Preseason Hoops: Billy King's Celtics @ Brook-Lin's Nets - Thursday, 7:30pm Y...

[Prokorov]

A lot of positives from this game IMO... Really worried about the backup PG spot.

Pleasantly surprised with Lin, Booker, Harris, JHam, and Scola. Not sure what's going with CM and Skil. I want to see Whithead and Yogi over GV.

I don't like Vasquez's game at all. No defense, can't shoot, no confidence, no effort, etc.

I hope the coaching staff has the confidence to cut him. As for pleasant surprises, I wholeheartedly agree although I gotta say was on the Booker bandwagon even before seeing him in preseason, love his game. And obviously as a Lin fan who's watched most of his career, I'm not surprised by his performance so far but I know a lot of people around here haven't seen him play much so a lot of people will be pleasantly surprised which is exciting.

i hope the coaching staff isnt as overeactive and emotinally unstable as to cut a player based on 3 preseason games and coming off injury.

man where is VC4P and E to slap some sense into some people?

[MGrand15]

Vasquez has been bad and his injury history is concerning. He was never a guy that could beat guys off the dribble. If he lost another step, it might mean he's done as a good 2nd pg. He's still way more solid than our other options though

His energy, passing and streaky shooting should help our 2nd unit. Ideally whitehead takes his spot but I don't think he's ready for that.

[MrDollarBills]

Post game thoughts:
RHJ looked great this off-season. Attacking the basket is key to for him and for the rest of the team in order for him to grow his offense and make him an impact on the offensive end.

Booker also looked good. Giving lots of energy and hustle through out the game. He was also hitting his shot and finishing the basket. Let's see if he can develop skills that make him capable of doing more than that. However this is the type of effort and expect him to do just as good when the season starts.

Kilpatrick is finally finding his niche for the team. I thought he also played great. His shot is still not going in but I love the fact that he just never backs down towards anybody. I think his shot will fall later on once he is used to his new physique. That could be the reason why he is in a slump

Scola has been playing great all through out the pre-season. I have no complaints about him. Is he capable of performing like this all 82 games at 36? We will see.

Foye also looks great. Does not make a lot of mistakes, makes all the right plays, plays hard all through out the game. He will be a great mentor towards the guards. I like him as a starter

A lot of you guys think Vasquez was pretty bad. However, I thought he was pretty good tonight. His shot was not falling however, he was a great facilitator the whole entire game. He was making all the right plays, even that last shot where he could've gotten something better. However, he did got an open look towards a much smaller defender. I just don't think he is a full time PG anymore. He should be played as a 2-guard with another ball-handler next to him. Vasquez and Foye should have the same role for this team. We need a back up PG. Whitehead is not ready.

Bennett also wan't bad. I actually thought he was a lot more worse coming in this season and I thought he showed some promise at the center position. Yeah I get, that he can't finished however, he showed great energy and hustle. They just need to feed him some confidence. He can find a role towards this team as an easy finisher. I think he is a much better player the CmaC i'll tell you that.

All in all our defense is horrendous. Our driving lane was open most of the time and our players were on the chase on rotation to the point that we are forgetting to rebound the ball. Maybe it's the lack of talent. This team needs obviously need another big and a point guard.

this is a great post... i agree with almost all of it. especially your thoughts on bennett vs. cmc, foye, and scola.

i think vazques will be fine. once he gets healthy and the threes start falling and he get going people will love him. fans of every team he has been on have loved the dude, same will happen here.

for RHJ, i thought he over did it. i think on the fast break and early offense its great for him to be aggresive before the defense is set. but in the half court he cant be doing that. tons of missed ugly shots and near turnovers when he did that. 1-5 overall. would have been 1-2 with 3 foul line trips if he ditched the half court aggressiveness. overall good signs.

