Great read and more love / pub for Novakane. Hope he can keep it up in the playoffs (hopefully against the Heat)!!!
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/knicks/post/_/id/17611/former-suns-gm-steve-kerr-wanted-novak
"96 out of 100 threes" in a 2006 pre-draft workout??? Amazing.
Quote from: Tigidal on April 26, 2012, 10:38:38 AM
"96 out of 100 threes" in a 2006 pre-draft workout??? Amazing.
Exactly what I was about to post. Unreal. I've never seen a better open shooter in my life. Get him set, give him an inch of space and he'll bury it in your face. Glad he finally got his shot.
At same camp(Spurs I believe), starting at free throw line had 3 chances to make shot. If made took a large step backwards. They say Steve was between half court and opposite top of the key before he missed 3 in a row. Tracy McGrady called him best shooter in the NBA (HOU) before most people had even heard his name.
How awesome was last nights game where his DEFENSE in the last minute saved the game. (While Melo was on the bench). Also, I loved it when Hubie Brown would say "automatic" before Steve's shot went in.
In the Knicks games I have watched this year (just to watch Steve, honestly) his help defense and positioning is pretty good, his rebounding has been adequate. He still can't guard an athletic forward one-on-one on the perimeter, but he understands where his help is and tries to steer his guy toward the help. On a scale of 1-10, his defense has gone from a 2-3 to a 5-6.
Finished season at .472 from behind the arc, easily leading the league.
I can't remember which dipsh*t on ESPN wondered aloud a couple months ago why some guy named Novak was on the court when the Knicks needed a 3 to tie, but I hope he knows who Novak is now.
As an aside, I often wonder why an opponent EVER leaves a dead-eye 3-point shooter wide open. Some teams double-team even mediocre low-post players and leave guys like Novak open. It's stupid. One guy will struggle to even make a 2, Novak makes almost half of his 3s. It should be pretty simple math.
If I'm playing against the Knicks in the playoffs, I never let Novak's defender double down on Amare or Tyson Chandler. The only way Novak scores is if the opponent lets him score. And if they do, shame on them.
Quote from: MU82 on April 26, 2012, 10:41:59 PM
If I'm playing against the Knicks in the playoffs, I never let Novak's defender double down on Amare or Tyson Chandler. The only way Novak scores is if the opponent lets him score. And if they do, shame on them.
Novak's defenders do hang around him quite a bit and as a result it does open up the lane for his teammates. As long as he can avoid being abused on defense he should be a valuable 20+ mpg for years to come. It will be interesting where he ends up next year, as I don't think the Knicks will be able to afford him. I always thought (and I'm pretty sure I've read this here before and a lot of you agree) that he'd be a really valuable role player on a very good team.
Quote from: MU82 on April 26, 2012, 10:41:59 PM
If I'm playing against the Knicks in the playoffs, I never let Novak's defender double down on Amare or Tyson Chandler. The only way Novak scores is if the opponent lets him score. And if they do, shame on them.
He's talking to you, Eric Spolestra.
Quote from: CTWarrior on April 27, 2012, 08:25:10 AM
Novak's defenders do hang around him quite a bit and as a result it does open up the lane for his teammates. As long as he can avoid being abused on defense he should be a valuable 20+ mpg for years to come. It will be interesting where he ends up next year, as I don't think the Knicks will be able to afford him. I always thought (and I'm pretty sure I've read this here before and a lot of you agree) that he'd be a really valuable role player on a very good team.
Whats it going to cost to buy Novak for next year? $2million? He's making around $800k this year and the team is paying Amare and Mello big numbers (saw the other day Garnett make $21 mil?!?!). Do they even have enough for Lin next year? One thing I wont question is that Novak will see his largest paycheck of his career next year.
Quote from: MU82 on April 26, 2012, 10:41:59 PM
I can't remember which dipsh*t on ESPN wondered aloud a couple months ago why some guy named Novak was on the court when the Knicks needed a 3 to tie, but I hope he knows who Novak is now.
Find out so we can tweet him up.
Quote from: buzzchiapet on April 27, 2012, 12:03:34 PM
Find out so we can tweet him up.
Scott Van Pelt or @notthefakeSVP
Steve gets a shoutout from Bill Simmons.
24. Steve Novak
Random guarantee: A Novak/J.R. Smith shooting barrage will swing one of the Knicks-Heat games. And you know Carmelo is winning one (at least) by himself. That means the series is going six games ... at least. (We'll see if I have the balls to pick New York by the end of this column. Don't think I'm not considering it.) By the way, the dorkiest moment in NBA history is a 75-way tie between every big Novak 3 when he gave himself the Aaron Rodgers belt this season.
Shaq just took Novak for his fantasy player of the day.
"Novak? Come on"
For a guy that can't create a shot or move without the ball, that is pretty good.
Quote from: Hoopaloop on April 28, 2012, 12:33:24 PM
For a guy that can't create a shot or move without the ball, that is pretty good.
During commercial break in Dancing with the Stars last night (watch to make your wife happy, stay for Maria Menuonos, Brooke Burke and Katherine Jenkins), I went to catch score of Knicks-Heat and Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley were discussing Novak at length, saying how even when he doesn't score he opens up the lane by not allowing help to come. They went on to say that he was a specialist, and given his limitations in the other aspects of his game to do what he does requires not that he be a really good shooter, but that he be one of the "ten best shooters in the world" and that he was, in fact, one of the 10 best shooters in the world.
Quote from: Jamailman on April 26, 2012, 10:41:13 AM
Exactly what I was about to post. Unreal. I've never seen a better open shooter in my life. Get him set, give him an inch of space and he'll bury it in your face. Glad he finally got his shot.
Pun intended?
Quote from: Hoopaloop on April 28, 2012, 12:33:24 PM
For a guy that can't create a shot or move without the ball, that is pretty good.
No matter how many times you repeat that, you're still wrong. Novak shoots by far most of his shots off the catch and shoot, maybe more than anyone in the league. PRN was right, Novak is a guy that is never going to do much creating off the dribble.
Quote from: CTWarrior on May 01, 2012, 07:09:42 AMThey went on to say that he was a specialist, and given his limitations in the other aspects of his game to do what he does requires not that he be a really good shooter, but that he be one of the "ten best shooters in the world" and that he was, in fact, one of the 10 best shooters in the world.
Calling Novak one of the 10 best shooters in the world is giving 9 other guys too much credit.
He can't move once he gets the ball in his hands, that's his biggest problem. Defensively he's improved a lot with more PT this year, but he's a liability if he doesn't get a shot off. If he has the ball for more than 3 seconds, defenses know that flocking him will result in a TO more times than not.
But he is deadly from beyong the arc. Agree that you can't give him any space to shoot, and teams that do are playing with fire.
Quote from: jmayer1 on May 01, 2012, 10:39:45 AM
No matter how many times you repeat that, you're still wrong. Novak shoots by far most of his shots off the catch and shoot, maybe more than anyone in the league. PRN was right, Novak is a guy that is never going to do much creating off the dribble.
The more he repeats something that is so obviously wrong the more his deteriorating mental condition is revealed.
I don't know how he types with those padded, three fingered Mickey Mouse gloves on.
Quote from: MarsupialMadness on May 01, 2012, 10:49:30 AM
defenses know that flocking him will result in a TO more times than not.
They can't show the defense flocking him on TV, right? At least, not the early games.
Quote from: leever on May 01, 2012, 01:23:20 PM
They can't show the defense flocking him on TV, right? At least, not the early games.
Oh, oh just flock off with all the bad play on word thingies!
You're all being a bunch of flockers about this.
It's only a game flockers
Flock you all >:(
I'm gonna make like a shepherd and get the flock outa this thread....
Quote from: jmayer1 on May 01, 2012, 10:39:45 AM
No matter how many times you repeat that, you're still wrong. Novak shoots by far most of his shots off the catch and shoot, maybe more than anyone in the league. PRN was right, Novak is a guy that is never going to do much creating off the dribble.
You are a little late to the conversation. PRN originally said, "Steve is one of my all time favorite Marquette players...absolutely loved him.
But he never developed the ability to shoot off the dribble or off movement. And he still can't"
It is as if you guys didn't watch his junior or senior seasons.
At the NBA level he will have a very difficult time creating his own shot, but in college he did quite frequently. PRN is dead wrong on his claim that Novak couldn't because he did it in college routinely. Crean didn't have an offense that isolated Novak on screens all day long. At times they would screen for him, but he had to move, often with the ball, to create his shot. He had that nice post up move from the elbow as well.
For those of you without memories, a nice 2 minute video captures it pretty well.
http://www.youtube.com/v/_A3o2Mzm8qU
Quote from: Hoopaloop on May 03, 2012, 02:08:25 PM
You are a little late to the conversation. PRN originally said, "Steve is one of my all time favorite Marquette players...absolutely loved him. But he never developed the ability to shoot off the dribble or off movement. And he still can't"
It is as if you guys didn't watch his junior or senior seasons.
At the NBA level he will have a very difficult time creating his own shot, but in college he did quite frequently. PRN is dead wrong on his claim that Novak couldn't because he did it in college routinely. Crean didn't have an offense that isolated Novak on screens all day long. At times they would screen for him, but he had to move, often with the ball, to create his shot. He had that nice post up move from the elbow as well.
For those of you without memories, a nice 2 minute video captures it pretty well.
Actually, I'm not late to the conversation, I just didn't reply before because this is a simply asinine statement for anybody that watched Novak at MU. He did not create his own shot quite frequently in college, rather he did it quite infrequently. In his 4 years, he took 3 point shots on 73.6% of his field goal attempts (768 of 1044) with the vast, vast majority of those coming on kick-outs and really no decrease in the percentage he took after his freshman year (96.5% freshman year, 71.4%, 69.4%, and 71.3% his last 3 years). The Notre Dame shot was by far the exception, not the rule.
For those of you without memories, a nice 2 minute video captures it pretty well (by rough count of the MU highlights, 15 of 21 (71.4%) shots came without a dribble). By my estimation and I think just about everyone else's, that is pretty infrequent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p85vUMWtMz0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p85vUMWtMz0)
Quote from: Hoopaloop on May 03, 2012, 02:08:25 PM
You are a little late to the conversation. PRN originally said, "Steve is one of my all time favorite Marquette players...absolutely loved him. But he never developed the ability to shoot off the dribble or off movement. And he still can't"
It is as if you guys didn't watch his junior or senior seasons.
At the NBA level he will have a very difficult time creating his own shot, but in college he did quite frequently. PRN is dead wrong on his claim that Novak couldn't because he did it in college routinely. Crean didn't have an offense that isolated Novak on screens all day long. At times they would screen for him, but he had to move, often with the ball, to create his shot. He had that nice post up move from the elbow as well.
For those of you without memories, a nice 2 minute video captures it pretty well.
http://www.youtube.com/v/_A3o2Mzm8qU
PRN and jmayer1 are 100% correct. Novak is, was and will always be a catch and shoot guy. Arguing differently is silly.
Quote from: jmayer1 on May 03, 2012, 04:49:09 PM
Actually, I'm not late to the conversation, I just didn't reply before because this is a simply asinine statement for anybody that watched Novak at MU. He did not create his own shot quite frequently in college, rather he did it quite infrequently. In his 4 years, he took 3 point shots on 73.6% of his field goal attempts (768 of 1044) with the vast, vast majority of those coming on kick-outs and really no decrease in the percentage he took after his freshman year (96.5% freshman year, 71.4%, 69.4%, and 71.3% his last 3 years). The Notre Dame shot was by far the exception, not the rule.
For those of you without memories, a nice 2 minute video captures it pretty well (by rough count of the MU highlights, 15 of 21 (71.4%) shots came without a dribble). By my estimation and I think just about everyone else's, that is pretty infrequent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p85vUMWtMz0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p85vUMWtMz0)
Your video, 71%. That means 29% he did create. Does 29% = never as PRN stated? No, it doesn't.
The video I put up, 6 of 7 shots he took were off the dribble. 85% were off the dribble. Is 85% = never? No, it doesn't.
Both are limited samples, both show he could shoot off the dribble and create his own shot if needed. The claim that he NEVER could do it is wrong. That is the asinine statement, not mine.
I fully acknowledge that he is a phenomenal 3 point shooter, maybe the best on the planet. I fully acknowledge that most of his attempts were 3 pointers (of course, some of those he had to create separation and move with the ball as well). What I do not understand is PRN, Ners, and several other posters here saying the cat basically just popped and shot, some even saying that's all he ever did. They are wrong and the videos prove it. It is unfortunate that some of you missed some of his game or have memory loss to have forgotten it. Steve came to MU as a stand still 3 point shooter in the college game (though in high school did much more). By the time he left MU, he was more than a stand still shooter. It is unfortunate that some feel the need to diminish his game or have no sense of what else he could do. The videos show otherwise.
What a great player and representative of Marquette.
You are late to the game.