2025 Preseason Thread

Liver_Pooty · Post #101 » by **Liver_Pooty** » Yesterday 12:37 am

Well at least kon didn’t start off his career with some 2-16 kinda ****

GoBobs · Post #102 » by **GoBobs** » Yesterday 1:09 am

At the begining of the game when the starters were in, we were generating good shots, just not hitting them. Kon missed some open ones. Brandon Miller whet 0-5 from beyond the arc.

Melo, Miles, Moussa, and Brandon Miller only played like 15 min. It would have been nice if we didn't get our butt kicked in those 15 min, but we just missed good shots. I liked the way the ball was moving around and finding open shooters.

When Tre and Sexton were in the game together in the back court, that seemed like a bad look. The ball seemed to move from side to side less.

Kalkbrenner was really good at defending around the basket and really bad at stopping his man from shooting a 3. He is going to have to do something to mix it up if his man is scorching hot from beyond the arc.

Dimwiddle took some questionible quick shots. He seems like a guy that helps you a lot more when that goes in and can't do much else on the nights that it doesn't. Would have liked to see him run some pick and rolls or something to put pressure on the defense befoe just jacking it up.

Salaun was good when he was just a catch and shoot guy. His finishing around the rim is terrible.

Liam runs like a duck.

I liked Peterson even though his shot wasn't falling. His handle and passing looked crisp and his energy looked good. I bet he is better than Liam, Scion, and Salaun.

Post #103 » by **Diop** » Yesterday 1:12 am

i'm chanting to myself, its only 1 game, its only the first preseason game, BUT **** ME! OKC sit most of their team, Charlotte start with their starting 5 and get easily beat? I know the starters only played limited minutes, but they got beat in those minutes by players won't get many minutes during the year. they worked out all offseason for that?

trying my best not to over react, but most of the positive enthusiasm is gone.

Liver_Pooty · Post #104 » by **Liver_Pooty** » Yesterday 1:18 am

The only thing I want to take from this preseason is progress from Moose and Salaun. Miller is not going to go 0-5 from 3 often this season if at all.

Salaun looks better but is still a couple years away.

Post #105 » by **Diop** » Yesterday 1:57 am

I'm not expecting great things from Sexton there is a reason we got him so cheaply, his scoring bursts while helpful in times don't seem to lead to sustained team success. he's one of those undersized scoring guards we always must have.

another proper point guard would be helpful, i don't have faith in Dinwiddie either.

Post #106 » by **yosemiteben** » Yesterday 2:02 am

I agree with GoBobs, we looked good with the starters, just couldn't hit shots early and OKC were hitting their shots.

Sexton and Mann is way clunkier than I expected, major work in progress in terms of ball movement and creating looks for others.

Post #107 » by **Diop** » Yesterday 2:07 am

GoBobs wrote:At the begining of the game when the starters were in, we were generating good shots, just not hitting them. Kon missed some open ones. Brandon Miller whet 0-5 from beyond the arc.

Melo, Miles, Moussa, and Brandon Miller only played like 15 min. It would have been nice if we didn't get our butt kicked in those 15 min, but we just missed good shots. I liked the way the ball was moving around and finding open shooters.

When Tre and Sexton were in the game together in the back court, that seemed like a bad look. The ball seemed to move from side to side less.

Kalkbrenner was really good at defending around the basket and really bad at stopping his man from shooting a 3. He is going to have to do something to mix it up if his man is scorching hot from beyond the arc.

Dimwiddle took some questionible quick shots. He seems like a guy that helps you a lot more when that goes in and can't do much else on the nights that it doesn't. Would have liked to see him run some pick and rolls or something to put pressure on the defense befoe just jacking it up.

Salaun was good when he was just a catch and shoot guy. His finishing around the rim is terrible.

Liam runs like a duck.

I liked Peterson even though his shot wasn't falling. His handle and passing looked crisp and his energy looked good. I bet he is better than Liam, Scion, and Salaun.

you talked me back from the cliff a little, thanks for that

GoBobs · Post #108 » by **GoBobs** » Yesterday 2:19 am

I guess Kon is ahead of Sexton in the rotation.

LaMelo
Kon
Brandon
Miles
Mason Plumlee

If I had to say who are the next three best players in the rotation.. I don't know maybe

Diabate
Grant Williams
Kalkbrenner

then I don't know again..

Dimwiddie...?
Sexton
Mann... (Sexton and Mann are so bad on defense)
Josh Green...?

then you have the, are these guys even nba players level

Salaun
Liam
Scion
Pat
the 2 way guys..

Bassman · Post #109 » by **Bassman** » Yesterday 2:34 am

Major ugh. I couldn’t get my league pass replay to show me anything but an NBA logo screen. So had to revert to a highlights video and the box score.

It’s a training camp game, but there’s no denying how bad that looked. Our full team gets rocked by their scrubs and reserves. Center position is a mess, just as we said it was. Defense is lacking, Melo is still all circus shots, Tiddy is barely any better, and our vaunted trades and signings of a gazillion guards just looks like, well, a lot of guards. Not encouraged.

