MVP Chants & Byron Mullens

[ammofan]

I don't hate him as much as I let on last night, I'm just really frustrated with his play. You made some good points but, as you said- different strokes.

He is not a knucklehead like Tyrus but, on the court he has shown flashes of being on T-Times level. Trying to act tough against Anthony Davis and then getting totally dominated by the rook for the rest of the game, jawing with the Raptors bench and not getting back on defense, crying about a no call to the refs and getting beat down the court by the opposing big man. These are the type things I was talking about.

Statistically, despite his hard work with Dunlap & the improvements that you noted, he's basically performing about the same (+1.7 reb, 1 stls) but, shooting much worse per 36 minutes.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...mulleby01.html

He may be the worst man to man post defender in the league. BJ doesn't run the floor like e did last year when he was getting all the dunks on the secondary break, now he half-asses it down the court for the trailing 3 from the top of the key ( I don't remember him hitting a single shot in that scenario this season)

My main point is that I'm okay with him being on the team at a reasonable price & coming off the bench for 25 minutes per..... I do not want to pay him 7 or 8 Million per year to be our long term starting PF.

LOL he isn't anywhere close to the psychotic-ness that is Tyrus Thomas. Just because he pushed a guy and complained about a foul doesn't mean shit. That happens every night in the NBA. Dirk Nowitzki, Lebron, Kobe, Matt Carroll, etc have all had things like that happen and it's absurd to bring that up as any sort of issue.

If he wasn't doing what he was told on offense, and defense, he would not start or play. Dunlap wouldn't put up with that. Actually Dunlap has said before they are working with Byron and teaching him on both ends of the floor. We're only just over 10 games into the season...stop flipping out now just because a guy isn't playing amazing every night. Fact is; Byron is 23 years old and has limited experience on the NBA level. He's still learning just as Kemba, Bismack, etc are.

He's averaging 8.8 rebounds after last night, nothing to complain about there. He's rebounded quite well. He needs to improve on the defensive end but even guys like Bis(defensive specialist!!!) haven't rotated well in spots and have been beat down repeatedly in the post.

How about Haywood last night? He didn't do shit. Pretty sure he had 1 rebound entering the 4th quarter. If that was Byron people would be going absurd.

Just relax people, we're 6-5...what we have going now obviously is working nicely. Let these guys develop...after all we are a team in the "rebuilding" stage with a lot of young players and Byron is one of them.

[Chef]

mullens problem is that he is a 2nd unit guy masquerading as a starter. as a 2nd unit offense guy/change of pace big he would be excellent and these problems would be less likely to impact a game than it does as a starter.

[Dcarnys]

I'm probably one of the few right now on the Mullens bandwagon. Hes done a great job this offseason improving on his defense. I will give you this year that his shot has been streaky to say the least. Give it time and it will improve, in that time yes he does need to post up more. It seems hes very dangerous from the post. Overall I like Mullens. A true offensively gifted 7 footer who isn't a headcase.

[playoffs...PLAYOFFS?]

I'm probably one of the few right now on the Mullens bandwagon. Hes done a great job this offseason improving on his defense. I will give you this year that his shot has been streaky to say the least. Give it time and it will improve, in that time yes he does need to post up more. It seems hes very dangerous from the post. Overall I like Mullens. A true offensively gifted 7 footer who isn't a headcase.

Agreed -

1) He needs to improve in FG% and defensive awareness
2) He has improved already in his defense via rebounding
3) He's a team player, has bought in the system, and wants to get better
4) We'll know after this year if is/is not a starter (second true year in the league)

In the mean time, any hate towards him I think is unwarranted...

[dunnlx]

I hate him almost as much as Tyrus...

This x 2.............

[polarcat]

I think Mully has improved big time since coming over. Agree with Chef too that he would be a great 2nd unit guy/match-up advantage kind of player. PF draftee (Polythress, Mitchell, Leslie) / FA acquisition this offseason and then sliding Mullens to the 2nd unit would be huge. One thing I've noticed for the first time in awhile with our team, our bench is looking like a true NBA-calibre 2nd unit. Mully, Gordon, Sessions, Biyombo, Warrick....not too shabby.

[JGib23]

mullens problem is that he is a 2nd unit guy masquerading as a starter. as a 2nd unit offense guy/change of pace big he would be excellent and these problems would be less likely to impact a game than it does as a starter.

This is exactly my point.

The source of my frustration is that he has to start for us. If he was the first big off the bench, I would have no issue because if he plays bad we could pull him and put a better player in. As it stands, ges our best big and that sucks.

[cltblkhscoach]

Man you guys are tough! Byron didn't play in OKC, like others have said it's truly his 2nd year in the league, made VAST improvements, yet you still want to poke holes in the man's game.

After what we went through last year, I'm damn proud of what he's become and what he can be going forward. The MVP chants are funny as hell, but on the real I don't see why Byron can't develop into a starting 4 in a year or two. THIS IS WHAT REBUILDING TEAMS DO! Did we lose sight of that?

[Stylesg1234]

Every1 needs to ease up on Mullens ..the guy has some serious talent ..he has been in a little 3 game slump with his shooting but he showed tonight what he is capable of ..27 points and 8 rbds ..and shot over 50% ..the guy is a player and don't forget he is only 23 ...for those who hate him and hate him as much as Tyrus u guys really need to look at the other 6'10-7' ers out there ..not alot of guys of his size with his versatility and with his stroke ..I like the guy and if he improves as much as he has this past year over the upcoming year then we might have gem on our hands ...let's wait and see

[Toocool]

mullens problem is that he is a 2nd unit guy masquerading as a starter. as a 2nd unit offense guy/change of pace big he would be excellent and these problems would be less likely to impact a game than it does as a starter.

We started him later on when we traded for him, and had a few okay games but the rest were rather poor. This time we're seeing a consistent effort from Mullens every night. At this point he deserves to start. He's worked hard in the off-season to improve, now all we need is for him to continue to improve/develop, and to get in the post and stay there, and not take so many jumpers.