Under-The-Radar Man (Who?)

by SilverClip on Nov 4, 2009 10:13 PM PST Comment 13 comments

Alright, basketball fans, we've had some interesting games out there the last couple of days. Topping my list is the Celtic-TWolve slugfest that just went down to the wire, 92-90. How did Minni manage to keep it so close? It appears Oleksly Pecherov had something to do with it. He cashed in 24 points and 8 rebs against Garnett, who himself only managed 12 pts in the same number of minutes. Anyone here, besides me, never hear of OPec before last Monday's game?

Last night (Tuesday), there was another puzzler when Detroit managed to beat the Magic. True, Dwight Howard had a shoulder injury and all, but that shouldn't stop us from doing a double-take on Will Bynum of the Pistons (who?). I should say, anytime a team's entire front court shoots a whopping 7 for 27 and they still win the game, it's time to reconsider the talents of their backup point guard.

Tonight of course Houston almost took one from the Lakers. Luis Scola, arguably last year's Under-The-Radar Man, put in a strong performance with 16 points and 13 rebs. But then there was Carl Landry, the one and only, chucking in 9 of 12 and grabbing 8 rebs in 26 minutes. (Really?)

How are teams like Minnesota, Detroit, and Houston managing to hang tough? Maybe it's because they have tough talent that isn't yet widely recognized. Who else, then, should we be looking out for? We're taking nominations, here: Who will be this year's Under-The-Radar Man?

0 recs | Comment 13 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Q?

I don’t know if Q Richardson should really qualify, but he has hit 44% of his 3’s so far, and tonight he got 19 points and 9 rebounds. Wasn’t he supposed to have a bad back?

by SilverClip on Nov 4, 2009 10:22 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

fun post, how about steals of the draft?

brandon jennings & ty lawson are looking darn good right now.

by ghost_ride on Nov 4, 2009 10:38 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Ah yes

Thanks for the heads up. I’ll have to check them out.

by SilverClip on Nov 4, 2009 10:52 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

DeJuan Blair?

by KidJustin on Nov 4, 2009 11:12 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

DeJuan was 10 seconds away from being a Cav

Check it out at espn.go.com/nba/

by SilverClip on Nov 5, 2009 9:03 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Jennings is ballin'!

I checked his stats the other day, and was surprised.

In case you want to check them out.. http://www.nba.com/playerfile/brandon_jennings/index.html?nav=page

'Cause how you play, is how you'll be remembered. PLAY LOUD!

by CLiPPz WeRD 12 on Nov 5, 2009 1:08 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Steal of the Draft

Blair and Jennings have to be two. Another definitely has to be Chase Budinger. I said it on Clips Nation (over and over) before the draft that we should try to trade for a late first round pick for him. Instead, I watched in horror as he dropped all the way to the mid-2nd round, an easy grab at that point, with no one picking up. All he’s done is average 50% shooting, 40% 3pt and close to 10ppg in really limited minutes (15mpg). His 17 points was one of the main reasons they beat the Jazz the other night. For a rookie coming off the bench, who was drafted without a guaranteed contract, that’s a friggin’ steal!!

by MarekTheBrave on Nov 5, 2009 9:02 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Good role player

I liked Chase at Arizona. I never understood why the team couldn’t pull things together… though they had a pretty good NCAA run, if I recall. I’d guess he’d be a competent player off the bench. Is he anything that KRush isn’t? I’ll have to check him out.

by SilverClip on Nov 5, 2009 2:24 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Budinger

His athleticism is crazy, but you’d never know it. He was unanimously considered to be the #1 Volleyball recruit in the nation coming out of high school, but he only played basketball at Arizona. He has a great stroke, great first step, driving ability (even better now because of the spacing in the NBA), doesn’t shy from contact, and overall quickness. His basketball IQ is also high for his age. He’s going to have a solid NBA career. Rockets got him at a steal.

by MarekTheBrave on Nov 5, 2009 6:51 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Something to be said about coaching

So how are these bad teams on paper pulling off upsets, or taking teams like the Lakers to overtime? I see teams like Houston, Minny, Detroit, OKC, and Sac, the first thing I think is the Clippers have a better team (more talent) than these teams. But when I watch them play, its as if they know they are not going to win on talent. They seem to play 110% all the time (which sometimes leads to more turnovers), and they have a couple plays they know will work, and they run them. Like Chuck Hayes getting behind the defense for lay-up after lay-up. Or Oleksly Pecherov hitting his open 20 footers.
I know its not as simple as the Clips just getting out-coached, but wouldn’t it be nice to know that they aren’t. I mean really know. Like if they walked out and you could see it in there faces “The Clips came to play tonight.” And how many times have you seen other teams players diving on the floor for a loose ball and a Clipper just standing there reaching down for it? Or in the forth when Kamen (the only go-to play, Kamen on the block) gets tired cause of the ton of minutes hes playing,and the offense just looks confused. Or late in games when the other team puts its starters back in and the Clips still have the bench in. We get to watch the lead vanish or just fall further behind, until Dunleavy finally counters with our starters, usually three minutes to late.
Something to be said about coaching.

by sloppyjags on Nov 5, 2009 9:47 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Couple Things

Home court advantage is playing a huge role, obviously. The Celtics win over the Wolves was on the road coming off a back to back, in probably a game where they were over-looking their opponent. We’ve seen the Lakers struggle to beat OKC, HOU etc. on the road while SAC & MEM have looked pretty solid at times. Still, going back to BOS v. MIN it was clear from early on Minnesota was coming to play, and they proved they have enough talent to contend at least at home, which leads to the next point.

With the NBA’s salary cap system, there are pretty much no easy wins in the NBA right now, especially for a team like the Clips. You’re either playing playoff teams that no how to win or teams that have been able to build a nice young nucleus after a couple of strong draft classes.

To win these close games in a tough league you simply need a dynamic player, must be able to close games, and have good coaching. The Clips appear to have none of these qualities right now, though the hope is that Blake Griffin can provide help with the first two. Sure, there are teams like the Rockets who have a few above average players + a lot of depth like us, but they seem to have a much better system in place with selfless players who truly do play for eachother.

by ghost_ride on Nov 5, 2009 10:03 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs