Damn, seems like they have half dozen of what would you expect to be street clothes/end of bunch fillers :lol Yeah, Carlisle can do so much, tbh..They are missing the playoffs barring some major midseason trade..
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Pelicans can sneak into the west top 6. Davis can make another leap, especially defensively , into a legit young Duncan type impact player. With a proven bench mind in Gentry, that version of Davis can push a healthy Pels roster to 56+ wins.
Yea, I missed that. But I don't see Davis doing more defensively. He was about as elite as it gets last season. I meant offensively. If AD developed more on the post (ala Olajuwon/McHale) and/or made a wing shot fade away from 19 ft more consistently (ala Bird/Jordan), then it's feasible.
Offensively he's already hovering around 30 PER, so not much he can do other than refinement. Defensively, he has the tools to become a DJ level rim protector and DPOY candidate. A singular go-to offensive move combined with a DJ impact on D will get his team into semi-contention.
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Spurs
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Thunder
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Grizzlies
Pelicans
Jazz
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You wouldn't think so from a statistical P.O.V. And who knows, maybe he has maxed out in that regard. But I just felt teams were able to bottle him up and that he wasn't as lucid as the stats reflect. I felt like he was often forced to defer to players, who would make low percentage plays when he could have made a quick move and got to his spot on a fadeaway. He's got the length and hops that it can't be defended. But he doesn't shoot those shots with Dirk confidence or even KG confidence. Rather his key offensive strengths are in other areas.
BTW.... Clippers are lame. Who introduces FA's that were with the team on the prior year?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2k2PLLY5RA
Hey, they thought he was a Mav for 5 days... We'd reinroduce Tim too had he verbally committed to Orlando and then reneged, heh.
Lots of issues with those guys alone, tbh. Stephenson is an x-factor. But I have to wonder if Pierce is getting too old to really do the job in so many minutes. KL could carve him up at both ends of the floor.
Warriors are the real threat, imo. But I think the Spurs beat the Warriors four out of five times in a series, so I'm feeling good about that all the same.
KL having to check Pierce is a victory for the Clippers to start.
Swap this year's playoff Barnes for playoff Pierce and Clippers win easier. Who does Parker cover on D? Who do leave to help on Blake in the high post?
Because Parker has to cover Paul or JJ, and not just only worry about Barnes' inconsistent spotups. Put him on PP, and it's murder in the post. When Blake goes 1-1 from the high post against any of our bigs, where does the help come from?
I think Houston has peaked tbh.