The Rockets were willing to replace Ty Lawson with Michael Beasley, which underscores the risk the Pacers assume with their new point guard, according to Nate Taylor of the Indianapolis Star. Taylor nonetheless believes Lawson and Indiana need each other. Much depends on how Lawson performs down the stretch, Taylor believes, and his debut for the team Monday was inauspicious, since he left after five minutes with a sprained foot, as Taylor notes in a separate piece. Lawson is day-to-day, coach Frank Vogel said, according to Taylor. See more from the Central Division:
- LeBron James and Kyrie Irving don’t have a personality conflict, but a disconnect exists between their games on the floor, said several scouts and coaches who spoke with Chris Mannix of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. It’s one of many challenges facing the Cavaliers who face a situation James couldn’t have envisioned when he returned, with a stacked roster that still hasn’t found a groove, Mannix writes.
- The Bucks are giving Giannis Antetokounmpo minutes at point guard, but they probably don’t envision him as a full-time solution at that position, as the key for the team down the stretch is simply to see how Antetokoumpo and Jabari Parker can continue to mesh together, Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says in a video. Injured starting point man Michael Carter-Williams has a “murky” future with the team, leading Gardner to believe Milwaukee will look for a point guard this summer.
- E’Twaun Moore delivers at both ends and at both guard positions, making him indispensable for the Bulls as he enters free agency this summer, opines K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
Kyrie is a ball stopper. That’s fine, but whenever he is isolating, the best player on the planet is standing around watching. Those guys greatness allows them to get away with that, but you aren’t going to be very efficient like that, and it makes it harder to score in the half court. Meanwhile, they have no bigs that can defend the pick and roll, besides LeBron, but LeBron doesn’t want to play those positions. Combine that with Kyrie Irving also not being able to defend, and you see the issues when they’re on the court together. Kevin Love and LeBron also play from mostly the same areas of the floor, when they’re being used most effectively. That leaves Love out on the perimeter, where he can still be useful, but it’s difficult to do much when most of your few touches come out there, and your PG is constantly dribbling all the time, instead of getting everyone involved. I’m fine if LeBron wants to isolate at times. Otherwise, they need to start moving the ball and moving better without the ball to get themselves some easier opportunities in the half court
This is riducoulous. If LeBron is “the best player on the planet”, he should stop crying and play better. It’s always some other player or some coaches fault why his teams aren’t living up to expectations. People are finally seeing LeBron for the joke that he is.
With Kyrie and Kevin Love on the floor without LeBron, the Cavs have a net efficiency of -15