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

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

Let's hold off on the Pek talk for now guys. Gasol is a former DPY and probably the best center in the league. Pek has always struggled against him. Didn't help that they were posting Pek up about 15 feet from the basket and asking him to do work. Not to mention the refs were letting a ton of stuff go. If you seriously think Pek is going to play this way all year you don't know what your talking about

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Let's hold off on the Pek talk for now guys. Gasol is a former DPY and probably the best center in the league. Pek has always struggled against him. Didn't help that they were posting Pek up about 15 feet from the basket and asking him to do work. Not to mention the refs were letting a ton of stuff go. If you seriously think Pek is going to play this way all year you don't know what your talking about

I agree, alex. Pek didn't do anything last night that we haven't seen before. He struggled last night, but is just as likely to go out and put up 20-12 tonight. He has the potential to completely dominate his opposing center, or to lay an egg like he did tonight. The difference is this year Flip has another option at center he can go to when Pek is off, and this may help Pek stay healthy more this year. I'm not concerned about the center position on this club, and whoever comes off the bench will likely be the best back-up center in the league.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Ok, ok. I'll wait to see what he does for an encore against the fighting Van Gundys tonight.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I'm going to grow weary of watching Corey Brewer play defense this season... at least until he gets traded. His defense on Conley late in the 4th when he was hopping around foolishly only to let Conley race to the rim using his left was truly atrocious defense from a veteran player who has never figured it out.

For all those who ripped Love's defense, Thad Young gave up a David Lee-esque fg percentage to opposing players at the rim last season. We'll see more of that. But, his penchant for steals will mask that a bit. As expected, he's a credible NBA player. And he'd be sorely missed if not on the team. The Wolves HAD to nab him with that draft pick if they wanted to field a team that wouldn't battle Philly for the bottom.

No idea what to think about Rubio's shot. It's one game. But the one thing I can take away with certainty from this one... he's going to get fined for flopping sooner than later.

I nabbed G. Dieng in my fantasy league for a reason. Not playing at all with Pekovic might make me regret that decision, but who are we kidding... Pekovic isn't staying healthy, right?

Shabazz will be interesting to watch. He's a throwback player in a lot of ways. And he's the antithesis to what we're seeing around the league... he's a guy who's not that big who plays inside. In a league in love with 3 pointers, I can't tell if his game is refreshing or fool's gold yet. My money is on it wavering from night to night... and matchups.

Mo Williams is a decent NBA player. Like everybody else, I didn't care for Barea, never did dating back to his Dallas days. Williams is more like Luke Ridnour, with slightly better range?

Budinger has to show more... at least so he can be traded and he doesn't end up getting paid to go away.

I didn't notice much from Wiggins. While it's good that he didn't force things... isn't that the primary concern with him making the leap? Obviously, the slate is clean and I still have no idea what to expect from him... good or bad.

Bennett looked like an NBA player. Finally. Not a starter, or even a top-notch reserve. But it's definitely a step in the right direction.

The Wolves offense will be horrible to watch at times this season. There still aren't enough creators/shooters to maintain offensive consistency.



[Note: Good to have one of the best things going on this forum back, Cool.]

I agree with almost all of your points, abe, but not your Bennett conclusion. I agree that he looked like an NBA player last night, but I wonder what you thought was missing to conclude he didn't look like a top-notch reserve. To me he looked just like he did in preseason...able to score and rebound at a high rate, and playing plus defense. The defense is the surprise to me, because as much as I liked his production in college, I saw him as a lazy, average defender, who didn't take advantage of his physical gifts. With all the new players on the court this season, there were a few times last night I didn't recognize a player right away. I remember two times seeing a defender display incredibly quick feet on defense, and wondering what wing it was, only to realize it was Bennett. AB is quick, athletic, and long, and at least right now, seems to be interested in playing defense, which adds up to very good defense. He looks like an NBA starting PF to me, or at least a top-notch reserve. on both sides of the ball. Maybe his preseason and first game performance is a mirage and he will regress to his rookie flop season, but he looks like the UNLV Bennett to me...with the addition of excellent defense.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

A few thoughts after reading through the rest of this thread:

- On Bud, I thought he was just flat out defended well. The shots he missed were strongly contested.

- Bennett looked the part, but he didn't play the part. Yes, he shows flashes, but he also had a couple of needless turnovers and keeps taking those stupid long 2's. I think we are all pre-disposed to see the good stuff with our shiny new toys and none of the bad. Bennett wasn't that great last night, but he looks like he belongs out there and I can definitely see the potential.

