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Kelly Dwyer

Darren Is the NBA’s 16th Best PG, Says Dwyer

by Jared Wade on August 17, 2010 at 4:58 pm · 0 comments

There aren’t a lot of smarter NBA writers than Kelly Dwyer. Sure, sometimes he spews nonsense just like the rest of us. But he watches waaaay more basketball than you do. This means that even presuming you are an absolute diehard NBA fan who often watches terrible Western Conference teams even when the one guy worth watching on their team is hurt (Chris Paul), Kelly still saw at least 4o more Hornets games that you did last year.

And he thinks Darren Collison is the NBA’s 16th best point guard.

16. Darren Collison, Indiana Pacers (last year: unranked)

I’d usually hesitate with a per-minute wonder like Collison, giving him a year before throwing him a higher ranking until he can prove himself further to me. The problem with that is that, for half a season, Collison wasn’t a per-minute wonder. Far from it. He started 37 games, averaging about 40 minutes per, and he gave the Hornets about 19 points and nine assists as a rookie starter, with 43 percent shooting from behind the arc.

A 16th-place ranking puts Darren right in front of Jose Calderon (20th) Mo Williams (19th), Lou Williams (18th) and John Wall (17th) and right behind Brandon Jennings (15th), Andre Miller (14th), Steph Curry (13th), Jason Kidd (12th) and Jameer Nelson (11th).

You can play semantics on the precise order, but those are pretty much his peers.

Darren Collison

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Other People’s Thoughts on Pacers/Grizz

by Jared Wade on December 31, 2009 at 12:45 pm · 0 comments

While reading some other recaps of last night’s games, I’ve come across two other pronouncements that really hit the mark perfectly and will help balance the mild cheerfulness that I somehow managed last night.

The first comes from the stellar Grizzlies blog Straight Outta Vancouver and really goes to show how far the Pacers have fallen.

If there’s one sign that your team is moving up in the world, it’s when you start getting the mail-in victories.

The Grizzlies played a Pacers team last night that didn’t not have a single NBA starting caliber player, unless you count T.J. Ford or Dahntay Jones, and picked up the win. But, and this is a big qualifier, they also managed to give up 110 points to their opponent, a team that, at least on paper, is probably more than a little offensively challenged.

Can you blame Luther Head scoring 30 points on highly efficient shooting to anything besides the Grizzlies just planning on outscoring their opponents? If O.J. Mayo and Mike Conley’s defense wasn’t so bad regularly, I’d say there is no other reason than laziness.

Can’t argue with that at all.

Even more disturbing-yet-predictable-and-on-point is today’s take on the Pacers from Ball Don’t Lie’s Kelly Dwyer, who literally watches as many NBA basketball games as anyone on this planet.

The Pacers were led by Roy Hibbert’s 25 and 13, but most of his points came way, way too late. I’d call this team “on the verge of collapse” had they not already collapsed about a week or two ago.

Pretty much.

Its an 8-game losing streak, folks. There’s very little to talk positively about right now.

pacers collapse

I’m working on a new book. Whaddya think?

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Game #1: Recapping the Recaps

by Jared Wade on October 29, 2009 at 11:22 am · 0 comments

Fortunately for yall, most people don’t write 2,500-word write ups about a poorly played game. (And, yeah, that won’t be the norm around these parts neither. It wasn’t my intention when I started it, but that was essentially half opening game recap/half season preview part deux.)

And given the number of non-AP recaps proliferating around the internet, Pacer fans can probably spend all day reading different people’s takes on the opener. The internet keeps it thorough like that.

I can’t say I’ve read them all yet, but it’s hard to believe that anyone can sum up Indy’s painful offense last night better than Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don’t Lie did.

(it’s like the Hawks had five Deion Sanders’ out there, at times), and it was only the sweet shooting of Earl Watson (you read that right) that kept the Pacers in contention.

The sweet shooting of Earl Watson. I like that. Let’s try that again.

The delicate stylings of Napalm Death.

The cogent musings of Gary Busey.

The rapier wit of Jay Leno.

The definitely not stabbing anyone of O.J. Simpson.

Don’t complain about O.J. Simpson jokes. I learned from the rapier wit of Jay Leno.

