Post by New York Knicks on Mar 27, 2023 1:11:52 GMT -6
Who's Hot
We should probably have the San Antonio Spurs here. They've won 8 straight and just beat the team I'm about to mention. But we already honored the Spurs earlier in the season. Plus Dave Cowens and Swen Nater are a pair of Mary's. So lets move past the Spurs, and talk about the Portland Trailblazers. Yes they did lose to San Antonio by 24 points. But despite that loss, they've won 8 of their last 9 games. In the last game of sim #15 they had a enormous 122-121 road victory @ Utah. Randy Smith and Elvin Hayes combined for 69 points in this one. Smith in particularly stole the show with the 34 point 11 rebound 10 assist Triple Double. It wasn't Travis Bests best defensive performance. He wasn't all that great on the offensive end neither, as R.Smith held him to 5/16 FG shooting + 4 turnovers. The league is starting to evolve toward the flashy crossover three point shooting PGs like Damon Stoudamire and Killian Hayes. But Randy Smith is still a bad motherfucker, and easily a top 5 PG in this league. He's averaging 19.9 PPG and 9.7 APG, 2nd in the league in assists only behind Carter Williams. His second in command Elvin Hayes has 23.1 PPG and 11.2 RPG. Billy Paultz has been one of the better #3 options in the league with 20.5 PPG (career high). And now they're about to get Earl Tatum back in a week. They're getting healthy and hot at the right time. However, the question I have for Portland is: Can they play better defense in the playoffs? They're bottom 5 in the league in opponent field goal percentage. The other teams in that group: Phoenix, Charlotte, Dallas, and Chicago. 4 lottery teams. C'mon Sid you can't be playing defense like the fucking 13 win Hornets and 22 win Suns. You're supposed to be a championship contender. SO FIX YOUR DEFENSE!!
Who's Not
It's been a rollercoaster ride for the Denver Nuggets. First they went down, dropping 7 of their first 14 games to start the season. By their standards a 7-7 record is kinda shitty. But that didn't last long, as they bounced back with a 32-10 record over their next 42 games. Pretty good right? But on a rollercoaster, what goes up must come down. And the Nuggets have crashed worse than that Legoland coaster in Germany last year. They've lost 10 of their last 14 games, and 5 straight. The worst part of this stretch is that they keep losing to the other top contenders in the West. The Clippers just beat them twice, they lost to San Aantonio, and then Portland. Finally came the rotten cherry on top, as Utah beat them by nearly 20 last game (114-96). This was a horrible loss in so many ways. They got manhandled on the glass (61-39 rebounding advantage for Utah). They let the Jazz shoot over 52 % from the field with 27 assists. And Jamal Wilkes for whatever reason decided to shoot the ball 32 times (12/32 for 26 points). Julius Erving only took 16 shots. And this has been an issue all year for Denver. Dr J has been very passive in the 2002 season. He's taking a career low 16.9 FG Attempts/Game. This is the same Julius Erving that won the MVP back in 2000. This year hes actually shooting a HIGHER field goal percentage than in his MVP season. But he's taking substantially less shots. Dr J needs to stop being so damn passive or Denver is gonna get knocked out in the First Round.
Injury News
Aleksej Pokusevski - AP has a sprained knee, and he's out 7 days. The 2001 D-league MVP has had a solid year between Phoenix and Toronto (his former team). He's averaging 10.9 PPG and 6.3 RPG in just over 24 minutes.
Phil Smith - The Spurs just traded Smith to the Houston Rockets. Now the Rockets find out Smith has a fractured hip. That wasn't very nice Yourkers. Smith is expected to miss 3 weeks. And how many weeks are left in the season? 3 weeks. So his 2002 season is OVER.
Earl Monroe - Rockets traded away multiple players at the deadline. One of them wasn't Earl Monroe. After Earl found out that he was still a member of the Rockets, he repeatedly smashed his head into his locker. Breaking his nose in the process. He will miss the next 2 games.
Around The League
- While Monroe is still in Houston, Billy Knight was sent to San Antonio. In exchange Houston received the injured Phil Smith, goofy uncoordinated big man Mason Plumlee, $400 GM Cash, and the 2004 Spurs first round pick. A decent little return for the Rockets as they try to figure out where the hell they're going.
- The Spurs know exactly where they're trying to go. Back to the ITP Finals of course. But in order to get there, they understood they needed an offensive upgrade. The Clippers and Jazz have clearly been the two best offenses in the West. The Spurs needed to make a move to get them closer to those teams. Billy Knight was that move. He's a former all league 3rd teamer. This year he's averaging over 20 PPG and shooting nearly 50 % from the field. His efficiency is going to help the Spurs 45.8 team field goal percentage.
