The Good:
Thornton has been putting up very solid numbers and has even managed to pick up a few assists along the way. We will be leaning heavily upon his shoulders this season, so we need for him to be a more consistent and efficient producer. Cassell and Maggette have tought him how to get to the line when your shot is not falling. He's going to soften the blow of Maggette's departure in terms of getting to charity stripe.
Eric Gordon has shown that he is more than capable of scoring in the NBA. He's averaged 14.2ppg, draining 36.7% of his threes (most from 27 feet out), and converted 84.6% of his free-throws. He unfortunately had a few early setbacks in his NBA career, but this guy is a natural talent. He gave us a glimpse of his potential in his 20 point 4th quarter effort against the Kings in a come from behind victory.
Mike Taylor was a pleasant surprise. You don't expect much from the 55th pick, but he has shown that he is worth a roster spot and can be effective at times. He had some truly impressive games, although he has not played as well in the past couple games. He is an exceptional athlete and knows how to score the ball. He's averaged 12.6ppg on 54% shooting. He's going to have to work on slowing down some and allowing the game to come to him so that he can stay in control. He's also had his pocket picked quite a bit. He's averaged 3.29 turnovers per game. They said he was a 2 but Dunleavy feels that he has the potential to be molded into a 1. As long as Davis is healthy, Taylor will have the luxury of being able to fine tune his game and be brought along slowly.
Paul Davis has been solid since returning from his injury. He's had to start the last few games and that is fine in preseason, but if he has to start in the regular season we're in trouble. If he is the 10th or 11th guy in the rotation then he's very solid. He's averaged 7.1 points & 5.6 rebounds through 7 games.
Steve Novak is as advertised. He's a sure shot from beyond the arc. He doesn't really do anything else, but at 48% that is fine by me.
Brian Skinner has been solid on the defensive end and is averaging over 2 blocks and a steal in less than 20 minutes. As long as we're healthy, we're going to enjoy him coming off the bench to maintain a strong defensive presence in the post.
The Bad:
We've lost our last 3 games against NBA teams and our offense has been stagnant. We had something like 51 points through 4 straight quarters in our last 2 games. We were without key players, but that is still very discouraging. Cuttino Mobley and Chris Kaman started off looking absolutely terrible. Mobley was not hitting his shots and was looking like his age had finally caught up to him. I am hoping that Gordon is able to take the wheel at shooting guard at some point in this season, but we need Cat to play dependable basketball and be a leader in the mean time. He did eventually pick his game up, but you can tell he has been frustrated with our injury woes. Kaman said that he wasn't taking it too serious since it was preseason, but I think he needed to come more prepared than what he did. He has looked decent the last couple of games, but I have to say that I'm disappointing in what he brought to the table in the first few games. Kaman 2.0 held his own last season, and we can't afford for him to regress, so he needs to keep pushing himself to stay focused.
The ugly:
I'm going to reserve this to having to play without 2 of our top 3 players due to injury. They could be showing some nice things in practice, but we have yet to see them put it all together on the floor when it matters. There's kinks that need to be worked out, and chemistry that needs to be built. By failing to have a full roster (primarily our regular starters) play together, we're looking at some rough times ahead. These guys need to gel, and we have a tough schedule to start the season off. Hopefully, they get a few full practice sessions together before the season starts.
Injury Report:
Clippers
Camby (bruised heel), Thomas (strained groin) & Davis (sprained ring finger) are all out.
Nuggets
Allen Iverson (sprained ankle) is questionable.
Chucky Atkins (knee), Sonny Weems (strained groin), & Steven Hunter (knee) are out.
P.S. There are a 11 games available for y'all to sign up for. They will be more fun once the games start to matter, and we get actually see them on tv. Hopefully those will start to fill up over the next few days
