SB Nation User Blog: ghost_ride

Playing Coach

ghost_ride — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 06:52:57 -0000

In the wake of the trade, it's going to be really interesting to see what kind of lineups Dunleavy goes with. The two main issues now are filling the shooting guard spot, and balancing the big three PF/C's.

As of right now, I'm fine with letting Eric Gordon develop at his natural position that the trade left wide open. There will be some growing pains, but he's shown he can get to the line (and make his free throws), and gives a good effort on D.

As for the big three; Randolph, Kaman, Camby. We have three above average bigs now, and the only feeling I have right now without the benefit of seeing them play together is that Camby should come off the bench to start since his minutes need to be limited anyway. I'm open to whatever works, but here's how I'd divy up the playing time (on average) going forward:

PG: Baron(34), Taylor(12), Hart (2)

SG: Gordon(30), Taylor/New Guy/Whoever else we pick up(18)

SF: Thornton(33), Randolph(10), Novak(5)

PF: Randolph(24), Camby(14), Skinner/P.Davis(10)

C: Kaman(34), Camby(16)

*Ship Ricky Davis out of town ASAP!

Sunday - Josh Howard Questionable

ghost_ride — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:05:00 -0000

How about a win on Sunday? I had a feeling we'd get on the board last night, but Dallas is a much softer opponent, and it looks like they may be at a severe disadvantage with Josh Howard limited.

From the Dallas Morning News: http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/11/josh-howard-injures-wrist.html

The Mavs haven't looked very good anyway, but if he doesn't play this could go a long way towards helping us get our first victory. He's easily their 2nd best player, and they really don't have a lot of options on offense, unlike the Lakers, Jazz, & Rockets.

Poll

Will the Clippers win or lose on Sunday, and by how much?

Clippers win in a blowout

1 votes

Clippers win by around 10

9 votes

Clippers win in a tight one

8 votes

Dallas wins. (a loss is a loss)

2 votes

20 votes | Poll has closed

Rotoworld.com

ghost_ride — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:30:26 -0000

A great place for sports news. I've been using this site for the last few years as I'm sure many of you claim it as well. But today I saw (for the first time) them list Clipsnation as a news source. Pretty cool...

Marcus Camby-F/C- Clippers

Nov. 3 - 9:44 am et

Marcus Camby (bruised heel) is questionable for Monday's game against the Jazz, while Baron Davis (hip) is still doubtful.
Camby's has a reputation for excrutiating game-time decisions, but he has been targeting this game for his return all along. With four games on the slate it's probably safe to roll with the Camby-man. Source: ClipsNation.com

2nd Unit Dream Team

ghost_ride — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:04:42 -0000

I think we can pretty much agree that last night the 2nd unit looked miserable beyond belief. What changes would you make?

One thing I'd like to see is leadership. Hart doesn't have that. Taylor has more energy than leadership, so I think Mobley has to be out there to lead it. He can start the game, and play half the time with the 1st unit, and then come in to lead the 2nd unit. That said, here's my ideal 2nd unit.

PG- Mike Taylor

SG-Eric Gordon

SF-Cuttino Mobley

PF-Tim Thomas (Once Camby gets back)

C-DeAndre Jordan

Starters:

PG-Baron Davis

SG-Ricky Davis

SF-Al Thornton

PF-Chris Kaman

C-Marcus Camby

76ers - Eastern Conference

ghost_ride — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:47:56 -0000

In case you didn't notice, Philly went down to Toronto in their 1st game today. The East may have an easier road to the playoffs than the West, but when you look at it, it's definitely gotten a lot more competitive recently.

It probably wont happen, but it's conceivable that Philly wont be in the playoffs this year if they somehow don't click. They've done well as the underdog in past years, but now there are expectations, plenty of them. I have Philly as the 6th seed right now, but there's only one team I can pretty much throw out in the whole conference. In the West there's about four (OKC, Sacramento, Minnesota, Memphis).

