Post by New York Knicks on Apr 18, 2023 12:52:43 GMT -6
Who's Hot
The Philadelphia 76ers are one 1pt loss to the Atlanta Hawks away from being a perfect 9-0 to the start the season. But 8-1 is still pretty damn good. Good enough to hold down the Who's Hot title for Sim 2. With a +19.9 point per game scoring differential, the Sixers are SMACKING teams early on in the year. All 8 of their wins have come by double digits. Their last 3 wins were by 20 points or more. They beat a strong Nuggets squad by 36 points IN DENVER. The reason for this early season dominance is DEFENSE. Philadelphia is locked in defensively. You're gonna have a hard time scoring 76 points on this 76ers defense. The Chicago Bulls just learned that the hard way, as they were held to 64 points on 28 FG % shooting. Overall on the season Philly is #1 in the ITP in scoring defense (87.8 PPG allowed) and #1 in opponent field goal percentage (37.8 FG % allowed). That's what happens when you have the Defensive Player of The Year Greg Ostertag in the middle. He's like Ray Lewis in the middle of that Baltimore Ravens defense. That's the identity Ostertag is helping build in Philly. Philly is already known as a tough rugged city, So having a tough defensive team is a perfect association for them. In the off-season the Sixers ditched offensive minded guards like Jojo White, who played zero D. That lack of D cost them in the first round of the playoffs, when the Orlando Magic SWEPT them. So changes had to be made. So out goes White, and in comes guys like Foots Walker. Walker is not a flashy exciting player, but he was the starting point guard for 2001 San Antonio Spurs Championship Team. He's a winning player that plays defense. He's also in a familar position. In San Antonio his job was to feed the ball inside to Nater, Cowens, Kunnert, etc. In Philly it's the same Shit. Feed the ball to the big dogs inside. Ostertag, Rasheed, Neal, and Joe Smith. As for Joe Smith. Let's just give him 6th man of the year already. 17.7 PPG 7.2 RPG in 22.9 MPG. Seriously? In fact all 4 of their front court rotation players are scoring 17+ (Neal 19.2, Ostertag 19.0, Smith 17.7, Wallace 17.3). Balance, defense, and DOMINANCE. That's been the story of the 2003 Philadelphia 76ers.
Who's Not
We go from the best defensive team in the league to the worst defensive team in the league. The 2003 Milwaukee Bucks. They're surrendering 114 points per game to start the year. Dead last in the league. But it gets even worse. Opponents shoot 51.2 % from the field against them. Once again, dead last in the league. Think about that number for a second. The 2001 Portland Trailblazers shot the greatest field goal percentage in league HISTORY (.475). The Bucks are allowing nearly 40 points higher than that. In their most recent loss vs Brooklyn, they gave up 120 points. But the sadder number is the 32 assist to 3 turnover ratio the Bucks allowed to the Nets. I mean put a little fucking pressure on the ball handlers. Play with some sort of defensive intensity. The Bucks have done none of that this season. Forcing just 9.3 turnovers per game (28th out of 29 teams). Clearly this team misses Paul Westphal. He averaged 2.1 SPG with the Bucks last year, which was tied for most in the league. He's a big reason why they were #4 in turnovers forced last season. And why they made the playoffs. Now he's gone off to Utah. And the Bucks SUCK without him. They are the only winless team in the association at 0-6. They have a -23.0 point differential. The 7'7 Gheorghe Muresan has less rebounds (7.0) than his height. Even though he plays 33 minutes a game. Bill Walton looks miserable. He's probably plotting his exit outta here just like Westphal. Escape from Milwaukee Wisconsin. The modern day version of Escape from Alcatraz. Yeah this is a sad story. Let's move on to something more cheerful. Like injuries.
Injury Report
Julio Rose (19) - Things have gotten off to an ugly start in denver. They lost Caldwell Jones in the off-season. The team is 4-8. Some players are wondering why the hell Jamaal Wilkes is making 140 million dollars. Causing jealously and internal drama. That drama spilled outside the Nuggets locker room, as we just learned about the Wilkes and reserve big man Julio Rose fistfight. Rose suffered a broken jaw during the altercation. He will be out 19 days. But the bigger question is how much longer will this Denver drama linger? Can they still get their Shit together? Or is it about to be too late?
