2013 CB Draft: Pacific Division Press Conferences

[The Walker Wiggle]

Question for the Warriors? You've got a pair of excellent guards both coming off ACL surgery, Rajon Rondo and Lou Williams. Can you give us a sense of where both stand in their rehab? Also a look at the rotation you'll use if neither is ready for the start of the season?

[rondoallaturca]

Lakers:  You have a solid starting lineup, but most of the players have some kind of deficiency or flaw in their games (LMAM shooting, Dirk+Calderon defense).  Who would you say is your most important reserve, and how will you integrate them with starting players to counter teams that can exploit weaknesses at key positions?

I have already addressed the perceived flaws of LRMAM, Dirk, and Calderon, so I'll go ahead and answer your second question.

There really is no particular "sixth man" on this team simply because of how versatile the bench is. Delfino/QP solid 3&D guys who can play both SG and SF. Barea is a great change-of-pace guard off the bench, but like I mentioned earlier, he is a great PG fill-in if Calderon gets hurt. Davis can play both PF/C which allows O'Neal to stay rested for the postseason, although O'Neal seemingly found the fountain of youth last year by playing a solid 18.7 minutes off the bench for Phoenix. If you go really deep on our bench, you'll find three youngsters (MCW, Lamb, Olynyk) who all figure to have prominent roles for their teams this upcoming year, but we have the luxury to keep them as third-stringers who will see garbage minutes in blowout games.

[rondoallaturca]

So if i'm reading that right, LRMAM held Lebron to pretty much his season averages?

Less attempts, less points, worse 3-point shooting, more turnovers... Not quite.

[Rondo2287]

So if i'm reading that right, LRMAM held Lebron to pretty much his season averages?

Less attempts, less points, worse 3-point shooting, more turnovers... Not quite.

But effectively the same assists, and rebounds and better shooting percentages on non-3 pointers.  Also, I don't find a reduction from 25 ppg to 22 to be noteworthy. 

[Roy H.]

Question for all GMs:

Here are my preliminary rankings of the Western Conference.  Where should I have your team, realistically?

1.  Dallas
2. Houston
3. Portland
4. Oklahoma City
5. Minnesota
6. Golden State
7. LA Lakers
8. San Antonio
9.  LA Clippers
10. Denver
11. Memphis
12. Phoenix

(Phoenix will move up in my final standings, because I can't imagine a Tim Duncan team would ever rank last.)

[Who]

Pacific Division

(1) LA Lakers
(2) Golden State Warriors
(3) Phoenix Suns
(4) LA Clippers

[rondoallaturca]

I do.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&p1=mbahalu01&y1=2013&p2=allento01&y2=2013

        Allen    LRMAM
FG    .445  >  .401
3pt   .125  <  .351  <-- not really a point of discussion; TA only took 24 3s last year
TS    .489   >  .447
eFG   .447  >  .418
OWS   1.0   >  -0.8

Say what you will about TA offensively, but he isn't a liability. He doesn't help much, but he does help. LRMAM hurts (at least by looking at OWS).

Yoki was discussing shot percentage by distance, and there certainly isn't much difference there. Allen is a superior scorer around the rim (at a much higher volume, hence the disparity in shooting statistics), but both are similar in the mid-range game, while LRMAM is definitely superior at the 3-point shot (LRMAM attempted 41 to Allen's 32). Furthermore, LRMAM's percentages were significantly below career averages last season. When looking at their career statistics, Allen's offensive superiority isn't so superior anymore.

[rondoallaturca]

So if i'm reading that right, LRMAM held Lebron to pretty much his season averages?

Less attempts, less points, worse 3-point shooting, more turnovers... Not quite.

But effectively the same assists, and rebounds and better shooting percentages on non-3 pointers.  Also, I don't find a reduction from 25 ppg to 22 to be noteworthy.

Keep in mind we're talking about the best player in the league right now who is an absolute physical specimen. For me, the difference in stats is pretty significant; I don't think anyone realistically expects a guy to be able to stop Lebron by 5+ points. Furthermore, his ASTs were constant, but his AST/TO ratio went down the drain. Rebounding really isn't relevant considering we're discussing LRMAM's defensive impact on Lebron's offensive game. The FG% is the only thing against LRMAM's case right now, but again, LRMAM did an excellent job containing his perimeter game which forced Lebron to drive in. It's a good idea in theory considering Sanders is down low, but he got himself into a lot of foul trouble, hence the high FG% - I can hardly blame LRMAM for this. In addition, Lebron was assisted on 45.9% of his attempts in the Milwaukee series, compared to 40.1% in the regular season. LRMAM definitely impacted Lebron to some extent.