When it comes to Pacer/Hawks recaps, I think Dwyer just earned himself a chicken dinner. Here’s the best of the rest for your reading pleasure.

  • Cornrows: “Possession of the ball is nine tenths of the loss.”
  • Mike Wells: “The Pacers’ supposed new defense was nowhere to be found in the Atlanta metropolitan area”
  • John Hollinger: “Indy’s interceptions ruined a superb shooting night”
  • Pacers Digest / UncleBuck: “One thing the Hawks aren’t very good at is half court offense, but they seemingly had no problem scoring against the Pacers defense”
  • AP: “The game finally turned when Atlanta started cutting off the driving lanes and Johnson got in Granger’s face. Indiana’s star was held to four points in the final period”
  • Sekou Smith (ATL): “Horford had a masterful opening night, finishing with 24 points, a game-high 16 rebounds and two blocks as all five Hawks starters scored in double figures.”
  • Hoopinion: “Through a little more than three quarters, Jim O’Brien got a lot out of Dahntay Jones and Earl Watson. Then he asked them for more and learned they’d given all they had.”
  • Peachtree Hoops (ATL): “Jeff Teague enjoys the game out there. After that steal and dunk, the kid was uncontrollably smiling.”
  • Human Highlight Blog: “Granger was in the game he must have been wearing his Cloak of Invisibility, because he found himself wide open a bit too much for someone of his considerable talents.”

Repeat after me: It’s only one game. It’s only one game. It’s only one game.

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Season Preview Season

by Jared Wade on October 19, 2009 at 8:22 pm · 2 comments

The NBA season is right around the corner. Its approach is now tangible. I’m excited. I’m giddy. I’ve enjoyed each of the past few seasons more than the last, and the upcoming 2009-10 season will answer so many unknowns that I can’t wait for them to throw the ball up.

Will KG’s knee hold up? How will Shaq fit in with LeBron and company? Was letting Ariza/his temperamental agent walk and signing Artest a good move? How will Vince and a more conventional lineup affect Orlando? Will RJ help the Timmy/Manu/Tony triumvirate win their first even-year Larry O’Brien trophy?

Unsurprisingly, everyone has opinions on all of these thoughts. And even less surprisingly, they are very willing to tell you about those thoughts. Indeed, we have now officially entered the unmistakable eye of the storm that is season preview season — that wonderful time of the year that you will get to hear all about later in the year from those whose outlooks proved correct. Oddly enough, however, those whose proclamations prove incorrect will conveniently forget that this time ever existed. Ah, the wonders of punditry.

In the case of a middling franchise like the Pacers that no longer compels hoops nation, only a handful of analysts have really put a lot of in-depth thought into how the basketball gods will bless or smite Indiana this season. Yours truly will have some more insights to offer over the next week, both in the form of a TrueHoop Network preview and an even longer write-up here. But have no fear Pacer faithful; you can wet your beaks on some appetizer analysis in the meantime from me, Sean Stevenson of Indy Cornrows and Sebastian Pruiti of Nets Are Scorching in Sebastian’s Nets/Pacers match-up preview.

Says Sebastian:

Troy Murphy of last year is what all of us Nets fans are hoping Yi can turn into.  A guy who can hit from the outside and can rebound from the defensive end. Murphy might not duplicate his career year, but he will put up better numbers than Yi.

Ball Don’t Lie was talking Indy the other day as well, and although I’m still a little upset with Kelly Dwyer for overlooking the timeout Larry Brown called to let Conseco honor Reggie for his Top 10 Feel-Good Moments of the Decade, there are few people on this planet who watch more NBA ball than Dwyer, so his opinion is always something to take seriously.

Says the man with the Twitter handle @KDonHoops:

And when you replace the combined 5627 above-average minutes that [Jack, Marquis and Rasho] played last year with … minutes from far, far below-average players in the two Jones’ and Watson this season? You’re going to have a fall-off.

In this case, the fall-off won’t push the Pacers’ win total into the 20s. But it will stop them from making that next step.

He has Indiana pencilled in for a 33-49 record.

Other previews of interest include:

Hopefully, all that will tide you over until we drop our official thoughts.

Stay tuned.

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