True Hoop Drew

I breakdown basketball constantly in my mind and occassionaly translate it into blog form
January 27, 2012

Why Stephen Curry’s ordinary plays are still special

warriorsworld.net

Stephen Curry is one of the smartest players in basketball. He’s looked like a veteran ever since he entered the league in the 2009-10 season.

This year Curry has been sidelined for most of the year with injury but has since returned and had his best game yet of the season in a 101-93 win over the Portland Trailblazers last Wednesday night.

Curry had 32 points, seven assists, six rebounds and four steals in the game while going 6-of-8 from three-point land. Curry now has his averages back on pace from last year and should see an improvement as he plays more games.

Curry’s game is a lot like Steve Nash’s. He’s not the best athlete ever on the court but is quick and one of the more savvy decision-makers in the game.

Here we’ll look at two plays showing how Curry makes a couple of beautiful reads to get open for shots.
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January 22, 2012

Top 5 Passers in the NBA

If you watched the Knicks game last night (Carmelo Anthony in particular) and couldn’t stand it, then you’ll appreciate this list.

There are a lot of advanced statistics out there for basketball and believe me I am in love with all of them. When it comes to passing there’s more to it than just how many assists a guy racks up.

Any point guard running an offense can have a game where they get a lot of assists if their teammates just knock down shots. Every point guard throughout the course of a game will make at least 10-15 passes to players coming off screens for jump shots.

That’s why I’m not going just by the numbers. Point guards get more opportunities for assists, that’s no surprise.

I’m making this list taking everything into account. How do you stack up as a passer for your position? Are you also a threat to score which gives you more passing opportunities? Do you dribble the air out of the ball every possession or are you obsessed with ball movement?

These are questions that need to be asked when thinking up the best passers in the league. Everyone knows Chris Paul and LeBron James get a lot of assists but they also have the ball in their hands as much as anyone. They’re bound to get a ton of assists.

The truly great passers take advantage of every opportune moment within the flow of the game to give their team the highest percentage chance possible to make shots.
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January 20, 2012

Heat, LeBron better without Wade?

nbcsports.msnbc.com

LeBron James led the Miami Heat last night to a 98-87 victory over Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. He did this without Dwyane Wade. The Heat and LeBron are now 4-0 this season when Wade is on the sideline.

Is it possible that this Miami Heat team could be better when Dwyane Wade does not play? I think so and I’ve pretty much felt this way all along about LeBron.

My biggest issue with LeBron choosing to play with Wade was that we would now not see the true individual potential of LeBron reached. Had he gone to New York or stayed in Cleveland we would have gotten an entire career of LeBron playing at his peak.

When he plays with Wade, we will never see this totally. We get glimpses from time to time and they can team up for some pretty spectacular plays but for the entire course of a game or season, we don’t see it.

Far too often when you watch Wade and LeBron play together, there are instances when LeBron is just standing in the corner or on the wing, out of the play completely as Wade is doing his thing. You never saw that in Cleveland (except when he started doing that in Game 6 vs. Boston and let Mo Williams go to work while he made sure to grab every rebound off missed free throws at the other end).
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January 17, 2012

Rubio brought down to reality for a moment vs. Kings

It seemed every night I looked at the stat sheet and watched Ricky Rubio highlights this season there was something there that would make me smile. He’d either have a crazy plus-minus, a ton of assists or some dazzling passing highlights.

Last night as Minnesota beat the Sacramento Kings 99-86, Rubio wasn’t as great as he normally is. He had a nice stat line, starting the game and playing 38 minutes he scored 9 points along with 8 assists and 8 rebounds but his plus-minus of minus-three was startling.

How is this possible? He is the next Steve Nash who always led the league in plus-minus! This can’t be right!

Obviously I’ve been watching a little too much of lockout-season NBA and I have my expectations too high. Rubio finally had a “not-so-amazing” night, yet still a near triple-double.
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January 14, 2012

Who should be taking a shot with the game on the line

NBA fans love to argue about what player is the most clutch or who they would want taking the last shot in a game. It seems most would always say Kobe Bryant including other NBA players and GM’s.

It is amazing how everyone simply agrees with this when the numbers don’t entirely back Kobe up during crunch time. He is the most prolific at taking shots when the game is on the line. He is just not the most efficient in doing so.

For example, the Lakers over Kobe’s career tenure with them have had the most efficient offense in the NBA. The drop off in their efficiency once games enter crunch time is the greatest of any other team.

Chris Paul on the other hand, is by far the most efficient player once the game enters crunch time. And not only as an individual but his team has been the most efficient in the NBA during this time.

Henry Abbott goes into more detail about this.

Paul didn’t become the most efficient by taking fadeaway jump shots over two defenders but by always trying to run offense and find the open man in late-game situations.

But sometimes in the NBA you can’t always find an open shot and you have to take a bad shot. That’s why stats can’t definitely tell you who the most clutch player in the league is. Kobe’s skill and ability to get off a decent shot from anywhere on the court does have its value, it’s just not always the best decision.

