TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA
Introducing YOUR LA Conspiracy!
Rotation:PG: Ty Lawson and Gilbert Arenas will man the point position, with Shaun Livingston receiving some sporadic playing time when his size may be utilized. Lawson will be given the green light to push the ball as frequently as possible to look for transition buckets, particularly looking to get Kevin Martin out into space. Arenas will be used in a microwave role and will be given 20-25 minutes a night. His role will differ from Lawson’s in that Arenas will be given the opportunity to create more freely for himself.
SG: Kevin Martin will spend most of his time at the 2, but will also see playing time at the 3 when his defensive assignment wouldn’t be particularly exhaustive. His minutes at the 3 would allow Arenas to play with both Lawson and Martin, albeit a limited scenario. Ronnie Brewer will see virtually all of his minutes here, though Mike Brown reserves the ability to insert him into the SF slot on rare occasions. As mentioned, Arenas will see some time here. Stephen Jackson will also see limited time at the 2 if any injuries occur to the backcourt, and in an effort to get him into a role he’s played much of in his past.
SF: Stephen Jackson will hold down the wing position. Ryan Gomes and Kawhi Leonard will platoon as the wing reserve until one asserts himself. It is expected that Leonard will establish himself as the season winds on; giving Gomes the opportunity to play more of the 4.
PF: Serge Ibaka will see the bulk of his hime at the PF position. Ryan Gomes finds himself in a similar position at the 4 as he will split some time with Bismack Biombo until one individual proves more effective with their minutes. Jermaine O’Neal will likely see sporadic time at the 4 when the team needs to go big and until Biombo is comfortable within Mike Brown‘s scheme.
C: Jermaine O’Neal will start most nights, but he will be spelled early and often by DeAndre Jordan. As the season wears on, Jordan will be given a larger ratio of the center minutes and will be given the opportunity to grasp the starting position if his impressive progress continues. Ibaka and Biombo will see limited minutes at the 5 if and when Mike Brown inserts a smaller lineup.
Team Weakness‘:Look, I understand that when you look at the Conspiracy, you don’t see a team that’s overloaded with big name talent. When the lotto spits your team out at #20, there’s only so many ways you can go. My choice was to trade down, acquire the BPA, and then decide who to build around and who I had to match up with in the Division.
Another weakness is that we have a very limited post up game in LA. The points will have to come from the exterior. However, although Ibaka lacks an imposing post game, his jump shot has improved notably and is now an effective part of his arsenal. O’Neal and Jordan can contribute offensively, but most of their points will come from under the basket/open jump shots/offensive rebounds.
Why This All Works:Efficiency in the backcourt, true veteran leadership, team defensive principals, CHEMISTRY!!The first thing I knew I had to take care of was matchups. The Conspiracy are in the same Division as arguably the two best players in basketball in Dirk and ‘Bron. With that in mind, I decided to acquire individuals who could mitigate their damage while taking advantage of lesser players on their wing.
What did we come up with? The acquisition of Stephen Jackson and Ronnie Brewer were designed with LeBron in mind, with guys like Leonard and Biyombo also there to throw at him. In 23 games against each other, LeBron has certainly “got his” against Jax, as he does against everyone; however, Jackson has made life difficult on many occasions for James. In the 24 games they’ve matched up, James has shot the ball 47% from the field and 32% from 3. Though Jackson gets it right back on the other end from James, Jackson has still hit 35% from distance. The splits of 25/6/6 for James versus 18/5/3 for Jackson shows that Jax holds his own in that battle, despite the historic discrepancy between the surrounding talent for both men. Add in that Jax now has two elite-level shot blockers/help defenders in Ibaka and Jordan, and another solid helper in O’Neal, and I’m confident that Jax will battle James at an even higher level.
Brewer has been largely overlooked as one of the best defenders in the game. Period. According to Defensive EV (incorporating all forced turnovers, defensive errors, field goal percentage against and defensive rebounds), Brewer is far away the best SG defensively, and is ranked 4th in all of the NBA. Again, add in that Serge Ibaka and DeAndre Jordan finished 1st and 6th in blocks/48, respectively, and it’s clear to see that no drive is safe in LA.
