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Tag Archive - Luol Deng

Lion Face/Lemon Face 12/25/11: The Return Of Lion Face/Lemon Face

December 26, 2011 in by with 2 Comments

It’s baaaaack… Fellow Paroxite James Herbert and I will be working on our facial expressions. And in the spirit of Christmas, which by the time you read this will be long gone, we’ll be determining who was naughty and who was nice. It’s what Santa would have wanted.  

Take it away, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck:

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rngjZ10yUyA&feature=player_embedded]

Lion Face: Carmelo Anthony

Okay, maybe not the most pristine performance as a point forward (some bad reads and passes), but it didn’t matter. This was one of Melo’s finest performances period. 37 points on 17 shots. He took and made almost as many free throws (13-15) as his number of attempted field goals. Open shots, step-through three-pointers, contested fadeaways. Again: 37 points on 17 shots, which should be totally sustainable. But seriously, it’s  great to see New York basketball back. And as one of the many Melo detractors on the interwebs, I really wouldn’t mind seeing more performances like this in the near future. – Danny Chau

Lemon Face: Toney Douglas

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVl2QfGR16k]

I’m starting to hate this meme. Because he doesn’t do good. He shoots everything and anything. He bricks threes. He vastly overrates the touch on his runners and floaters. What he doesn’t do (because he doesn’t really know how) is run a team. And you can’t expect someone to do something he doesn’t know how to do. Douglas led the Knicks in field goal attempts with 19. That’s two more than Melo, who scored 18 more points. The Knicks need a point guard in the worst way, but they officially do not have a single capable soul on the roster. Iman Shumpert, their pet project (whose problems are very much similar to Douglas’s) has gone down with a knee injury, and Mike Bibby is not capable of anything. So this means more of Douglas doing what he do. Have fun, New York. And hope to every deity in the universe and beyond that Melo figures out this “point forward” thing. -DC

Lion Face: Rajon Rondo

He made jump shots. Plural. Oh, and, 31 points (on 19 shots!), 13 assists, 5 boards, 5 steals, OH NO I’M BECOMING MR. BOXSCORE. Okay, Rondo was responsible for pretty much anything positive the Celtics’ did on offense. His shot looked smoother at the free throw line and on J’s. In the third quarter alone, he had 10 points and six assists. The Knicks in that quarter? One assist. I’m mad the Celtics dropped this and it’s not because I’m anti-Knick. I just hate that Boston wasted his performance. Also, I’m glad nobody heard the noise I made when this happened:

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOfqfyc5e3w]

I missed that so much.  -James Herbert

Lemon Face: Shump Shump Sprained Sprained His Knee Knee

Don’t act like you’re too cool to like Iman Shumpert. Yeah, some Knicks fans have ridiculously high expectations and yeah, dude shot 3-13 and a lot of them were easy shots. But hey, a lot of them were easy shots! Shump’s mistakes were endearing to me — he’d make a nice move, then he’d flub a layup and I’d be like, “Awww, Shump Shump! You’ll finish it next time.” After colliding with Chris Wilcox, next time won’t be for another 2-4 weeks. This might actually mean 2-4 weeks of Mike Bibby. I thought we were past that, NBA. -JH

Lion Face: Miami Heat Offense / DOUBLE ALLEY-OOP

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul9iPU2pQVQ]

Wade in the post. LeBron in the post. Neither settled for wily, contested three-pointers because there was very little need to do so. If this is a preview of what’s to come, the league should be petrified. Sure, Dallas looked awfully out of sync, but the Heat are finally in their element thanks to Erik Spoelstra’s willingness to loosen the reins a bit. Oh, and about that alley-oop. This team has a knack for making the spectacular seem ordinary. LeBron turned a potentially bad situation (a blown dunk or a steal by Marion) into an easy two points with a play that was both loud and understated at the same time. The game is really easy for the Heat right now. It’s incredible/frightening. – DC

Lemon Face: Vince Carter and Lamar Odom

It’s almost unfair to single out one Maverick, so I picked two. While failing against Miami was a TEAM effort, these two recent acquisitions stood out. VC missed the Mavs’ first two shots of the game and finished 2-6 from the floor. He was benched at the start of the second half in favor of Delonte West. Odom went 1-6, got himself ejected halfway through the third, and kept showing up in reality show commercials all damn day. -JH