Regarding RHJ i think if there is a lane to drive, he should take it. He has to become comfortable attacking and slashing to the rim, we can't say he's always a non factor on offense and then want to pull his leash when he becomes assertive, thats not going to help. Getting to the basket and scoring or getting FTAs is a great way for him to contribute while he works on cleaning up that jumper, the more he learns to pick and choose his spots to attack the better he will become. He shot poorly 2-7FG, yes, but he managed 8 FTAs converting on 6 of them, finished with 10pts 4rebs 2asts 1stl 1blk. Zero turnovers.

I'll deal with the risk of a TO here or there if it means that RHJ becomes a factor on offense. The way he was going about it before, looking to pass immediately instead of seeing what the defense gives him does this team no favors. If he's got a decent angle to attack and can get the step on his man, drive in and go up strong.

[MrDollarBills]

A lot of positives from this game IMO... Really worried about the backup PG spot.

Pleasantly surprised with Lin, Booker, Harris, JHam, and Scola. Not sure what's going with CM and Skil. I want to see Whithead and Yogi over GV.

I don't like Vasquez's game at all. No defense, can't shoot, no confidence, no effort, etc.

I hope the coaching staff has the confidence to cut him. As for pleasant surprises, I wholeheartedly agree although I gotta say was on the Booker bandwagon even before seeing him in preseason, love his game. And obviously as a Lin fan who's watched most of his career, I'm not surprised by his performance so far but I know a lot of people around here haven't seen him play much so a lot of people will be pleasantly surprised which is exciting.

i hope the coaching staff isnt as overeactive and emotinally unstable as to cut a player based on 3 preseason games and coming off injury.

man where is VC4P and E to slap some sense into some people?

I just think the guy needs to play with more energy. He had one really bad TO last night where he was bringing the ball up lazily and that kid from the Celtics (i forgot his name, young guy though) ran up and stripped him. I expect way better than that.

That being said, I've noticed that Vasquez has at least racked 3-4 assists in each of these games thus far. That counts for something.

Still, I don't know if its because he's still coming back but I don't like the low energy. Everyone else is playing very hard. Scola is the oldest guy on the team and he's out there busting his tail.

[CalamityX12]

I hope we get bigger fan energy too... not to defend Vasq but our crowd ain't no toronto ....

[bws94]

Team needs more easy baskets. They need to get out and run more. What's up with Skil? Is he pressing, is he just missing point blank shots at the rim?

man you guys overeact like an insecure teenage girl at a school dance or something!

whats wrong with Skil? nothing its been 2 preseason games for him. the knee jerking in this thread is off the charts! can we give these guys 8 or 10 real regular season games before cutting guys or saying they are terrible or asking whats wrong?

Ha, and you're overreacting to a question on Skil and how he's played in the preseason. I didn't say he sucks and he'll never get better, I asked if he's pressing. Everything looks rushed and he looks out of sorts. But, I didn't say cut him or anything like that.

I think SKil is a good player. But it isn't a big deal to ask what's up with him for a short stretch. Any player can look out of sync for a short stretch and fans can ask why they think they look that way.

[13th Man]

I hope we get bigger fan energy too... not to defend Vasq but our crowd ain't no toronto ....

Cdn fans are the best, go Jays

[jbeachboy]

scola looked like an all star yesterday, he did everything on both ends, vasquez and kilpatrick are rusty, kilpatrick didnt even play til 4th, its way too early in preseason, lets see how vasquez and rest do in regular season. its 4 preseason games so far.

[Paradise]

Scola was awesome last night. I hope he has enough juice for an 82 game run. He's definitely going to feast in this system.

Watch on YouTube

Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

[ChokeFasncists]

Post game thoughts:
RHJ looked great this off-season. Attacking the basket is key to for him and for the rest of the team in order for him to grow his offense and make him an impact on the offensive end.

Booker also looked good. Giving lots of energy and hustle through out the game. He was also hitting his shot and finishing the basket. Let's see if he can develop skills that make him capable of doing more than that. However this is the type of effort and expect him to do just as good when the season starts.

