^^^ that clip above reminds me so much of Nash with the impeccable control of the ball, and change of pace and direction and smarts and being just a great shooter around the rim and from deep without having the dominant "stud" physical attributes. He just gets where he needs to be at will.
@sirronstuff .... Is that a friendly Kobe laugh or a mocking Kobe laugh because you're skeptical? Mr. I competed against Lance Armstrong ....
I competed “at the same time” as Lance Armstrong. That’s totally different. The Uniballer would have destroyed me.
It's really nice having someone on the team that legitimately doesn't miss FTs and is clutch when those times come around. Last person we had like that was Kobe.
I must say I thought when his shot wasn't falling, IT would be pretty much a non-factor for us....but he has been a nice playmaker for us even when his shot is off.
He may not be shooting the ball well right now, but the aggressiveness that he plays with keeps our pace up which is a big weapon for us. Since he's joined the team we've been incredible offensively.
His ceiling as a closer is 80% of what Kobe could do in the 4th. We’ve been desperate for that for a little while.
He’s got a really nice 2 man game going with Zu as well, which is nice to see. Sort of like we had with JC and Randle to a lesser extent. Zu sets the hard screens IT needs to operate, and then goes to the hoop and keeps getting easy buckets from IT. His defense hasn’t been as big of an issue as we’re adjusting to playing with him, and I think Zo off the bench out there with him is really helping cover for him from what I’ve seen. But yes, all I hoped for was for him to match what JC was giving us the rest of the season, and he’s pretty much doing that aside from still trying to find his shot. Gotta love how he’s autonomic points at the FT line too, we desperately needed that (especially with JC being our best shooter there and being traded) after costing ourselves games at the line. I hope he continues to drive and get to the line more. And in late close games the ball always needs to be inbounded to him when the other team needs to foul.
Yeah once those shots start dropping look the hell out. I'll reserve the faintest, tiniest sliver of hope for my lightning in a bottle premise in the Push To The Playoffs thread. Right before they crapped the bed 3 straight games. @KareemtheGreat33 blames me for the jinx. It's always easy for him to take shots. Look at his sig and all the energy he conserves all day long to do that.
"and I think Zo off the bench out there with him is really helping cover for him from what I’ve seen." Mount LaVar is probably getting ready to erupt any day now. Read there have been swarms of quakes registering ever since Zo came back and not being in the starting lineup.
Lol, you’re probably right, and I myself was yelling for him to start immediately. But, for now, I don’t have an issue with Zo coming off the bench while he gets back into game shape. He clearly wants to play with IT, he’s an instant boost to the offense and defense when he comes in, and he gets to play with Kuzma, which is always good for getting him open looks. The starting lineup is not getting off to bad starts at the moment, so it’s fine, and I also like Zo to have to play with Lopez as little as possible.
Just being the kind of threat that he is even when his shot if off is very valuable and something JC couldn't always give us. Also the biggest difference between him and JC is that IT doesn't freak out when he is trapped and is able to find the correct person. JC always struggled with this and still does even being with CLE.