Around the League: Week 6 11/28-12/4

[LazarusLong]

Klay had his 60 points in 29 minutes. WOW. Kobe got his 81 in 42 minutes. I actually have more respect for a coach/team/player who sits instead of chasing a record.

I'd love to see the number of shots difference as well. I'm sure Klay was MUCH more efficient.

Here's everybody to score 60 or more:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... der_by=pts

Kobe took 46 to Klas' 33, which is in line with the minutes. Kobe was actually pretty efficient in most of his big scoring games. It's the games when his shot wasn't falling that make him so hateable. Kobe does have the distinction of the worst shooting game on that list, a .440 game in which he scored 60. Other than that, they are all very good shooting performances.

In that group of 60-point scorers is Tom Chambers, who did it for Phoenix against his former team, the Sonics. He was 22-32 from the field.

Chambers had established a single-game high for scoring in a game at Golden State (56) one month earlier.

[Shabazz]

Watching Klay last night got me thinking about Booker and how if Booker ever scored 60 it would look a lot more like a Kobe 60 than a Klay 60 - at least if we're running anything similar to our current offense. I'm pretty sure all but one of Klay's FGs were assisted (which is insane). Obviously, he's a tremendous shooter and scorer, but he created nearly all his points through a combination of off ball movement and an unselfish offensive system. We are so, so far from having anything that resembles that offense. Replace Curry and Draymond with Brandon Knight and PJ Tucker and Klay gets 25 points instead of 60. Sad!

[specialsauce]

Watching Klay last night got me thinking about Booker and how if Booker ever scored 60 it would look a lot more like a Kobe 60 than a Klay 60 - at least if we're running anything similar to our current offense. I'm pretty sure all but one of Klay's FGs were assisted (which is insane). Obviously, he's a tremendous shooter and scorer, but he created nearly all his points through a combination of off ball movement and an unselfish offensive system. We are so, so far from having anything that resembles that offense. Replace Curry and Draymond with Brandon Knight and PJ Tucker and Klay gets 25 points instead of 60. Sad!

Yep. Watching them is depressing. We're not even close to being where they are at.

The thing that I'm disappointed in the most is Watson's offense. All offseason and even now he's talked about ball movement without dribbling as his vision for the offense. I'm seeing anything but that. No movement to the offense whatsoever. It's like Hornacek never left. Is it the coach or is it the players? Fault lies on the coach at the end of the day if the players are not running the offense instructed. Play Ulis instead if these guys can't run the offense. Doesn't help when you have ballstoppers like PJ Tucker and Brandon Knight in there. God, can we trade them already?

[Superbone]

I think it's the players but you're right that it's ultimately the coach's responsibility. Chriss mentioned in the article that carey posted that he's concentrating on moving the ball when he gets it unless he has an open shot and it shows. I see the young guys doing it as well as Chandler and Dudley. It's our esteemed backcourt that is really lousy at it.

[specialsauce]

REALLY REALLY lousy at it. But none of these players move without the ball at all. Everybody just stands around or sets a pick. There are no cuts period.

I'm desperately waiting for a Knight and Tucker injury.

[Ring_Wanted]

Noah, Deng, and Chandler all provide the same stuff, while being much much better players than Duds. Conley is one of the top 3 players on a playoff team. JR smith is a starter for the defending champs.

I agree that the contracts are big, and that's not how I would have spent the money. But if you can justify 30 million for a guy you hope won't play much beyond this season, then surely you can understand the reasoning behind those other contracts.

Man Deng is giving the Lakers 7 points and 5 rebounds on 34% FG and 28.3% 3pt. 4 years, $72M. Noah makes the same 4/72. Conley's contract is the new Joe Johnson @ $153 M. JR Smith may be starting on the Cavs, but 4/57 to launch threes all day and make less than 1/3 is not good and that money is only explainable because the Cavs were cap strangled and couldn't sign anything else besides min vets.

Dudley's contract is more than fine in comparison. And why wouldn't he play much beyond this season? He is the kind of role player I want on my team. Shouldn't be getting 30mpg, but if one of the kids develops I still want to use Dudley his good 18-20mpg.

[ShelC]

This is the new NBA guys. I think the contracts will come down and money will be spend more prudently. The jump this offseason meant owners/execs had to spend money. If there was cap smoothing, those contracts wouldn't have been handed out.

[Mori Chu]

Our offense is such a joke. What they do is just run around outside the 3-point line handing the ball off to each other with extremely short passes outside the 3-pt line. And then when the shot clock gets to about 6, whoever happens to have the ball drives in a few steps and then shoots an awkward 20-footer.