Preseason Game 6: Clippers vs Nuggets 10/19

[GetItDone]

Haven't watched any games, but from some photos and such, it seems Paul is much leaner and in better shape..true?

[mkwest]

While Collison has had some nice games, history does not support that he is this level of scorer. Remember it is still pre-season. Also Collison and Paul together for too long is just too much of a defensive liability. With that said, Jamal and Redick are both equal to better scorers than Collison, so playing Collison much more in favor of them isn't going to improve the offense and will harm the defense. We've yet to see Redick, and based on how Willie Green fits next to the starters, I'd have to think Redick will fit quite well.

I feel that if Collison can be entrusted with more responsibilities than initially anticipated (i.e. more minutes, putting in some work at the 2) that it would make it easier to trade Crawford if the FO decided to go that route in an attempt improve the front court. With injuries on the wing and Wayns out, I wouldn't advise the Clippers to deplete their backcourt depth atm. If Collison shows to be a solid fit as the season progresses, I strongly consider pulling the trigger of moving Crawford if the right deal came along.

Haven't watched any games, but from some photos and such, it seems Paul is much leaner and in better shape..true?

I would say so. In the past couple of seasons, there was the lockout where he looked really pudgy when he arrived and a few injuries over last summer that he was dealing with. After the last postseason, he basically committed to wanting to play more aggressively and Doc has been on him about playing heavier minutes and pushing the pace more.

[mkwest]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Em18IkD8U0[/youtube]

[QRich3]

I feel that if Collison can be entrusted with more responsibilities than initially anticipated (i.e. more minutes, putting in some work at the 2) that it would make it easier to trade Crawford if the FO decided to go that route in an attempt improve the front court. With injuries on the wing and Wayns out, I wouldn't advise the Clippers to deplete their backcourt depth atm. If Collison shows to be a solid fit as the season progresses, I strongly consider pulling the trigger of moving Crawford if the right deal came along.

Yeah, even if he's obviously not gonna score twenty-something every game like he's been doing, he's good enough to be that microwave ball handler we need off the bench, and with Willie being as solid as he's ever been and Bullock possibly ready to start getting minutes when he's healthy, we don't have much of a need for Crawford now. Actually Jamal has been looking lost this preseason, there's not a defined role for him and he seems to be very hesitant whenever he's on the court. We don't have a shortage of scoring off the bench this year and he's gonna struggle if he has to play too much of an unselfish role. I'm really gonna miss his isos, his crossing up three dudes in a row to score an immaculate midrange jumper at the buzzer like he's done a million times, but it's looking more and more like the move to make. He should get us a serviceable bench big in the mold of Udoh, Ed Davis, Hawes or something like that.

Yeah, the defense is looking better and better, but we can't get any real analysis from that until we start playing solid teams in the regular season, these preseason games are little more than glorified scrimmages where players put little effort and key guys spend too much time on the bench. I did love from Saturday's game the last possesion of each half, where the guys got locked in we tried to test what our crunch time defense would be like. We got two easy stops and more importantly, it seemed like everyone knew what they were doing. Of course when the going gets rough it's not gonna be a McGee jumper from the elbow that we're gonna have to stop, but the attittude is there.

I am gonna get seriously frustrated if Mullens gets a single meaningful minute in real games though. He is bad. He is really awful, and it's not really a question of can he improve or can he shoot a better percentage. He plays a loser's kind of game, he makes the wrong decision almost every time he gets the ball (it usually implies him shooting a bad selected three), and he hurts the defense a lot every possession he's out there. I seriously think he might be the most frustrating player we've had since I've been watching basketball, and we had our fair share of selfish chuckers over the years. We all knew we were a big man short coming into the season, but it's becoming too evident that it's too big a weakness to face any serious games with this roster.

[LACtdom]

I would love to see CP3 and Green starting with Collison and JJ off the bench. I also think a combo of Collison and JJ would be similar to that of Collison and CP3. Obviously JJ would come on pretty quick and then Collison later but both players in the pair can take turns of playing point guard and the other can play off the ball and all of them can make 3s.