I took far fewer positives away from this game than most seem to have. Yes we won big, but once again the team came out flat and got into a hole before they woke up. If they do that against real teams, by the time they wake up they will be down 30 and won't be coming back. They need to learn that defensive intensity starts at the tip, not 10 minutes into the game. They played better than they have, but this is still a work in progress and I didn't think the score was really reflective of some of the individual and team struggles.
Gift is playing well. He has good hands, runs the floor well, and shoots his free throws well. I am concerned that he will be undersized and that he has no help down low and that will be a problem for him against better competition. Won't know until he starts playing some real bigs.
Harrison is solid in every aspect of the game. Needs to take his shot when it's available. More on that later.
Phil Greene may be my favorite so far. He is fast, a good defender, has a good handle, is tough. Like Harrison, he needs to take his shot more often.
Harkless has a lot of physical ability and makes some nice plays because of it. He has a good feel for the game. He tends to disappear sometimes which is strange. He actually reminds me of Burrell, except I'm pretty sure he will develop as time goes on and will eventually be really, really good.
Nuri is a mixed bag. He has some nifty moves around the basket, handles the ball well, rebounds very well for a guard. OTOH he is not as fast as you would think he is, but his basketball smarts make up for that by helping him get into the right position to make plays. He unfortunately appears to have no jump shot whatsoever, is a poor free throw shooter, and tends to dominate the ball more than he should.
Pointer appears to have no offensive game whatsoever. He is good as a defender on the opposing small forward or a big guard, however.
Stith is contributing nicely, you can see that his maturity is paying dividends on the floor.
It looked to me as though the whole team was feeling their way today. Harrison and Greene repeatedly passed up shots and drives that they should have taken. The ball kept being thrown around the perimeter, and it looked as though the staff had instructed them to make sure the ball got inside. I frankly doubt that we are going to have much of an inside game once league play starts, so while in theory trying to get an inside-out game going makes sense, it might make more sense to give these guys confidence in their perimeter game and ability to score off the dribble. The exception is Nuri, who appears to be the one player the staff have given a green light to. It may be that the reason he dominates the ball is because that's what he has been told to do. IMHO when the real games start Harrison and Greene are going to have to score, and that means they have to be allowed to take their shots and drive instead of being told to chuck the ball in to Gift or defer to Lindsey. Frankly I'm not sure that Harrison and Greene won't both eventually be better than Lindsey (especially Greene).
Just like last year the team struggles to close out corner shooters, but I would chalk that up to a learning curve on the zone. I think the staff has been willing to take their lumps so far while trying to teach the zone, but they figure they will get crushed using it the next 2 games and therefore ran some man to prepare for that.
By this time next weekend we should know more. I still think that this is going to be a rough season, but there is a lot of talent here and if it is developed and organized well (and if Pelle shows up and gives us some size) this will be a fun team to watch down the road.
Gift is playing well. He has good hands, runs the floor well, and shoots his free throws well. I am concerned that he will be undersized and that he has no help down low and that will be a problem for him against better competition. Won't know until he starts playing some real bigs.
Harrison is solid in every aspect of the game. Needs to take his shot when it's available. More on that later.
Phil Greene may be my favorite so far. He is fast, a good defender, has a good handle, is tough. Like Harrison, he needs to take his shot more often.
Harkless has a lot of physical ability and makes some nice plays because of it. He has a good feel for the game. He tends to disappear sometimes which is strange. He actually reminds me of Burrell, except I'm pretty sure he will develop as time goes on and will eventually be really, really good.
Nuri is a mixed bag. He has some nifty moves around the basket, handles the ball well, rebounds very well for a guard. OTOH he is not as fast as you would think he is, but his basketball smarts make up for that by helping him get into the right position to make plays. He unfortunately appears to have no jump shot whatsoever, is a poor free throw shooter, and tends to dominate the ball more than he should.
Pointer appears to have no offensive game whatsoever. He is good as a defender on the opposing small forward or a big guard, however.
Stith is contributing nicely, you can see that his maturity is paying dividends on the floor.
It looked to me as though the whole team was feeling their way today. Harrison and Greene repeatedly passed up shots and drives that they should have taken. The ball kept being thrown around the perimeter, and it looked as though the staff had instructed them to make sure the ball got inside. I frankly doubt that we are going to have much of an inside game once league play starts, so while in theory trying to get an inside-out game going makes sense, it might make more sense to give these guys confidence in their perimeter game and ability to score off the dribble. The exception is Nuri, who appears to be the one player the staff have given a green light to. It may be that the reason he dominates the ball is because that's what he has been told to do. IMHO when the real games start Harrison and Greene are going to have to score, and that means they have to be allowed to take their shots and drive instead of being told to chuck the ball in to Gift or defer to Lindsey. Frankly I'm not sure that Harrison and Greene won't both eventually be better than Lindsey (especially Greene).
Just like last year the team struggles to close out corner shooters, but I would chalk that up to a learning curve on the zone. I think the staff has been willing to take their lumps so far while trying to teach the zone, but they figure they will get crushed using it the next 2 games and therefore ran some man to prepare for that.
By this time next weekend we should know more. I still think that this is going to be a rough season, but there is a lot of talent here and if it is developed and organized well (and if Pelle shows up and gives us some size) this will be a fun team to watch down the road.