1.Boston
2.Cleveland
3.Detroit
4.Orlando
5.Toronto

6.Philadelphia
7.Atlanta
8.Chicago
9.Washington

10. Miami

Also ran: New Jersey, New York, Indy, Milwaukee

X: Charlotte

Side Stories

ghost_ride — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:56:05 -0000

Now that we have the Baron prognosis, (and can all breathe again) I've been meaning to touch on a few things that I haven't seen much ink on.

Kaman's pre-season play: I lost the link, but Kaman was quoted as saying something to the effect that he "didn't know people would be playing that hard in the preseason, so that's on me." This of course is a positive sign, as some of us expected he might be dogging it out of the gate a bit, now that he's a "vet".

Time-share at Bu-PG: Jason Hart and Mike Taylor were given equal minutes the other night, which looks like a level-headed approach by Dunleavy right now.

A lot of 3 pt. Shooting: With the likes of Ricky Davis, Eric Gordon, Mobley, Thornton, Tim Thomas, Baron, & Novak we look to have more 3 pt. shooters than ever. I kind of worry if we'll rely too much on the 3 this year, but one thing's for sure, we've never had this much range. This should create a lot of spacing on offense, and work to our advantage overall if we can keep it in balance.

NBA Finals, What Does it Take?

ghost_ride — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:26:54 -0000

It's no secret that in order for an NBA team to get to the Finals, they usually need one of the best players in the game surrounded by a competent supporting cast, a group of multiple all-stars, or both. It's very rare that a team can win a conference championship without these qualities, though the Detroit Pistons are probably the closest thing we've seen in the last decade. In compiling an approximation of the top three players for every team to reach the finals over the last eight years, the Pistons were the only team that couldn't be summarized in three players. You could argue that many of the teams below should mention a 4th, or have a border-line 3rd option, and that's all good...

But what I'm getting at here, is that there's no question the Clippers main asset this year is in their depth, and if anything, this strength is being underplayed heading into the season. It's feasible that what figure to be the top eight rotation players, (B.Davis, Kaman, Thornton, Camby, Mobley, R.Davis, Thomas, & Gordon) could all be starting somewhere in the league, which not too many other teams can say.

The Clippers' impressive depth isn't all they have going for them. They finally have a vocal leader, and an established star at the most important position. The problem is that Baron Davis will probably have to be the teams first scoring option by default. But if the fact that our PG must run the team and double as our leading scorer isn't our biggest weakness, it's definitely our 2nd & 3rd options. Well, at least on paper it is. Can we really expect Kaman 3.0 or better? Can he step to David West, Bynum/Gasol, Stoudamire, etc? It's probably asking too much. If Kaman instead performs to what his track record indicates, it will take a mammoth leap from Al Thornton to allow the Clippers to look the best teams in the eye.

The only other possibility I see is if Eric Gordon gets back on the court quickly and completley aces his rookie year, forcing Dunleavy to start him over a healthy and productive Mobley in the process. The odds of that happening appear to be very long and unrealistic, though you might think the entire premise of the NBA Finals and the LA Clippers being part of the same discussion is just as crazy. Disclaimer: Because we're talking about best possible scenarios, the assumption of good health and good chemistry are a given, and we are left to look at players with upside. And anyway, if you look at it this way, there seems to be plenty of room for error in order for this team to earn a measley playoff spot.

2009

Clippers – B.Davis, Kaman, Thornton, Camby

(Currently going off at around 50/1)

2008

Celtics – Pierce, Garnett, Allen

Lakers – Kobe, Gasol, Odom

2007

Spurs – Duncan, Parker, Ginobli

Cavs – Lebron, Ilgauskas, Gooden

2006

Heat – D.Wade, Shaq, Posey

Mavs – Notwitzki, Howard, Terry

2005

Spurs – Duncan, Parker, Ginobli

Pistons – Billups, Hamilton, Prince, Sheed, BB

2004

Pistons – Billups, Hamilton, Prince, Sheed, BB

Lakers – Kobe, Shaq, Payton

2003

Spurs – Duncan, Robinson, Parker

Nets – Kidd, Martin, Jefferson

2002

Lakers – Shaq, Kobe, ???

Nets – Kidd, Jefferson, Collins

2001

Lakers – Shaq, Kobe, ???