- And we're already seeing that effect in the 4 games since the trade (Spurs have a 4-0 record with Knight in the lineup). During that stretch Knight is averaging 23.7 PPG and 41 for 74 from the field (55.4 FG %). Not bad at all. Thank You Joshhouston, Signed Yourkers.
- But I gotta show a little respect to Josh. He pulled off a pretty good trade acquiring Paul Millsap from the the Brooklyn Nets. Look at what Millsap is doing in Houston.
Game #1 vs San Antonio: 28 Points 11 Rebounds 7 Blocks
Game #2 vs Memphis: 25 Points 14 Rebounds 3 Assists
Game #3 vs Portland: 17 Points 3 Blocks
Game #4 vs Seattle: 35 Points 6 Rebounds
That averages out to 26.2 PPG. Houston got themselves a nice productive 23 year old player, who they now have under contract for next season. And all it cost them was Leon Douglas and Walter Herrmann, two pending free agents.
- As for the Nets, they got Douglas, but they missed Millsaps presence in the middle of their defense, as they surrendered 106.5 PPG this sim.
- Speaking of poor defense, Damon Stoudamire has spent the last week torching defenses. In his last 5 games he's averaging 33.6 PPG and has made 21 three points over that span. His performance earned him the player of the week honors (His 2nd of the season).
- Larry Kenon got the big boy award winning player of the whole damn month. Looking at some of his boxscores, he definitely deserved it. He dropped 41 points on the Pistons. He had a 33/13/10 Triple Double vs Minnesota. And then 40/18 vs Portland.
- Zach Lavine was the rookie of the month. Making him the 5 different rookie to win the award (Powell, Parker, Capela, Embiid, and now Lavine). Lavine has had a nice scoring season with 19.4 PPG. But he gotta work on that 3.7 APG to 3.5 TPG ratio.
- Interestly, 3 rookies are in the Top 4 (OR i guess Bottom 4) of the league in turnovers this season. #2 Lavine (3.5 TPG), #3 Elfrid Payton (3.5 TPG), #4 Julius Randle (3.3 TPG). What are they teaching these kids in school? Clearly not how to take care of the basketball.
We should probably have the San Antonio Spurs here. They've won 8 straight and just beat the team I'm about to mention. But we already honored the Spurs earlier in the season. Plus Dave Cowens and Swen Nater are a pair of Mary's. So lets move past the Spurs, and talk about the Portland Trailblazers. Yes they did lose to San Antonio by 24 points. But despite that loss, they've won 8 of their last 9 games. In the last game of sim #15 they had a enormous 122-121 road victory @ Utah. Randy Smith and Elvin Hayes combined for 69 points in this one. Smith in particularly stole the show with the 34 point 11 rebound 10 assist Triple Double. It wasn't Travis Bests best defensive performance. He wasn't all that great on the offensive end neither, as R.Smith held him to 5/16 FG shooting + 4 turnovers. The league is starting to evolve toward the flashy crossover three point shooting PGs like Damon Stoudamire and Killian Hayes. But Randy Smith is still a bad motherfucker, and easily a top 5 PG in this league. He's averaging 19.9 PPG and 9.7 APG, 2nd in the league in assists only behind Carter Williams. His second in command Elvin Hayes has 23.1 PPG and 11.2 RPG. Billy Paultz has been one of the better #3 options in the league with 20.5 PPG (career high). And now they're about to get Earl Tatum back in a week. They're getting healthy and hot at the right time. However, the question I have for Portland is: Can they play better defense in the playoffs? They're bottom 5 in the league in opponent field goal percentage. The other teams in that group: Phoenix, Charlotte, Dallas, and Chicago. 4 lottery teams. C'mon Sid you can't be playing defense like the fucking 13 win Hornets and 22 win Suns. You're supposed to be a championship contender. SO FIX YOUR DEFENSE!!