Gorgui Dieng (7) - Its nearly been a flawless season for the LA Clippers at 10-1 through 11 games. But they just hit their first slight bump in the road. Starting PF Gorgui Dieng will miss the next 7 days with a dislocated shoulder. He's averaged 12.7 PPG 8.0 RPG 2.0 BPG. He's A key piece of that Clippers front court. The good news is they have Sam Lacey (11.0 PPG 9.1 RPG 1.6 BPG) coming off the bench. He will step right in for Dieng.
Andrea Bargnani (1) - Knicks starting small Forward Andrea Bargnani will miss their next game with a bruised cheekbone. Bargnani is averaging 21 PPG on the season. Bogdan Bogdanovic will get his first start of the season in place of Bargnani. He's been a solid player coming off the bench (17.4 MPG 8.2 PPG 51.6 FG %).
More News Around The League
- George McGinnis was just named Player Of The Week for Week #2. He's had some outstanding performances recently. 34 points vs the Orlando Magic. 42 points 9 rebounds 7 assists 4 steals vs Detroit. He almost outplayed the entire Pistons squad by himself.
- Due to the strong play of McGinnis, the Atlanta Hawks are looking pretty damn good so far. They're 9-3 through 12 games, and currently #1 in the Central Division. If you remember last year the Hawks finished out the season strong. And it looks like that's carrying over into this year. The Hawks look good.
- Speaking of looking good. Clint Capela had a strong rookie season for Hawks last year (13.7 PPG 9.1 RPG). But this season he looks like a borderline all-star (18.7 PPG 9.6 RPG 1.8 BPG 54.8 FG %). What a steal he's turned out to be after going #20 overall in last year's draft. Great Pick Atlanta.
- Andrew Wiggins is looking like a great pick as well from last year's class. The 2002 #4 overall pick is taking a huge leap in his sophomore season. Just look at the numbers:
SEA: 2002 v 2003
PPG: 14.2 v 24.2
FG%: 42.3 v 54.4
3P%: 38.3 v 45.7
Most improved player of the year candidate?
- Wiggins is currently #8 in the league in scoring. You know who's number 1? John Freaking Drew. The 3 time reigning Eastern Conference Champ can't be stopped. He started the 03 season with three consecutive 40 point games. Overall he's at 30.1 PPG. But at 3-4 he's gonna need some help from the others. Also you gotta wonder how much this team is going to miss Spencer Haywood.
- Mickey Johnson has been a bucket machine through the first 2 sims. Earlier in the off-season there was some rhetoric going around that Mickey only gets his points because he's on bad teams. Well now he's on a Memphis team with Bryant Reeves and Pete Maravich. Two excellent scorers. And what do you know? He's averaging 27.5 PPG, 3RD most in the league. Maybe he's more than just a bad team scorer?
- Jerry Stackhouse is scoring his points on a bad team. But who cares. This is what we've all been waiting for. The Jerry Stackhouse breakout season. He's averaging 25.6 PPG (#7 in the league) and shooting nearly 50% from the field. The 2 questions I have are 1) Can he keep this up all season? 2) Is this just one of those contract year showoffs? Where he finally plays great. Gets paid. And reverts back to the medium.
- I never thought I would be saying this. But James Wiseman is leading the ITP in rebounding (14.0). Granted it's only 2 sims. But it's nice to see the 21 year old finally figuring some things out. Maybe becoming a rebounding beast can be his ITP Niche. Be sorta like a Andre Drummond. Because prior to the start of this season he looked like Andre OutTheLeagueIn2-3Years.
- While Wiseman is figuring things out. Joshhouston is NOT. Once again be is benching his best player Earl Monroe. Monroe has played in 13 and 11 minutes over the last 2 games. He's now played under 15 minutes in 4 of 10 games this year. In 2002 Monroe was a 26 PPG all-star. This year he's backup Point guard with 4 years and 93.7 Million left on his contract. What the hell is going on in Houston?
- And what the hell is going on in Portland? 11-3. I didn't see that coming. Elvin Hayes 27/13 averages. That neither. Even Knick failure David Thompson is contributing for them. Good for the Blazers. Things looked bleak for them after GM Sid resigned. But now a better feeling has returned to Rip City.
