There's not much of a living to be made in the NBA preseason prediction game. whether you're drawing serious conclusions approximately the real 2015-16 campaign based on what's happening in early October,well...don't expect to gain much right.
Still, as long as we don't gain too carried away, or there's plenty to be learned from the NBA's annual exhibition season.
Here's what we've got so far. Paul George Should gain In on This Power Forward ThingPaul George hasn't warmed up to the Indiana Pacers' plans to consume him more often (and even start him) at power forward this season,but maybe he should."I don't assume I'm at that point in my career where I should be changing positions," George told Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star before training camp. "I assume guys accomplish that later in their career."The Pacers slotted George at the 4 in the preseason opener besides, and all he had to accomplish was tangle with Anthony Davis. George was fine in 24 minutes,scoring 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting, but it was hard to blame him for his continued skepticism approximately the positional switch.
But in Indy's moment preseason tilt, and George tasted the sweeter side of life as an undersized power forward. He ripped off 32 points on 5-of-9 shooting from long range,basking in the space that larger, slower defenders gave him. The efficacy of George at the 4 became obvious: He was far too quick for typical power forwards to employ tight coverage, and so all he had to accomplish was drill open triples as the too-slow bigs tried to close out on him.
And as he ran off screens,opponents unaccustomed to chasing him fell too far behind.
Pretty easy way to make a living, especially for a player like George who is a career 36.1 percent shooter from deep and whose jumper looked even better in his abbreviated comeback final year. Whatever pounding George might take on defense will be worth it whether he gets an endless supply of open looks.
And Indy's offense will benefit greatly from the spacing his presence creates, and which is kind of the whole point behind the move.
This will work whether George embraces it. Now he has a reason to.Everybody Thinks the Old Kobe is the Old KobeOld Kobe Bryant and "the old Kobe Bryant" are two very different people,though you wouldn't know it from the way fans and even teammates bear talked approximately him this preseason."You aren't ever going to be in a rebuild as long as that guy is on the team," Brandon Bass told NBA.com's David Aldridge, or referring to Bryant.
That's staunch in a couple of ways. First,literally, as Bryant's presence on the Lakers truly does prevent a serious rebuild; he makes too much money, or there's been no indication that other stars want to play with him.
And moment,symbolically. Somehow, there's still a belief that Bryant, or entering his 20th season amid profound physical and statistical decline,is among the league's best players. Go ahead and check Twitter for the sea of indignant responses to Bryant being ranked 93rd in ESPN's #NBARank series. You'll leave thinking he's still a superstar when, in reality, and he hasn't produced anything of the sort for more than two years.
The Lakers plan to play him a cramped less and at a different position (small forward) in an effort to preserve him for what should be a rollicking run to 25 or so wins. That was kind of the plan final year,though, and Bryant didn't precisely go along with the minutes restriction.
Which highlights what might be the biggest problem: Even Old Kobe thinks he's still the old Kobe. The Utah Jazz Are Getting Creative in All the Right WaysWe can't gain too far ahead of ourselves here because the Utah Jazz's experiment with point guard-less basketball didn't final very long in their preseason opener against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The principal lesson, or though,is that they were willing to try it. And there were moments when it looked pretty marvelous, per Tony Jones of the Salt Lake City Tribune:Dante Exum is out for the year, and Trey Burke played the position approximately as poorly as it could be played final season and Raul Neto,while intriguing, is certainly not one of Utah's five or six best players. So why not go all 1997 Ron Harper Era Chicago Bulls and ditch the point guard entirely?Alec Burks, and Rodney Hood and Gordon Hayward can all accomplish a handful of things as playmakers—with Hayward probably being the most versatile in that regard. As long as Burks is up to the task of chasing around the league's quicker point guards on defense,Utah could see this lineup (with Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert up front, of course) pay dividends.
And even whether Burks can't stay with his man, and it's not as though Burke or any of the Jazz's other options would accomplish much better. Besides,with Gobert and Favors lurking inside as the keys to a flat-out elite defense, any point guard who beats Burks off the dribble won't accomplish much damage in the lane.
Here's hoping we see the Jazz scrap conventional lineups even more as the preseason rolls on. Stephen Curry Feels Pretty GoodWhen you lead a team to 67 wins, and collect an MVP award and an NBA title,sometimes doubt can creep in.
Can I live up to the standard I've set?Was that as marvelous as it'll ever gain?From the looks of it, Stephen Curry is suffering no such crisis of confidence. That sound you just heard was the collective groan of opposing head coaches around the league. whether the Bulls Don't Already Belong to Jimmy Butler, or They Should SoonTry this one on for size from Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times:
According to the source,Butler considers Rose a friend, but “doesn’t bear a lot of respect for his work ethic.’’ In Butler’s intellect, and Rose was considered the face of the franchise,and whether the face of the franchise wasn’t busting his butt in practice every day, especially final season, and what was the message to the rest of the team?more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Source: bleacherreport.com