Pre-Season Thoughts
As advertised...
Knicks
What can I say. Nate Robinson is really good. I mean really really good. Well - not as good as he probably thinks he is, but certainly better than even his fans probably thinks he is. This kid has to learn to control himself and also make a few better decisions (like when not to take a shitty shot, what kind of pass will actually get through 4 defenders, adjusting to the taller players in the NBA, etc). But even with that, he puts out 4 assists, 11 points, 6 boards, and a steal to boot (though quite a few turnovers and fouls as well). All while shooting 5/6. That is remarkably efficient for someone who I just criticized as inefficient. I guess it is all relative people. Plus, man some of the crisp moves he had - fake left, burn his man right, spin to the center avoiding the collapsing help - D, drawing effectively a triple team for a 5'9" guard in the paint - and then, the beautiful quick bounce pass that goes 15 feet through the crowd perfectly finding his man at the 3-pt arc to drain the trey. Pretty shit. What can I say. Also, Eddie Curry still can't buy a rebound. But he is learning some defense - and that's a start. Robinson followed that performance against Dallas with a 2-7, 7 pt, 5 rebound, 2 assist, 1 steal, 3 foul effort against Tony Parker and the Spurs. Channing Frye did remarkably well, especially considering he shared time against Tim Duncan. Frye shot 8-14, grabbing 8 boards in the process for a 19 pt/8 board/3 assist/2 steal/2 block effort. Curry, of course, couldn't do anything.
Suns
Marion.
Nets
Wow ... Richard Jefferson got good? Wth happened. I used to laugh at him. He went out and bought himself a consistent jump shot and some court vision. On a similar note, Jason Kidd isn't really that good anymore. He kind of sucks. At least compared to the J-Kidd of old. He is much much slower, really can't shoot now, and certainly has trouble playing defense.
76ers
AI the 2nd (Iguodala) is awsome. He is like Kirilenko, with worse shooting. But I guess that is ok. He will probably still be the 4th scoring option, perhaps 5th, behind AI, C-Webb, John Salmons and maybe Korver.
Bulls
Janero Pargo shoots too much. He thinks he can drain it like he did in his college days. Call it the AI syndrome (I guess that is why AI takes so many threes even though he isn't particularly great in NBA terms).
Cavs
My oh my. Of the big 4 - James, Hughes, Jones, Gooden, and Ilgauskas (yes I know that is 5 people, but Ilgauskas and Jones count as one person) - if 3 of them are hot, we will see some pretty damn efficient scoring between them. This will be fun to watch. Add in that they all distribute the ball fairly well, and they also have a smart (though not physically able) point guard who loves to pass and can't really shoot (Snow), and the team looks to be pretty solid ... offensively. Defense is a different question. D. Jones sucks, and no one else really is anything spectacular. (Yes, even Larry Hughes. Going for steals is called gambling, not good/effective defense.) And all of this is without thinking of Donyell Marshall who easily should have been a contender for 6th man last year. Maybe not top 3, but still. I mean he is a 4 who can step out and pop the 3. And he was the most efficient Raptor last year by far, though he came off the bench.
Pacers
Danny Granger! The kid has scored in double digits in the last 3 games (11, 19, 12) with (11, 15, 7) boards respectively. He also has always had at least 1 assist, 1 block, and 1 steal per game. He gets to the line nearly 7 times a game, but he seems to foul a lot and his shooting percentage could be better.
Raptors
Charlie Villanueva has been out of control. At just over 17 ppg, 5 rpg, 1 apg, 1 spg, 1 bpg, with 55% shooting, he seems to be a solid rookie. He doesn't get to the line as much as he should, though.
Heat
Oh wonderful. Against the Pistons yesterday, Walker shot 2-10 and Jason Williams shot 2-9. Wonderful. And if you look at how until now he has done compared to everyone else in the league, he leads the league in nothing. He isn't even close to top in anything. Then I had an idea to sort by "FGAP48", i.e. field goals attempted per 48 minutes. Yup. There he is, #8 in the league. Shit, he can't make the list for making shots. But for attempts? Always there. His first game was an inspired effort - 9/14 shooting for 20 pts coupled with 2 boards, 1 assist, 5 steals. But he has been on and off (more off) since then, shooting under 10% twice and under 40% 3 out of 4 games. Then you have Jason Williams, who shoots no less than 7 shoots per game, making only 34% of those at that. All that and averaging an unimpressive 3.5 assists per game. Yuck. And why are 50% of his shot attempts from down town when he is only hitting 18% of them?!
