Kekgeek grades G12 vs blazers

[kekgeek]

I’m going to take a break from this team. I can’t stand watching this team play.

Shout out Naw for busting his ass and Rudy covering up the majority of this teams pathetic defensive effort (he was bad tonight)

I can’t watch a lazy piece of shit Randle play basketball. I can’t watch Naz Reid continually get manhandled defensively when Rudy is off the floor.

I hate this team and I mentioned it before the season. This team lost its identity and replaced it with a Piece of Shit and a 9th man.

[KiwiMatt]

I don’t blame you Kek. Three straight games of pure crap from this team and I’m struggling to see any light at the end of the tunnel.

Gobert - D
Randle - F
McDaniels - C-
Ant - D
NAW - B+
Reid - C
DDV - F
Dilly - B-
Minnot - B-
Finch - F

[FNG]

I am as discouraged as most of us are here after the last three games, but I guess I'll continue to watch. Thanks for stepping in for kek on the grades, kiwi. I'll take a couple shots at your grades:

1) Have you ever gotten into a pickup game where you realized right away "Oh, oh...these guys are a lot better than me!"? I'm still hopeful for Rob, but that's who he looked like to me last night. It was fun to see him hit one of his threes, but everything else he did hurt us. Yes, I can still see some promise in this guy, but he was overmatched last night and a complete disaster. We all get excited about the shiny new toy, so I was also excited when Finchie put him in the game at the start of the 2nd quarter...I thought our 10-point lead was safe enough to let Rob get his feet wet. I was wrong. After 3 sloppy turnovers and no rebounds and assists, Finchie finally benched him with our 10 point lead now down to 2. That changed the game. And his second stint was gratefully shorter but equally bad. So I agree with your F for Finchie...giving Rob those minutes in a winnable game was a huge mistake. But I also give Rob an F.

2) I'm not sure we understand Randle enough here. He has never been a pretty basketball player...he always looks like he's about to lose the ball, and his moves to the basket look more like bullying than graceful. But I thought he was effective on offense last night. If we can get 20 points on 15 shots (in contrast, Ant needed 25 shots including 9 missed threes to get his 24) and 10 rebounds from a guy with only 1 turnover, I'm going to be satisfied. But again I thought he looked bad on defense (except for his rebounds). So I give him a C.

I'll give Minott an incomplete...I think the fact that Finchie yanked him after his second foul in only 4 minutes shows me he's wondering if Josh is ready.

But thank god for NAW, as I agree with your B+. He turned the ball over too much, but at least he worked hard on every possession and made his shots. He's been one of the few bright spots in this disappointing 6-6 start.

Edit (after a cup of coffee softened by harshness): I'm upgrading Rob to a C-. Yes, he was totally overmatched on defense and had three sloppy turnovers, but the real reason we lost our 10-point lead during his first stint is because we missed open 3-pointers. He did have a couple nice passes. I don't know if he will over be able to be effective on defense, but he shows some promise on the offensive end. He may project to be a small man Naz Reid, and that's not all bad.

[KiwiMatt]

Fair assessment FNG. Reason I gave Randle an F, which may have been harsh in hindsight, is that when he is in our offense stagnates. He really is a black hole more often than not. Defensively he actually put in some effort, I saw him contest two shots! But overall he is such a negative influence to this team and I can’t wait to see him gone.

I don’t think Rob played as bad as you suggested. That turnover was more Ants fault than his and he atleast sparked the half court sets. Hard when every one around you is clunking shots and making poor decisions.

I still have hope for DDV, but man he’s been brutal these last few games. He’s rushing hit shots and have noticed he leans on his jump shot, and the angle he leans is the angle the ball hits the rim. We need to create better open looks for him so he doesn’t have to rely on using screens to get his shots off.

I actually thought Jaden defended really well last night. The officials let both teams play physical, except Jaden. Yes he commits some silly fouls, but he also equally gets called for pathetic ones too.

[FNG]

There are many who share your Randle opinion, Kiwi. He can be a ball stopper, especially when he is not doing what he does best...driving and kicking to the open man. He's been averaging 4.2 assists per game, and the fact that he only had 2 last night tells me it wasn't his best game.

I don't know if you saw my edit in my post, but after thinking about it, I changed my harsh review of Rob last night. I agree with you...I can remember 3 nice passes he made that should have resulted in 3-pointers, but our guys missed them all. And you're right, one of his turnovers was more Ant's fault. I'm still not convinced Rob's ready to contribute, but I'm still confident he can be a solid rotation player down the line.

[Wolvesfan21]

I would really like to see Dilly add about 20-30 pounds over the next couple years. I think of shorter elite PG's like AI or Brunson and although short relatively, they are or were thick and strong, good mass to defend, absorb contact on offense and not just get pushed around. Even grab boards too.

[Q-is-here]

I would really like to see Dilly add about 20-30 pounds over the next couple years. I think of shorter elite PG's like AI or Brunson and although short relatively, they are or were thick and strong, good mass to defend, absorb contact on offense and not just get pushed around. Even grab boards too.

Kyle Lowry is another one....

The problem though is his frame. I don't really think he has the ability to put on much more than 15 lbs. or so, but certainly even that should help him a lot. Ultimately he needs to use his quickness to pester opponents and get to 50/50 balls. He will never be a plus defender, so his goal needs to be avoid being an anchor that weighs the whole team down on that side.

[Q-is-here]

Kek, we'll miss you here assuming you are going to step away for a bit, but I completely understand. The last three games have been really tough to watch. I'm going to hang in there for a bit longer or may be decamp to Iowa as I have in the past when I get sick and tired of the big league team. Seems like they have a coach and culture that is preaching defense (also helps that Jaylen Clark is on the squad).

[Wolvesfan21]

I would really like to see Dilly add about 20-30 pounds over the next couple years. I think of shorter elite PG's like AI or Brunson and although short relatively, they are or were thick and strong, good mass to defend, absorb contact on offense and not just get pushed around. Even grab boards too.

Kyle Lowry is another one....

The problem though is his frame. I don't really think he has the ability to put on much more than 15 lbs. or so, but certainly even that should help him a lot. Ultimately he needs to use his quickness to pester opponents and get to 50/50 balls. He will never be a plus defender, so his goal needs to be avoid being an anchor that weighs the whole team down on that side.

IDK, I think anyone can gain weight if you can eat enough and lift enough to gain muscle (some do struggle with just being able to eat enough and work out enough though). We agree though, just more mass, strength and power would serve him to compete more physically.

I looked at listed weights on BB Reference. Brunson is not 190 pounds. lol. He's got to be 215-220. Lowry is listed at 196. That seems ballparkish. Dilly is listed at 176.