Around the NBA (non-Wolves talk)

[Monster]

Fortunately Brett Brown stuck around long enough o see the fruits of his labor. Earlier in the game the Heat were really rolling. Both of these teams are actually kinda fun to watch.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Brown was laying the foundation for this culture during the bad years. One thing they always did was play hard, cut hard, and defend. The year they won 10 games they were STILL better than us defensively. The year they won 18 games they were something like 17th defensively. Now that they have some legit talent, they are legit on both ends and only getting better with each passing game!

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Fortunately Brett Brown stuck around long enough o see the fruits of his labor. Earlier in the game the Heat were really rolling. Both of these teams are actually kinda fun to watch.

Spo is a good coach too....can't seem to get through to Whiteside though.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

Fortunately Brett Brown stuck around long enough o see the fruits of his labor. Earlier in the game the Heat were really rolling. Both of these teams are actually kinda fun to watch.

Spo is a good coach too....can't seem to get through to Whiteside though.

I think that's on whiteside. He just doesnt look like he cares anymore because he got paid.
I also think he wants to be treated like olajuwon in their offense.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Fortunately Brett Brown stuck around long enough o see the fruits of his labor. Earlier in the game the Heat were really rolling. Both of these teams are actually kinda fun to watch.

Spo is a good coach too....can't seem to get through to Whiteside though.

I think that's on whiteside. He just doesnt look like he cares anymore because he got paid.
I also think he wants to be treated like olajuwon in their offense.

Yeah, I think you are right. That's what held him back to begin with, right? He was sort of a flake and couldn't get traction in the league at first.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Sixers just showed me that you can play good defense without a defensive savant in the middle. They just shut down Miami in the 3rd quarter with only one all-NBA caliber defender in Covington and then a bunch of guys I always thought of as mediocre at best individually. It's amazing how a coach can get guys to play up on that side of the floor!

On the Lowe Post, they had Covington and Simmons as top 10 defenders in the entire league. In fact Covington was 2nd in the league in defensive win shares for guys who played at least 50 games. Simmons was 5, Embiid 6, Reddick 17 and Saric 23. Boston was the only other team stacked to that level with Smart 4, Brown 7, Tatum 8, Horford 9 and Kyrie 25. Philly is a dominant defensive team and it's not all Embiid. He's a DPOY candidate, but they have two guys in Covington and Simmons who are top 10 defenders in the entire league as well.

[Monster]

Fortunately Brett Brown stuck around long enough o see the fruits of his labor. Earlier in the game the Heat were really rolling. Both of these teams are actually kinda fun to watch.

Spo is a good coach too....can't seem to get through to Whiteside though.

I think that's on whiteside. He just doesnt look like he cares anymore because he got paid.
I also think he wants to be treated like olajuwon in their offense.

Yeah, I think you are right. That's what held him back to begin with, right? He was sort of a flake and couldn't get traction in the league at first.

He has some flaws as a player plus sometimes...teams in this new NBA can play a guy like him who is a true center off the floor. The other problem (for him) is the Heat have plenty of worthy options to play instead of him. Still even if he is overpaid the Heat have gotten more out of him than anyone.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

It was pretty disappointing listening to a couple basektball podcasts that gave us no chance and didn't really even want to talk about our series thinking it's just gonna be a 4 game blowout, but then they would give the Spurs any kind of chance against the Warriors without Kawhi. That team got destroyed without Kawhi last year. That series is gonna be 4 games just like today, meanwhile I have more faith in our ability to put up some kind of fight against Houston because we flat out have star power the Spurs don't.

[Monster]

It was pretty disappointing listening to a couple basektball podcasts that gave us no chance and didn't really even want to talk about our series thinking it's just gonna be a 4 game blowout, but then they would give the Spurs any kind of chance against the Warriors without Kawhi. That team got destroyed without Kawhi last year. That series is gonna be 4 games just like today, meanwhile I have more faith in our ability to put up some kind of fight against Houston because we flat out have star power the Spurs don't.

I think some of that thinking is how underwhelming GS has been lately and they haven't defended all that well much of the season. They are missing Curry. They have to start and play at least one mortal. They got the good version of Javele today. They didn't play Nick young until the game was basically over. I didn't start watching that game till later in the first but the Dunc'd on guys said the Spurs defense was uncharacteristically not good at all early.

[Lipoli390]

Sixers just showed me that you can play good defense without a defensive savant in the middle. They just shut down Miami in the 3rd quarter with only one all-NBA caliber defender in Covington and then a bunch of guys I always thought of as mediocre at best individually. It's amazing how a coach can get guys to play up on that side of the floor!

On the Lowe Post, they had Covington and Simmons as top 10 defenders in the entire league. In fact Covington was 2nd in the league in defensive win shares for guys who played at least 50 games. Simmons was 5, Embiid 6, Reddick 17 and Saric 23. Boston was the only other team stacked to that level with Smart 4, Brown 7, Tatum 8, Horford 9 and Kyrie 25. Philly is a dominant defensive team and it's not all Embiid. He's a DPOY candidate, but they have two guys in Covington and Simmons who are top 10 defenders in the entire league as well.

We have Butler and Taj -- two players who have been top defenders in the League before coming to the MN. Yet, we've one of the worst defensive teams in the League. There's nothing in their past to suggest that Saric, Redick, Tatum, Brown and Kyrie would be top 25 defenders. Actually, Kyrie was known as a terrible defender before joining the Celtics. So as Q said, it comes back to coaching.