Nobody is really standing out other than the Lakers. The group below fighting for 2nd seed are close together. So the prediction made by the media that 3 teams were pulling away, did not happen. Blazers were mostly just 4th or 5th with Nurkic, then got lucky with the 3rd seed after Nurkic went down last year. Good yet not impressive.
I don't think I ever clearly understood why things didn't work out between Melo and the Rockets. D'Antony said that he did all that was asked of him. Melo didn't say anything bad about the team, or other players. No players said anything bad about him. What was the problem? When he signed with us I was curious to see if he still had some game. Clearly, he does, though maybe not as much as he used to. So, what was the problem?
The problem was he tried very hard on defense but just wasn't good at it, but more so, quite simply, we kept on losing. It was also a huge misfire to think he could somehow replace Ariza & a healthy Luc's impact on winning. Had we added Melo without losing wing defense and talent, things might have been different. But he still isn't that good. He's not impacting winning in a significant way.
The Lakers are a weird #1 seed, they beat the tar, out of above average to lottery-ville teams, yet struggle against some contenders, like The Clippers, Celtics, and Bucs. But, they don't have trouble with us, Nuggets, Heat, and Trailblazers/Jazz. The Bucs kinda are too, but not as much.
Lakers are pretty much playing their best. Clippers are operating at like 70%. And the rest of the teams in the NBA usually play in that 85% range in the regular season when they aren't tanking.
Thought it would be a good time to check in on our boy. Looks like he is 373rd in TS% Among those with a 22% USG% and literally not drafted this year 63rd of 63rd in TS% https://stats.nba.com/players/advan...E*22&Season=2019-20&SeasonType=Regular Season
Worst efficiency season of his career. Is the black balled theory still out there? Or have those idiots finally accepted that no he just sucks and no team that wants to do any kind of winning would want him?
According to RPM he is 155th. Not that bad but I’ve still yet to see teams target him. Like they did in OKC in the playoffs. You can pick and roll him to death!
His advanced numbers are worse than his last year with the Thunder. Worse PER, worse TS%, worse EFG%, etc He has the worst offensive rating and worst defensive rating of his career. NBA media treats him like a make a wish kid whenever he has a somewhat decent performance. The blazers were not good before him, and he didn't make them better. They're struggling to just be an 8th seed. So why would any contender want him again?