Kilpatrick is finally finding his niche for the team. I thought he also played great. His shot is still not going in but I love the fact that he just never backs down towards anybody. I think his shot will fall later on once he is used to his new physique. That could be the reason why he is in a slump

Scola has been playing great all through out the pre-season. I have no complaints about him. Is he capable of performing like this all 82 games at 36? We will see.

Foye also looks great. Does not make a lot of mistakes, makes all the right plays, plays hard all through out the game. He will be a great mentor towards the guards. I like him as a starter

A lot of you guys think Vasquez was pretty bad. However, I thought he was pretty good tonight. His shot was not falling however, he was a great facilitator the whole entire game. He was making all the right plays, even that last shot where he could've gotten something better. However, he did got an open look towards a much smaller defender. I just don't think he is a full time PG anymore. He should be played as a 2-guard with another ball-handler next to him. Vasquez and Foye should have the same role for this team. We need a back up PG. Whitehead is not ready.

Bennett also wan't bad. I actually thought he was a lot more worse coming in this season and I thought he showed some promise at the center position. Yeah I get, that he can't finished however, he showed great energy and hustle. They just need to feed him some confidence. He can find a role towards this team as an easy finisher. I think he is a much better player the CmaC i'll tell you that.

All in all our defense is horrendous. Our driving lane was open most of the time and our players were on the chase on rotation to the point that we are forgetting to rebound the ball. Maybe it's the lack of talent. This team needs obviously need another big and a point guard.

this is a great post... i agree with almost all of it. especially your thoughts on bennett vs. cmc, foye, and scola.

i think vazques will be fine. once he gets healthy and the threes start falling and he get going people will love him. fans of every team he has been on have loved the dude, same will happen here.

for RHJ, i thought he over did it. i think on the fast break and early offense its great for him to be aggresive before the defense is set. but in the half court he cant be doing that. tons of missed ugly shots and near turnovers when he did that. 1-5 overall. would have been 1-2 with 3 foul line trips if he ditched the half court aggressiveness. overall good signs.

Regarding RHJ i think if there is a lane to drive, he should take it. He has to become comfortable attacking and slashing to the rim, we can't say he's always a non factor on offense and then want to pull his leash when he becomes assertive, thats not going to help. Getting to the basket and scoring or getting FTAs is a great way for him to contribute while he works on cleaning up that jumper, the more he learns to pick and choose his spots to attack the better he will become. He shot poorly 2-7FG, yes, but he managed 8 FTAs converting on 6 of them, finished with 10pts 4rebs 2asts 1stl 1blk. Zero turnovers.

I'll deal with the risk of a TO here or there if it means that RHJ becomes a factor on offense. The way he was going about it before, looking to pass immediately instead of seeing what the defense gives him does this team no favors. If he's got a decent angle to attack and can get the step on his man, drive in and go up strong.

RHJ's got an advantage all the times, either it's he's longer than the perimeter players or he's quicker than the bigs. He should be encouraged to go to the basket as much as possible. The way he was drawing fouls was very encouraging. He would be even better if he dribbles less and learn to cut without the ball better.

[Prokorov]

this is a great post... i agree with almost all of it. especially your thoughts on bennett vs. cmc, foye, and scola.

i think vazques will be fine. once he gets healthy and the threes start falling and he get going people will love him. fans of every team he has been on have loved the dude, same will happen here.

for RHJ, i thought he over did it. i think on the fast break and early offense its great for him to be aggresive before the defense is set. but in the half court he cant be doing that. tons of missed ugly shots and near turnovers when he did that. 1-5 overall. would have been 1-2 with 3 foul line trips if he ditched the half court aggressiveness. overall good signs.

