Other Pre-Season Games

[Kanyewest]

Darius Songaila posted an on/off differential of -30 in just 15 minutes of action.

Shaun Livingston played 26 minutes and put up decent numbers (10 points, 5-7 shooting, 3 assists but 4 turnovers).

Did they play him at center? Also probably the result of CP3 not on the floor either. I think New Orleans has one of the worst benches in the league.

[closg00]

I had to look-up where Sam Young was drafted this-year (36, a pick before Blair), dude is putting up some eye-popping stats so-far. This draft may turn out to be the draft they said was so-weak, bur was just the opposite.
http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=291007029

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

From that box I see that after outrebounding the Wiz 60-45 the Grizzlies outrebounded OKC 40-30. A coach would have to be happy seeing Thabeet, Carroll, Gasol, and Randolph each get 7 boards and nobody on the opposition get over 4 in similar minutes. Sam Young had 16 FTAs. Unlike against the Wizards, he converted from the field and the line. 22 points in 20 minutes is none to shabby. Young had 15 in the fourth for their comeback win. I think the Grizzlies drafted well with him and Carroll. Thabeet had 6 and 7 and only 2 fouls. I like the Grizz' talent, closq.

OKC's young starters seemed to put up solid numbers. I'm interested to see how DJ White does for them. Had 13 last night. Etan played 18 minutes and had 2 points, 1 reb.

I know it's just preseason, as with other games ....

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Looks like EJ's Sixers are really going to have a struggle learning his offense. They had 13 assists and 23 turnovers. A carry over from the first game, in their second win over the Raps without Bosh and Turkoglu. Toronto added Jack to Calderon, and I don't quite see how they'll coexist. Also, Belinelli's a guy I thought would really be a player. Neither he nor Almond have been anything in the league, to my dismay. (yungal, Nick's better at this point. You were right.)

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Greg Oden followed up and 18 and 9 game with 20 and 12 against the same Kings. Also for Portland, Juwan Howard went 7-8 against the Kings. Juwan going 7-8 at like 42 years old (okay, 36) and after I forget how many teams is pretty amazing. Portland's a good spot for him. I root for the Blazers to do well. Probably my second favorite NBA team. (This season, I'm also pulling for the Spurs to do well because they had sense enough to draft Blair. I like Memphis' draft as well, regardless of how Thabeet turns out.)

In the same game against Portland, for Sacto Sean May goes 1-6 with 6 fouls in 14 minutes. MJ drafted him and Adam Morrison--Hey, I admit I also thought they'd both be good!

I wonder how long Westphal will be coaching, because the Kings are going to be bad again. Real bad.

[nate33]

I don't know if the Tyreke Evans at PG experiment is going to work. 4 assists and 6 turnovers in 37 minutes against defensive juggernaut Steve Blake.

Stephan Curry looked terrible too. He played 41 minutes and shot 5-15 with 6 turnovers and 4 assists. Monta Ellis only played 2 minutes because he twisted an ankle (not serious).

[closg00]

Greg Oden followed up and 18 and 9 game with 20 and 12 against the same Kings. Also for Portland, Juwan Howard went 7-8 against the Kings. Juwan going 7-8 at like 42 years old (okay, 36) and after I forget how many teams is pretty amazing. Portland's a good spot for him. I root for the Blazers to do well. Probably my second favorite NBA team. (This season, I'm also pulling for the Spurs to do well because they had sense enough to draft Blair. I like Memphis' draft as well, regardless of how Thabeet turns out.)

In the same game against Portland, for Sacto Sean May goes 1-6 with 6 fouls in 14 minutes. MJ drafted him and Adam Morrison--Hey, I admit I also thought they'd both be good!

I wonder how long Westphal will be coaching, because the Kings are going to be bad again. Real bad.

May has been a disappointment, they tried starting him at PF and he's been a total non-factor; perhaps it's just some rust after the rehab....we'll see. For what May is making this-year, it won't be much of a gamble if he ends-up being a decent back-up.

[closg00]

Couple of other observations from pre-season

*Michael Sweetney - 10 pts in 8 min, but no rebounds last night

*I've also been following the guy the Rockets bought from us for 2.5 mil, Jermaine Taylor. Taylor hasn't gotten much burn, I wonder if he is injured? Why pay for the guy and not play him?

* Orlando's new mix of players appear to be fitting in well, the Magic have been cruising in pre-season.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I don't know if the Tyreke Evans at PG experiment is going to work. 4 assists and 6 turnovers in 37 minutes against defensive juggernaut Steve Blake.

Stephan Curry looked terrible too. He played 41 minutes and shot 5-15 with 6 turnovers and 4 assists. Monta Ellis only played 2 minutes because he twisted an ankle (not serious).