The Philadelphia 76ers are one 1pt loss to the Atlanta Hawks away from being a perfect 9-0 to the start the season. But 8-1 is still pretty damn good. Good enough to hold down the Who's Hot title for Sim 2. With a +19.9 point per game scoring differential, the Sixers are SMACKING teams early on in the year. All 8 of their wins have come by double digits. Their last 3 wins were by 20 points or more. They beat a strong Nuggets squad by 36 points IN DENVER. The reason for this early season dominance is DEFENSE. Philadelphia is locked in defensively. You're gonna have a hard time scoring 76 points on this 76ers defense. The Chicago Bulls just learned that the hard way, as they were held to 64 points on 28 FG % shooting. Overall on the season Philly is #1 in the ITP in scoring defense (87.8 PPG allowed) and #1 in opponent field goal percentage (37.8 FG % allowed). That's what happens when you have the Defensive Player of The Year Greg Ostertag in the middle. He's like Ray Lewis in the middle of that Baltimore Ravens defense. That's the identity Ostertag is helping build in Philly. Philly is already known as a tough rugged city, So having a tough defensive team is a perfect association for them. In the off-season the Sixers ditched offensive minded guards like Jojo White, who played zero D. That lack of D cost them in the first round of the playoffs, when the Orlando Magic SWEPT them. So changes had to be made. So out goes White, and in comes guys like Foots Walker. Walker is not a flashy exciting player, but he was the starting point guard for 2001 San Antonio Spurs Championship Team. He's a winning player that plays defense. He's also in a familar position. In San Antonio his job was to feed the ball inside to Nater, Cowens, Kunnert, etc. In Philly it's the same Shit. Feed the ball to the big dogs inside. Ostertag, Rasheed, Neal, and Joe Smith. As for Joe Smith. Let's just give him 6th man of the year already. 17.7 PPG 7.2 RPG in 22.9 MPG. Seriously? In fact all 4 of their front court rotation players are scoring 17+ (Neal 19.2, Ostertag 19.0, Smith 17.7, Wallace 17.3). Balance, defense, and DOMINANCE. That's been the story of the 2003 Philadelphia 76ers.
Who's Not
We go from the best defensive team in the league to the worst defensive team in the league. The 2003 Milwaukee Bucks. They're surrendering 114 points per game to start the year. Dead last in the league. But it gets even worse. Opponents shoot 51.2 % from the field against them. Once again, dead last in the league. Think about that number for a second. The 2001 Portland Trailblazers shot the greatest field goal percentage in league HISTORY (.475). The Bucks are allowing nearly 40 points higher than that. In their most recent loss vs Brooklyn, they gave up 120 points. But the sadder number is the 32 assist to 3 turnover ratio the Bucks allowed to the Nets. I mean put a little fucking pressure on the ball handlers. Play with some sort of defensive intensity. The Bucks have done none of that this season. Forcing just 9.3 turnovers per game (28th out of 29 teams). Clearly this team misses Paul Westphal. He averaged 2.1 SPG with the Bucks last year, which was tied for most in the league. He's a big reason why they were #4 in turnovers forced last season. And why they made the playoffs. Now he's gone off to Utah. And the Bucks SUCK without him. They are the only winless team in the association at 0-6. They have a -23.0 point differential. The 7'7 Gheorghe Muresan has less rebounds (7.0) than his height. Even though he plays 33 minutes a game. Bill Walton looks miserable. He's probably plotting his exit outta here just like Westphal. Escape from Milwaukee Wisconsin. The modern day version of Escape from Alcatraz. Yeah this is a sad story. Let's move on to something more cheerful. Like injuries.
Injury Report
Julio Rose (19) - Things have gotten off to an ugly start in denver. They lost Caldwell Jones in the off-season. The team is 4-8. Some players are wondering why the hell Jamaal Wilkes is making 140 million dollars. Causing jealously and internal drama. That drama spilled outside the Nuggets locker room, as we just learned about the Wilkes and reserve big man Julio Rose fistfight. Rose suffered a broken jaw during the altercation. He will be out 19 days. But the bigger question is how much longer will this Denver drama linger? Can they still get their Shit together? Or is it about to be too late?
