Rondo OUT--Giddens to Start....uck.

[Joselo16]

There is a big difference between Hudson and Giddens and that is that one has the ball in his hands and sets the offense and a the other is told to just play D (which he did well on Turk) and board, so obviously one is going to stand out more than the other. Giddens played 20+ mins, but it was 11 in the first quarter and then the rest towards the fourth so there was no rhythm to it. The offense seemed to flow well, even with him out there just setting picks for Ray. His offense looked bad on his 2 shots, but that was because of lack of confidence (seeing as how he had open shots and decided to drive in to the defense) I do wonder what people would be saying if he would of had a monster game(but that's just a hypothetical at this point)! To me he played well and the only mistake was the second turnover in which he got pinned under the basket and nobody came to help him out, so he tried to force it!

[ParticleMan]

I thought JR did OK.

He played solid D against Turk and held his own on the glass. And he had a couple of nice dimes.

His main problem is complete lack of confidence when he has the ball in his hands. I think he is just trying too hard to make the extra pass. He needs to just attack the rim like he did in college. But I'm sure Doc is constantly drilling him to make the extra pass and keep the ball moving.

Overall, I thought he didn't hurt us out there. That's not bad for a guy getting his first meaningful PT in the NBA.

Anyway we'll have a bunch more games to see what JR can do. Hopefully he can build on this. It's not like our guys are coming back anytime soon.

[cfan79]

Again it took a lot of injuries for Doc Dumber to play the kids. Hopefully they continue to get time on the floor. Willy Walker should get Scala's minutes, Scala's trade value can't go up any higher.

[ParticleMan]

^^ well given JR and Les's performance last night, i wouldn't say they are candidates to knock anyone out of the rotation. they did ok in spot duty, but let's not get carried away. we have 8-9 guys on this team who are clearly better. and when we're in the business of winning games and not developing assets, we have to play our best players.

and Doc Dumber just had what was probably his finest coaching performance in the last 1.5 years. belichick couldn't have done it better.

[cfan79]

^^ well given JR and Les's performance last night, i wouldn't say they are candidates to knock anyone out of the rotation. they did ok in spot duty, but let's not get carried away. we have 8-9 guys on this team who are clearly better. and when we're in the business of winning games and not developing assets, we have to play our best players.

I'd give them minutes ahead of at least Scala and House. Because both look to help others score and keep the ball moving. I'm surprised whenever Eddie does anything defensively like his 1 block yesterday. Both are either 1 dimensional or no dimensional on offense.

Plus the kids can actually dribble and can handle ball pressure. Eddie looks like he wants to pass it whenever anyone is near him.

[SichtingLives]

^^ well given JR and Les's performance last night, i wouldn't say they are candidates to knock anyone out of the rotation. they did ok in spot duty, but let's not get carried away. we have 8-9 guys on this team who are clearly better. and when we're in the business of winning games and not developing assets, we have to play our best players.

I'd give them minutes ahead of at least Scala and House. Because both look to help others score and keep the ball moving. I'm surprised whenever Eddie does anything defensively like his 1 block yesterday. Both are either 1 dimensional or no dimensional on offense.

Plus the kids can actually dribble and can handle ball pressure. Eddie looks like he wants to pass it whenever anyone is near him.

You must not have been paying too much attention to last night's game if you think Lester is a better option than Eddie. He actually didn't look all that great against pressure and his passing was flat out scary to watch. I didn't see him hit more than one guy in the chest all game and half his passes looked like wounded ducks. Plus he's got a long way to go to prove he can shoot the rock like Eddie can. It wasn't all bad and he had a few heads up plays, but's that's about all.

As for Giddens, yes he can step in and play D right now but you simply cannot get consistent PT if you're going to be a ghost on offense. Maybe some would like to point out how little PT he gets and you can't judge him on his first start, etc..... I'm not. I'm judging him on his first year and a half as a professional. Just because some guys have it in them to improve deficiencies in their game, it doesn't mean they all do. His ticket to staying in this league is if he can make himself into an elite defender. His offensive issues are mostly mental, unfortunately that's the hardest part for a player to change.

As for Scal, he's terrible but you know and I know that he is going to play ahead of Giddens and Walker in the future. He's been playing over more talented players his entire career, I don't really know how but I don't see why that would change now. The telling thing is that neither Gid nor Walker have been able to distance themselves from Scal in the last two years, so take that for what it's worth.