Regarding RHJ i think if there is a lane to drive, he should take it. He has to become comfortable attacking and slashing to the rim, we can't say he's always a non factor on offense and then want to pull his leash when he becomes assertive, thats not going to help. Getting to the basket and scoring or getting FTAs is a great way for him to contribute while he works on cleaning up that jumper, the more he learns to pick and choose his spots to attack the better he will become. He shot poorly 2-7FG, yes, but he managed 8 FTAs converting on 6 of them, finished with 10pts 4rebs 2asts 1stl 1blk. Zero turnovers.

I'll deal with the risk of a TO here or there if it means that RHJ becomes a factor on offense. The way he was going about it before, looking to pass immediately instead of seeing what the defense gives him does this team no favors. If he's got a decent angle to attack and can get the step on his man, drive in and go up strong.

RHJ's got an advantage all the times, either it's he's longer than the perimeter players or he's quicker than the bigs. He should be encouraged to go to the basket as much as possible. The way he was drawing fouls was very encouraging. He would be even better if he dribbles less and learn to cut without the ball better.

disagree 10000%. he never has an advantage unless its a fast break or the D isnt set. otherwise he has an awful handle and is a mediocure finisher.

1-5 and a negative BPM shouldnt have people wanting him to attack more

[MrDollarBills]

Regarding RHJ i think if there is a lane to drive, he should take it. He has to become comfortable attacking and slashing to the rim, we can't say he's always a non factor on offense and then want to pull his leash when he becomes assertive, thats not going to help. Getting to the basket and scoring or getting FTAs is a great way for him to contribute while he works on cleaning up that jumper, the more he learns to pick and choose his spots to attack the better he will become. He shot poorly 2-7FG, yes, but he managed 8 FTAs converting on 6 of them, finished with 10pts 4rebs 2asts 1stl 1blk. Zero turnovers.

I'll deal with the risk of a TO here or there if it means that RHJ becomes a factor on offense. The way he was going about it before, looking to pass immediately instead of seeing what the defense gives him does this team no favors. If he's got a decent angle to attack and can get the step on his man, drive in and go up strong.

RHJ's got an advantage all the times, either it's he's longer than the perimeter players or he's quicker than the bigs. He should be encouraged to go to the basket as much as possible. The way he was drawing fouls was very encouraging. He would be even better if he dribbles less and learn to cut without the ball better.

disagree 10000%. he never has an advantage unless its a fast break or the D isnt set. otherwise he has an awful handle and is a mediocure finisher.

1-5 and a negative BPM shouldnt have people wanting him to attack more

do you want the guy to develop or not? he will have to learn when to pick and choose his spots. this is all apart of the process.

And frankly, we can clearly see that the coaching staff encouraged him to be aggressive, and it worked based on the 8 FTAs that resulted from his aggressiveness. So clearly, they are trying to work with him here, which renders your point pretty moot. The coaching staff more than likely are reviewing what worked, what didn't, what could have gotten him into trouble, and will work on correcting it.

[Prokorov]

do you want the guy to develop or not? he will have to learn when to pick and choose his spots. this is all apart of the process.

And frankly, we can clearly see that the coaching staff encouraged him to be aggressive,

i want him to develop into a productive player... not one who does things outside of his abilities.

I want him to be an elite defender who offensively excels on the break and off energy. kind of like tony allens defense with ronnie brewers offense or something along those lines.

i dont want a guy who ends up being poor offensively because he is trying to drive in halfcourt sets when he cant handle the ball and is poor in traffic and an average finisher.

and it worked based on the 8 FTAs that resulted from his aggressiveness. So clearly, they are trying to work with him here, which renders your point pretty moot. The coaching staff more than likely are reviewing what worked, what didn't, what could have gotten him into trouble, and will work on correcting it.

1-4 with 1 trip to the FT line in the half court.

0-1 with 3 trips to the FT line on the break/early offense.

he should be aggressive when the d isnt back or is on its heels. thats it

[Papi_swav]

I hope we get bigger fan energy too... not to defend Vasq but our crowd ain't no toronto ....