Post #110 » by **fatlever** » Yesterday 3:13 am

The offense was whatever. Not really that worried on that side of the ball. Would like to see more than just spamming the three point line, but there seem to be ball movement and a little more urgency moving the ball up the court after missed and made shots. The other side of the ball was abysmal. 0 urgency defensively. Zero intensity. Going under screens, getting beat back door, Poor communication, not to mention this staff having absolutely no idea what to do when kalk is defending a center that shoots threes. In their limited action today both Spencer and Pat look like dudes that deserve to get cut. I think the first four times Pat touched the ball he lost his dribble and then three passes that got deflected. Spencer looked like he was playing with a Gray cardigan and a pipe in his mouth.

Post #111 » by **yosemiteben** » Yesterday 12:29 pm

Read on Twitter

That's a mature dude

EmpireFalls · Post #112 » by **EmpireFalls** » Yesterday 1:40 pm

I have no clue what Peterson was thinking sending this roster into professional competition this year.

We are going to get humiliated like 50 separate times this season. It’s brutal. Somehow I feel this team is even worse than the 22-23 and 23-24 ones.

Chapelchilla · Post #113 » by **Chapelchilla** » Yesterday 2:09 pm

It did not look good but literally half the roster has not played together before. Let's see if they can gell. Sexton does not look like a winning player though and that was especially disappointing.

JMAC3 · Post #114 » by **JMAC3** » Yesterday 2:11 pm

Love the overreaction to a first preseason game where we played 16 guys..

Never change fellas haha

Bassman · Post #115 » by **Bassman** » Yesterday 3:36 pm

Evidently the Plumdog is with the team, arrived late last week, but not ready to be integrated as he wasn’t on the camp practice floor. But does it even matter? He’s probably still better than using Kalk, and Moose will get his moments, but NONE of these guys are difference makers.

I presume the next ps game at OKC will be even worse since they’ll have the first team on the floor :cry:

.

I couldn’t see the game because of previous issues noted with league pass. Did Melo look at all like he was trying to defend, or set up the offense as a pro PG does? Or is he all flash and style mode?

Post #116 » by **fatlever** » Yesterday 5:06 pm

Bassman wrote:Evidently the Plumdog is with the team, arrived late last week, but not ready to be integrated as he wasn’t on the camp practice floor. But does it even matter? He’s probably still better than using Kalk, and Moose will get his moments, but NONE of these guys are difference makers.

I presume the next ps game at OKC will be even worse since they’ll have the first team on the floor .

I couldn’t see the game because of previous issues noted with league pass. Did Melo look at all like he was trying to defend, or set up the offense as a pro PG does? Or is he all flash and style mode?

He mostly looked like the same player you've seen the past few years good and bad. But, The ball was moving more and the pace was quicker. The big difference is he was surrounded by three other legit offensive players. Miller almost looked to be the focal point or at least a 1B situation. Miles was kind of the afterthought in that grouping. But I think that's OK come out let miles do some of The Dirty work when playing with the starting group.

Biggest Positive takeaways other than what I mentioned last night, Team got some full court exercise, Miller Mann and melo all looked healthy, kon looked good, And we got our first look at what Lee might consider first and second team rotations.

vorbis · Post #117 » by **vorbis** » Yesterday 7:03 pm

watched the game. the overreaction here, even by preseason standards, is staggering. deep breaths. it's a long season.

Post #118 » by **Walt Cronkite** » Yesterday 7:59 pm

This might've been the first preseason game I've ever watched in the entirety of my NBA fandom. Went about as expected. Less fun than Summer League.
edit: My feed had the Charlotte Hornets radio guy, he was a highlight. No Eric Collins, but good.

Post #119 » by **fatlever** » Yesterday 9:55 pm

here's your good/bad melo wrapped up in a 15 sec clip. same same

Read on Twitter

Bassman · Post #120 » by **Bassman** » Today 3:12 am

Finally got the replay to work…ground my way through the whole game. Agree with much of what others posted. Some of the most frustrating elements beyond “defense” overall:

> I lost count on how many times OKC drove into the lane just to kick back to the top of the 3 line for a wide open triple. Kalk was burned so many times, but others also had crispy edges.
> Kalk is a deep reserve center who really isn’t quick enough to even be a #3. Moose had flashes but isn’t starter caliber. If we expect to compete at even a competent level, gotta get a much better 5.
> I’d gladly trade some of our new depth for a couple of those Thunder deep benchers. Pat and Spencer….ugh. Sexton looked like a busy bee with no stinger. Tiddy was really not that much better. Still horrible finisher, not a good shooter, better at times on D but gets lost on both sides of the ball. Liam looks very much a raw rookie 29th pick but that’s to be expected.
> Kon was impressive enough to be a rookie. He will make good plays and hit key shots while being a creator. He will also struggle defending the elite players.
> Our lack of beef up front hurts badly. Whose setting screens? Rebounding and pounding inside? Moose maybe a little here and there but not Miles. Kon will try. Nope, this is a perimeter 3 point shooting team that can’t shoot consistently well enough to succeed at that.