Post#14 » by theatlfan » Thu Dec 11, 2014 5:41 am
That... was sad. Honestly felt like I was watching a scrimmage against a scout squad. We looked disinterested the entire game and didn't seem to give any effort... and still won by 15. The game was very herky jerky IMO and the refs weren't used to it either. I don't think they called a good game, but neither team was flowing like an NBA team anyway. Lots of TOs that were from just boneheaded plays too. As far as the players, I didn't see a legit NBA player on PHI. They were either incredibly athletic and not very skilled or had average skill and very little athleticism.
Noel looked like the FR playing on varsity. Obviously, the kid has talent and he could protect the lane against drivers at an elite level. He single-handedly kept them in the game with this ability through the 2Q (I didn't catch the 1st). OTOH, he looked physically overmatched and was just getting abused by by guys who do very little abusing generally. He should probably be sharpening his game in the D-League... or in Lexington.
Not sure if MCW regressed or what, but he looked like the SR that couldn't understand why he wasn't why he didn't have any college offers when everyone else was wondering why the coach even had him in the game. Again, clearly talented, but he played out of control, consistently dribbled himself into bad situations, and lost the ball at awkward times. There was 2 or 3 plays where I remember thinking that he didn't have a turnover because our D was shocked that a PG would just lose the handle on the ball that we lost the foot race. Teague never blinked when MCW went for a jumper either - basically said "go for it" every time MCW was on the perimeter to which MCW obliged way too often. I mean he's like Josh Smith... without the defense... or the elite athleticism. Sure he got near a 3x 2x, but he also had nearly 9 TOs. Maybe just an off-night, but not impressed with him at all.
As far as the others, I was actually excited to see Shved since I still see him as a prospect - he was terrible. No idea how he is still in the NBA. He did a little better than MCW, but with none of the upside. The peachtreehoops guy looked him so KJ McDaniels before the draft this year, and I thought he looked good. He did have an impressive block (against Schröder?) and I remember him being a general thorn in our side defensively but I can't recall anything he did on O. Don't think he was the #3 (or was it 5?) overall prospect in the draft, but I do think the McDaniels / Noel duo would be who I would be looking to build around in PHI (until Embiid gets on the floor at least) - that could be the basis of an obnoxious defense. Jeremy Evans was another guy that I wanted to see, but I don't remember him at all.
For us, I thought we deserved to lose this game - thankfully they were really that bad. The O was pretty shoddy (although Noel had something to do with that), our shot wasn't falling (except for Korver's 3), and we were just stagnant for extended periods. The stats are against them, but I did think that the Teague / Schröder was a bright spot. Both played heady games and I felt comfortable when the ball was in their hands (On the opposite end of that spectrum, I had no idea what was going to happen if the ball was in Demarre's hands - none). I felt like Teague was about to take the game over at times, but just couldn't quite get into that groove.
One guy that truly stood out to me was Muscala - really like his game. Every time he shot it, I felt like it was going in. He wasn't in the right spot all the time, but wherever he was, he was hustling to get there. Really worked the baseline from arc to arc, but then stepped out and hit from the midrange above the elbow. He might only have role player upside, but I think he could be a very, very good role player in time..
