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[el loco]

I watched the Nets/Rockets game this morning. Favors barely sniffed the court, he only played 8 minutes and the only stat he registered was 1 rebound.


The Celtics play the Knicks tonight. It would be nice to see Gallo and Randolph get showcased a bit in this game. I would like to see Gallo start the game by looking to take it to the rack, which should open up the rest of his game. The way the knicks are currently constructed, he should be their 2nd option. But, so far in the preseason he has looked a lot like LK when he played with the Nuggets, which isn't terrible, but hardly worthy of being a viable 2nd option.

The Jazz play the Clippers. I wonder how many highlight dunks Blake will have tonight. Remember the Jazz have that Eason guy manning the paint now

Over/Under: Amare grabs 7 rebounds for the Knicks if he gets the minutes.

[el loco]

Gallo had some nice moments, and some not so nice moments. He did look to drive a little bit in this game, which I was glad to see him do. But, he likes to camp out behind the arc more than anything. He did try to crash the boards once off a long miss, the Knicks regained possession. He tried to post up afterwards for about all of a second before floating back out to 3 point land. On defense he seems to be able to be taken off the dribble at will by whoever he is guarding, and he often loses sight of his man and the ball. You can see that the skill set is there, but he is still a long ways away from putting it all together. For some reason, he looks very slow to me, like he is moving in quick sand. I will give him the benefit of the doubt on some of this because some of it is obviously D'Antoni's run and chuck system.

Randolph made a couple of nice plays but then turns around and gives the ball back to the other team afterwards. I don't know what to think of him, he is kinda sorta like a PF version of JR. In that he does some great things, but turns around and screws it up with boneheaded plays.

The Knicks need a helluva lot more than Melo, their main priority should be finding someone that can rebound, they only had 27 boards as a team and got destroyed on the glass by 19 boards. Mozgov is a work in progress and should get better with minutes, but right now he is a foul machine. Fields looks like a keeper, he resembles a younger cheaper version of Afflalo to me. He doesn't do anything great, but he doesn't do anything bad either. You can tell that he has a decent bball IQ.

I am not sure if Lasme will make the Celtics roster or not, but if he doesn't, he looks like a lot better option than Shelden Williams.

[el loco]

I didn't catch any of the Jazz/Clippers game, but I see where Blake chalked up another double double.

[The Rebel]

Having watched 3 of the knicks preseason games this year, I am still not impressed with any of their young talent outside of Mozgov who looks like he could develop into a decent starting center pretty quickly.

While I agree with Fields having a decent BBIQ, I would not put him anywhere close to the class of Afflalo. Afflalo is the better defender and a much better outside shooter. Overall Fields could develop into a solid role player, but he is not looking like anything special.

Realistically given the draft pick situation, i don't think I would make a melo deal with the Knicks for Randolph, Gallo, Curry, and a couple of future picks. Better off getting picks and empty cap space next summer for a sign and trade.

[el loco]

As of right now, I couldn't agree with you more.

[The Rebel]

I did not watch the Nets game this morning, but I watched them the other day against the Celtics, with Favors spending most of his time on the court facing Big Baby and a couple of rookies, and I was not really impressed with him that game either. While he appears to have all the tools, he just does not look close to being ready to contributing on a team.

[el loco]

Knicks/Wizards: Gallo is in brick mode from the cheap seats again tonight, he went 0-5 in the 1st half. I swear this guy is Kleiza part 2. Mozgov does have a nice little jumper and eats up space in the lane, but you would think that a guy that is 7'1" could grab a few more boards than 1 or 2 a game. Chandler hasn't looked very good either.

[el loco]

Fields continues to impress me, the Knicks got a steal taking him as late as they did in the draft imo.

[el loco]

The Knicks were down big to start the 3rd, Chandler came alive on both ends and looked pretty decent in the 3rd. Gallo continued to struggle and found his way to the bench. Once he was on the bench, the Knicks made a run and finished the 3rd trailing by only a point. While he was out their team speed picked up on both ends of the floor and they seemed to play a lot better together. Mozgov looked good in the 3rd as well, but he doesn't crash the boards at all.

[el loco]

If the Nuggets are forced into a trade with the Knicks and only the Knicks, I would ask for Fields/Chandler/Mosgov, they can keep AR and Gallo. Of course this is based on what I have seen so far this preseason.

