ZOMG wrote:madvillian wrote:ZOMG wrote:Grab a helmet everybody, here comes some more overreaction!!
OK. Where do I start? Maybe with the fact that this team looked f***ing horrible. I mean... literally everybody seemed to be the exact same player as last season. If this remains true, it's extremely disappointing after all the big talk.
...
Zach didn't move the needle at all. He was OK when he was creating for others but took way too many awful shots early in the shot clock. He too seems to be the exact same player as last season. GRADE: B
I really hope you aren't serious with this spicy of a take on a preseason game. And just stop with the Lauri frozen out BS. If anything it looked like Lauri still doesn't have the handle to initiate his own offense and was easily turned away from attacking when he tried to move off the three point line.
As for the rest of your analysis the games don't count and guys like Thad, Zach, Otto and even Lauri have zero to prove and every incentive to stay healthy by not going balls to the wall in a exhibition game.
Unlike this team, I’m bringing my A game right from the start!
I agree with you about Lauri. If you’d read what I wrote more carefully, you’d have noticed that. Anyway, to repeat: I’m disapponted by the fact that he doesn’t seem to have added anything to his game.
However, our ball movement still sucks and Markkanen still seems to be used as a pick and pop robot. He doesn’t really figure into the dribble-heavy offense unless a PnP is imminent.
Well at least you have a sense of humor about it.
I think there are some things to be concerned about after the game but they are on a team, not individual level for me.
1) Can the team actually shoot threes at a high enough percentage (say 36% as a team) to move into top 15 offensive efficiency? They shot 34.9% last year. A 1.1% boost should be doable but we'll see.
2) Where is the bench defense? With WCJR healthy, Porter and Santo/Dunn the starting lineup should be about average defensively. But when they go to the bench with guys like Val, Kornet, White and Gafford how's it going to be? If last night is a preview it will be really bad.
OU is 34 wins in vegas. That seems about right if they stay healthy maybe 40, if not, maybe 30.
And finally, on Lauri: I hope he's just taking it slowly because he didn't look great last night, physically or skills wise. I thought he shot looked a little smoother FWIW>