Here’s my ranking of players I want taking a clutch shot in the NBA, based on the type of shot or scenario in the game.
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January 13, 2012

Dwight Howard’s historical night in Golden State

The Orlando Magic beat the Golden State Warriors 117-109 last night. Dwight Howard had 45 points, 23 rebounds and attempted an NBA-record 39 free throws, five more than the previous record of 34 set by Wilt Chamberlain during the 1961-62 season, in which he averaged 50.4 points per game.

Howard came into the game shooting just 42.6 percent from the line, a career worst. He’s been right at 59 percent the past five seasons. The trade rumors have clearly affected Howard on the court this season and as someone who doesn’t have trouble finding a reason to not give 100 percent effort level, a struggle like this isn’t surprising. Howard made just 21 of his 39 free throw attempts versus the Warriors, 54 percent.

It’s not shocking that a historical statistical night occurred against the Warriors. It happens all the time from Brandon Jenning’s 55-point night as a rookie to David Lee’s 37 point, 20 rebound, 10 assist game two years ago, the Warriors have a knack for getting the best out of their opponent.
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January 12, 2012

Clips beat Heat in NBA’s first playoff game this season

I planned to watch every NBA game last night. I did, but only one ended up mattering. Heat at Clippers with a 10:30 tip, thank God by the second half no other game was on (because trust me, I would have been flicking back and forth between a Timberwolves game if one was on).

Last season was tough for Miami in a lot of ways. One way was that night in, night out, they got everyone’s best shot. The rest of the league had a grudge against Miami and wanted to prove they weren’t the league’s best yet without earning it.

That’s impossible to happen again this year with the condensed schedule (part of why I picked Miami to win 54 games). But last night, Miami was in their first playoff game of the regular season on the road and lost in overtime, 95-89 to the Lob City Clippers.

Both teams came into the game having played the night before and lost. Before the game began, here were the keys I was looking for:
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January 10, 2012

Bama beats LSU, Boris Diaw vs. the Knicks

I almost forgot college football existed. In fact, I almost forgot anything that isn’t the NBA existed. But my attention was distracted from my first love to the national championship last night, but not for long.

Alabama beat LSU in dominant fashion to capture their 14th national championship all-time and first since 2009. Nick Saban also coached to win his third title in the BCS-era, the most of any coach.

The game was of course a rematch with LSU winning 9-6 in overtime in the first meeting this season in Tuscaloosa. In eight quarters plus overtime between these two teams, one touchdown was finally scored by Alabama on a 34-yard touchdown run by Trent Richardson with 4:36 left in the game.

The clear-cut two best teams in the country played twice and only one touchdown was scored between them. Yet it was never boring, just impressive, with the athletes on each side of the ball and the plays being made every down.
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January 9, 2012

The future looks bright in Minnesota

No team has jumped up everyone’s “NBA League Pass Power Rankings” quite like the Minnesota Timberwolves this season. It was expected early in the season just because we’d finally get a chance to see rookie Ricky Rubio for the first time in his career but now the Timberwolves are turning into one of the most interesting teams in the league night in night out.

The Timberwolves dropped the Washington Wizards to 0-8 yesterday with 93-72 win led by rookies Rubio and Derrick Williams who each posted a +29, +/- number. Rubio led the way with his most assists yet, 14, five of which accounted for each of Williams’ field goals, four three-pointers and another sweet alley-oop dunk.

I’m leaving out Kevin Love from the equation who had another monster game with 20 points and 16 rebounds, now averaging 25.4 points and 15.0 rebounds on the year, find me someone else doing that.

The core of Rubio-Love-Williams has to be getting fans in Minnesota excited, I know I’m getting excited (writing about how they are the next great team after they beat Washington). With Rubio looking like the next Steve Nash and Williams starting to remind me of Shawn Marion, the Timberwolves may easily become the team I watch more than any other for the next 10 seasons.
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January 8, 2012

Rookie Brandon Knight attempts 13 threes

The Detroit Pistons lost at home to the New York Knicks 103-80 last night. Brandon Knight started for the Pistons for the second time in a row. Knight also attempted 13 three-pointers in the game. That’s a lot.

To be fair, one was a half court attempt at the end of the first half. But still, 13 threes thrown up by a rookie in just his eighth game and by someone shooting only around 30 percent from deep is interesting.

I’ve known about Knight since he was a freshman in high school. I saw him make it to States four straight years in high school and followed his successful run to the Final Four with Kentucky during his one and only season in college. I know he’s a great student, a great kid, has great work ethic, and that there’s no way he won’t succeed in the NBA.

Usually when you see a rookie shoot 13 threes, it might be seen as a red flag. Stephen Curry never shot 13 threes as a rookie and Kobe Bryant during the 2006 season (when he seemed to shoot more than anyone ever) only did five times including going 7-for-13 in the game he scored 81.

Knight’s not a red flag. He’s a well thought-out player playing on a terrible team in his first season in the league. He’s surrounded by a bunch of bums and he isn’t one. He took every shot because it was the right one and he’s not afraid.

Let’s go through each one:
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