[GuyClinch]

Meh. It took Eddie YEARS to look even passable at the PG spot. Hudson looks just as good - and he is a rookie. Your being too hard on him. As for Giddens - TA is way ahead of him. Lets admit it sometimes TA looks kind of awesome and tales of his low BBIQ are VASTLY overrated. The guy had 7 assists last night..

[Tenbomber]

Meh. It took Eddie YEARS to look even passable at the PG spot. Hudson looks just as good - and he is a rookie. Your being too hard on him. As for Giddens - TA is way ahead of him. Lets admit it sometimes TA looks kind of awesome and tales of his low BBIQ are VASTLY overrated. The guy had 7 assists last night..

I thought Hudson did a credable job in there last night... He made a couple of rookie mistakes and so did Giddens but they did OK as far as I'm concerned....Giddens and Scal pretty much neutralized "Turk a loo"

Tony was pretty dam good too!

Gotta say though that Tony missed Giddens a couple of times for easy hoops....

Giddens needs to shoot when he has his shot though....a couple of times he turned it over after not pulling the trigger on wide open looks.....He's green but I think he will come around....I just hope the veterans give him the chance and not look the other way when he is in there... I suppose if you are Tony or Eddie though, you might not want a rook to look too good???


THAT MIGHT CUT INTO YOUR MINUTES?......just sayin...

Hey..... anyone else think that Bosh looks like "Crabman" on the TV show "My Name Is Earl"?

He's a dead ringer IMO.......

[SichtingLives]

Meh. It took Eddie YEARS to look even passable at the PG spot. Hudson looks just as good - and he is a rookie. Your being too hard on him. As for Giddens - TA is way ahead of him. Lets admit it sometimes TA looks kind of awesome and tales of his low BBIQ are VASTLY overrated. The guy had 7 assists last night..

I don't think I'm being too hard on him (if you were referring to my comment). I did point out what I thought were negative aspects of his performance last night, if for nothing more than the sake of balance. I think any young player's (perceived) weaknesses are as worth noting as their strengths.

All things considered: rookie, no experience, first time getting real minutes in a game.....he was fine out there. My point is that I don't see him being as good as Eddie right now. Not that I would expect him to be. He's more athletic/quicker, and he can get into the lane and to the basket much better than Eddie, although that isn't a huge compliment. D is a wash simply because what Eddie doesn't have in physical ability, Lester doesn't have in experience, although Lester certainly has the tools to become a much better defender than House could ever dream of being. That's all good for the future, but right now I'd still prefer to have EH out there if I have to pick between the two.

Eddie's stock is low right now because he's struggled this year, but I haven't forgotten how much of an assassin he is when he gets it going. His ability to shoot is not easy to replicate for a bench player, and it's an aspect that we need off our bench. He's had a few good shooting games lately and once he gets in a groove nobody's going to have much of a problem with him playing. Playoffs is a different story.....

I would still like to see Hudson get some minutes without becoming completely buried on the bench, but that may only happen if we continue to be shorthanded.

What is yet to be seen is how efficiently he can shoot/score, how well he can handle the ball and how well he can pass the ball, as well as how smart of a player he is. I realize you can't get a feel for his skills if he's sitting on the bench, but people have to remember that we have a deep roster with plenty of skilled players and young guys simply aren't going to get the same opportunities on a championship contender as they would with a lesser team.

[CeltsfanSinceBirth]

You know who should have gotten a chance? Stojko Vrankovic. The guy was a legit 7 footer and had great hops for his size. For whatever reason, Chris Ford kept playing Joe Kleine ahead of him. We missed out on Stojko's greatness. He went on to team up with Dominique Wilkins and win a title over in Europe. Damn shame Stojko didn't get any PT.

[GuyClinch]

^^^I have heard that story too. I never saw him in anything but garbage time. It's too bad..

[sully00]

Got to love how Doc is such an awful coach for not playing guys who can't play at all.

JR can't play.

I am a Tony Allen fan and love to see him play well but he just set the search for a competent back up pg back quite a bit.

I have some hope for Lester, and sure he is a better pg than Eddie and so are several of the people who post on this board. The problem is that this team doesn't necessarily need a pg on the floor to be effective so you have to not only be a better pg but a better player and worth your mins. Now Tommy pointed out the other night that for whatever reason Lester, who is is a gifted scorer, is looking to distribute the ball and that is fine if he is playing with the starting unit but who the hell is trying to set up on a second unit of a team with 3 starters out? Score the ball kid.