CoolBreeze's 2 Things I Didn't Like Tonight Plus 1

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Khans, I take issue with your statement that the wing veterans have been outplayed by the young guys so far this year. Kevin Martin has been our best wing player this year (and Corey was our best wing last night), and I don't think it is even close. Yes, he had a poor shooting night last night, but so did Mo and Thad. But for the season, he is our leading scorer and his AFG% of 52% is the best of all our wings. And in addition he is playing unusually good defense. He and Thad were off last night, but they have been our best scorers and needed to be on the court at the end of the game last night. I'm guessing that Flip will be happy with Martin taking that 12-footer every night with the game on the line, and more often than not, he is going to make it. As much as we all want Wiggins to show his enormous potential right away, Flip understands the importance of bringing him along slowly, and it would have been a mistake to design that last play for him. Mo and Kevin worked a nice play...Kevin just missed the shot. Shit happens.

I think you are also being inconsistent in asking for more Shabazz time, but then lamenting the lack of ball movement with the reserves. I love Shabazz's intensity and ability to score the basketball, but he is our biggest ball-stopping wing. Flip called him out on this after the Brooklyn game and said that is why he limited him to 6 minutes...sane thing last night. Shabazz had a 2-game stretch where he moved the ball quickly when his shot wasn't there, but the last 2 games he has reverted to the old Shabazz. I think he has the potential down the line to be our starting SF (with Wiggins at SG) if he learns to balance his enormous scoring talent with at least average ball movement. But until he learns that, Flip will only use him for limited stretches when we need scoring help.

We lost the game last night because Rubio left the game. He showed his importance last night, and it seemed like the air went out of the balloon when he left the court. It seemed to me that only Corey brought much consistent energy after Ricky went down. And yet even playing without our best player, we would have won last night if either:

1) Kevin, Mo and Thad would have shot the ball like they normally do

2) We would have rebounded the ball like we have this year. I think rebounds were fairly even when Ricky left the game, but Orlando finished with a 52-38 advantage. You're not going to win many games getting outrebounded like that.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Also, I think at one point we had a lineup of LaVine, Martin and Brewer or Wiggins out there with Young and Dieng down low. That lineup was pretty exposed to Orlando's physical style of play. Dieng is big but tends to play with more finesse (holy cow, nice 2nd quarter by the way!). And Young is strong but still going against bigger 4s generally. Getting Pek, Bennett (if he would play down low more), and Muhammad in can help with our physicality (even Hummel a little bit), so we have the players who can give us that style, but not many. Turiaf off the bench if needed. This isn't a big problem, but just an observation.

I can't think of a team with skinnier players than some of our guys.

Where was Bennett tonight?

Bennett had a knee issue last night. You could see him limping a little after his two free throws, but it couldn't have been too serious because Flip had him active last night. I sense it was more of an effort to let everyone on the roster get some court time. I suspect we will even see some Ronny and Bud on the second night of a BTB.

[bleedspeed]

Bennett had a knee issue last night. You could see him limping a little after his two free throws, but it couldn't have been too serious because Flip had him active last night. I sense it was more of an effort to let everyone on the roster get some court time. I suspect we will even see some Ronny and Bud on the second night of a BTB.

I agree with you and feel you are right and correct.

[mjs34]

I don't understand the Shabazz comments by Flip. You drafted a scorer, so let him do what he does best. You can worry about the rest of his game if he proves himself. It's not like he is holding the ball for fifteen seconds. He generally attacks the basket immediately upon getting the ball, and I don't see anything wrong with that. I would be much more worried about our veteran players' choice of shots. I run out of fingers if I try and count how many ridiculous shots Pek, Thad and even Martin threw up last night.

Bennett has been nursing that knee since the start of the season. I am getting a little concerned about it. We need his size in this lineup.

While Gorgi continues to show more offensive ability than most of us thought he had, he also is showing that he has a low BBIQ. He seems incapable of understanding how to body up on D. Has anyone worked on this with him?

Long, I think you are overestimating what you should expect from Mo, Thad, and KM. Q pointed out last week that Mo was shooting well above his averages and we should expect that to come down. Well that has been the case for Thad as well. Kevin will have his good and bad games, and I am guessing that is exactly what we are seeing. I don't know enough about Mo or Thad to say if they are up and down players like we have seen, but if that is the case, it is important to have other guys ready to step in when they aren't on because their weaknesses will hurt us even more on those nights. Thad's rebounding numbers are going to bite us in the ass with Ricky out.

I hope they suit up Ronny tonight if Bennet isn't ready to go. I wouldn't mind him getting some minutes from both Pek and Thad.

[Carlos Danger]

Bennett has been nursing that knee since the start of the season. I am getting a little concerned about it. We need his size in this lineup.

I'm worried how the knee might affect his ability to stay in shape. He worked really hard this offseason. But, how many times do we see people get into shape and then do the Oprah rebound right back to where they started + 20. I hope he stays disciplined while he's recovering. He's shown flashes. But he still has a lot to prove.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Khans, I take issue with your statement that the wing veterans have been outplayed by the young guys so far this year. Kevin Martin has been our best wing player this year (and Corey was our best wing last night), and I don't think it is even close. Yes, he had a poor shooting night last night, but so did Mo and Thad. But for the season, he is our leading scorer and his AFG% of 52% is the best of all our wings. And in addition he is playing unusually good defense. He and Thad were off last night, but they have been our best scorers and needed to be on the court at the end of the game last night. I'm guessing that Flip will be happy with Martin taking that 12-footer every night with the game on the line, and more often than not, he is going to make it. As much as we all want Wiggins to show his enormous potential right away, Flip understands the importance of bringing him along slowly, and it would have been a mistake to design that last play for him. Mo and Kevin worked a nice play...Kevin just missed the shot. Shit happens.

