IP Ranks The Pick-Two Teams By Divison (All Divisions Are Up)

[KCattheStripe]

Did you just quote lyrics at me? DID YOU JUST QUOTE GYM CLASS HEROES LYRICS AT ME?!

Your parents must have been trans, you're so see through.

[nickagneta]

One thing with Biyombo - even as a rookie, I think Amare's the type of player that he could play very well against. Biyombo's biggest problem right now is that he doesn't understand how to defend the post in the NBA and has a propensity for getting in foul trouble there.

That's obviously not as big of a problem with Amare, who generally stays away from doing his work on the block. Exactly where Biyombo does his most damage.

I think in the future, that's a real pastability. Right meow, I'm not buying that Biyombo can check Amar'e more than 20% of the time he's asked to.

Right now the only player you need on the floor to check Amare is, well, Amare. He's down in almost every single major statistical category this year except FT% and is only getting worse as over the last 7 games his stats have fallen to:

15.1 PPG, 31.9 MPG, 44.8% FG%, 7.4 RPG, 0.6 BPG, 0.6 SPG

Amare hasn't been close to Amare this year and seems to be spiraling downward as perhaps personal issues and team chemistry issues have effected his game.

If I'm IP, I'm taking this into consideration when looking at playoff matchups.

[indeedproceed]

One thing with Biyombo - even as a rookie, I think Amare's the type of player that he could play very well against. Biyombo's biggest problem right now is that he doesn't understand how to defend the post in the NBA and has a propensity for getting in foul trouble there.

That's obviously not as big of a problem with Amare, who generally stays away from doing his work on the block. Exactly where Biyombo does his most damage.

I think in the future, that's a real pastability. Right meow, I'm not buying that Biyombo can check Amar'e more than 20% of the time he's asked to.

Right now the only player you need on the floor to check Amare is, well, Amare. He's down in almost every single major statistical category this year except FT% and is only getting worse as over the last 7 games his stats have fallen to:

15.1 PPG, 31.9 MPG, 44.8% FG%, 7.4 RPG, 0.6 BPG, 0.6 SPG

Amare hasn't been close to Amare this year and seems to be spiraling downward as perhaps personal issues and team chemistry issues have effected his game.

If I'm IP, I'm taking this into consideration when looking at playoff matchups.

If you guys ever wonder who that (and 1 guest) is looking at the 2011 CB Playoffs thread...its Nick, just HATIN' on Amare.

I think that on the Magic, with that personnel, Amare should be rockin. But I'm a fan of Amare.

[indeedproceed]

Match-UP # 5:

Thunder (2, H) V Clippers (7, A)
Mike Conley Jr V Chris Paul
Andre Iguodala V Anthony Morrow
Kevin Durant V Danny Green
Luis Scola V Blake Griffin
Chris Kaman V Zaza Pachulia
-Bench-
Kirk Hinrich V DJ Augustine/Toney (Tony, Tone) Douglas
Delfino V Bill Walker, Wayne Ellington
Tobias Harris V Jerebko
Hansbrough/Maxiell V Jamison
Kanter V Okur

Key Matchup: Mike Conley Jr V Chris Paul
It’s a win for Chris Paul, but not the overwhelming victory one may think. While Mike Conley Jr. is still struggling to establish himself even among the ‘respected starters’ in the NBA, let alone elite PG’s, he’s of a size with CP3, he’s stronger, and he’s more athletic. The two have faced off quite often in their careers, and while the resurgence last season for the Grizzlies established them as a (when healthy) elite defensive team, Mike Conley has been pretty solid defensively for around 2-3 years now. And, against Chris Paul, he seems to do well. Not spectacular, but 16 pts, 11 assists, and 44% shooting (Paul is a career 48% shooter), while Conley chips in 10 pts of his own.

Key Matchup: Andre Iguodala V Anthony Morrow
This one is only important because of how much of a landslide the Thunder win it by. Anthony Morrow, that man can shoot. He can shoot the lights out, and hide til its bright out…if you let him. Iggy will not let him. Anthony Morrow is in for a long, painful series in which the only open shots he’ll have is when Iggy sags off to play all-NBA caliber help defense on the wing. Iggy’s gonna deprive Morrow of open buckets on offense, and he’s gonna work him over on defense. Against other teams, Iggy would take their most potent perimeter threat, against these guys, he’s got a bit of a loss, cuz he’s not going to face up CP3, and he’s not going to care about Danny Green. I guess he could cover Danny Green, but so could Durant. Which brings us to…

Key Matchup: Kevin Durant V Danny Green
Now don’t get me wrong; I think Danny Green is a player. I think he’s useful, I think he’s a great first wing off the bench, and I think he fits in just about any team out there pretty well. But, one of Green’s biggest attributes is his size against 2’s (where he has played most of his minutes). No matter whether he plays Durant or Iggy, he’s outclassed size-wise, and athletically. Kevin Durant, on the other hand, is the best scorer in basketball, and one of its more underrated defenders. Danny Green is about to get worked over.

