"A lot of people get into the analytic stuff — we don’t pay no attention to that..."

[Nilanka]

All the money, and NONE of the stress...you know it.

They pay him in Shake 'N' Bake coupons.

[Mr.Z]

kobe scoring 81 against a shit toronto team, in a nothing game in whatever month during a losing toronto season, is not even the same sport as what Lebron is doing here, in the conference finals, against a hell of a defensive detroit team. Not even close man, come on.

Would Lebron have been able to score 81 in the same situation? I don't think so. Kobe just couldn't miss.

[Mr.Z]

Ahhh shit I just started a Kobe vs. Lebron debate. I'm so sorry.

[mcHAPPY]

Ahhh shit I just started a Kobe vs. Lebron debate. I'm so sorry.

I would call you on it but your avatar scares the sh!t out of me.

[NoPropsneeded]

Speaking of scoring at will...

[MoscowRussia]

Speaking of scoring at will...

Let's get him back!!!

[slaw]

Second greatest single game Raptor performance ever. I was right behind him about 20 rows up on the basline when he hit that 7th three and I can still remember random people around me high fiving, hugging, dancing in the aisle. It was crazy. Will never forget being at that game. Never saw the ACC like that again.

It's just been so long since the Raps have had anyone close to Carter. Bosh was a terrific player but he wasn't Air Canada. We've been selling ourselves on guys like Bargs and Derozan for so long we've now grown accustomed to mediocrity. It wasn't always that way and it doesn't have to be....

[Mr.Z]

Speaking of scoring at will...

Iverson was my favourite player growing up. He's the reason I'm a basketball fan. Even though I'm a Raptor fan for life, I still cheer for Philly when I watch those highlights because Vince is a piece of shit and Allen Iverson was the fucking man.

[KHD]

Second greatest single game Raptor performance ever. I was right behind him about 20 rows up on the basline when he hit that 7th three and I can still remember random people around me high fiving, hugging, dancing in the aisle. It was crazy. Will never forget being at that game. Never saw the ACC like that again.

It's just been so long since the Raps have had anyone close to Carter. Bosh was a terrific player but he wasn't Air Canada. We've been selling ourselves on guys like Bargs and Derozan for so long we've now grown accustomed to mediocrity. It wasn't always that way and it doesn't have to be....

Carter was on an entirely different level from even Bosh. Nobody in the world could do the things he did.

He could probably have gone down as one of the best players in history if he'd wanted it.
He'll certainly go down as one of the most entertaining. He had it all, including the "better than all of you" attitude, which ordinarily I'd find offputting but when you're playing like he was, it was enjoyable as hell to watch.

[NoPropsneeded]

Thing i've noticed is that Carter really used his legs. He'd keep the dribble kinda slow and his knees slightly bent as he was dribbling, allowing him to easily pull up over his defender and bury the jumper. He could also drive it right past them with his speed and agility. If you watch DeRozan and Gay, they dribble too high (especially Rudy) and they are just plain horrible at keeping a tight handle and exploding to the rim. DeRozan sorta looks better with the ball but obviously he's no where near the level of Carter and neither is Rudy for that matter. Rudy's attitude does remind me of Vince tho, although he doesn't have the game to back it up.

[ezz_bee]

Why don't we trade Gay for Lebron straight up?

[mcHAPPY]

Apparently stats don't hate gay!

“I think that sometimes the nuance in the message is lost in trying to counter the emphasis on ability to score and points per game that date back as long as basketball has existed, probably,” Pelton said. “So, to try and counter that, it’s swung a little too far in the opposite direction.

“There definitely is value in it, and especially late in games there are situations where you’re going to get late in the shot clock and you’re not going to have the ability to run a play. You’re just going to have to clear out and give a guy the ball and hope he can create a decent shot out of it. … I think that skill has almost been a little underrated at this point.”

That the debate over Gay’s value has evolved to this point shows the impact of stats and analytics on the game, because on paper, Gay is a prototypical star small forward. At 6-foot-8, he has terrific size for the position and is athletic enough to defend opposing wings, as well as being able to play power forward if you downsize to a smaller lineup, a frequent practice in the league.

Though the numbers paint a pretty clear picture of Gay’s game, Pelton said there can be a problem with focusing so much of the discussion on one player. And, given the noise that has surrounded Gay on the topic, Pelton can understand why Gay would grow defensive about it, as opposed to seeing the advanced stats could be used to improve his game.

“It’s always a little dangerous to identify with one guy,” Pelton said. “And I think that’s probably the unfortunate thing about this is the story has become not, ‘Here’s a different way to look at Rudy Gay’s game and his value, especially relative to his contract,’ as much as its become ‘Rudy Gay is a terrible player, and here’s why.’

“That’s what is unfortunate. I totally understand his defensiveness about it, because he’s not hearing, ‘You could be a better player if you improved your shot selection in these ways.’ He’s hearing, ‘You’re a terrible player because you do this.’”

As an example, Pelton cited Monta Ellis, another player who became famous for his inefficiencies offensively, now flourishing in Dallas within a flowing offense featuring a lot of ball movement. Ellis is averaging 21.6 points and 5.8 assists per game while shooting 47.1 percent form the field and 36.2 percent from 3-point range.

“You’d better be right if you’re focusing in on one guy,” he said. “I think the other example would be Monta Ellis, who this year is part of a very attractive offense, and there were people who indicated because of his efficiency he could never do that.
“But that doesn’t appear to be the case, and that’s another situation where the skill he was bringing, in terms of being able to create shots, kind of got lost over the obsession with his inefficiency. So you have to have those two pieces hand-in-hand.”

Perhaps a similar transformation could happen for Gay down the road, either in Toronto or elsewhere. In the meantime, Gay says he’s going to continue to do what he thinks will help his team win.

“If you want to win, and your team believes in you and they want you to shoot,” Gay said, “I’m going to keep shooting, and try to put my team in the best position possible.”

http://nypost.com/2013/12/06/why-nba...hate-rudy-gay/

[peanutwoozle]

Why don't we trade Gay for Lebron straight up?

Miami would never agree, we should just buy out Gay.