Lion Face: Andris Biedrins

Biedrins looks like he hates basketball less this year
December 25, 2011 10:52 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@BeckleyMason
Beckley Mason

I love the version of Biedrins that enjoys basketball! I keep reminding myself it’s just one game, but he looked engaged and confident and this is exciting, dammit. Good Andris Biedrins protected the basket and had a weird knack for getting rebounds in traffic when people really should be outmuscling him. He also finished at an incredibly high rate. I’ve no idea where he went for two years, but Good Andris Biedrins showed up. Is it just that he’s finally healthy? Has Mark Jackson fixed him? Was it just a Christmas miracle? -JH

Lemon Face: Chauncey Billups

It’s one thing to be a fun-suck by making safe and ordinary decisions (which are probably for the best). It’s another to disrupt the flow of the game with ill-advised shots. Billups went 6-19 from the field, so yeah, even Toney Douglas shot better than him from the field. Most of his misses came from threes that he was just so confident he’d make. Open, contested, it didn’t matter — though this has been the case for years now. Problem is, he’s playing alongside the best point guard of this generation and the most promising young big man in the game. He shouldn’t be taking the most shots in the game, especially when he’s missing more than twice as many as he’s made. Billups, I get it. You didn’t want to get pushed around by teams. But you’re in a good opportunity right now. Stop trying to sabotage it.

Of course, the performance would’ve been a lot more worrisome if the Clippers lost. Winning is a spray-on band-aid. - DC

Lion Face: DeAndre Jordan

Eight blocks, and a thousand other altered shots while only committing two fouls. This is noteworthy, since DeAndre had three or more fouls in 72.5% of the games he played last season. DeAndre was impressive on defense last night to say the least. His effort on surely mask his woes at the free throw line. Speaking of which… - DC

Lemon Face: Mark Jackson’s Hack-A-DeAndre Tactic

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah3eg8bBPaM&start=001&end=007] - DC

Lion Face: Ryan Anderson’s Fantasy Basketball Value 

Ryan Anderson is sitting by himself in a dining hall at an elongated dinner table feasting. The Magic, as currently constructed, don’t have a clear-cut second or third option, and all signs seem to point to Anderson to fill those spots on some nights. He’ll have plenty of opportunities to camp out behind the three point line as shown by his 6-12 shooting from three last night. It’ll be unreasonable to expect a double-double every night, but Anderson is a capable rebounder who should be able to get six or seven a night. If Anderson improves his rebounding numbers, he could be what Troy Murphy was for fantasy basketball a few years ago, except a much more prolific outside threat. Pick him up in the late rounds and shock your friends with your competence. – DC

Lemon Face: Metta World Peace

I’m not ready for MWP to be this bad. I felt like something terrible was about to happen every time he touched the ball and, most of the time, I was right. And when did he get so slow? -JH

Lion Face: Derrick Rose’s Threes

The story is his game-winner over Pau Gasol, but what I’m really excited about is his stroke. Rose made four of his six three point attempts. This one time I wrote about how working on his post game shouldn’t come at the expense of becoming a more consistent shooter. It’s just one game, but man, those shots looked effortless. -JH

Lemon Face: Derrick Rose’s Free Throws

There were none. He went 0-0. We’ve been saying it forever: this shouldn’t happen to the point guard version of LeBron. -JH

Lion Face: The Bulls’ Last Second Stop

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNvmLnvsIdw]

It took me a few replays to realize it was Deng who blocked it. How beautiful is that, everyone converging, no one coming close to fouling him? -JH

Lemon Face: Luol Deng’s Haircut

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J43xQ4dTAxY] – DC


WELCOME TO DRAFTOCALYPSE: BULLS WIPE THE SLATE WHILE WASHINGTON… WE HAVE NO IDEA

June 24, 2010 in by with 1 Comment

The Chicago Bulls have a deal in place that would move Kirk Hinrich and the 17th pick to the Washington Wizards, freeing up enough cap space to pursue two maximum-salary players on this summer’s free-agent market, sources with knowledge of the Bulls’ plans said Thursday.