Key Matchup: Blake Griffin V Luis Scola
Blake Griffin will score on Scola, and if history is any indicator, it will be at a rate just under 50%. Scola will score on Blake, and if history is any indicator, its will be at a rate just under 50%. The biggest advantage is that Blake will rebound far, far better than Scola will. Neither one is a particularly gifted passer, neither one is a defensive anchor, and neither one will expose the other one to foul issues. Its not a wash; Griffin will score better, and he’ll get to the line more, and since he’s the second scoring option, he’ll probably be hovering somewhere around 23-25PPG, while Scola (the 3rd, or 4th scoring option) will be hovering around 13ppg, Blake Griffin is also not going to win this series for LA on his own merits here. He doesn’t stop Scola, and Scola doesn’t stop him.

Other Blake Griffin Key Matchup: Blake Griffin V the Thunder Bench (Hansbrough/Maxiell)
Blake Griffin is gonna play 40 minutes per game. Count on it. Scola won’t be doing that, especially with the quality on the Thunder’s bench. Well, I say quality, because against just about any other team, that’s what they are; they’re quality depth. But neither of these guys can hold Griffin’s jock if they have to cover him. You’re talking 60% shooting, with a yuge rebound differential.

Other Matchups: Bench, Chris Kaman and Zaza
Chris Kaman has historically been a better player than Zaza. This season, their stats are virtually identical, and I’m just going to ignore them for the most part. They’ll sort themselves out. The Thunder hold a huge advantage in bench depth, especially at the point and the swing positions. Jerebko (and I’m a fan) isn’t a real SF, at least not for more than 5-10 minutes a night. Danny Green is gonna need a lot more than 5-10 minutes a night of rest, especially when he’s fouling Durant just to get him to stop making it rain. Delfino (SG/SF) and Hinrich (PG/SG) are both excellent depth, and Kanter backing up Kaman (and likely Scola, I’m sure ol Luis sees some time at the 5) is huge boon over Okur. I’m sure that Antawn Jamison will see the floor, but it won’t be for enough time for me to feel one way or another about him.

How I See It Goin Down: Iggy/Durant are just too much for the Clippers, and the talent differential at the 2/3 is just too big to overcome with the ‘wins’ the Clips have at the PG/PF (where the differential is much smaller, by comparision).

Thunder in 6.

[nickagneta]

I consider Amare to be the derrick Coleman of our time. He'll score you points. He'll get you some rebounds though probably not nearly as many as he should. But he won't even passable defense and he doesn't make any team he is on significantly better or a bigger threat in the playoffs.

In Phoenix, I give more credit to Nash, Marion, Johnson, Barbosa, Bell and Diaw for making that the team it was than I do Amare. I mean come on. A guy that big, long, strong, athletic and tall and he can only average over 9.1 RPG once in his entire career?

Amare Stoudemire = Derrick Coleman

[indeedproceed]

I consider Amare to be the derrick Coleman of our time. He'll score you points. He'll get you some rebounds though probably not nearly as many as he should. But he won't even passable defense and he doesn't make any team he is on significantly better or a bigger threat in the playoffs.

In Phoenix, I give more credit to Nash, Marion, Johnson, Barbosa, Bell and Diaw for making that the team it was than I do Amare. I mean come on. A guy that big, long, strong, athletic and tall and he can only average over 9.1 RPG once in his entire career?

Amare Stoudemire = Derrick Coleman

You're crazy with that 'doesn't make the team he's on significantly better' stuff.

Or did you miss NY going from 29-53 to 42-40?

Maybe you missed how Phoenix went from 54-28 to 40-42?

Ed Lover called, you know what he said?

[StartOrien]

I consider Amare to be the derrick Coleman of our time. He'll score you points. He'll get you some rebounds though probably not nearly as many as he should. But he won't even passable defense and he doesn't make any team he is on significantly better or a bigger threat in the playoffs.

In Phoenix, I give more credit to Nash, Marion, Johnson, Barbosa, Bell and Diaw for making that the team it was than I do Amare. I mean come on. A guy that big, long, strong, athletic and tall and he can only average over 9.1 RPG once in his entire career?

Amare Stoudemire = Derrick Coleman

You're crazy with that 'doesn't make the team he's on significantly better' stuff.

Or did you miss NY going from 29-53 to 42-40?

Maybe you missed how Phoenix went from 54-28 to 40-42?

Ed Lover called, you know what he said?

Not sure those numbers are accurate. The 42-40 reflects a lot of Wilson Chandler.

[nickagneta]

I consider Amare to be the derrick Coleman of our time. He'll score you points. He'll get you some rebounds though probably not nearly as many as he should. But he won't even passable defense and he doesn't make any team he is on significantly better or a bigger threat in the playoffs.

In Phoenix, I give more credit to Nash, Marion, Johnson, Barbosa, Bell and Diaw for making that the team it was than I do Amare. I mean come on. A guy that big, long, strong, athletic and tall and he can only average over 9.1 RPG once in his entire career?

Amare Stoudemire = Derrick Coleman

You're crazy with that 'doesn't make the team he's on significantly better' stuff.

Or did you miss NY going from 29-53 to 42-40?

Maybe you missed how Phoenix went from 54-28 to 40-42?

