GT#33: Sacramento @ Brooklyn - 1/5 - 7:30pm on YES

[MGrand15]

We all knew Tele could shoot too, but what about his defense last night? He looked hungry on defense! If he could come in like that every game and knock down those 3s and hustle on breaks and defense.... a bench of Watson/Brooks/Bogans/Tele/Blatche could be dangerous.

no, you cant have 5 subs with brooks and blatche. thats just horribly sloppy and inefficient of a lineup. you cant have marshon and blatche on the floor where they are the 2 first options on offense.

i do like something along the lines of:

Watson/Johnson/Stack/Tele/Blatche

or

Dwill/Bogans/Stack/Tele/Reggie

I know you have an Avery-like hate for Marshon but that unit played last night and was not horribly sloppy and inefficient - they actually ran away with the game. You can overexaggerate his flaws and overlook his positives all you want but PJ understands that Marshon is a valuable part of this team. Every player isn't perfect. Every player isn't going to play mistake-free and open-shot-only basketball. Guys like Bogans are useful but if you have 5 of them on the court, they aren't going to score. He completely changed the game yesterday by creating shots out of possessions that were going NO WHERE. It's a useful skill. It becomes less useful when he's playing with the starters, since DWill/JJ/Brook can create their own shot but with the 2nd unit - it's extremely necessary.

Mirza - VERY happy with his play yesterday. The Kings are bad but this was still a very encouraging performance. A stretch big would do wonders for this team. If we could sneak him some minutes with Deron/Brook - it would really open up the floor for Deron to attack the rim. Really hope he keeps it up - knocking down open shots, making the right reads on defense and playing hard.

[SpeedyG]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz145prQW9c[/youtube]

Looks like P.J. has been watching Mirza's game from overseas and actually knew how to use him in ways that he feels comfortable in aside from turning him into a statue on the 3pt line.

Oh man, that screen to free him up on the 3pt line? Beautiful!

[KMartsCrew]

Brooks makes plays. He's not a defensive stud and was never advertised to be one, but to assert that he's worse than Stack at this point of Stack's career and worse offensively than Bogans, who is one of the most limited players offensively on this team, is plain ridiculous.

Both Bogans & Stack can play off the ball, knock down threes & help ball movement, which is what we need, not a guy who will hold onto the ball for half the possession while the other 4 players stand around before firing contested jumpers. Bogans' ability to put the ball on the floor, drive & make the right pass is underrated, IMO. Stack can still post-up & draw some attention from the defense there, not to mention he can still hit those turnaround jumpers like he did back in his young days lol.

[jeff1624]

Teletovic looked like an actual NBA player last night and not just because his shots were falling. Last night was the best we had seen him moving without the ball, showing his passing ability AND it was the first time we've seen him attack the rim. Defensively he was a lot more active as well. THIS is the Mirza we need. Hope he can string a long a couple of more games like these, it would do wonders for his confidence.

EDIT: Oh... and he scored most of his points in the second quarter and was one of, if not the main reason the team had a double digit lead going into the half. He didn't play well when "we were up big"... he played well to put us up big.

[N Ireland Nets]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz145prQW9c[/youtube]

Looks like P.J. has been watching Mirza's game from overseas and actually knew how to use him in ways that he feels comfortable in aside from turning him into a statue on the 3pt line.

Oh man, that screen to free him up on the 3pt line? Beautiful!

Yep which was one of his most used plays in Europe.

He runs off screens like a guard almost which makes it very difficult to cover him as a PF. It's one of his biggest assets, running off screens, pick & pop game and his passing.

His biggest surprise for me was his defence which has improved and should get keep improving as he gets more time and adjusted.

[Paradise]

It's pretty obvious, Avery had no clue how to use him properly. If I remember correctly, during the OKC game, Teletovic had drive and pull up jumpshot then Avery pulls him and keeps him out until the last 2 seconds of the game almost like if he wasn't supposed to leave the corner 3 point line.

His post game comments just really shows how much of a great guy he is and willing to wait and learn. Especially considering he was the biggest star in Europe.

I'd like to see him in a lineup with Deron, Stackhouse (ew), Joe, Lopez at some point.

[MGrand15]

Brooks makes plays. He's not a defensive stud and was never advertised to be one, but to assert that he's worse than Stack at this point of Stack's career and worse offensively than Bogans, who is one of the most limited players offensively on this team, is plain ridiculous.

