But if you think that Deron is the guy, not Sloan, then you could draw a shaky comparison to the Jazz roster in 04-05 (pre Deron) with our current roster -- they had two young bigs (theirs were free agents, ours are drafted) and a longterm holdover star who would have to learn to take a back seat (AK47/Kevin), and needed only to draft a young star PG to bring them all together. If you are a Rubio believer and ignore that Kevin is about his offensive numbers while AK47 is the glue guy, you can almost see it. Draft Rubio to be our guy, have it coalesce...but of course even if that's true we still need to find the bigtime coach as well to make it work.
Question: Well, can Rubio be a Deron? Can any of the other PGs? And who is that coach?
Kings stat of the night BTW: the Kings shot 7-30 from 3pt land. Why we took 30 chucks, other than the presence of Donte on the court? Do not know.
Theme: ok, were three possible ways to go on this one. One, Pretty Girls are clearly called for, but it would have to be a special crew in "honor" of how riled up people get by this matchup. And I am not sure I have left myself any "even prettier girls" in the hopper. Thought about chucking my all not prevoiously used girls rule, and just going back to the beginning and putting up the absolute hottest of the hot all in one thread, or making it into an all time list with the all time famous ladies like Marilyn etc. (Liked the Whedon suggestion BTW, in that it was suggested by somebody other than me and there were natural hot guys to include, but I have literally used just about every single one of the "Whedon babes", and Angel as well in the past year+, so I would be retreading. If we get two more blowouts to finsih this season though may do it anyway.)
So that left option #2, where I slip my history professor hat back on for "Great Historical Turning Points", in honor of us maybe turning the corner here this summer, in much the same way Great Construction Projects were in honor of the rebuild. And option #3, which is something a little less esoteric and closer to home and may be better comfort food (or not, given how much of it has been done). So theme will be: Successful Rebuilds: How the Top Teams Turned It Around
Nocioni ( C- ) -- ok, everybody was bombing in the early going, and nobody more than Noc, who had 8 points in the first 6 mintues, including two open threes and a flying drive down the lane since the Lakers weren't stopping anything early. Ariza was countering back the other way though, and Noc grew very quiet in the second quarter as the Lakers opened this one up. Nothing changed at half, as the early charge got exposed for being just that: an early charge based on a rush of emotion. And Noc, who opened up killing the Lakers, was himself killed by the end. 8 points in the first 6 minutes, only 2 for the rest of the game, and finished the night 4-13 from the field, and losing the battle to Ariza.
New Orleans Hornets
Nadir: 18-64 (2004-05)
Current: 48-29
Key Personnel: Chris Paul, David West, Tyson Chandler, Peja Stojakovic, Byron Scott
Key Transactions: Drafted David West #18 overall in 2003; Signed Byron Scott as head coach 2004; drafted Chris Paul #4 overall in 2005; Signed Peja Stojakovic to FA contract summer 2006; traded J.R. Smith + picks for Tyson Chandler summer 2006
How it worked: Well, it wouldn't without the drafting of Chris Paul -- that is always the trick to most rises to the top. Gotta find that star, normally near the top of the draft (and the Hornets only drafted #4 despite being 18-64, but stilll came up wiht their franchise guy). But they made a committment to a good coach back the year before they drafted CP3, already had a slow developing sleeper in David West from the 2003 draft, and with those cornerstones in place, got aggressive and opened up the pocketbooks in 2006 to add the interior rebounder/defender (Chandler) and outside marksman (Peja) that they needed to complete the puzzle.
How we compare: we are somewhere a ways back, like the Hornets were in 2003 or 2004 maybe, but in somewhat better position. We may have more young talent on the frontline than the Hornets did with West alone, but do not yet have the coach they signed in 2004, nor the star from the draft they drafted in 2005. Certainly we totally lack the rebounding/defensive type roleplayers they have been filling in around the edges as they got serious -- Chandler, Butler, Posey etc.
Question: Is Kevin a seperator between the two franchises at similar stages -- in essence meaning that we don't have to go out and sign Peja because he's already here? Or is he like Baron Davis was for the Hornets in 2003? The former (and still young) star that would eventually be moved for the new regime to take hold.
Thompson ( B+ ) -- powered inside in the early going as we hit the Lakers with this crew's best punch, but began to slow in the second quarter as the Lakers made adjustments, including one to actually guard him. Ended up sitting for a long spell as Natt started to smallball us to death. Got active again in the third, and benefitted from several Spencer hi-lo passes to him on the interior for little finishes. Still no presence inside for most of the night, but did come up with a couple of nice little hustle blocks to supplement Spencer. Felt like he got the better of Odom, although it was basically a statistical standoff. Difference, if there was one not in my head, was that it felt like Jason was getting his numbers through, and over, Odom more often than Odom was doing things in direct competition with Jason. But of course Odom's team won, he was very very efficient, and while Jason's offensive rebounding was exciting, Odom's work on the defensive glass is often more important for winning. So maybe just best to call it a draw.