Ed Lover called, you know what he said?

I also remember Phoenix going from 55 wins to 46 wins in a season with Amare there and when he got hurt the team playing as well without him as it did with him.

Also that season they lost Amare is the year Phoenix decided to replace him with garbage and they still won 40 games. Had they replaced him with someone of even mediocre talent they would have won more.

I stand by my statement Amare = Derrick Coleman

[indeedproceed]

So you're pointing to 1 year (05/06) when Steve Nash was an MVP and a lot of guys (Shawn Marion, Barbosa, Diaw, etc..) posted career seasons, and another transition year (the 55 to 46) where Amare only played 53 games as proof that he's Derrick Coleman, and you're chalking up the Suns posting their first losing season since 03-04 (and well on their way to posting a second straight one), and the Knicks posting their first playoff appearance in the same time (03-04) as just happy coincidence?

Doesn't hold water, nick.

[StartOrien]

So you're pointing to 1 year (05/06) when Steve Nash was an MVP and a lot of guys (Shawn Marion, Barbosa, Diaw, etc..) posted career seasons, and another transition year (the 55 to 46) where Amare only played 53 games as proof that he's Derrick Coleman, and you're chalking up the Suns posting their first losing season since 03-04 (and well on their way to posting a second straight one), and the Knicks posting their first playoff appearance in the same time (03-04) as just happy coincidence?

Doesn't hold water, nick.

While I'm an Amare supporter as well, I don't know how you can be so passive of this evidence. It's certainly a solid point, and does make you question his impact.

[indeedproceed]

So you're pointing to 1 year (05/06) when Steve Nash was an MVP and a lot of guys (Shawn Marion, Barbosa, Diaw, etc..) posted career seasons, and another transition year (the 55 to 46) where Amare only played 53 games as proof that he's Derrick Coleman, and you're chalking up the Suns posting their first losing season since 03-04 (and well on their way to posting a second straight one), and the Knicks posting their first playoff appearance in the same time (03-04) as just happy coincidence?

Doesn't hold water, nick.

While I'm an Amare supporter as well, I don't know how you can be so passive of this evidence. It's certainly a solid point, and does make you question his impact.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.

In one year where he played 53 games, they lost more games than the previous season, and in 1 year where he was hurt (and only 23 years old), they played really well because the supporting cast all came together.

Nobody is knocking Steve Nash and his brilliance (he was brilliant that year), but Amare Stoudemire makes teams better.

[StartOrien]

So you're pointing to 1 year (05/06) when Steve Nash was an MVP and a lot of guys (Shawn Marion, Barbosa, Diaw, etc..) posted career seasons, and another transition year (the 55 to 46) where Amare only played 53 games as proof that he's Derrick Coleman, and you're chalking up the Suns posting their first losing season since 03-04 (and well on their way to posting a second straight one), and the Knicks posting their first playoff appearance in the same time (03-04) as just happy coincidence?

Doesn't hold water, nick.

While I'm an Amare supporter as well, I don't know how you can be so passive of this evidence. It's certainly a solid point, and does make you question his impact.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.

In one year where he played 53 games, they lost more games than the previous season, and in 1 year where he was hurt (and only 23 years old), they played really well because the supporting cast all came together.

Nobody is knocking Steve Nash and his brilliance (he was brilliant that year), but Amare Stoudemire makes teams better.

I'm absolutely being serious.

[indeedproceed]

So you're pointing to 1 year (05/06) when Steve Nash was an MVP and a lot of guys (Shawn Marion, Barbosa, Diaw, etc..) posted career seasons, and another transition year (the 55 to 46) where Amare only played 53 games as proof that he's Derrick Coleman, and you're chalking up the Suns posting their first losing season since 03-04 (and well on their way to posting a second straight one), and the Knicks posting their first playoff appearance in the same time (03-04) as just happy coincidence?

Doesn't hold water, nick.

While I'm an Amare supporter as well, I don't know how you can be so passive of this evidence. It's certainly a solid point, and does make you question his impact.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.

In one year where he played 53 games, they lost more games than the previous season, and in 1 year where he was hurt (and only 23 years old), they played really well because the supporting cast all came together.

Nobody is knocking Steve Nash and his brilliance (he was brilliant that year), but Amare Stoudemire makes teams better.

I'm absolutely being serious.

So you believe that Amare Stoudemire didn't bring significant value to the Phoenix Suns and NYK?

[StartOrien]

So you believe that Amare Stoudemire didn't bring significant value to the Phoenix Suns and NYK?

I believe that there's enough data to support that he might not bring as much value as one might think. I know that sounds like an on the fence answer, but I guess that's where I am.

I've seen him dominate games and play incredible. But there's certainly some evidence to support that the pluses might not outweigh the negatives. Even with a strong supporting cast, if he's as elite as we seem to think, you'd think that there would be a bigger impact overall.

[Lucky17]

Wow, that Thunder-Clippers matchup would be fun to watch, I think.

I was surprised to see Griffin's numbers vs. Maxiell and Hansbrough, because my initial thought was to give them lots of minutes to wear Griffin down physically.