Both Bogans & Stack can play off the ball, knock down threes & help ball movement, which is what we need, not a guy who will hold onto the ball for half the possession while the other 4 players stand around before firing contested jumpers. Bogans' ability to put the ball on the floor, drive & make the right pass is underrated, IMO. Stack can still post-up & draw some attention from the defense there, not to mention he can still hit those turnaround jumpers like he did back in his young days lol.

So if Watson is in the game - you have 3 players that play great off the ball.... who plays on the ball? Are you comfortable with ISO Blatche being option 1, 2 and 3 with that unit? NBA defense is no joke. You can't just swing the ball around like college and expect to score consistently. It's the reason Joe Johnson ALWAYS plays with that unit. He's averaging more than 38 mpg because of it - that number needs to go down and that's where Marshon comes in.

And no, Stackhouse cannot post up nor draw attention from anyone outside of making sure he's not open for 3. He's shooting 38% from the field (!!!!), 35% from 3. He's also too slow to be an effective defender or rebounder. If he's our main perimeter guy off the bench, we're screwed.

[PetroNet]

So if Watson is in the game - you have 3 players that play great off the ball.... who plays on the ball? Are you comfortable with ISO Blatche being option 1, 2 and 3 with that unit? NBA defense is no joke. You can't just swing the ball around like college and expect to score consistently. It's the reason Joe Johnson ALWAYS plays with that unit. He's averaging more than 38 mpg because of it - that number needs to go down and that's where Marshon comes in.

Watson is perfectly capable of playing on the ball and has done so quite extensively in the past. and at the very least is 10 times a better option in that regard then brooks. brooks "creating a shot out of nothing" isnt a good thing... because "out of nothing" means he held on to the ball for 8 seconds then had to throw up a circus shot just to beat the clock. its nice he made 2 or 3 of those circus shots against the kings, but the result doesnt change that it is horrible, losing decision making and the kind of basketball you cant play if you expect to win more often then not.

Brooks is just an enormous net negative on offense. you can live with him defensively, the fouls hurt but you can manage. offensively you just cant afford to have him on the floor. he just makes it too easy for the opponent to gaurd us and worse, for the opponent to get going the other way for an easy opportunity of their own.

And no, Stackhouse cannot post up nor draw attention from anyone outside of making sure he's not open for 3. He's shooting 38% from the field (!!!!), 35% from 3. He's also too slow to be an effective defender or rebounder. If he's our main perimeter guy off the bench, we're screwed.

stakchouse is a much better option then brooks. he is a better defender, he doesnt commit back breaking fouls, and offensively he makes us a much better offensive unit. it isnt even close.

[vincecarter4pres]

I really don't think I can call Stackhouse a better option then Brooks with a straight face, at least depending on who either of them are out there on the floor with.

That's not to say MarShon is a good option or Stackhouse necessarily bad all the time, but IDK.

In a perfect world MarShon is traded just so he's never on the floor and Stackhouse is pulled back to what he should be, spot minutes every other game or so, maybe to the tune of around 7 or 8 per game and not every game.

The 17 he's averaged a game on the season so far is absolutely absurd.

His percentages in December were atrocious, just vomit inducing stuff and his defense can be abysmal at times.

He's old, his legs are tired, he's not built for this type of daily grind. He's good enough where if you're not playing him every night and severely cutting his minutes back he can come in and be a great spark for a few minutes here and there.

But bottom line, the way he's currently being used? He's not good enough in general for that, not close and he's super obviously completely burnt out by how much he's sees the hardwood.

[MGrand15]

I would love to see some evidence that Marshon is an ENORMOUS negative on offense. With his so called shot selection and offense stalling, he's shooting 50% from the field. For all his unselfishness, Watson is shooting 37% from the field. Plus Marshon is creating nearly 60% of his shots. All of his lineups in 82games.com are scoring at a good/above average rate. I don't see it guys. I just don't see how we're better off not playing someone who creates his own shot and hits 50% of them. Especially when we only have Deron/JJ to make plays on the perimeter.

There's a reason guys like Crawford, Terry, JR Smith, Harden, etc. have value. Playmakers off the bench are GOOD.

[SpeedyG]

Watson is perfectly capable of playing on the ball and has done so quite extensively in the past. and at the very least is 10 times a better option in that regard then brooks. brooks "creating a shot out of nothing" isnt a good thing... because "out of nothing" means he held on to the ball for 8 seconds then had to throw up a circus shot just to beat the clock. its nice he made 2 or 3 of those circus shots against the kings, but the result doesnt change that it is horrible, losing decision making and the kind of basketball you cant play if you expect to win more often then not.