Who's Not
It's been a rollercoaster ride for the Denver Nuggets. First they went down, dropping 7 of their first 14 games to start the season. By their standards a 7-7 record is kinda shitty. But that didn't last long, as they bounced back with a 32-10 record over their next 42 games. Pretty good right? But on a rollercoaster, what goes up must come down. And the Nuggets have crashed worse than that Legoland coaster in Germany last year. They've lost 10 of their last 14 games, and 5 straight. The worst part of this stretch is that they keep losing to the other top contenders in the West. The Clippers just beat them twice, they lost to San Aantonio, and then Portland. Finally came the rotten cherry on top, as Utah beat them by nearly 20 last game (114-96). This was a horrible loss in so many ways. They got manhandled on the glass (61-39 rebounding advantage for Utah). They let the Jazz shoot over 52 % from the field with 27 assists. And Jamal Wilkes for whatever reason decided to shoot the ball 32 times (12/32 for 26 points). Julius Erving only took 16 shots. And this has been an issue all year for Denver. Dr J has been very passive in the 2002 season. He's taking a career low 16.9 FG Attempts/Game. This is the same Julius Erving that won the MVP back in 2000. This year hes actually shooting a HIGHER field goal percentage than in his MVP season. But he's taking substantially less shots. Dr J needs to stop being so damn passive or Denver is gonna get knocked out in the First Round.
Injury News
Aleksej Pokusevski - AP has a sprained knee, and he's out 7 days. The 2001 D-league MVP has had a solid year between Phoenix and Toronto (his former team). He's averaging 10.9 PPG and 6.3 RPG in just over 24 minutes.
Phil Smith - The Spurs just traded Smith to the Houston Rockets. Now the Rockets find out Smith has a fractured hip. That wasn't very nice Yourkers. Smith is expected to miss 3 weeks. And how many weeks are left in the season? 3 weeks. So his 2002 season is OVER.
Earl Monroe - Rockets traded away multiple players at the deadline. One of them wasn't Earl Monroe. After Earl found out that he was still a member of the Rockets, he repeatedly smashed his head into his locker. Breaking his nose in the process. He will miss the next 2 games.
Around The League
- While Monroe is still in Houston, Billy Knight was sent to San Antonio. In exchange Houston received the injured Phil Smith, goofy uncoordinated big man Mason Plumlee, $400 GM Cash, and the 2004 Spurs first round pick. A decent little return for the Rockets as they try to figure out where the hell they're going.
- The Spurs know exactly where they're trying to go. Back to the ITP Finals of course. But in order to get there, they understood they needed an offensive upgrade. The Clippers and Jazz have clearly been the two best offenses in the West. The Spurs needed to make a move to get them closer to those teams. Billy Knight was that move. He's a former all league 3rd teamer. This year he's averaging over 20 PPG and shooting nearly 50 % from the field. His efficiency is going to help the Spurs 45.8 team field goal percentage.
- And we're already seeing that effect in the 4 games since the trade (Spurs have a 4-0 record with Knight in the lineup). During that stretch Knight is averaging 23.7 PPG and 41 for 74 from the field (55.4 FG %). Not bad at all. Thank You Joshhouston, Signed Yourkers.
- But I gotta show a little respect to Josh. He pulled off a pretty good trade acquiring Paul Millsap from the the Brooklyn Nets. Look at what Millsap is doing in Houston.
Game #1 vs San Antonio: 28 Points 11 Rebounds 7 Blocks
Game #2 vs Memphis: 25 Points 14 Rebounds 3 Assists
Game #3 vs Portland: 17 Points 3 Blocks
Game #4 vs Seattle: 35 Points 6 Rebounds
That averages out to 26.2 PPG. Houston got themselves a nice productive 23 year old player, who they now have under contract for next season. And all it cost them was Leon Douglas and Walter Herrmann, two pending free agents.
- As for the Nets, they got Douglas, but they missed Millsaps presence in the middle of their defense, as they surrendered 106.5 PPG this sim.
- Speaking of poor defense, Damon Stoudamire has spent the last week torching defenses. In his last 5 games he's averaging 33.6 PPG and has made 21 three points over that span. His performance earned him the player of the week honors (His 2nd of the season).
- Larry Kenon got the big boy award winning player of the whole damn month. Looking at some of his boxscores, he definitely deserved it. He dropped 41 points on the Pistons. He had a 33/13/10 Triple Double vs Minnesota. And then 40/18 vs Portland.
- Zach Lavine was the rookie of the month. Making him the 5 different rookie to win the award (Powell, Parker, Capela, Embiid, and now Lavine). Lavine has had a nice scoring season with 19.4 PPG. But he gotta work on that 3.7 APG to 3.5 TPG ratio.
- Interestly, 3 rookies are in the Top 4 (OR i guess Bottom 4) of the league in turnovers this season. #2 Lavine (3.5 TPG), #3 Elfrid Payton (3.5 TPG), #4 Julius Randle (3.3 TPG). What are they teaching these kids in school? Clearly not how to take care of the basketball.