It wasn’t immediately clear what Washington would send to Chicago in the trade.

via Sources: Chicago Bulls to send Kirk Hinrich, No. 17 to Washington Wizards – ESPN.

Okay, Chicago did what they wanted to. Deng or Hinrich had to go. And despite the fact that Zach Randolph, Tracy McGrady, and Jerome James have been moved inside the last two years, everyone thought they’d have a hard time selling one of the best perimeter defenders in the league who can actually run an offense and whatever Deng is. Deng’s a pain, but he’s not a terrible pain. So now they have almost, but not quite enough to go after two max free agents. If they can ditch Deng, they can fill out with whatever they want. Mission accomplished, for a team so often derided for their decisions.

But Washington? What is Washington doing? What in God’s name is Grundfeld up to?

Look, you’re not going to find a bigger Kirk Hinrich fan than me. I went to Missouri, and I still love the dude for crying out loud. Terrific defender, plays hard, knows how to manage an offense, and has some pretty solid turnover numbers.

That said…

YOU’RE DRAFTING JOHN WALL FOR GOD’S SAKE!

You have John Wall and Gilbert Arenas and you’re looking for a combo guard with pure point instincts who struggles from the arc? What? For $11 million? What? What is going on? Are you mad? Are you high?

Did Kahn take over your hive? Did he conquer it with the cunning use of flags? What’s the thought process here?

You’re going to think there’s more to this. I certainly do. How can there not be? They’re going to package the 17 and something else to get into the top 10, and take Ekpe Farouq Monroe Aldrich? Is this part of the Arenas equation?

Bullets Forever suggest this could be part of the Bring Out Your Dead Strategy, which is actually rather brilliant. Unfortunately, as they point out, the BOYD strategy is dependent on expiring contracts.  What’s amazing is that Hinrich’s deal continuously gets more poisonous as time goes on. The development of the Free Agency Summer of Doom, the impending lockout, the drafting of Wall, the drafting of Rose, everything builds towards Hinrich becoming less and less valuable, despite the fact I would donate significant body parts to get him on the depth chart in front of Mike Conley.

This has got to be an Arenas-related move. It simply has to be. Either that or they’re flipping Hinrich like a Vaudeville theater.

Now I kind of hope they draft Aldrich. Just for giggles.

NBA Playoffs: Bron Bron Being Bron Bron

April 20, 2010 in by with 6 Comments

Have we learned nothing from Spike Lee and Chris Bosh’s girlfriend?

You don’t poke a bear with a stick. Particularly not when that bear is in the zone.

Says the aforementioned, metaphorical bear — one LeBron James — about his picnic-basket-stealing, forest-fire-preventing, here-and-there-and-everywhere-bouncing, too-cold-too-hot-just-right-porridge-eating, 1986-Super-Bowl-dominating, Man-vs-Wild-surviving (I can keep going if you want) zone:

“You just feel like every shot you put up is going in, no matter the difficulty or whatever the case,” James said. “There’s nobody that can guard you at that point in time. All you have to do is get to that spot you want to get to.”

“Crazy shots,” Chicago’s Derrick Rose said. “It makes you want to be in his shoes the kind of stuff he’s hitting.”

Each one seemed personal too. Because after each made jumper in front of the Bulls bench — and there were seven — James turned and glared at the Bulls reserves as he backpedaled down the court. A few words were shared, but mainly a glare.

“They were talking the whole game,” James said. “Every time I caught the ball over there, they were daring me to shoot the ball. Telling me I couldn’t shoot, or ‘You can’t make jump shots so take the shot.’ So that’s what I did.”

His final stat sheet read: 40 points (on 16/23 shooting), 8 assists, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal and 2 turnovers. He scored 15 of those in the 4th quarter, including 11 straight for Cleveland in the closing minutes, during which time he stared down defenders, did his little tap-step, Savion Glover routine while holding the ball and buried jumper after jumper over whichever Chicago defender Vinny Del Negro decided should look stupid. It was pretty special stuff, even if none of the jumpers were particularly good shots.