One of the Conspiracy’s greatest assets is in its depth of defenders. Once Leonard and Biyombo round into form, you have two more freak athletes who can make life nightmarish for opponents. The following are excerpts from an article penned by HoopsWorld, titled “2011 NBA Draft: Top Defenders:”
“Biyombo plays with great intensity on every possession and is a competitor in the truest sense of the word. His 7-7 wingspan (you read that correctly), non-stop motor, outstanding strength and explosive leaping ability combine to make the Congolese big man a presence as on the ball defender, a weakside shot-blocker and on the glass.”
“Leonard earns his keep on the defensive end of the of the court, where he uses his long (7-3 wing span), sturdy frame, tremendous athleticism and huge, quick hands to pester opposing players at multiple positions. Leonard is a tireless worker on the defensive end of the floor, fighting through screens while showing the ability to switch and defend any the two, three or four spots. He ranked amongst the best rebounders in the country this year, using his nose for the ball, extremely high energy level and ability to get off the floor, particularly on his second jump, quickly.”
Where the scoring comes from:Lawson/Martin: THE OVERLOOKED!!!Lawson cracked the top-40 in net production amongst all qualified players, all while tied for 4th fewest min% of the top 40. Is this production due to limited usage? Post all-star break Lawson started all 25 games, and in just 7 more min per game starting he improved ppg by 4 and asts by over 3. FT% jumped 10 points, 3pt% jumped to 42%, FG% improved to 51%.
Final two months of season where he started every game he put up 16/8/3 and 14/6/4, while shooting 40% and 55% from 3’s, respectively. Oh and the Nugs won 18 of 25 games during that period.
His starter/reserve splits are even more dramatic - as a reserve his numbers were impressively efficient but not particularly overwhelming. However, his starter averages are straight ridiculous. 31 games as a starter he put up a 14/7/4 line while shooting 51% from the field and 44% from 3. All this after a huge roster shakeup and role change.
For those that would still argue the “limited exposure” theory, his minute splits prove that Lawson was dramatically more efficient when he plays between 30-39 minutes per game.
Playoff numbers were still foolishly efficient. 16/4/4 per game while shooting 50% from the field and 46% from 3 - all while going up against one of the more feared defensive pgs in the game in Westbrook. Westbrook’s scoring numbers were higher, but not better. Lawson held Westbrook to 40% and 30% from the field/3s, respectively, and posting a 4/1 asst/to ratio compared to Westbrook’s 3/2 ratio.
Bottom line - ALL of the hard evidence we have on Lawson indicates that, had he been given the opportunity to run a team for a whole season, his PER and splits would’ve been up there with the top half-dozen pgs in the NBA. He deserves to be recognized as one of the most efficient point guards in the game today.
The word of the day continues to be “efficient.” If you thought Lawson was impressive just look at Kevin martin. Simply put, Martin has been one of the NBA’s most efficient scorers in the last 30 years. He’s the only player who has shot 40 percent from beyond the 3-point line and averaged eight made free-throws a game in the course of an entire season. And he has done it in two of his six NBA seasons. Though he’s had the injury bug a few times, in 2010/11 he played in 80 games and finished the season with the 15th best net production and 20th best simple rating in the entire nba. Fact is this kid has been straight overlooked in the basketball world for his entire career due to the teams he’s played on. Manu Ginobili will certainly go back and forth with Martin, but as for Matthews and Young? Forget about it.
Martin: 29 ppg/4apg/4rpg/44% from 3/ 54%fg
Matthews: 9ppg/2apg/2rpg/23% from 3/ 33%fg
Martin: 31ppg/2ast/4rpg/50fg/57%from3
Young: 7ppg/ .3ast/2rpg/46fg/20%from3
Now I understand that Martin’s minutes have far exceeded Young's, but there’s no way that Martin doesn’t run WILD in this Division. Pair him with Lawson and you have the most dangerous backcourt in the Division. Now take that top backcourt, add in a 20ppg scorer in Jax, and then place behind it one of the best groupings of big men help-defenders and you have a team that will not only survive the Division, but should find itself with a shiny playoff seed.
THUG LIFE!!!
Topic: CB Draft 2011 Pacific Division Press Conferences (Read 39564 times)