Knicks
What can I say. Nate Robinson is really good. I mean really really good. Well - not as good as he probably thinks he is, but certainly better than even his fans probably thinks he is. This kid has to learn to control himself and also make a few better decisions (like when not to take a shitty shot, what kind of pass will actually get through 4 defenders, adjusting to the taller players in the NBA, etc). But even with that, he puts out 4 assists, 11 points, 6 boards, and a steal to boot (though quite a few turnovers and fouls as well). All while shooting 5/6. That is remarkably efficient for someone who I just criticized as inefficient. I guess it is all relative people. Plus, man some of the crisp moves he had - fake left, burn his man right, spin to the center avoiding the collapsing help - D, drawing effectively a triple team for a 5'9" guard in the paint - and then, the beautiful quick bounce pass that goes 15 feet through the crowd perfectly finding his man at the 3-pt arc to drain the trey. Pretty shit. What can I say. Also, Eddie Curry still can't buy a rebound. But he is learning some defense - and that's a start. Robinson followed that performance against Dallas with a 2-7, 7 pt, 5 rebound, 2 assist, 1 steal, 3 foul effort against Tony Parker and the Spurs. Channing Frye did remarkably well, especially considering he shared time against Tim Duncan. Frye shot 8-14, grabbing 8 boards in the process for a 19 pt/8 board/3 assist/2 steal/2 block effort. Curry, of course, couldn't do anything.
Suns
Marion.
Nets
Wow ... Richard Jefferson got good? Wth happened. I used to laugh at him. He went out and bought himself a consistent jump shot and some court vision. On a similar note, Jason Kidd isn't really that good anymore. He kind of sucks. At least compared to the J-Kidd of old. He is much much slower, really can't shoot now, and certainly has trouble playing defense.
76ers
AI the 2nd (Iguodala) is awsome. He is like Kirilenko, with worse shooting. But I guess that is ok. He will probably still be the 4th scoring option, perhaps 5th, behind AI, C-Webb, John Salmons and maybe Korver.
Bulls
Janero Pargo shoots too much. He thinks he can drain it like he did in his college days. Call it the AI syndrome (I guess that is why AI takes so many threes even though he isn't particularly great in NBA terms).
Cavs
My oh my. Of the big 4 - James, Hughes, Jones, Gooden, and Ilgauskas (yes I know that is 5 people, but Ilgauskas and Jones count as one person) - if 3 of them are hot, we will see some pretty damn efficient scoring between them. This will be fun to watch. Add in that they all distribute the ball fairly well, and they also have a smart (though not physically able) point guard who loves to pass and can't really shoot (Snow), and the team looks to be pretty solid ... offensively. Defense is a different question. D. Jones sucks, and no one else really is anything spectacular. (Yes, even Larry Hughes. Going for steals is called gambling, not good/effective defense.) And all of this is without thinking of Donyell Marshall who easily should have been a contender for 6th man last year. Maybe not top 3, but still. I mean he is a 4 who can step out and pop the 3. And he was the most efficient Raptor last year by far, though he came off the bench.
Pacers
Danny Granger! The kid has scored in double digits in the last 3 games (11, 19, 12) with (11, 15, 7) boards respectively. He also has always had at least 1 assist, 1 block, and 1 steal per game. He gets to the line nearly 7 times a game, but he seems to foul a lot and his shooting percentage could be better.
Raptors
Charlie Villanueva has been out of control. At just over 17 ppg, 5 rpg, 1 apg, 1 spg, 1 bpg, with 55% shooting, he seems to be a solid rookie. He doesn't get to the line as much as he should, though.
Heat
Oh wonderful. Against the Pistons yesterday, Walker shot 2-10 and Jason Williams shot 2-9. Wonderful. And if you look at how until now he has done compared to everyone else in the league, he leads the league in nothing. He isn't even close to top in anything. Then I had an idea to sort by "FGAP48", i.e. field goals attempted per 48 minutes. Yup. There he is, #8 in the league. Shit, he can't make the list for making shots. But for attempts? Always there. His first game was an inspired effort - 9/14 shooting for 20 pts coupled with 2 boards, 1 assist, 5 steals. But he has been on and off (more off) since then, shooting under 10% twice and under 40% 3 out of 4 games. Then you have Jason Williams, who shoots no less than 7 shoots per game, making only 34% of those at that. All that and averaging an unimpressive 3.5 assists per game. Yuck. And why are 50% of his shot attempts from down town when he is only hitting 18% of them?!
posted by arun at 9:30 AM
1 Comments:
Yah he would have. Somehow they thought that getting a bad defender (Kurt Thomas) would enhance their defensive prowess. *shrug*
Yes, I agree that Granger dropped wayyyyyy too low. That kid was talented. I had him so much higher in my mock draft. I'm a big fan of his talent.
Post a Comment
<< Home