Someone on Twitter who seems credible but whose name I can’t recall also mentioned that this was only the third time in NBA history that someone had gone for 40/8/8 on 65%+ shooting in a Playoff game. I’m not going to fact check that claim, so take it for what it’s worth. But I’m sure it doesn’t happen regularly. (He also did this, which actually does happen fairly regularly.)

Jamesian theatrics aside, the Bulls actually played a pretty good game and would have had a good shot to steal home court advantage if Bron Bron didn’t, ya know, go all Bron Bron on their heads. They only coughed up 4 turnovers compared to 14 in Game 1 and managed to grab a bunch of offensive boards (13, which were nearly a third of those available). They used those extra opportunities to get up 6 more shot attempts than they did in the first contest, even in a much slower game.

Throw in some good FT shooting, another good-not-great night from Derrick Rose and a much better effort from Joakim Noah (who put up 25 points, 13 boards — 7 offensive — and 3 dimes on a night where he had to step up following his Cleveland sucks comments), and the Bulls were right there with the Cavs. They trailed only 88-91 with 6 minutes left, and it legitimately looked like anyone’s game to win.

Then LeBron won it.

Three-pointer. Free-throws. Ridiculous driving finish. Dagger J. Dagger J. Swing pass out of a double for a trey.

Ball game.

For the Bulls, no one else really stood out. Luol Deng played a lot better, going 7/15 for 20 points after an ugly 5/15 performance in Game 1 and converting a huge three-point play to cut the Cleveland lead to just 3 right before LeBron went nuts. Hinrich and Gibson were both bad offensively, and Taj Gibson was effective but didn’t stand out much. Typical Bulls.

Jamario Moon was huge for the Cavs, sticking a bunch of timely threes, and this is something to keep an eye on during the next few games to see if he can continue being a reliable weapon. If so, that’s really good news for Cleveland.

But after him, no one else really did much on offense.

And, honestly, they didn’t need to.

I’m on a horse.

NBA Playoffs: Bulls Prep for Losing Games 2, 3 and 4 by Losing Game 1

April 18, 2010 in by with 13 Comments

The Bulls will probably have just as much chance in this series if they game plan based on the above video as they will if they actually try to figure out scheme in which the players who wear their jerseys can beat the players who wear Cavs jerseys. Because none exist. The talent differential is simply too great, and the Bulls offense is simply too incompetent. They just can’t score regularly — they didn’t in Game 1 and they didn’t all season long — and that’s not particularly helpful when you’re matching up against the 6th best defense in the NBA.

In order to win a single game, the Bulls will need to get both inspired effort and dead-eye shooting from just about every member of their 8-man rotation, which consists of Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and six other mediocre-at-best basketball players. In Game 1, they got neither of those things. Thus, they lost. Stellar analysis, I know. But it’s the truth. No one played well, aside from their second-year point guard for small stretches.

On the good side, Rose made 13 shots on his way to 28 points, piled up 10 assists and grabbed 7 boards while also creating some good open looks for his teammates on some drive-and-kick action and having at least one extended stretch of high-level play in the third quarter. Good stuff. But on the other hand, he missed 15 shots (to finish 13/28 overall), turned the ball over an inexcusable 7 times and, worse still, got to the line only twice. That’s just not going to get it done. Especially considering he played weak defense and allowed himself to be screened out of the play much too often.

But, aside from knuckling up and playing better D (which, let’s face it, wasn’t the side of the floor where Chicago really lost this game), what more would we have Rose do? He certainly needs to get to the line more, but it’s not like he was settling for jumpers and not penetrating. He drove plenty. He just didn’t finish enough or force enough contact, both of which are probably a helluva lot easier said than done when Cleveland’s entire interior is rotating to where you’re going to be before you even get there since there is no one on Chicago’s roster capable of burning them with the outside shot. When there is nothing to respect aside from Derrick getting to the cup or dumping the ball off to a big if the rotation is sloppy, the defense is just going to collapse and contest every inside shot with multiple guys. Some of Rose’s interior looks weren’t bad shots, per se. They were just tough looks and off-balance floaters that he isn’t used to taking since he normally doesn’t have to be that creative once he gets by an initial defender.

