RealGM

Alright, we're about a week into the season, and it would be nice to track the play of the new additions. Five games have been played, so five games in, which of the new supporting players has been most impressive to you? I'm going to skip Pablo, Luc and Aldrich in the stats since they haven't actually played much yet.

Lance Stephenson (21.2 mpg):
5.8 ppg / 3.4 rpg / 2.6 apg / 1.2 tpg / .407 FG / .444 3PT / .497 TS% / 96 Ortg

Paul Pierce (19.6 mpg):
6.4 ppg / 4.2 rpg / 0.8 apg / 0.8 tpg / .375 FG / .200 3PT / .531 TS% / 101 Ortg

Josh Smith (14.2 mpg):
4.0 ppg / 4.2 rpg / 1.2 apg / 1.6 bpg / 2.2 tpg / .300 FG / .375 3PT / .410 TS% / 74 Ortg

Wesley Johnson (13.6 mpg):
4.6 ppg / 2.2 rpg / .556 FG / .222 3PT / .624 TS% / 123 Ortg

i'd say lance is coming around and doing better and better things. not quite what you want out of a starter, but seriously it is hard to complain with the starting unit's overall efficiency and net rating anyway. i'd say by midseason he'll really get to where he needs to be.

also i really like wes. he's been solid. for a while now people have derided him as a mediocre player and deservedly so. but with us he's been solid. he really deserves more minutes, imo.

I am liking Lance's play so far. If he can keep hitting the outside shot and stay in the 34%+ range, that will be excellent.

He gives a nice utility player to the starting lineup, but he isn't trying to do too much either. That's kind of what you want. Ideally if he's hitting open shots, defending, rebounding, and then when needed he can put the ball on the floor and get to the basket, or create for others, that's a very good fit and a little bit more than what the team has had before. It's sort of like a Boris Diaw / Andre Iguodala type player in terms of the skills they have, but not shooting too much, etc.

Even his per minute numbers, 10/6/4 per 36, only 2 tov, if he keeps that up and just improves the TS% to the middle range of 53-54, that's pretty good as a compliment to the starters. We'll see where he's at 10, 15, 20 games in.

So far I'd go with Lance and Johnson right behind him. Johnson has done a good job of playing within himself, but I was not expecting any issue from him anyways.

yeah i'd say i'm very impressed with his attempts to fit in so far. i thought overall it'd be a weird/bad fit but he's trying very hard and you can tell he's sublimated major parts of his usual game to contribute. i agree that he's kind of boris diaw-y. really looking gluey, you'd like him to shoot more but, he'll figure it out.

even yesterday he improved over the course of the night. he declined to take great looks from 3 (i literally yelled at my screen) but in the second half he didn't hesitate a whole lot. so i can see him really picking it up and making our starting unit a true force. and that's saying something given the starters were something with a net rating of 23.5+ before last night's game.

It was between Lance and Wes for me, but I voted for Wesley Johnson.

Wes has been a pleasant surprise. He was drafted high and did not really seize the opportunity in his previous situations. It's good to see him come here, fit in and be able to contribute to a winning team. His outside percentage isn't great atm, but there have only been so many opportunities thus far.

Lance has a larger role out of the two and I've been pleased with him so far. I would like to see him get a few more minutes per game. It's still early and he's trying his best to fit in. I'm looking forward to watching him over the rest of the season and hoping that he'll see his role increase as the season progresses.

Pierce has already done things that you would expect Pierce to do. He wasn't much of a factor last night, but he's had an opportunity to show the fans what they can expect out of him when the importance of a game ramps up. Can't wait to see his 3P% rise.

I like a lot of what Smith has been able to do defensively. Offensively has been another story. He's currently averaging 5.6 turnovers per 36. Some of it is unfamiliarity between him and his teammates, some of it is impatience and some of it just plain forcing something that ill advised.

INC's to everyone else.