Orlando Magic
Nadir: 21-61 (2003-04)
Current: 57-20
Key Personnel: Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson, Stan Van Gundy
Key Transactions: Drafted Dwight Howard #1 overall in 2004; Traded for draft rights to Jameer Nelson #20 overall in 2004; Signed Hedo Turkoglu to FA contract summer 2004; Signed Rashard Lewis to FA contract summer 2007; Signed Stan Van Gundy as head coach 2007;
How it worked: In the classic pattern, the Magic drafted their superstar coming off their worst year (21-61 in '03-'04), jettisoned their old star (TMac), and then began constucting a team around Howard. In 2007 they found the coach to bring it all together, literally stealing him right out from under our noses after we had him in town to talk contract. Like the Hornets, they went to the FA market to horribly overpay for a 2nd tier player to play designated shooter (Lewis). But as they are now a 60 win team running with the big boys, it was worth it.
How we compare: this comparison is a stretch, beause we still have not accomplished the first thing the Magic did -- found our star. But certainly the rest of our personnel are considerably more advanced than were the holdover players around Dwight in his first year, so if by some miracle we came up with a superstar it could come together for us quicker than it did for Orlando, who still had to find all the appropriate support staff.
Question: You could ask the Kevin question here as well -- is he like TMac? The guy who gets moved as the rebuild kicks? Or is he an accelerant as a built in #2 or #3 guy to support an incoming star? Question #2 of course is whether this draft is going to provide any stars to build around at all.
Hawes ( A- ) -- came out dueling with Pau early as both he and Jason got off to great energetic starts. Was on the glass, hit a three, then started finishing inside. Was not really slowing Gasol's inside work however as they scored back and forth in there. As Jason began to fade a little, and so did the whole team actually, Spence kept it rolling in the second quarter and had himself a very strong first half, inside, with jumpers, on the boards. 13 and 9 before the break. Was not able to slow Gasol, and the two basically neutralized each other, but sitll, you'll take that against a guy of Gasol's caliber. Started off the 3rd with a couple of active hustle blocks, and kept on scoring. Once scored a hoop at the end of the thrid after Odom tried to save a ball along the baseline by throwing it off Spence, but the ball smacked the side of his face and stayed in as he scooped it up for the gimme layup. I was very close to going straight A with this one. In fact I would go so far as to say that this might be the best game Spencer Hawes has played, when you take into account attitude, production, opponent, "big game" etc.. This was maybe the first time Spencer has ever really looked like a dominant center out there. Not a promising one. Or one who dominated for a few minutes, but one ready to play in a "big game" against big opponents and be rock solid for you. In the end though, broke the minus back out. We got blown out, our defense was shredded again, and nobody shredded us as badly as Spencer's man. It was an impressive performance in all other ways, but if Spencer, or we, think we are ever going to be anything other than losers in this league allowing 122 points as people run over us inside, he is kidding himself. Very encouraging game, but he may have still lost the battle inside vs. his opponent, so A- it was.
Utah Jazz
Nadir: 26-56 (2004-05)
Current: 47-30
Key Personnel: Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Andrei Kirilenko, Jerry Sloan
Key Transactions: Signed Jerry Sloan as head coach in Late Cretaceous Period; Drafted Andrei Kirilenko #24 overall in 1999; Signed Carlos Boozer to FA contract summer 2004; Signed Mehmet Okur to FA contract summer 2004; Drafted Deron Williams #3 overall in 2005;
How it worked: You could say that the Jazz inverted eveything, acquiring their most important piece last -- you will note everybody was already there during the 26-56 campaign that netted them Deron in the 05 draft, and that it was really the addition of the young stud PG that brought it all together and sent them on the rise. But its probably more true to say that the real core of the team was already there, and had been since the 1980s -- the Jazz are basically the only team in the league built around their coach.
How we compare: well, if you accept the built around Sloan hypothesis, then the Jazz rebuild is how we might have done it had we kept Rick around as our own institutional coach. But obviously we did not and are going to have to start all over on the coaching front, so if that's the Jazz reality we are not even at stage one. But if you think that Deron is the guy, not Sloan, then you could draw a shaky comparison to the Jazz roster in 04-05 (pre Deron) with our current roster -- they had two young bigs (theirs were free agents, ours are drafted) and a longterm holdover star who would have to learn to take a back seat (AK47/Kevin), and needed only to draft a young star PG to bring them all together. If you are a Rubio believer and ignore that Kevin is about his offensive numbers while AK47 is the glue guy, you can almost see it. Draft Rubio to be our guy, have it coalesce...but of course even if that's true we still need to find the bigtime coach as well to make it work.
Question: Well, can Rubio be a Deron? Can any of the other PGs? And who is that coach?
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