[In case you haven’t noticed, the season has hit a little bit of a rut. For the time being, I’ll follow up weeknight/work night games with 5 quick take aways. There just isn’t much to say that hasn’t been said…]
1. Tony Parker teaches point guard class.
Some advanced stats for you:
58, 60, 57, 59, 63, 58, 56, 54, 50, 61.
Those are the regular season win totals of Tony Parker’s first ten seasons in the NBA. In his eleventh season, the Spurs went 50-16. This season, his twelfth, they’re on pace to win 64 games and lose 18.
Tonight the Spurs rested Parker’s fellow Hall of Famers to be, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. So Parker just did more. He dribbled more, shot more, passed more. Cared more. When things were slipping he gave Danny Green an icy stare that would make Kobe Bryant envious. He then helped set up Green for about a dozen open treys to get him going. It worked. Parker was everything tonight with a 31/8/5 stat line and dominant, classic Parker performance. There isn’t a better point guard in the world, if winning is the goal.
2. Gelabale: Rich Man’s Wes Johnson?
Mickael Gelabale — sample size considered — seems to be able to do the following:
- Catch a pass;
- Make an open shot;
- Guard somebody; and
- Not do anything stupid.
If Wes Johnson could’ve done those things, he’d probably be starting for the Timberwolves right now.
3. Something Derrick Williams Provides
The Ricky Rubio Advantage is lessened when his genius kickout passes are followed by hesitation and dribble drives instead of a quick shot. Derrick Williams — unlike many of his teammates — seems to appreciate him some Rubio dimes. He catches and fires. Sometimes it goes in. Sometimes it doesn’t. But the pass doesn’t go to wasted. Derrick doesn’t hit a terribly high percentage of field goal attempts, but his effectiveness certain seems higher when he just lets er fly rather than barreling into the lane where he’s as likely to have his shot blocked or dribble off his knee as he is likely to finish. He played well tonight, scoring 15 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.
4. Don’t expect a trade for Pau Gasol.
Because this:
5. An eye toward the lotto
This guy Ben McLemore:
Get to know him.
Season Record: 18-28
Punch-Drunk Wolves 
Wes Johnson. Ugh. Dude got hot for one month at Syracuse then injured his wrist a bit, which created the perfect excuse for his subsequent slide into mediocrity. Teams like MN focused on his one hot month, bought the excuse, and were tantalized by the body type. But I imagine that any team that really did it’s homework on the guy must have noticed that he’s not a good shooter, can’t dribble, and doesn’t do much off the ball.
More than a complete waste of a draft pick, a draft pick that actually did real damage by costing his team a future #1 pick in the future (PHX trade).
The season is a rut and I’m dwelling on the past. I just can’t prevent being frustrated by the incompetence of this organization (pre-Adelman at least).
Consistent with the problems Britt Robson identified in his last column, the wolves backcourt was dominated last night. Wow.
Nathan–
My bad for bringing up bad memories.
Most realistically, the Wolves were going to draft either Wes Johnson or DeMarcus Cousins. They both have their problems.
The Wolves could’ve won that game, last night. Danny Green got hot and the Spurs do a good enough job — with or without Duncan and Ginobili — of manufacturing open 3’s to make a hot shooting night a painful one for the opposition.
But I kinda like Gelabale. If he’s extremely cheap, I wouldn’t mind keeping him around. Better to do that than a whole bunch of mid-size deals that chew up cap space at replacement level.
well, I’d like to think that if the Spurs had the 4th pick that year, they would have found a way to walk away with a player not named Wes Johnson or Demarcus Cousins.
Apparently, Gelabale and Johnson are now free agents.