4 ms·

They will need to do something, because it is not an entertaining product right now. I'm beginning to pine for the physical grindfests of the early 2000s before

They will need to do something, because it is not an entertaining product right now. I'm beginning to pine for the physical grindfests of the early 2000s before the Malice-in-the-Palace, let alone 80s or 90s ball. The Rockets are all in on analytics and routinely use their D-league team to experiment with, frankly, cheesey min-maxing strategies.

CalChris 8y ago
The Rockets' analytics approach is kind of like Money Ball which was awesome in turning the tables until everyone figured it out.
MisterBastahrd 8y ago
Basketball is downright boring right now at the pro level. Everyone wants to gather far beyond the arc and launch 3s. The NBA needs to decide whether the game is supposed to be about the athleticism and effort of the players or who can launch the most long range shots. It can't be about both. The fact that Steph Curry, who is a limited player, is regularly in the running for MVP, is a joke. There was a guy almost identical to him, with better overall talent, in the 90s. His name was Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and he didn't exactly have an illustrious career.
- achompas 8y ago
  I wrote out an entire well-reasoned response to your comment, then finished reading your comment comparing Abdul-Rauf to Curry. I mean, not even Reggie Miller or Ray Allen?! Curry is a generational shooter and transcendent offensive talent. 2x MVP, 8 seasons of 20+ PER. Over 20 ppg over the last 7 seasons. Abdul-Rauf averaged 14.5 ppg in 9 seasons in the NBA, never breaking 40% 3P% or 20 PER. Curry has NEVER shot below 40% 3P% in a season. Abdul-Rauf’s closest comparison on BBall Reference is Rafer Alston. Most non-fans will respond to that with “...who?” To that I say “exactly.” https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/abdulma02.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/abdulma02.htm...
  - BlackJack 8y ago
    Put some respect when talking about Skip To My Lou ;-) Agreed with your commentary - Steph is one of the greatest NBA players ever, and a variety of regular stats and advanced stats (i.e. gravity measurement) reflect that. It's why guys like him, Harden, and Dame make 1st team all NBA - the pressure they exert on defenses is insane.
    - achompas 8y ago
      I loved Lou! A streetball legend who carried the Magic when Nelson went down on their run a decade ago. He should have been a star, but I think he made the NBA jump a bit late. Yeah these guys are on another level. Comparing them to Abdur-Rauf is like comparing Jalen Rose to Kawhi Leonard.
  - MisterBastahrd 8y ago
    You can save it, because it's clear you didn't watch any of them play. It's also clear that you took the parts you wanted to talk about from my post and ignored the point. Reggie Miller? Shooting guard. Ray Allen? Shooting guard. So was Jordan, Kobe, Wade, etc. Scoring point guards didn't exist with the exception of Iverson, who is a completely different animal than the step-back 3 point shooters of today. How much of a threat do you think Curry would be if he were asked to take 7 or 8 20-24 foot shots all game long like the PGs of that era? It erases him offensively. Now, you didn't watch Rauf play, so all you have to go on are the stats. I did. I was a huge fan of him in college. He averaged over 30ppg as a freshman (his scoring dipped in year 2 because he had to share the court with Shaq) and had the prettiest stroke I've ever seen. He had some of the best ball handling skills since Maravich. He was a basketball savant. So what happened? He went to the league and was asked to do what point guards did back then: move the ball down the court and pass it away. He was the 3rd overall pick in the draft and was asked to pass the ball to Mutumbo and Antonio McDyess in an offense predicated on scoring a lot of points quickly with a ridiculous pace for the era. He also caught a ton of heat for not standing for the Pledge of Allegiance, which ultimately caused him to get blackballed from the association. But don't take my word for it. Go look up abdul-rauf curry on google. Oh, look, there's a tweet by Phil Jackson: "Never seen anything like SCurry? Remind you of Chris Jackson/ Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who had a short but brilliant run in NBA?" Yeah, Phil only coached against him. He totally doesn't remember the time that the 72 win Bulls lost to the Nuggets because of Rauf's performance, or the time that Rauf torched Stockton for 51.
Zarath 8y ago
I genuinely can't understand the sentiment as I find the quality of the game great. The biggest issues to me are "reviewing fouls" to see if they are flagrant and fouling at the end of the game (especially with the 3 point so prevalent in today's game, sometimes fouling for 2 free throws can be beneficial). I wish the refs would generally take a more "let them play" approach so I guess this would fix the issue of James Harden (who I dislike for his style of game)
- thrower123 8y ago
  With Tim Duncan retired, I can't think of a center or power forward with enough moves to post up and score reliably. Guys will talk about spending their whole offseason refining their post-up game, and that just means they learned a drop-step... The high pick-and-roll and four-out sets everyone runs now are pretty monotonous. The worst part is the style spills over to the way ordinary people play in pickup and rec ball. Not many with the requisite talents at that level, but boy do they try.

