Well, the game just wrapped up and unfortunately for me, I only caught the second half, but let me say: Orien Greene should start for this team. He played a stellar second half. On the other hand, West was great in the crunch, although he fouled out in OT. But when West and Greene were on the floor together, they were good. I loved watching this game. Scalabrine wasn't bad, certainly better than usual. No more Bynum, so the roster is starting to shape up, and more than anything, the young'uns, especially Greene, looked very confident. Another good preseason game for the C's.
Nets and Roster With Bynum gone, I expect Borchardt to be next. That brings it down to the fifteen man roster. Which means that three will have to be inactive for games. The Roster: Allen* Banks* Blount Davis Pierce Jefferson O. Greene G. Green* Gomes Lafrentz Perkins Dickau West Reed Scalabrine I am not aware if you can be on the active list, and be playing in the NBDL. Someone please enlighten me. Otherwise, it doesn't seem like it would make sense to play pro ball with Gerald. Do we want to Milicic him? I enjoyed the Nets game a great deal. Pierce and Davis were both good. Something that we have forgotten about Pierce's play last year was that most of the time, if something needed to be done, he'd do it. Rebounding, dishes, scoring, though not always defense. This year he's going to be doing the same thing. He's also seemed to learn how to draw and kick better. Could be a good year for him, especially if we have shooters. West again had a hard time with the trap. He also kept getting rookie fouls, but the officiating was awful, so it's a bit of a toss up as to whose fault it was. Otherwise he played an ok game, but still has no confidence in his shooting. Ricky decided he wanted to light it up, but did so quietly. He still turns the ball over too much to be trusted in crunch time, but the solid shooting was what we had been waiting for. His defense continued to be solid, also. Scalabrine finally showed some game. As soon as he sprung open for a jumper, he let it fly, and he was hitting almost everything. He might get some minutes if he can do that. It makes things less complicated, because now we don't have to complain about him being totally useless. As it stands he may be able to shoot (his numbers suggest it) and do nothing else. Although his line last night suggested that he can play help defense and pass a touch. I'm still gonna ride him. Pasty redheads annoy me. Dan Dickau has cemented his position as third point guard. No jumper, no d, and no passing. I think I could play a little better one guard than him at this point. I agree Crywalker. Start Orien Greene. He's shot better, defended better and even passed better than D. West. I don't really understand how some small college player is doing this. He can defend both ones and twos because he is so strong. Because of that strength he's a terror on break, he'll go right at people, and his body control is good enough to get around them, too. My only problem with him is that he doesn't finish contested shots well, but that may come with time. He also might begin to flash a jumper. Things are looking good for the OG. Jefferson is going to do some damage, real damage. His hands and body control are getting better. He can score from anywhere near the key, and he may be learning to pass! Maybe. He had one assist last night on a lazy defensive play by the Nets. Still better than nothing. He also had four legit blocks. He's quick off his feet, and he's almost learning to play D. The rebounding was solid as usual. Start him! Justin Reed proved that he's going to be a solid bench guy. He has no right to hit that ugly jumper, but he seems to do ok with it. He also can drive and post up. He humiliated the bloated corpse of Lamond Murray a couple times last night. Though he did get lost defending said corpse more than once. Raef did his thing, quietly as always. A few rebounds, a few blocks, some secret points. Should he be the starting four? It depends on if Doc wants to destroy backups with Jefferson, because Raef hates to bang inside. We have to keep in mind what made the second unit great last year was running and defense. Raef can and will do both of those things, while Jefferson is still learning to defend. Such a tough call. I really want Jefferson, but I believe it might be Raef. Perkins seemed to revert to his old self last night. Dumb fouls, no O and defense and rebounding. He's looking at some hard times on the bench this year. Gomes was good, and the rotation is going to be awful crowded this year. Doc has a lot of tough decisions to make. This team is going to be deep at the two and three. Blount was again solid. It's the renaissance! All around, a fun game to watch. If it weren't for that terrible switch to zone in the fourth quarter, it would have been a handy win. Out.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting postpoint:</div><div class="quote_post">Pasty redheads annoy me.</div> Up yours. If you though I was going to let that slip, you're kidding yourself. But can't argue with you on most of it. Players in the DL can't be on active rosters, so send Gerald down and keep another big in Borchardt. And despite everything people have said about Borchardt, he's done everything asked of him. Defense, rebounding, and six smart fouls. I don't see any reason to cut him. More overly, it's just more cap trouble for next year if you inherit his penalty. Leave him be.
I suppose so. I just don't think he'll be much more than garbage time. I just have a hard time letting go of Gerald completely *sob*. Probably useful to have him in Hack a Shaq matchups. Calling it defense and rebounding is exaggeration however. I call it a foot injury waiting to happen. I also want to know how the rights are maintained to NBDL players. What list are they technically on? Or are they simply playing under their regular contract? Haven't looked at the CBA. Oh well.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting postpoint:</div><div class="quote_post">I suppose so. I just don't think he'll be much more than garbage time. I just have a hard time letting go of Gerald completely *sob*. Probably useful to have him in Hack a Shaq matchups. Calling it defense and rebounding is exaggeration however. I call it a foot injury waiting to happen. I also want to know how the rights are maintained to NBDL players. What list are they technically on? Or are they simply playing under their regular contract? Haven't looked at the CBA. Oh well.</div> Same old contract, it's a little different than the way MLB contracts are farmed out. You have no need to purchase rights to players sent down, or designate them for assignment, it's a lot more fluid of a movement than in baseball. That being said, the individuals signed strictly by DL teams (the Florida Flame, in our case) are strictly under NBDL contracts, where no agreement between their league and the NBA is expressed or implied. It's entirely up to big league talent scouts from there. To me, the DL seems like a huge money pit. Marketing dollars, player salaries, overhead, all that to not sell tickets to games starring players no one has heard of or cares about. Seems a little much, but that's for another thread.
