SB Nation User Blog: conspirator5

Brandon Roy admits being a "selfish" player. No really.

conspirator5 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:44:04 -0000

I know Eddie ~~Jordan's~~ Johnson's Hoopshype blog entry has generated both backlash and some wicked sarcasm in the fanposts, and I do think it might just just a bit excessive to throw one more log onto the fire, but Eddie said something way down in the comments in a reply to something I said that I think bears examination:

Listen, the box score will not prove what i am saying. Roy does not take a ton of shots i agree. What i am saying is that his style of game is to score first and pass second. Compared to Lebron who is a pass first score second player. Now understand this is not a bad thing concerning Roy. It just creates a problem when the scorer has the ball to start the offense. Although Roy would prefer his teammates not stand and watch, they can’t help but do it because all his teammates understand that he is their scorer. so they freeze.

Kobe and Michael went through the same thing and Roy will have to change and play more off the ball with movement. This will make him a great offensive player instead of just a good offensive player. the one thing i know about this game is offense. No player in the history of this league scored more points than me off the bench. i have played with superstars who held the ball and froze teammates and i have played with superstars who played without the ball.

That is why Andre Miller will make them better because when he has the ball those players will not freeze. they will understand when they get open the ball will get to them, but most importantly Roy will find out he will not face a defense leaning to shut him down. Why? because they will not have him in their sights consistently. Why? because defenses target the ball and the ball will not be stuck in his hands all the time.

In reading this, I got to thinking about what Eddie had to say. While I still think it's incorrect for him to describe Roy as "selfish" per se, aren't Eddie's comments quite similar to things we have read about in the past? Here's a bit from a Jquick article on July 27th, 2008, including a quote from B-Roy himself:

And the knock on Roy? He can only make plays when he has the ball in his hands.

"I felt there were times last year ... not that I hurt the team, but I could have been better if I was better off the ball,'' Roy said. "If I was better coming off screens, better at running downcourt ... instead I was looking to get the ball instead of running to the wing.''

And yet, as the season progressed, it seemed like all the people around Brandon were looking for him to increase his scoring volume. Check this article from December 19th, 2008:

Now, he has embraced the role of scorer, yet he worries about the manner in which he is going about it. On Thursday, Roy entered the halftime locker room and asked Shavlik Randolph whether he was being too aggressive, when in essence he was asking whether he was being too selfish. Randolph told him that he should shoot even more.

So here we are more than a year later and we find that some folks at least are still hitting Brandon with a ding that is over a year old. What I'd like to know is, where does this perceived problem come from?

Poll

Brandon Roy is perceived as a selfish player because...

We lack additional players who can initiate the offense. That's what Andre is for.

245 votes

Coach Nate's playbook is unimaginative and relies on isolation plays.

80 votes

You quoted it yourself. It's all Shavlik's fault. Duh.

26 votes

Brandon Roy IS selfish, and rightly so. B-ROY MVP NOW!!!

36 votes

Cuz haterz B hatin on teh intrawebs, and they can't handle our flow.

87 votes

474 votes | Poll has closed

With 4:32 left, Hansbrough called for the ball in the post and converted with the shot clock...

conspirator5 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:49:47 -0000

With 4:32 left, Hansbrough called for the ball in the post and converted with the shot clock running out. "I was in a little foul trouble, so I was thinking more about not fouling than playing," said Hansbrough, apparently unaware of the Greg Oden rule, affording unlimited fouls in summer league games. "I think in the second half I just played basketball."

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-42-29/Tyler-Hansbrough-Gets-a-Taste-of-the-NBA-Court.html

Cap gurus, help me out here. My brain hurts!

conspirator5 — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:11:55 -0000

I have this issue that's been nagging me in the back of my mind ever since the end of the trade deadline, and today's discussion about lopsided trades has brought this nagging to the forefront, like a migrane headache chipping away at my sanity. Here are the building blocks of my condundrum...

1. At the trade deadline, we acquired a $3M trade exception which is only good until the end of the next season.

2. At the trade deadline, we did not divest ourselves of RLEC, which goes a long way towards putting us under the cap in about six weeks or so.

3. As has been repeatedly stated, you cannot combine an exception with cap space. You get one or the other.

Taken at face value, the exception appears to be a total waste of our time. However, I have a hard time believing that all is as it appears because:

4. KP/Penn have a proven track record of being very efficient horse traders. Even trades that aren't necessarily bringing us talent are putting us in a more advantageous position in one way or another.

In other words, I believe that there was some purpose in generating the trade exception that we are not perceiving right now. This is where our in house gurus come into play. What I would like to know is if there is a realistic scenario where we artificially and temporarily keep ourselves above the cap threshold in order to do deal A with the trade exception, and then perform some type of black magic to get ourselves back under the cap in order to execute lopsided deal B. I have read comments that we could fabricate some type of 1 year sweetheart contract with Raef that would exist solely to trade off to someone else. I'm seeing speculation that we could tender a QO to Frye that we could effectively go back on later. There may be other strategies as well. I understand that there are questions of timing as to when league rules allow certain things to be done. If someone can answer this question, preferably including the timeframes such deals would need to be executed in order to work under league rules, that would be awesome. Alternatively, if such an 'A, then B' scenario is implausible, are there any other reasons why KP/Penn would have manufactured an apparently worthless trade exception?

T.O. says "Oh No!" about D-Mo at the Sprite Dunk Contest

conspirator5 — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:39:00 -0000

T.O. says "Oh No!" about D-Mo at the Sprite Dunk Contest

Check out amateur hoopster Dwayne Morris aka D-Mo as he dunks and mugs for the camera on his way to a giant cardboard check and an uber-brief cameo from Mr. Outlaw. A friend of mine in attendence at Pioneer Square this weekend indicated that the Predator was also hanging out that day.

Who referees the referees?

conspirator5 — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:58:39 -0000

Before you say, "Nobody!!!" take a look at the following comment from last Sunday's game against the Raptors:

Everytime says:

I was at the game yesterday and thought that there was a push off.
What is interesting and I don’t know if this is common place or not was that there were two guys sittings two rows behind me who were taking notes and grading the officials. They had NBA pass around their necks and were taking lots of notes during the game.
What caught my attention was a drive during the first half where a Rap was called for a charge on Oden and they noted the time and would review to see “if Oden was in the restricted area or not”.

Now this observation doesn't make it necessarily so that these guys are NBA referee "auditors" or some such. They might be scouts, or some type of video coordinator. My question to the BEdge crowd is this: Have you ever seen guys like this in the seats at the Rose Garden? Is this a hopeful sign for (eventual) improvement in NBA officiating?

The original page can be found here:

http://dimemag.com/2008/12/did-steve-blake-push-off/

Provide your own caption for this photo, explaining why these teens behind Nic are wasting...

conspirator5 — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:37:00 -0000

Provide your own caption for this photo, explaining why these teens behind Nic are wasting perfectly good courtside seats with text messaging.

"I have been given strong, strong, strong indications that the player that will make the Blazer's...

conspirator5 — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:38:42 -0000

"I have been given strong, strong, strong indications that the player that will make the Blazer's roster is Steven hill" - Jason Quick

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