CalChris 8y ago

The Rockets' analytics approach is kind of like Money Ball which was awesome in turning the tables until everyone figured it out.

MisterBastahrd 8y ago

Basketball is downright boring right now at the pro level. Everyone wants to gather far beyond the arc and launch 3s. The NBA needs to decide whether the game is supposed to be about the athleticism and effort of the players or who can launch the most long range shots. It can't be about both. The fact that Steph Curry, who is a limited player, is regularly in the running for MVP, is a joke. There was a guy almost identical to him, with better overall talent, in the 90s. His name was Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and he didn't exactly have an illustrious career.

achompas 8y ago
I wrote out an entire well-reasoned response to your comment, then finished reading your comment comparing Abdul-Rauf to Curry. I mean, not even Reggie Miller or Ray Allen?! Curry is a generational shooter and transcendent offensive talent. 2x MVP, 8 seasons of 20+ PER. Over 20 ppg over the last 7 seasons. Abdul-Rauf averaged 14.5 ppg in 9 seasons in the NBA, never breaking 40% 3P% or 20 PER. Curry has NEVER shot below 40% 3P% in a season. Abdul-Rauf’s closest comparison on BBall Reference is Rafer Alston. Most non-fans will respond to that with “...who?” To that I say “exactly.” https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/abdulma02.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/abdulma02.htm...
- BlackJack 8y ago
  Put some respect when talking about Skip To My Lou ;-) Agreed with your commentary - Steph is one of the greatest NBA players ever, and a variety of regular stats and advanced stats (i.e. gravity measurement) reflect that. It's why guys like him, Harden, and Dame make 1st team all NBA - the pressure they exert on defenses is insane.
  - achompas 8y ago
    I loved Lou! A streetball legend who carried the Magic when Nelson went down on their run a decade ago. He should have been a star, but I think he made the NBA jump a bit late. Yeah these guys are on another level. Comparing them to Abdur-Rauf is like comparing Jalen Rose to Kawhi Leonard.
- MisterBastahrd 8y ago
  You can save it, because it's clear you didn't watch any of them play. It's also clear that you took the parts you wanted to talk about from my post and ignored the point. Reggie Miller? Shooting guard. Ray Allen? Shooting guard. So was Jordan, Kobe, Wade, etc. Scoring point guards didn't exist with the exception of Iverson, who is a completely different animal than the step-back 3 point shooters of today. How much of a threat do you think Curry would be if he were asked to take 7 or 8 20-24 foot shots all game long like the PGs of that era? It erases him offensively. Now, you didn't watch Rauf play, so all you have to go on are the stats. I did. I was a huge fan of him in college. He averaged over 30ppg as a freshman (his scoring dipped in year 2 because he had to share the court with Shaq) and had the prettiest stroke I've ever seen. He had some of the best ball handling skills since Maravich. He was a basketball savant. So what happened? He went to the league and was asked to do what point guards did back then: move the ball down the court and pass it away. He was the 3rd overall pick in the draft and was asked to pass the ball to Mutumbo and Antonio McDyess in an offense predicated on scoring a lot of points quickly with a ridiculous pace for the era. He also caught a ton of heat for not standing for the Pledge of Allegiance, which ultimately caused him to get blackballed from the association. But don't take my word for it. Go look up abdul-rauf curry on google. Oh, look, there's a tweet by Phil Jackson: "Never seen anything like SCurry? Remind you of Chris Jackson/ Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who had a short but brilliant run in NBA?" Yeah, Phil only coached against him. He totally doesn't remember the time that the 72 win Bulls lost to the Nuggets because of Rauf's performance, or the time that Rauf torched Stockton for 51.

Zarath 8y ago

I genuinely can't understand the sentiment as I find the quality of the game great. The biggest issues to me are "reviewing fouls" to see if they are flagrant and fouling at the end of the game (especially with the 3 point so prevalent in today's game, sometimes fouling for 2 free throws can be beneficial). I wish the refs would generally take a more "let them play" approach so I guess this would fix the issue of James Harden (who I dislike for his style of game)

thrower123 8y ago
With Tim Duncan retired, I can't think of a center or power forward with enough moves to post up and score reliably. Guys will talk about spending their whole offseason refining their post-up game, and that just means they learned a drop-step... The high pick-and-roll and four-out sets everyone runs now are pretty monotonous. The worst part is the style spills over to the way ordinary people play in pickup and rec ball. Not many with the requisite talents at that level, but boy do they try.