Preseason game 1: Pistons @ Thunder

[Invictus88]

Josh smith didn't start out as the josh smith we love to hate. The guy was a heck of a hustle player - blocking shots, racking up steals, scoring efficiently. Then he started thinking he wasn't just a great athlete and hustle guy. The game is evolving. Everyone is shooting three's, why can't I? And then it was all downhill from there.

Josh Smith was only percentage points above the NBA average in eFG% his 3 best years in Atlanta (08,09,10 seasons). He was below average every other season in his career. So no, he was never an efficient scorer.

You're 100% right that his addiction to the 3 ball didn't help at all. But that doesn't mean that Dre is going to fall into the same trap. I mean, he was there watching Smoove miss those threes. And even with the three 3s Dre basically took over the game in the 2nd half and ended up shooting 14-21 from the field. Dre was also hustling the entire way.

Cmon. It's been one preseason game and 3 missed attempts.

[Billl]

Not sure why you want to pretend like there is no evidence of his shooting ability besides 1 preseason game. We've spent years watching him brick everything outside of 7 ft. It would be great if be turned into a legit threat from outside - players have done it. The chances of him shooting a decent percentage this year are about 0 though. He's talking about taking 3 a game. That's WAAAAY too much for the way his shot currently looks.

[7r5ur]

Josh smith didn't start out as the josh smith we love to hate. The guy was a heck of a hustle player - blocking shots, racking up steals, scoring efficiently. Then he started thinking he wasn't just a great athlete and hustle guy. The game is evolving. Everyone is shooting three's, why can't I? And then it was all downhill from there.

The bigger problem with Josh Smith was that he took a lot of mid-range to long twos, which is a low percentage shot with low reward. I think if the Andre 3-pointer experiment doesn't show that he can be effective in the first 20 games or so you won't see him taking many.

And If Dre starts jacking 20 footers I'll be the first to jump ship from this, but I don't think that's Casey's style.

[7r5ur]

Not sure why you want to pretend like there is no evidence of his shooting ability besides 1 preseason game. We've spent years watching him brick everything outside of 7 ft. It would be great if be turned into a legit threat from outside - players have done it. The chances of him shooting a decent percentage this year are about 0 though. He's talking about taking 3 a game. That's WAAAAY too much for the way his shot currently looks.

We've seen him shoot a lot of hook shot bricks on plays with his back to the basket, which he has always been bad at. We have no evidence of his abilities to shoot jump shots. These are not the same thing. If we're trading a couple of those wild hook shots for a couple wide open 3's I would be THRILLED.

[Billl]

100% agree that Casey won't let him take long 2's.

And I'm not sure the "We've seen Dre show poor shot selection in the post" argument really supports the idea that he's going to display good shot selection from 3. He took 3 open 3's, and I'm not sure any of them were actually good shots. The only one that remotely in rhythm was that transition look, but that was early in the shotclock and the defense wasn't matched up. We could have a gotten a much better look out of that situation. The other 2 were him holding the ball and the defender sagging off. Those no-rhythm shots are tough. Even really good shooters want a bounce or pass or curl etc to get them going. eg if the whole defense just collapses on the paint in a p&r and dre gets an open 3? Maybe we put that in the "keeping the defense honest" category. Those "if nobody is guarding me, I'm going to take a 3" shots might be open looks, but they aren't really good shots.

[Invictus88]

100% agree that Casey won't let him take long 2's.

And I'm not sure the "We've seen Dre show poor shot selection in the post" argument really supports the idea that he's going to display good shot selection from 3. He took 3 open 3's, and I'm not sure any of them were actually good shots. The only one that remotely in rhythm was that transition look, but that was early in the shotclock and the defense wasn't matched up. We could have a gotten a much better look out of that situation. The other 2 were him holding the ball and the defender sagging off. Those no-rhythm shots are tough. Even really good shooters want a bounce or pass or curl etc to get them going. eg if the whole defense just collapses on the paint in a p&r and dre gets an open 3? Maybe we put that in the "keeping the defense honest" category. Those "if nobody is guarding me, I'm going to take a 3" shots might be open looks, but they aren't really good shots.

You do realize that he went 14-18 from non-3-point shots right? And they weren't all putbacks and dunks.
He had to progress to the point he's at now. Just like everyone else, you don't come out of the womb with fully developed set of skills. The place to work on it is in the off-season, in practice and *in the preseason*.

If everyone had to meet your standards of getting it right every time - even the first time - else they get associated with failure then nobody would be willing to try anything new. Ever.

You seriously need to just sit back and relax. The sky hasn't started to fall just yet.

To be honest, I will happily watch Drummond hoist 3 awful shots per game if he plays the way he played the rest of the way. I will pay that price 1000% of the time for the results we got.

You can claim that he won't produce like that every game. You might be right. But if you are going to pillory the guy after one game's results the I most certainly can do the opposite.

Because it really is just one preseason game.