I felt very strongly at draft time Evans is a scorer and not a PG. Also, with Garcia and Kevin Martin and Udrih I would think a young guy who's a scorer, too, is not necessarily going to be received as well. His talent and Martin's will prevail, but it could take Evans a minute or two, or half a season.

As for Curry, nate, I bet the early scouting report is make him beat you scoring but don't let him beat you with his passing game. Ironic as hell, but so far he can't score efficiently at all. But then again, on the other side of the ball there was Kobe, Artest, Derrick Fisher ...

Another guy last night: "Jarvis" Budinger went 3-10. Did have 8 points and 8 boards and was +8 in 29 minutes, though. nate, I'll always be comparing him to Jarvis.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Couple of other observations from pre-season

*Michael Sweetney - 10 pts in 8 min, but no rebounds last night

*I've also been following the guy the Rockets bought from us for 2.5 mil, Jermaine Taylor. Taylor hasn't gotten much burn, I wonder if he is injured? Why pay for the guy and not play him?

* Orlando's new mix of players appear to be fitting in well, the Magic have been cruising in pre-season.

Man, I liked Sweetney, too.

I wonder if he went for the fruit at the buffet? I know I'm having trouble with the fat intake and the simple sugars and the soda ... But I'm at least up to inconsistent there, eating healthy as a horse some of the time. (Fat guy story here ... met this trainer over at local fitness faciliity the other day, and the way she said to me "You'll enjoy the ride" if I have some sessions with her has me really talking to Jesus about my lust thingy. What she said how she said .... I know it's all about the Benjamins but she might be the one enjoyin the ride ... I digress).

About Sweetney, he did impress enough to get a training camp invite with the Celtics. Like Paul Davis with the Wizards, there's no harm in continuing to chase the dream.

[Severn Hoos]

CCJ, as a fellow charter member of The Undersized PF Fan Club, I wanted to be sure to point you to the Boston-Houston game last night:

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=291007010

If you think of the "prototypical" undersized PF as a guy who is between 6'6 - 6'9 and 240+, there were no less than 5 guys on the floor last night who fit the bill: Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes, Joey Dorsey, Glenn Davis, and - Stop the Presses! - a Michael Sweetney sighting. (You could throw in Shelden Williams, but he's a pure C, no way he could be the type of PF I'd like to see on the Wiz.)

And they didn't do too bad - Dorsey had 9 rebounds in 20 minutes, Landry scored 12 points in 15 minutes, and believe it or not, Sweetney had 10 points in 9 minutes.

The downside: They all had at least 3 fouls. Dorsey had 6, Sweetney had 5, Hayes had 4, and the others had 3. All in 22 minutes or less. Which just goes to show that outside of the rare exception (i.e., Elton Brand), these guys need to be situational players - along with Maxiell, Bass, Powe, and, I believe, Blair. Still, I'd really like to have one for the Wiz...

[closg00]

CCJ, as a fellow charter member of The Undersized PF Fan Club, I wanted to be sure to point you to the Boston-Houston game last night:

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=291007010

If you think of the "prototypical" undersized PF as a guy who is between 6'6 - 6'9 and 240+, there were no less than 5 guys on the floor last night who fit the bill: Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes, Joey Dorsey, Glenn Davis, and - Stop the Presses! - a Michael Sweetney sighting. (You could throw in Shelden Williams, but he's a pure C, no way he could be the type of PF I'd like to see on the Wiz.)

And they didn't do too bad - Dorsey had 9 rebounds in 20 minutes, Landry scored 12 points in 15 minutes, and believe it or not, Sweetney had 10 points in 9 minutes.

The downside: They all had at least 3 fouls. Dorsey had 6, Sweetney had 5, Hayes had 4, and the others had 3. All in 22 minutes or less. Which just goes to show that outside of the rare exception (i.e., Elton Brand), these guys need to be situational players - along with Maxiell, Bass, Powe, and, I believe, Blair. Still, I'd really like to have one for the Wiz...

Dorsey is playing hurt I believe. It seems as-though Houston is going to use a committee of under-sized PF's in-place of Yao, and just run.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

CCJ, as a fellow charter member of The Undersized PF Fan Club, I wanted to be sure to point you to the Boston-Houston game last night:

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=291007010

If you think of the "prototypical" undersized PF as a guy who is between 6'6 - 6'9 and 240+, there were no less than 5 guys on the floor last night who fit the bill: Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes, Joey Dorsey, Glenn Davis, and - Stop the Presses! - a Michael Sweetney sighting. (You could throw in Shelden Williams, but he's a pure C, no way he could be the type of PF I'd like to see on the Wiz.)