I think you are also being inconsistent in asking for more Shabazz time, but then lamenting the lack of ball movement with the reserves. I love Shabazz's intensity and ability to score the basketball, but he is our biggest ball-stopping wing. Flip called him out on this after the Brooklyn game and said that is why he limited him to 6 minutes...sane thing last night. Shabazz had a 2-game stretch where he moved the ball quickly when his shot wasn't there, but the last 2 games he has reverted to the old Shabazz. I think he has the potential down the line to be our starting SF (with Wiggins at SG) if he learns to balance his enormous scoring talent with at least average ball movement. But until he learns that, Flip will only use him for limited stretches when we need scoring help.

We lost the game last night because Rubio left the game. He showed his importance last night, and it seemed like the air went out of the balloon when he left the court. It seemed to me that only Corey brought much consistent energy after Ricky went down. And yet even playing without our best player, we would have won last night if either:

1) Kevin, Mo and Thad would have shot the ball like they normally do

2) We would have rebounded the ball like we have this year. I think rebounds were fairly even when Ricky left the game, but Orlando finished with a 52-38 advantage. You're not going to win many games getting outrebounded like that.

I guess I should really just clarify what I meant. I have no problem with Martin, but Bazz getting limited minutes for not passing when Brewer has twice the minutes and only 0.2 APGs (twice the assists) more than Bazz is wrong. Wiggins should never play less than 30 MPG's especially in favor of Brewer when he is a better defender and offensive threat. Lavine should have had some burn as the backup 2, but that has corrected itself with the Ricky injury forcing his way into the backup PG role. Unfortunately now he has to give us 15 MPG's with no backup available and next to zero in game play to have prepared him at all. Brewer has played 1 good game and thankfully Bud hasn't gotten any playing time which he doesn't deserve, but if it is close between a young guy and veteran depth, you have to play the young guy on this team to give him a chance to develop. I get that Flip wants W's, but the young guys don't learn how to win if they watch the game from the bench when the game is decided. Brewer getting 28 minutes in a loss to Orlando while Wiggins gets 25 and Bazz gets 11 is the exact opposite of what we want. If we get the W, fine (even though I'm against that as an excuse to limit development time on the court), but losing and giving more minutes to vets can't happen more times than not or we end up with a bad record and development time left on the court unused.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I don't understand the Shabazz comments by Flip. You drafted a scorer, so let him do what he does best. You can worry about the rest of his game if he proves himself. It's not like he is holding the ball for fifteen seconds. He generally attacks the basket immediately upon getting the ball, and I don't see anything wrong with that. I would be much more worried about our veteran players' choice of shots. I run out of fingers if I try and count how many ridiculous shots Pek, Thad and even Martin threw up last night.

Bennett has been nursing that knee since the start of the season. I am getting a little concerned about it. We need his size in this lineup.

While Gorgi continues to show more offensive ability than most of us thought he had, he also is showing that he has a low BBIQ. He seems incapable of understanding how to body up on D. Has anyone worked on this with him?

Long, I think you are overestimating what you should expect from Mo, Thad, and KM. Q pointed out last week that Mo was shooting well above his averages and we should expect that to come down. Well that has been the case for Thad as well. Kevin will have his good and bad games, and I am guessing that is exactly what we are seeing. I don't know enough about Mo or Thad to say if they are up and down players like we have seen, but if that is the case, it is important to have other guys ready to step in when they aren't on because their weaknesses will hurt us even more on those nights. Thad's rebounding numbers are going to bite us in the ass with Ricky out.

I hope they suit up Ronny tonight if Bennet isn't ready to go. I wouldn't mind him getting some minutes from both Pek and Thad.

I thought I heard someone say that Bennett was nursing a knee that he had bumped in practice, so it doesn't sound like the same issue. Plus, Flip's post-game comments made it sound like this was more about sending a message to AB than injury related. I think he would have been one of the inactives if he was really hurt. I think we'll see him on the court tonight.

I hear your point about perhaps overestimating Mo, Thad and Kevin, but they are our most seasoned vets, and I would have had them on the court in the closing minutes just like Flip did. Wiggins has been honest in his interviews that he is nervous out there, and you can see it sometimes in his reluctant style on offense. It would have been unwise for Flip to call his number in the closing seconds.

[Monster]

Who were the Aaron Gordon supporters around the draft? I was a fan. He looked pretty good in this game especially that D on Thad probably a good matchup for Gordon but still pretty impressive for a young kid.

[whatdtcom [enjin:6685945]]

Relax guys..... I feel the frustrations too. But look at OKC---no Durant and Westbrook, but you know what-----they WILL be in the picture at the end of the year.

Its long, long season. Ricky will be back and we will be relavent by then. Lavine will develop and we'll have a deeper bench.

We'll be fine.

[thedoper]

Who were the Aaron Gordon supporters around the draft? I was a fan. He looked pretty good in this game especially that D on Thad probably a good matchup for Gordon but still pretty impressive for a young kid.

I was a big Gordon supporter. I thought he would have been awesome with Ricky. But we got Wiggins, who was always my top guy.