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Questions, Goorjian – Round 5

Sometimes I don’t know if I’m looking at Brian Goorjian or if I’m looking at Al Bundy. Looks can be deceiving. Derrrrr no Peg.

The same goes for the NBA, sometimes teams you thought were going to be Goorjian turn out to be Bundy, and players you saw Bundy potential start showing signs of being Goorjian, with the truth always lying somewhere in between. It’s a Bundy-Goorjian spectrum.

So that’s enough of a ramble, let’s get on with it. Sorry this is late, will try to post quicker to keep the topics more current throughout the season.

How this works is I pose a number of questions, and collate everyone’s answers together here. Sounds easy, right?

At the round table today we have Jarrod Cotton (BOS), Troy Goostrey (IND), David Ashman (DEN), Luke Thomas (UTA), Dan Kelly (LAL) and Jesse Cotton (ATL).

 

 

What has been the biggest surprise of the NBA season thus far, and do you think it is sustainable?

Jarrod Cotton:

Derrick Rose’s play. His bench numbers were surprising enough and then to drop a 50 point game, wow! Had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn’t 2011.

Sixth man role looks like it could be sustained alas, no more scoring records in his future.

Troy Goostrey:

Team – Sacramento.  I was excited to check out their games with the young roster and so much raw talent (see my preseason prediction elsewhere on this site!!) But I didn’t expect such a hot start.  It’s not sustainable but hopefully a sign of the future if this crew mostly stays together.
Player – JaVale McGee.  After a decade of promises and only living up to winning Shaqtin’ a Fool awards, I’d given up on him – thought he was an athletic but not talented big.  Proven wrong so far this season, maybe LeBron has sorted him out or maybe he wants a Big Baller Brand contract? Who knows, but its working for the Lakers.  I think his form is sustainable too.

David Ashman:

One of the biggest surprises this year would have to be teams like Sacramento doing well and teams Minnesota stinking up the joint in the competitive West. Winning all 4 games in an East coast trip just recently definitely surprised me and the team is playing great already with some great play from Fox, Cauley-Stein, Bjelica and Co. who seem to be gelling early. Add in Buddy Hield and rookie Bagley and you have the second best team in California right now. What the………? Twilight Zone right there, cue the music.

Minnesota has surprised me with their record. Even with Butler playing when he feels like it (mmmmm) they are not closing out games and their defence is still questionable. Disappointing already when they could be a top 4 team in the west. Prince would not be happy, purple rain streaming down his face in the form of tears. He needs more New Power Generation from the whole team.

Luke Thomas:

Sacramento got off to a great start, I thought they’d be rubbish this year, but I think they will fall away soon.  I’m also surprised the Rockets have got off to such a slow start.  I thought Toronto would be good but not this good also.  I watched them torch Utah in Utah a week or so ago, they were super impressive and that was without Kawhi Leonard..

Dan Kelly:

The East is surprising me. Celtics seem to be taking longer to click than I thought, Raptors impressive considering Kawhi only plays every second game and unsure how long the Bucks can keep going. What about those Hawks hey Jesse, tanking with the Cavs to get Zion?.

Jesse Cotton:

DeAndre Jordan’s free throw shooting. In his age 30 season, he’s upped it to a point where it’s finally above his FG%. Hack-a-Jordan is no longer considered good defense, which can only be a good thing.
Percentages by year: 38.5%, 37.5%, 45.2%, 52.5%, 38.6%, 42.8%, 39.7%, 43.0%, 48.2%, 58.0%, 84.8% (good for top 40 in the league – and only 4% away from the career mark of Larry Bird)

 

Who is the next NBA coach to be fired?

Jarrod Cotton: 

Scott Brooks. Washington stinks, and the easiest thing to change is the coach. Whether he is the major part of the problem or not is irrelevant unfortunately. I’m surprised Dwight hasn’t had anything to do with the bad results. (This should’ve been my answer to the biggest surprise question, d’oh).

Troy Goostrey:

Rick Carlisle. Been with the Mavs since Beijing held the Olympics and although he has the runs on the board to earn a stay of execution in the rebuild, I think he’s due to be moved on.  I doubt he’ll be coach when they next challenge for a title with Doncic and others, so move on now.

David Ashman:

The next coach to be fired could be poor old Scott Brooks at Washington. They are not performing right now and in the East. Here they have a chance behind Boston and Toronto to give the likes of Philly a run for top 3 or 4 spot yet they languish at the bottom with Cleveland with only a handful of wins and not looking like improving. One writing this, they just beat the Knicks to snap a 5 game losing streak and they do have Dwight “Kryptonite” Howard back so who knows how they may fair going forward. But they are not looking like going far when they are in the weak East.

Luke Thomas:

Tom Thibodeau.

Dan Kelly:

Not sure but at least for the time being…not Walton 🙂

Jesse Cotton:

Has to be Scott Brooks in Washington. He’s been there a while and the team is getting stale and needs a change. With big money being paid to Wall and Porter, a trade seems unlikely, so the only other option is to fire the coach.
Wouldn’t be surprised to see the Wolves and Thibs “mutually agree to part ways” too now that Jimmy’s not there.

Is your team surpassing, living up to, or not meeting expectations so far?

Jarrod Cotton:

Slow start but I think Boston is meeting expectations. Just a little adjustment period to acclimate Kyrie and Haywood back into the rotation. They’re fine.

Troy Goostrey:

Indiana – about spot on in my opinion.  7-3 and 3rd in the East is around the mark.  I expected Boston and Philly to be above them, so to have the Bucks and Raps up there is a mild surprise, but i felt the Pacers were in that next 3-6 bracket out East so they’re going ok.

David Ashman:

The Nuggets to me are surpassing my expectations with an 8 and 1 record. They play a run and gun style offence and they use the Mile High effect very well by taking the wind out of teams early their fast pace. And they have the backcourt to do it with both Jamal Murray and Gary Harris proving to be a great tandem. With Will Barton to come back from injury, they will only get better. And the Joker in the middle doing “Wilt” like numbers, they are looking very good so far. It’s a long season but if they can stay healthy and Millsap gets his mojo back scoring wise, they will be playoff bound for sure. Enver Nuggets can possibly D now too so I might be able to call them Denver finally after all these years 🙂

Luke Thomas:

The Jazz have started slowly, but have had a lot of away games, so 6-6 is not a disaster.  Losing twice at home to Memphis has been disappointing.

Dan Kelly:

LA Lakers – I would say about on par for meeting expectations, similar start for Lebron at the Lakers as he had at Miami and the return to Cleveland. We had some tough games in that first 10 or so games as well, all of which other than the Raptors game we were in them.

Jesse Cotton:

Expectations weren’t exactly sky high in the ATL this year, so not meeting expectations would be quite the achievement. Something almost to be proud of.

I’ll say living up to them. Trae Young is looking better than expected, especially in the playmaking department.
He’s leading all rookies in assists by a country mile (4th in the league), and his assists aren’t cheap ones either, most of the time they lead to a dunk.
I thought Prince may have taken a bigger step forward though, especially in the early days minus John “don’t call me Phil” Collins.
All in all, a 3-10 record is about what I expected.

 

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