And they didn't do too bad - Dorsey had 9 rebounds in 20 minutes, Landry scored 12 points in 15 minutes, and believe it or not, Sweetney had 10 points in 9 minutes.

The downside: They all had at least 3 fouls. Dorsey had 6, Sweetney had 5, Hayes had 4, and the others had 3. All in 22 minutes or less. Which just goes to show that outside of the rare exception (i.e., Elton Brand), these guys need to be situational players - along with Maxiell, Bass, Powe, and, I believe, Blair. Still, I'd really like to have one for the Wiz...

Blair's the one .... oh, I've said that before ...

Sev, let's say that all those undersized PFs who can rebound and/or score seem to be finding steady work in the NBA despite guys like Darko or Kwame, who are similarly talented, being consistently drafted in the lottery.

Stop the presses, indeed, Sev. I love Draft Express but I remember being exasparated emailing Jon Givony (before the site just totally blew up) about why guys like Boozer don't get drafted highly and how I couldn't see why people didn't think Millsap would be better than Shelden Williams.

Seems to me, it's actually harder to miss on how good the undersized PFs will do in the draft. I miss big time at times on guards, paritculary SGs. But not on the undersized PFs.

PS Sev, you and I might have been the only two members forming that charter about 4 years ago....

Oh, about Joey Dorsey: Stat-wise, I thought he far outperformed even Blair in Vegas. Really dominating rebounding and defense.

[closg00]

CCJ, as a fellow charter member of The Undersized PF Fan Club, I wanted to be sure to point you to the Boston-Houston game last night:

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=291007010

If you think of the "prototypical" undersized PF as a guy who is between 6'6 - 6'9 and 240+, there were no less than 5 guys on the floor last night who fit the bill: Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes, Joey Dorsey, Glenn Davis, and - Stop the Presses! - a Michael Sweetney sighting. (You could throw in Shelden Williams, but he's a pure C, no way he could be the type of PF I'd like to see on the Wiz.)

And they didn't do too bad - Dorsey had 9 rebounds in 20 minutes, Landry scored 12 points in 15 minutes, and believe it or not, Sweetney had 10 points in 9 minutes.

The downside: They all had at least 3 fouls. Dorsey had 6, Sweetney had 5, Hayes had 4, and the others had 3. All in 22 minutes or less. Which just goes to show that outside of the rare exception (i.e., Elton Brand), these guys need to be situational players - along with Maxiell, Bass, Powe, and, I believe, Blair. Still, I'd really like to have one for the Wiz...

+1 I don't see how we advance in the Playoffs w/o one quite frankly.

[nate33]

Roy Hibbert had 20 points, 11 boards and 8 blocks in 33 minutes. Indiana routed Denver 126-104. In fairness, Nene didn't play so Hibbert was up against Johan Petro and the diminutive Chris Anderson.

[closg00]

Roy Hibbert had 20 points, 11 boards and 8 blocks in 33 minutes. Indiana routed Denver 126-104. In fairness, Nene didn't play so Hibbert was up against Johan Petro and the diminutive Chris Anderson.

The Pacers coach also said that they were at about %35 towards where they want to be. Coach Karl wasn't happy.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Captain Jack for the Warriors had 5 fouls, 3 turnovers, and a technical ... in only 9:20, according to Yahoo's box score. That's what I call serious veteran leadership! Must have made the Warriors mad--they beat the champion Lakers 110-91.

Monte scored well. Anthony Randolph played 41 minutes in a preseason game. Steph Curry is consistently missing shots, went 1-7. Kid must not be shooting better than 30% including Vegas. Yet, once again, despite crappy shooting he gets 8 assists in 24 minutes and finished +8. Lakers made him look terrible first preseason game, not so bad this time. I would think it's only a matter of time before he starts hitting shots, but I don't know ...

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Looking at teams that have defense on their rosters, Philly and the Clippers come to mind.

Gotta be decent trade partners with the Wiz.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Captain Jack for the Warriors had 5 fouls, 3 turnovers, and a technical ... in only 9:20, according to Yahoo's box score. That's what I call serious veteran leadership! Must have made the Warriors mad--they beat the champion Lakers 110-91.

http://www.ibabuzz.com/warriors/2009/10 ... two-games/

“Jackson Suspended Two Games”

The Warriors have suspended Stephen Jackson for two games following his outburst on the bench in Friday’s win over the Lakers at the Forum

[nate33]

Holy crap! Carmelo Anthony had 45 points in 24 minutes! He owned Danny Granger, who picked up 4 fouls in 9 minutes.