Comments on: 2008 Playoffs: Game Ones

By: jon abbey

jon abbey — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 02:36:34 +0000

Josh Childress just literally jumped out of his shoe.

By: MJG

MJG — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:43:49 +0000

to Caleb,

Yeah, I thought it was crazy how every commentator seemed to think Shaq would improve their defense. Even a time machine wouldn’t help that — don’t recall him ever defending the pick and roll successfully.

By: MJG

MJG — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:39:55 +0000

Certainly having Dwight Howard on your team helps create space, but it seems like the main difference between Hedo of old and Hedo today is mental…he has accepted the role of being the Man, and has been successful in creating his own shot in the fourth quarter.

Maybe too much is made of this, maybe not, but isn’t that the basic difference between players who are talented scorers and guys who take the next level jump to being the focus of their teams? Of course, there are always guys who think they should be the Man when statistics indicate maybe not (anybody here remember Tony Campbell?)

By: caleb

caleb — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:32:57 +0000

Hedo’s rebounding is even with his first two years in the league, though you could say it’s a bit more impressive with Howard sucking up boards (though Chris Webber got some of them back in 2003)… what’s really weird about his career is the 2-year black hole in the middle.

By: Owen

Owen — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:27:53 +0000

Here is Rashard Lewis before and with Howard.

http://www.wagesofwins.com/RashardLewis0708.html.

Hedo is interesting. His rebounding is up significantly from previous years, despite playing next to Howard.

Obviously, there is an effect on Hedo. But I don’t think his overall production has changed that much this year. He has played a bit better, but the change hasn’t been nearly as significant as the change in people’s perception of him.

Winning does great things…

By: caleb

caleb — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:17:25 +0000

I sort of take that back… as I look closer, Lewis didn’t actually have a bad year; it was pretty much identical to the year before, except for having the ball less. But you could almost say the same of Turkoglu — he had a rough year last year, but in 2005-2006 he put up scoring and shooting numbers that were almost the same as this year — and that was with pre-monster Dwight. He does seem to be a better passer now. But I’m not sure there’s anything you can point to as a big Dwight Howard effect, either way. (except the effect on the other team, from Dwight crushing them). I guess his fellow frontcourt-mates get a few more assists and a few fewer rebounds…

By: caleb

caleb — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:11:03 +0000

If you think Howard is responsible for Turkoglu’s improvement, then how do you explain what happened to Rashard Lewis?

By: caleb

caleb — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:09:44 +0000

MJG – aside from everything else about the Shaq trade, I’ve been totally bewildered to hear the conventional wisdom that Phoenix did it to help their defense. Huh? They traded their best defender, one of the best in the league, for a 36-year-old injury-prone center who doesn’t get around too well…

I mean, he still shoots a high percentage, and I could see someone gambling on the idea that maybe, maybe, he would juice up the offense and overall help the team… but he barely even touches the ball in their offense. The trade was a big gamble in the best scenario, but the outside perception of how it would work (and the Suns’ approach to it) just strikes me as totally bizarre.

By: MJG

MJG — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:35:31 +0000

To Dave Crockett,

re: Spurs, I assume that people hate them because they’ve won championships. Every team that wins multiple championships draws resentment and ire from certain folks.

For anybody who watched the game, has anyone else noticed that Shaq is totally KILLING the Suns? I’ve never seen the Spurs run so much pick-and-roll with Manu & Duncan, and it’s because of Shaq. It reminds me of last year when Golden State beat the Mavs simply by always attacking Dirk in isolation plays with whomever he was guarding. NONE of the commentators would state this, although it was obvious every time down the floor that Pop was going to run it until Shaq was able to get back to his man. He never did.

By: jon abbey

jon abbey — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:31:46 +0000

John Hollinger agreeing with an opinion on basketball holds about as much water in my book as GWB agreeing with a foreign policy opinion.

as for a “test case”, totally off the top of my head and going from memory, how about Scott Williams with Jordan, and Scott Williams after he left? as for this season, how about Turkoglu after they added Rashard Lewis and Howard continued to develop? does anyone really think that Turkoglu has anywhere near the same season if he was on the Knicks this year?