76ers – Iverson, Mutumbo, Snow

Eric Gordon

ghost_ride — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:39:53 -0000

A burning question I've been pondering this off season is this: What can we expect from Eric Gordon this year, and in the future?

Pretty much everyone felt good about where we drafted Al Thornton last year coming into the season, and his stock only went up as the year went on as he flashed serious athletic ability that we all hope can translate into becoming a main component to a winning team.

Thornton's rookie stats:

27.8 Minutes/Game

12.7 Pts - 4.5 Reb - 1.2 Assists - 1.6 TO

Shooting 42.9 FG%, 33.1 3P%, 74.3%

The numbers don't seem that impressive, but considering he improved as the season went on and looks to have a high ceiling there's a chance he could break out in his 2nd year.

Where does that leave Eric Gordon? A higher draft pick, he's got a more distinguished basketball pedigree being a top recruit out of Indiana, though with a growing injury history and tumult in Hoosier land during his only college season, his ability to become a good pro is in doubt. If he can stay relatively healthy, we'd like to see him be a scoring threat and a solid defender off the bench, but his numbers for this coming season, for various reasons are likely to be about half of what Thornton put up last year.

We have a good idea of the talent we have at PG, PF/C for the next couple of seasons. What we get out of Al & Eric is the big key to our present and future. Right now, there is reason for cautious optimism, but we just have to see how it plays out. I hear Gordon's status is day to day with a minor ankle injury after the first day of camp.

08-09 Western Conference Playoff Picture

ghost_ride — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:06:37 -0000

L.A. Lakers - Undisputed power of the west surprisingly couldn’t take care of business against the Celtics in the finals, and now the question becomes, how much better are they with Bynum? They lost out on a few prized free agents, they finally pay the real price of acquiring Gasol last year by not drafting in the 1st round of a deep draft, and bench leader Turiaf bolts to GS.
San Antonio - Age seems to be catching up with them, though Parker & Ginobli are still in their prime. Not what once was, but still an acid test for whoever they play.
New Orleans – Much like the Suns go as Steve Nash goes, so do the Hornets with Chris Paul, and Paul just might turn out to be better than Steve if he can continue to build on his stellar 07-08 campaign. Posey is a nice addition, which should help them do a better job of tackling the Spurs & Lakers this year.
Houston – Outside of the top 3, things become a bit of a jumble, though a talented one from 4-6. With T-Mac still having been unable to get out of the first round, Yao Ming’s persistent injuries, and Artest being the wildcard he is, I don’t see how they will live up to their potential, but the possibility of this team getting along and having some luck is scary.
Phoenix – No doubt a lesser team with the loss of Marion and father time catching up with Steve Nash, but you can’t forget they seem to go down to the wire with Spurs every year. They’re the Dark Horse of the West yet again.
Utah – Got to love Deron Williams, but got to question if the talent level around him is good enough to threaten the top seeds. They were totally outclassed against the Lakers in the 2nd round of the playoffs, but they still have all the pieces to make them a tough match-up, especially (as we all know), on their home court.
Dallas – A not so distant history of brutal post-season disappointments and a “soft” front court have haunted this team. They get a nice addition here at head coach, but this team looks under-manned to me. Vulnerable
Portland – Talk about a team rebuilding through the draft. Brandon Roy was the key first step, and among others, LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Oden, and now Jarred round out this core of young talent. They’ll need a healthy Oden and a more consistent Aldridge to make noise this year.
L.A. Clippers – Massive off-season overhaul gives them the look of a yahoo fantasy team put on auto draft. They are left with a proven point guard and front court along with a mix of capable veterans to go along talented sophmore Al Thornton, and recent top draft picks Eric Gordon and DeAndre Jordan. Perhaps the most unpredictable team, along with Portland coming out of the west, anywhere between 30 and 50+ wins seem possible.
It’s hard to imagine any other team challenging for a playoff spot. On paper, Golden State would seem the next most likely, but I don't think they have enough. Minnesota could be a little interesting with a front court of Love and Jefferson and a healthy Randy Foye.