[rondoallaturca]

Question for all GMs:

Here are my preliminary rankings of the Western Conference.  Where should I have your team, realistically?

1.  Dallas
2. Houston
3. Portland
4. Oklahoma City
5. Minnesota
6. Golden State
7. LA Lakers
8. San Antonio
9.  LA Clippers
10. Denver
11. Memphis
12. Phoenix

(Phoenix will move up in my final standings, because I can't imagine a Tim Duncan team would ever rank last.)

Well, the fact that you have us as division champs would automatically make us a top 4 seed. Semantics aside and talking about talent alone, I would still put the Lakers as a top 4 team in the West, if not higher. Come playoff time, I'd put us as a top 4 team in the entire league with a very real chance of winning it all. The Lakers figure to have a top 10 offense AND defense, and I can't say the same for many of the teams you've listed above us. I would go more in-depth but I don't want to start shifting the focus of the discussion here towards other teams. Perhaps I  could answer more specific questions you have about our team that holds us back as a lowly 7th seed?

[KGs Knee]

So who is the starting SF in GS?

[BigAlTheFuture]

So who is the starting SF in GS?

Brandon Rush? I think.

[Roy H.]

Well, the fact that you have us as division champs would automatically make us a top 4 seed.

Just to clear this up, in terms of voting I think we vote based upon how we think the teams would finish.  Then, nick takes the averages, and if a division winner needs to be moved up to a top-four seed, they will be.  Our individual rankings ignore divisions, though.

Perhaps I  could answer more specific questions you have about our team that holds us back as a lowly 7th seed?

I guess a lot of my opinion is based around a belief that Dirk has faded as an elite player. 

[rondoallaturca]

I guess a lot of my opinion is based around a belief that Dirk has faded as an elite player.

Well, it depends on your definition of an "elite" player, but I'll tentatively agree with you. His days of being a top-tier 25ppg scorer are long over. However, look at the rest of the roster, and tell me our offense can't get by with Dirk scoring just 18-20 each night.

[BleedGreen1989]

I guess a lot of my opinion is based around a belief that Dirk has faded as an elite player.

Well, it depends on your definition of an "elite" player, but I'll tentatively agree with you. His days of being a top-tier 25ppg scorer are long over. However, look at the rest of the roster, and tell me our offense can't get by with Dirk scoring just 18-20 each night.

I will kind of agree as well with the days of Dirk dominating through the regular season winding down. He will do what is smart and take it easy through the regular season.

However when playoffs roll around, I have no doubt Dirk can be counted on heavily when it really matters. The great thing is though, like RA alluded to, he won't need to put this team solely on his back for it to advance. The rest of this roster is perfectly capable of filling in the gaps when Dirk scores 18-20 points and grabs 5-7 rebounds (very realistic numbers IMO).

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Why must all of you guys beat me to the questions I want to ask? 

My other question for the Lakers is this...

LRMM is offensively deficient. According to Hoopdata, Mbah a Moute shoots 34% from 3-9 feet, 30.8% from 10-15 feet, and 30% from 16-23 feet. Those numbers suggest that it's safe to leave him open out on the field and double on Dirk with opposing SF's to contain him better. And while he shoots 50% at the rim (hoopdata) his assists (0.9/game) numbers suggest that he's not a sound passer, and teams would just quickly rotate on him in case he gets a pass down low.

The question is how to battle such strategy? If team would say "ah let's let LRMM beat us with his shooting" and double on Dirk most of the time, what's the counter strike?

Easy. The answer? There is no counter strike.

Look at the shooting stats for LRMAM you just posted, and compare those with another defensive specialist like Tony Allen. Do you see a difference? I don't. Fact of the matter is LRMAM's defensive contributions - as highlighted in the presser and my response to Lucky17 - far outweigh his offensive ineptitude. Besides the point, he is surrounded by one of the best floor spacing units in the league, something you can't say for Tony Allen's Grizzlies.

More importantly, LRMAM is only a starter by name. Make no mistake about that. In key game situations, we have Delfino and Pondexter who can fully maximize the potency of our team. Just consider our lineup with Delfino/QP instead of LRMAM... How do you guard it?

So the Lakers won't mind every team double teaming Dirk and leaving him open because he can't, well, shoot when he's on the floor? That might be hard for Dirk, and for the Lakers offense, unless he's only playing limited minutes. And as good of a defensive player he is, no minutes = no impact.

So again, if he's on the floor with Dirk, teams can leave him alone, let him beat them to make sure Dirk is contained, and the Lakers are fine with that?