- I like Flip's approach with Wiggins: Defend well and take what's given to you on offense. At some point, however, Flip will need to challenge him to be more aggressive. I'm fine with the take it slow approach....for now. Yes, it means Wiggins disappears at times, but he's out there and guarding the best wings in the world. That by itself is a huge learning experience.

- Mo Williams will not stay this hot forever. The downside of variability will come, and when it does, we'll need someone who can create for us other than Rubio. I'm worried.

- Thad Young is historically not a 3-point shooter but last year he was given the green light to start launching them, with mixed success. It looks like Flip has given him a green light as well and it's an encouraging development. Let's hope he can keep knocking them down.

- Flip's trap is intriguing in theory, not so sure if it will ever work. Within seconds of doing it, the Grizzlies promptly broke the trap and sank an open 3-ball. We never saw the trap again last night....

- The Corey Brewer on Mike Conley experiment didn't work either, as Abe mentioned. For one thing, Brewer makes his living defensively on ball denial and going for steals. It's tough to do that against an elite NBA PG without getting burned. And sure enough, when Conley squared Brewer up, Corey couldn't keep him in front of him. There is this illusion that Corey Brewer is an above average defender. He's not. He's just not. Whatever he gives a team in terms of steals, he sacrifices in other areas. He's neutral at best.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Q, I'm trying to understand your point with respect to Bud and Bennett. I was a big supporter of Bud in preseason because it looked like he had his legs back, but I thought he had a terrible game last night. On the other hand, I thought Bennett was excellent on both sides of the court. Bud was 0-4, but you seem to be giving him a pass because he was well defended. If he was well-defended, he shouldn't have taken the shot. Pass the ball to someone who is not well defended and don't force the shot. Then, you criticize Bennett for his long 2's, but it seemed to me that he was open on all of his shots, and even though he missed a couple long ones, he still finished 4-8. Jim Peterson watches AB a lot in practice, and said those long 2's are in his wheelhouse. I agree, although ultimately since I also agree with you that the 3-point shot is a more efficient shot than the long 2, I would like Flip to allow him to step out beyond the arc occasionally.

Your write up is apologetic for Bud and critical of AB, and almost sounds like you are concluding that Bud had a better game than Bennett, which passes neither the sight test nor the box score test. Let's face it...after last year, both Bennett and Bud have to be on a short leash because they were both terrible (albeit for explainable reasons). And last night Bennett justified his time on the court much better than Bud, and I don't think it was even close.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

LST, Let me be clear....Bud had a poor game last night, worse than Bennett. What I try to do is tamp down the hyperbole (in either direction) based on small sample size observations. I didn't think Bennett was as good as he was made out to be last night and I don't think Bud is a total wash up because of his bad night. But yeah, I suppose it appeared that I had a double-standard.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

LST, Let me be clear....Bud had a poor game last night, worse than Bennett. What I try to do is tamp down the hyperbole (in either direction) based on small sample size observations. I didn't think Bennett was as good as he was made out to be last night and I don't think Bud is a total wash up because of his bad night. But yeah, I suppose it appeared that I had a double-standard.

Thanks, q...I get it.

[thedoper]

I think Bud sucking all of last year is not a small sample size, so seeing the exact same thing in game 1 has merit. I said it then and will repeat it now. He is not the same player that he was when we first acquired him. I think his time in the NBA should be coming to a close. I have zero confidence in his body. I think in isolation he can jump high enough etc. But when it has to happen quickly he is very slow. I like what he brought at first on the team (the active legs, the cutting) but he is not the same player, that was such a long time ago and his injuries were devastating. There are guys with more potential and ability behind him. He needs to go.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I think Bud sucking all of last year is not a small sample size, so seeing the exact same thing in game 1 has merit. I said it then and will repeat it now. He is not the same player that he was when we first acquired him. I think his time in the NBA should be coming to a close. I have zero confidence in his body. I think in isolation he can jump high enough etc. But when it has to happen quickly he is very slow. I like what he brought at first on the team (the active legs, the cutting) but he is not the same player, that was such a long time ago and his injuries were devastating. There are guys with more potential and ability behind him. He needs to go.

He didn't even play all of last year, having missed the first third of the year and probably being rushed back too soon. It takes time to recover from the injuries he's had.He certainly didn't look bad during the pre-season.

My guess is that if he truly does continue to struggle and never regains his productive play, Flip will eventually trade him or put him on the bench. But I think he's doing the right thing for now by rewarding Budinger for good play during the pre-season and hoping that he returns to the form of his Houston days.