So, sure, we can look at Rose’s 13/28 night and say “you have to shot better … you can’t waste so many possessions.” Or we can look at Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich’s collective 9/25 shooting and say “I guess a Rose drive into the teeth of the defense that ends up in a turnover isn’t all that much worse than what would have probably happened otherwise.” Throw in Taj Gibson’s 4/10 night and a 4/9 evening for Noah, who I really can’t recall doing anything useful on offense (zero offensive boards, for instance), and it’s not as if the possessions wasted by Rose were likely going to be better utilized by anyone else in this failure pile in a sadness bowl that is the Bulls’ 27th ranked offense.

The nugget of potential effectiveness I did see that perhaps the Bulls should pursue a little deeper is Hakim Warrick in the post. Warrick played less than 10 minutes, so we probably won’t see much of him in Game 2 either, but he converted a little turnaround move over some good defense by LeBron in the second quarter. Then they went right back to him on the block and, while unsuccessful with the shot, he got another, similar good attempt up. Them being the Bulls and them being coached by a terrible, terrible, terrible coach, they of course never tried this again, but it looked like something that might provide four or five fewer wasted possessions in Game 2. And this is coming from someone who thinks that Hakim Warrick, for lack of a more poetical or adult word, sucks.

As for the Cavs, they were the Cavs.

Jay-Z style, what more can I say? Andy Varejao was diving into the stands and grabbing 15 boards. LeBron was impressively putting up a mediocre-for-him 24/6/5 line with a couple nice blocks (which were broken down in an awesome yet, as SLAM’s Marcel Mutoni put it, “pause-worthy” Sports Science segment about his swatability during half time). Shaq was being his average, large self. Mo Gotti, a name that I only use in an ironical, Black Mambaesque way, was getting buckets (8/14 overall and 3/7 from three). Jamison showed why his acquisition easily makes this the best team LeBron has ever played for by knocking down half his attempts (7/14) even when his outside J wasn’t falling (only 1/4 from deep) and collecting 10 boards. And Anthony Parker and Delonte West existed.

Yup. That’s the Cavs.

And at this point, the only thing the Bulls should be doing is investing in brooms. But, hey, at least they get to play 86 games while the Raptors only got 82. So there’s that.

An 18 Foot Jumper By Any Other Name Is Still An 18 Foot Jumper

December 1, 2009 in by with 6 Comments

Said Miller: “It was well within my range. I felt comfortable, and I just didn’t make it.”

Why didn’t Derrick just take it all the way himself? Said Rose: “Part of me being the point guard was to pass that ball. That’s why I did it.”

Added Vinny Del Negro: “Brad got a good look. They double teamed Derrick. Derrick swung and he made the right basketball play. The percentages will go in your favor if you make the right play.”

Unless they don’t. Although passing to an open teammate really is the right play. You can’t fault Rose for doing his job.

via Circus Trip Game 6: Bucks 99, Bulls 97 » By The Horns.

So Just how likely was Brad Miller to make that shot?

Let’s go to the Data!

Last season, Brad Miller took 76 shots  from 16-23 feet. He hit 33 for a 43% clip, down from 47% the previous two years. This year, he’s taken 27 attempts, making 10, for 37%. Last year, 97% of his shots were assisted from that range, this year, 90%.

So going into this game, you have to think you have around a 37% chance of that shot going in.

I could go into what Rose’s numbers at the rim are, but I’m willing to let that slide given the context. The double was on Rose, they were aiming to stop him at all costs. Even though shooting at the rim is simply always going to be a higher percentage attempt than an 18 foot jumper, it’s hard to argue for the defended shot over the open one.

Here’s a quick list of players shooting better from that range. Joakim Noah (!) at 56%, Jannero Pargo at 41% (off of 8.9 attempts per 40), Derrick Rose at 40% (with only 29.7% assisted so he could have pulled up for the jumper), and Luol Deng (40% on 8.7 attempts per 40).

Meanwhile, you had Lindsey Hunter in, who has only attempted one shot from inside the three point line this year, which he missed. Of course, he was probably waiting for the three ball. Which, you know, he has failed to hit all year in four attempts.

I’ve been really kind to VDN this year, but he has GOT to get over the Brad Miller clutch situation thing. It was a good look. He’s a good player. The odds were not horrendous that he would make it. But there are better options, better positions to put yourself in.