[el loco]

Kleiza had a nice boxscore for the Raptors today, 23 points, 8 boards and 4 dimes. This is the 2nd time that the Suns have played the Raptors this preseason, and the Raptors crushed them both times.

[el loco]

10/18/2010

Magic/Hawks, the Magic have been blowing teams out this preseason, they beat the Bulls by 40 the other night

Bobcats/Heat, I am interested to see how the bcats pg play looks in this game

Hornets/Grizzlies

Thunder/Spurs

Blazers/Warriors

[el loco]

The Magic crushed the Hawks, it looks like they are a team that is on a mission.

The Bobcats beat the Heat The Heat really don't have much of an inside game at all, and I can see teams packing the paint against them this year. Lebron and Wade aren't exactly great threats from behind the arc, and Bosh isn't the type of PF that likes to mix it up in the paint.

[el loco]

10/19/2010

76ers/cavs
wizards/pistons
nets/knicks: Melo sweepstakes
pacers/tpups
jazz/lakers
suns/warriors
kings/clippers

[The Rebel]

Knicks/Wizards: Gallo is in brick mode from the cheap seats again tonight, he went 0-5 in the 1st half. I swear this guy is Kleiza part 2. Mozgov does have a nice little jumper and eats up space in the lane, but you would think that a guy that is 7'1" could grab a few more boards than 1 or 2 a game. Chandler hasn't looked very good either.

I keep seeing you mention Kleiza, and I really don't see it. While I will give you that they both liked to hang out at the 3 line and were streaky as hell, and neither seems to have much mental toughness, the comparison really kind of stops there for me. Kleiza never seemed to be near as bothered by contact, and while not great is a much better defender then Gallo, not to mention that Gallo is no where near as fast as Kleiza. I swear watching Galinari run down the court reminds me of watching a Kareem Abdul jabbar try to keep up with the showtime Lakers his last year in the league. Everybody just seems to be going 3 steps faster up and down the court.

[The Rebel]

The Magic crushed the Hawks, it looks like they are a team that is on a mission.

I don't know what the Magic are doing, I understand trying to make a statement, but why not wait until the season begins.

The Bobcats beat the Heat The Heat really don't have much of an inside game at all, and I can see teams packing the paint against them this year. Lebron and Wade aren't exactly great threats from behind the arc, and Bosh isn't the type of PF that likes to mix it up in the paint.

Outside shooting is their biggest weakness, and one that will hurt them badly in the playoffs. Just like when Denver had Melo, AI, and a bunch of role players with only one real shooter on the team. They maybe able to fix their issues, but I think they are going to be a year away from even winning the eastern conference.

[The Rebel]

10/19/2010

76ers/cavs
wizards/pistons
nets/knicks: Melo sweepstakes
pacers/tpups
jazz/lakers
suns/warriors
kings/clippers

I may check out the Nets/ Knicks for a little while before my wife steals the tv, but the game I have to watch tonight is the Kings Clippers on NBA TV. I think Griffin and Cousins are going to both be very good if not dominant bigs for a long time. Plus their guard match up of Gordon and Evans could be fun as well.

[The Rebel]

Watching the Kings Clippers game, i can see why there were rumors that the Nuggets wanted Cousins so badly, he looks like he is going to be one hell of a player. Both of those teams may sneak up on people this year.

I watched the 1st half of the Nets/ Knicks game as well. Douglas looked like a good defender, Mozgov did not look as good as he had in previous nights, Randolph and Gallo both had some nice plays, although for every good play Randolph made he made 2 bad ones soon after. Favors was the victim of Amare receiving superstar calls very quickly in the 1st quarter but made a solid play and grabbed a couple of boards besides the 3 foul calls in the minute or so he was allowed to play in the 1st half. It looks like he went on in the 2nd half to have a much better game ending up with 12 and 7 in just under 19 minutes for the game.

[el loco]

Damn, the Magic keep opening up cans of whoop azz on the competition. The Mavs made a nice 2nd quarter run on them and took the lead for a bit, but after 3 they find themselves trailing by 20.

[el loco]

Favors had another decent game tonight, 5-7 from the floor, and 6-6 from the charity stripe for 16 points, 4 boards, and 2 blocks.

Randolph didn't have a very great looking stat line tonight, but Fields did, he continues to put up numbers for the Knicks when given minutes.

It looks like Jrue had himself a nice game, he finished up with a double double in pts and assists. Turner continues to struggle.

I didn't catch either game tonight and I am just going off the stat sheet.