Here are five quick nuggets from the treasure trove that is 
NBAwowy.com:
- With Marc  Gasol on the floor, Mike  Conley and Zach  Randolph have true shooting percentages of 59.5 and 55.1, respectively. Without Marc, those dip to 50.2 and 50.6. Get better soon, Nasty.

 
- Just in case you thought (as I suspected) that Monta  Ellis' growth this year was mostly from playing alongside Dirk  Nowitzki: Monta with Dirk on the floor: 27.9 usage, 53.3 TS%. With Dirk on the bench: 27.5 usage, 59.5 TS%.
- The Kings are scoring 100 points per 100 possessions with Greivis  Vasquez on the floor, which would rank about 20th in the NBA team rankings. Without Vasquez, they're scoring 108.5 points per 100 possessions, which would rank 2nd in the NBA, just behind the Heat's 108.8.
- Speaking of Miami, are we still pretending Udonis  Haslem is integral to this team? With Udonis on the court, Miami scores 107 pts / 100 possessions and gives up a whopping 118 pts / 100 poss. With Udonis in the cheering section, the Heat outscore opponents 117.5 - 102 per 100 poss. More amazingly, in the 108 minutes that Haslem and LeBron  James have played together, the Heat have been outscored by 20 points. UDONIS HASLEM CANCELS OUT LEBRON JAMES!
- LaMarcus  Aldridge and Damian  Lillard have been outstanding for the Blazers, and Wesley  Matthews is shooting like Steve  Kerr on steroids. But the real MVP for Portland might be Robin  Lopez. With Lopez on the court, the Blazers outscore opponents 112-104 per 100 possessions. That's championship-level material. Without him, it's 110-109... basically a .500 team.
Kings are playing much better with Isaiah Thomas, who typically replaces Vasquez. Not sure how much of this is Thomas being great or Vasquez being disappointing.
ReplyDeleteHey Justin, yeah, it's been surprising that a team that was ball-movement-allergic last year hasn't gotten better with one of the better pure passers around. Isaiah Thomas has been fantastic. I just tweeted that his usage rate and true shooting % (28.7, 59%) are both higher than T Parker's (27.2, 57%) and D Wade's (27.5, 58%). Amazing season, and probably deserving of more playing time soon.
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