[1/8 finals - Day 2] Croatia - Czech Republic

[CoachZ2]

OT. Aaron Gordon will come into prominence this season but as far as the award goes, Kanter will get the MIP award. I will bet on him when the betting sites open a section for this award. Oklahoma is golden mine for him.

That'sa big big if. Oklahoma is a big man mine shaft for Centers. He will si ply not get enough balls to have an impact year to be MIP, especially since the boards will be picked clean by Ibaka-Durant combo.

 

[slice me nice2]

That'sa big big if. Oklahoma is a big man mine shaft for Centers. He will si ply not get enough balls to have an impact year to be MIP, especially since the boards will be picked clean by Ibaka-Durant combo.

Ego issues. He would have accepted the offer of Portland but he got the promise of star role. Durant's comeback will reduce the efficiency of Westbrook. I don't think Ibaka will be used that much since Kanter-Adams duo was awesome.

Kanter is the most offensive gifted center in NBA right now. Like prime Boozer. You know the importance of offensive center's in NBA. That was just an assumption from me, we can't know how they will define the roles within the year. They appear as a strong contender for the title from now on.

 

[CoachZ2]

Ego issues. He would have accepted the offer of Portland but he got the promise of star role. Durant's comeback will reduce the efficiency of Westbrook. I don't think Ibaka will be used that much since Kanter-Adams duo was awesome.

Kanter is the most offensive gifted center in NBA right now. Like prime Boozer. You know the importance of offensive center's in NBA. That was just an assumption from me, we can't know how they will define the roles within the year. They appear as a strong contender for the title from now on.

Ibaka will not be used? Sorry man, that's just dreams. Prime defender in NBA will always be on the court in the NBA especially when you have 2 ball hogs in the team. Kanter on floor is 4th scoring option, even behind Ibaka, who has very good mid range game now too. Defensively, not even gonna mention it. Kanter should celebrate a 12ppg 8rpg season, that means he was used well and as much as they planned to. Everything else above that will be either that they get injured a lot, or Jesus walks the Earth. That is the reality. That will be not enough to win the MIP. He stepped into a great situation last year with Durant and Ibaka injured, that's it.

 

[ncjazz2]

That'sa big big if. Oklahoma is a big man mine shaft for Centers. He will si ply not get enough balls to have an impact year to be MIP, especially since the boards will be picked clean by Ibaka-Durant combo.

If Kanter actually learns to play defense I say he has a shot at it.

 

[slice me nice2]

Ibaka will not be used? Sorry man, that's just dreams. Prime defender in NBA will always be on the court in the NBA especially when you have 2 ball hogs in the team. Kanter on floor is 4th scoring option, even behind Ibaka, who has very good mid range game now too. Defensively, not even gonna mention it. Kanter should celebrate a 12ppg 8rpg season, that means he was used well and as much as they planned to. Everything else above that will be either that they get injured a lot, or Jesus walks the Earth. That is the reality. That will be not enough to win the MIP. He stepped into a great situation last year with Durant and Ibaka injured, that's it.

Another OT. I didn't say Ibaka won't be used, I said ''that much''. Adams and Kanter were doing awesome job together on floor. Monty used them very effectively. If Kanter will be 4th option then it means this team won't use any ball under the rim. Ibaka is not a reliable score option. I can understand the third option for Kanter but 4th one is so harsh. When Kanter on floor, he will be the second option for his team. Durant and Westbrook will have to share the ball each other. Maybe his performance won't satisfy the MIP criterion (he will IMO), but he will continue on his stats like last season. OKC is full of chaos basketball that Kanter likes.

 

[miloje2]

roumors are jurica golemac will be our new coach

 

[Joško Poljak Fan2]

Together with Slaven Rimac?

 

[miloje2]

Together with Slaven Rimac?

dont think so

its nothing official but sportske novosti are making campaign for him
http://sportske.jutarnji.hr/komentator-htv-a-postaje-izbornik-hrvatske-reprezentacije--svlacionica-je-za-/1417572/

 

[miloje2]

btw he is very eloquent, sounds like he understands basketball, but so did igor štimac when he commented football

 

[Athens Hardcore2]

It was hard to be in the hall and watch this but we will come back.
Maybe even in my lifetime..

I hope this will be the case and you will get your shit together sooner rather than later dude.Best of luck.

Aldrige is very athletic. Others I agree with. But almost all of them are very very developed mid range and even perimeter shooters as stretch forwards (outside of Randolph). Then many of them are also complete players in terms of post moves, and attacking the paint/rim (outside of Nowitzky). Many of them are above average defenders (outside of Nowitzky).

You're talking about how these players look at the moment or you're refereing to prime years of each one of them?

Ego issues. He would have accepted the offer of Portland but he got the promise of star role.

Actually Kanter had no say really.He was restricted FA so he did sign Portland's offersheet which OKC just matched.A move which makes much more sense from a business standpoint than from an on-court one if you're OKC imho.
Thunder are in win-now mode,especially with Durant being a FA soon,so they just didn't want to lose a young talented big man like Kanter for nothing.
If things go south,they are confident they can flip his huge contract to another team,after all Presti has already worked some magic during his Oklahoma tenure or if Durant bolts,they will have Kanter as an insurance policy/consolation prize/piece to build around with a much more important role etc.

Kanter is a very talented offensive player and a very good/great rebounder but a huge liability on defense and somewhat a black hole offensively.Horrible fit in this team imho.
Ibaka has really made himself a very useful offensive weapon and with Durant/Westbrook taking 40 shots per game,this team just can't give Kanter the role he needs,or he think he should have to be more precise.

 

[CoachZ2]

You're talking about how these players look at the moment or you're refereing to prime years of each one of them?

Prime years, most of them were not exceptional athletes. Again it's a relative thing, you can't play in NBA without a certain level of athleticism.

 

[Athens Hardcore2]

Prime years, most of them were not exceptional athletes. Again it's a relative thing, you can't play in NBA without a certain level of athleticism.

Well,prime Dirk was 5 times the defender Kevin Love is and 10 times the defender David Lee has ever hoped to be.Also,Dirk post 2005 has always been a monster in the post,being in the upper upper echelon of the league in post up PPP year and year out.
Reading your posts here,I think you're really into synergy/advanced metrics kind of shit,so you can find the aforementioned data.

What qualifies as attacking the paint/rim?

About the athleticism stuff,I agree,every player who plays in that league is an above average athlete even if he doesn't look like one(for example if he's not a sexy max vertical kind of jumper).

 

[CoachZ2]

Well,prime Dirk was 5 times the defender Kevin Love is and 10 times the defender David Lee has ever hoped to be.Also,Dirk post 2005 has always been a monster in the post,being in the upper upper echelon of the league in post up PPP year and year out.
Reading your posts here,I think you're really into synergy/advanced metrics kind of shit,so you can find the aforementioned data.

What qualifies as attacking the paint/rim?

About the athleticism stuff,I agree,every player who plays in that league is an above average athlete even if he doesn't look like one(for example if he's not a sexy max vertical kind of jumper).

I didn't go into details about each player, but yeah I agree with what you say in terms of Nowitzki being a better defender than Love. Rebounding wise (also important defensive trait) he is behind both though. Post-up play in traditional sense, since so much of his play in the post-up was dependent on shooting out of it, rather than finishing at the rim. So yeah that is officially in terms of stats post-up playing but in general it's still a bit more one-dimensional play.

Attacking the paint/rim - Playing aggressively towards the basket in the paint, look to finish with a high percentage shot at the rim level, penetrating the paint area, crashing boards and in general playing above the rim on the boards.