Gorgui Dieng (7) - Its nearly been a flawless season for the LA Clippers at 10-1 through 11 games. But they just hit their first slight bump in the road. Starting PF Gorgui Dieng will miss the next 7 days with a dislocated shoulder. He's averaged 12.7 PPG 8.0 RPG 2.0 BPG. He's A key piece of that Clippers front court. The good news is they have Sam Lacey (11.0 PPG 9.1 RPG 1.6 BPG) coming off the bench. He will step right in for Dieng.
Andrea Bargnani (1) - Knicks starting small Forward Andrea Bargnani will miss their next game with a bruised cheekbone. Bargnani is averaging 21 PPG on the season. Bogdan Bogdanovic will get his first start of the season in place of Bargnani. He's been a solid player coming off the bench (17.4 MPG 8.2 PPG 51.6 FG %).
More News Around The League
- George McGinnis was just named Player Of The Week for Week #2. He's had some outstanding performances recently. 34 points vs the Orlando Magic. 42 points 9 rebounds 7 assists 4 steals vs Detroit. He almost outplayed the entire Pistons squad by himself.
- Due to the strong play of McGinnis, the Atlanta Hawks are looking pretty damn good so far. They're 9-3 through 12 games, and currently #1 in the Central Division. If you remember last year the Hawks finished out the season strong. And it looks like that's carrying over into this year. The Hawks look good.
- Speaking of looking good. Clint Capela had a strong rookie season for Hawks last year (13.7 PPG 9.1 RPG). But this season he looks like a borderline all-star (18.7 PPG 9.6 RPG 1.8 BPG 54.8 FG %). What a steal he's turned out to be after going #20 overall in last year's draft. Great Pick Atlanta.
- Andrew Wiggins is looking like a great pick as well from last year's class. The 2002 #4 overall pick is taking a huge leap in his sophomore season. Just look at the numbers:
SEA: 2002 v 2003
PPG: 14.2 v 24.2
FG%: 42.3 v 54.4
3P%: 38.3 v 45.7
Most improved player of the year candidate?
- Wiggins is currently #8 in the league in scoring. You know who's number 1? John Freaking Drew. The 3 time reigning Eastern Conference Champ can't be stopped. He started the 03 season with three consecutive 40 point games. Overall he's at 30.1 PPG. But at 3-4 he's gonna need some help from the others. Also you gotta wonder how much this team is going to miss Spencer Haywood.
- Mickey Johnson has been a bucket machine through the first 2 sims. Earlier in the off-season there was some rhetoric going around that Mickey only gets his points because he's on bad teams. Well now he's on a Memphis team with Bryant Reeves and Pete Maravich. Two excellent scorers. And what do you know? He's averaging 27.5 PPG, 3RD most in the league. Maybe he's more than just a bad team scorer?
- Jerry Stackhouse is scoring his points on a bad team. But who cares. This is what we've all been waiting for. The Jerry Stackhouse breakout season. He's averaging 25.6 PPG (#7 in the league) and shooting nearly 50% from the field. The 2 questions I have are 1) Can he keep this up all season? 2) Is this just one of those contract year showoffs? Where he finally plays great. Gets paid. And reverts back to the medium.
- I never thought I would be saying this. But James Wiseman is leading the ITP in rebounding (14.0). Granted it's only 2 sims. But it's nice to see the 21 year old finally figuring some things out. Maybe becoming a rebounding beast can be his ITP Niche. Be sorta like a Andre Drummond. Because prior to the start of this season he looked like Andre OutTheLeagueIn2-3Years.
- While Wiseman is figuring things out. Joshhouston is NOT. Once again be is benching his best player Earl Monroe. Monroe has played in 13 and 11 minutes over the last 2 games. He's now played under 15 minutes in 4 of 10 games this year. In 2002 Monroe was a 26 PPG all-star. This year he's backup Point guard with 4 years and 93.7 Million left on his contract. What the hell is going on in Houston?
- And what the hell is going on in Portland? 11-3. I didn't see that coming. Elvin Hayes 27/13 averages. That neither. Even Knick failure David Thompson is contributing for them. Good for the Blazers. Things looked bleak for them after GM Sid resigned. But now a better feeling has returned to Rip City.