Cdn fans are the best, go Jays

Actually the worst, we seen what happen last series against the Orioles and Toronto fans. Low class

[ChokeFasncists]

Regarding RHJ i think if there is a lane to drive, he should take it. He has to become comfortable attacking and slashing to the rim, we can't say he's always a non factor on offense and then want to pull his leash when he becomes assertive, thats not going to help. Getting to the basket and scoring or getting FTAs is a great way for him to contribute while he works on cleaning up that jumper, the more he learns to pick and choose his spots to attack the better he will become. He shot poorly 2-7FG, yes, but he managed 8 FTAs converting on 6 of them, finished with 10pts 4rebs 2asts 1stl 1blk. Zero turnovers.

I'll deal with the risk of a TO here or there if it means that RHJ becomes a factor on offense. The way he was going about it before, looking to pass immediately instead of seeing what the defense gives him does this team no favors. If he's got a decent angle to attack and can get the step on his man, drive in and go up strong.

RHJ's got an advantage all the times, either it's he's longer than the perimeter players or he's quicker than the bigs. He should be encouraged to go to the basket as much as possible. The way he was drawing fouls was very encouraging. He would be even better if he dribbles less and learn to cut without the ball better.

disagree 10000%. he never has an advantage unless its a fast break or the D isnt set. otherwise he has an awful handle and is a mediocure finisher.

1-5 and a negative BPM shouldnt have people wanting him to attack more

You can't teach length or quickness. Ball handling and finishing could be improved. I do agree with your description of him now, but down the road, his finishing will surely get better if he keeps trying. He definitely should handle the ball less and focus on cutting at the right time.

[Prokorov]

RHJ's got an advantage all the times, either it's he's longer than the perimeter players or he's quicker than the bigs. He should be encouraged to go to the basket as much as possible. The way he was drawing fouls was very encouraging. He would be even better if he dribbles less and learn to cut without the ball better.

disagree 10000%. he never has an advantage unless its a fast break or the D isnt set. otherwise he has an awful handle and is a mediocure finisher.

1-5 and a negative BPM shouldnt have people wanting him to attack more

You can't teach length or quickness. Ball handling and finishing could be improved. I do agree with your description of him now, but down the road, his finishing will surely get better if he keeps trying. He definitely should handle the ball less and focus on cutting at the right time.

yeah he can get better...

as i mentioned i think he can be ronnie brewer offensively and tony allen defensively.

[ChokeFasncists]

disagree 10000%. he never has an advantage unless its a fast break or the D isnt set. otherwise he has an awful handle and is a mediocure finisher.

1-5 and a negative BPM shouldnt have people wanting him to attack more

You can't teach length or quickness. Ball handling and finishing could be improved. I do agree with your description of him now, but down the road, his finishing will surely get better if he keeps trying. He definitely should handle the ball less and focus on cutting at the right time.

yeah he can get better...

as i mentioned i think he can be ronnie brewer offensively and tony allen defensively.

You mean Brewer's first few years in the league tho right? His J got soooooo bad later on.

With his length, I'd like him to do this more:

Watch on YouTube

(Lin saw it first hand, maybe he'll try to make it happen often)

[Prokorov]

You can't teach length or quickness. Ball handling and finishing could be improved. I do agree with your description of him now, but down the road, his finishing will surely get better if he keeps trying. He definitely should handle the ball less and focus on cutting at the right time.

yeah he can get better...

as i mentioned i think he can be ronnie brewer offensively and tony allen defensively.

You mean Brewer's first few years in the league tho right? His J got soooooo bad later on.

With his length, I'd like him to do this more:

Watch on YouTube

(Lin saw it first hand, maybe he'll try to make it happen often)

i dont view rhj as ever a guy i want shooting unless its late in the clock or just super wide open. otherwise i want him playing like brewer. giving me 12-13 points per game on mostly transition or early offense. if he ever gets a shot great. but he is out there for his defense and energy. nothing wrong with that