Kevin Love knows Russell Westbrook better than most. They’re good friends, and former college roommates. And I thought Love said something interesting here: Westbrook’s selfish. Because he needs to be. I’ve always said Westbrook wasn’t selfish and that ball-hog talk was all junk.
But I get what Love means. Westbrook’s not selfish in the sense he wants to call his own number for the glory, but selfish because his talents and abilities force him to be. It would like not letting Paul McCartney sing instead of John Lennon — at some point Westbrook needs a solo because it makes the whole better.
14 of the 17 lineups used over 10 minutes are positive. That is good for Brooks.
Only N. Collison | K. Durant | K. Martin | E. Maynor | R. Westbrook was really bad in a light test of 15 minutes of use. Odds are some lineup is going to look bad in short minutes.
Starting lineup is averaging +5 per 100 possessions. It was modestly better last season (+6.5).
The average performance of all other lineups is +10 per possessions. Playing against more starters makes it tougher on the starting lineup; but as I have said before, you don't know if another starting lineup could do better if you never give them a trial. Game 3 or 4 of a deep playoff series where you are behind is the absolutely worst time to change a starting lineup or need to do so, like they have faced at least 2 years running, refused to change and lost.
Martin is in 3 of the Thunder's best 4 pairings with Westbrook, Durant and Collison. The Thunder actually have 7 of the 19 best pairings in the entire league. (The Knicks and Griz have a combined total of 10 of the top 19, leaving room for only one Clips and Lakers parings.) Martin, Westbrook, Durant, Collison and Ibaka fill all the spots. Thabo is in the 28th and 29th best lineups. No Thunder lineup with Perk is in the league's top 50 on +/-.
@Crow Where is Thabo/Perk?
I missed Duncan - Parker as a top pairing. It is the best non-Thunder pairing in the league.
by cumulative +/- (not per possession or per minute)
If the starters with Martin instead of Thabo played as much as the current starters and as well as they have not starting they'd be the 2nd best lineup in the league on cumulative +/-. Even if they slipped a bit they'd probably be in or very near the top 4.
Do top performing big minute lineups matter a lot in the playoffs? I recently looked at the titlewinners and I think they averaged a 4th best 5 man lineup.
Griz have the best 5 man unit by cumulative +/-, Clips 2 of the next 3. Spurs' best is 23rd. Lakers best is 18th. Heat's best is 8th.
For 5 man units, the Thunder's best are 13th and 20th best in league.
The starters as is and with Martin. With Martin is twice as good per minute but used well less than half as much. Might not matter much against average to weak teams. Might matter more against good teams in playoffs.
Martin and Perkins are a very positive pairing.
But at least 21 other pairings get more playing time.
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/12/thunder-player-power-rankings-moving-on/
K Love be on Russells nuts lol
ESPN Insider piece about the Hall of Fame chances of some under-25 players. Neil Paine makes some calculations based upon win shares and historical precedent:
KD - 97%
Griffin - 73%
Harden - 58.5%
Love- 50.5%
Westbrook - 41%
Ibaka - 39%
The Ibaka projection is fascinating: "the Congolese big man has youth on his side -- he's a year younger than Westbrook -- and he has also been deceptively good the past few seasons. Among power forwards or centers of age 23 or younger, Griffin is really the only one who has accomplished more (at least in terms of win shares) than Ibaka has thus far in their young careers. And since big men tend to peak later and have more staying power than smaller players, with all else being equal, Ibaka might very well go on to exceed even these expectations."
@DXL I'm not feeling the use of age here instead of experience. Though in Ibaka's case his minutes have been low.
@DXL Who is the all-time block leader? Pretty sure Ibaka has to be on pace to smash the record.
@BallSoHard @DXL Hakeem with 3830 blocks in 1238 games (3.09 blks per game average). Ibaka's got a chance to break that record because he's so young. If he plays until he's 38 then he's got 15 more seasons.
@DXL KD is a no brainer :P
legit question here. if i were to say..delete my facebook *which is what i connect to livefyre with* and made a new fb *cause im tired of the drama* would that delete my legendary dorkness ? and points?
or is there an easier way to do this....
@Legendary_Dork create new email address for DT purposes.
Attach email to your account.
Delete FB
Log in to Livefyre with newly created email.
Profit.
@cemitten already did some stuff, its fine now :)
@Legendary_Dork
I would think your livefyre account and stats would remain intact, but what do I know? :)
@ThunderChick2010 hmm..welp. cant live life in doubt . LIVE LIKE NO TOMORROW!!
@Legendary_Dork @ThunderChick2010 lol
@ThunderChick2010 mmm delicious DT society stature points~
@ThunderChick2010 le gasp~
@Legendary_Dork
Where'd your points go??????????
(jk)
@ThunderChick2010 its fine TC, i just linked my live fyre to something else. DELETING FB NOW!!!!!
@Legendary_Dork
Might want to wait for a more knowledgeable reply then . . .
@ThunderChick2010 it would be heart breaking though. :D
@Legendary_Dork
If you do lose your points (and I assume no responsibility for such an occurrence), it wouldn't take you long to build back up to 7K again. :)
going back to my old avi :P *fyi*
@Legendary_Dork
The blue one?!
I'm a little tired of K Love to be honest.
@OBoy Jones III not i , he would be a beast on this team, but thats just pipe dreaming
Poor Charlotte. Was 7-5 when we played them now 7-16.
Sorry about those hopes and dreams.
#Love2Thunder2014
@BallSoHard Better still. #Love2ThunderTomorrow
GUYS THERE IS A GAME TODAY
A THUNDER GAME
WOOOOOOO
Apologies for the slowness and issues with the site right now. A server change is coming within the next week or so that will ramp up the power of the site considerably.
@Royce Young good, so no more crashes when DT goes into a meltdown when whenever we are losing.
@bmuelle21 @Royce Young Wishful thinking.
@cemitten @bmuelle21 @Royce Young
We don't need no stinkin' server. Thunder up in the cloud! Ha ha a double entendre for nerds.
And people think KLove wouldn't give anything to play on this team with Russ.
I'd much rather have a selfish player who uses all of his talents, than an unselfish one that is a waste of God given talent (read: Demar DeRozan)