7/9 Summer League: GS vs. Philly NBA-TV 5:00PM

The announcers were questioning Belli's ability to get to the rim, but I'm not sure they did their homework. This guy CAN get to the rim, can drive the lane, has a terrific cross-over and a great first step, has very good ball handling skills overall, and has very good court vision, which means he doesn't have a "1-track-mind" ala Pietrus. If you watch when he drives to the hoop he keeps his head up and makes the other players targets which keeps the defense honest.

He's not Ginobli in that department, at least not yet, but just wait till he crosses over someone and dunks on a 7-footer. The league is gonna be suprised...

 

To be quite honest, I haven't seen him attempt anything that he doesn't look like he can do very, very well. I don't think there's a ceiling as to how exciting this guy can be.

 

Bellinelli looks like Bargnani would if he was a guard, right down to his laidback shooting form that always seems to work. I think he can really challenge Monta for a starting spot (not right away, but over the course of the season).

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">To be quite honest, I haven't seen him attempt anything that he doesn't look like he can do very, very well. I don't think there's a ceiling as to how exciting this guy can be.</div>
He's very good at getting his blocked at the rim by summer leaguers.

But I agree he's been exciting to watch so far, especially the way he shoots threes. Even the crowd and bench gets into it every time he shoots. Huge difference from watching a guy like Raja Bell or Al Harrington shoot.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Brian Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Hey guys, I'm just wondering (from a Sixers fan), how do you guys feel about our young nuclues? I'm just wondering if you guys could tell me how Thaddeus Young, Jason Smith, Rodney Carney, and Louis Williams are playing?</div>

I'm sure most of the regulars here can tell you what i think of herbert hill

p.s. - I think you guys have a really nice nucleus

 

<div class="quote_poster">wtwalker77 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Speaking as a die hard Iowa Hawkeye fan, I don't want Pierce any where near the Warriors. Two big reasons:

1) His basketball IQ is just about as low as Pietrus'. Like Pietrus, Pierce has absolutely no sense of the rhythm of the game. He'll jack up a three when they need to run the clock out, he'll drive the lane when you need a three, and he'll pick up stupid fouls going for steals when you don't want anyone to foul. He drove me nuts for three years when he was on the Hawks.

2) The bigger problem is that he's a very poor character guy. Steve Alford gave him chance after chance while he was at Iowa and he kept screwing up. Alford's lenient treatment of Pierce is part of the reason why Iowa fans were happy to see Alford leave. Pierce had repeated problems with the law including a couple of assaults on his ex-girlfriend. The last of which, he drove from Iowa City to Des Moines (about a two or three hour drive) to assault her.

His wikipedia entry pretty much sums it up:
Pierre Pierce Legal Troubles</div>

1) You had me at hello

2) Seals the non-deal

 

While we can't put too much stock in these summer league games (I mean just look at Tskitishvilli and Jiri Welsch putting together some more than solid games during the Rocky Mountain Revue and Las Vegas Summer leagues.), I just love watching Belinelli shoot. He's got such a sweet jumper. It's like Peja, H20, Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, ... okay I'm getting to ahead of myself. LOL.

I think this kid is going to be awesome, but 82 games is a lot of games. Just ask Biedrins trying to play center at 220 lbs.

 

<div class="quote_poster">custodianrules2 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> It's like Peja, H20, Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, ... okay I'm getting to ahead of myself. LOL.
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Honestly, I don't think you're getting all that far ahead....he sure looks the best pure shooter we've had since that pasty-faced guy with the crewCut. Except with more athleticism

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Honestly, I don't think you're getting all that far ahead....he sure looks the best pure shooter we've had since that pasty-faced guy with the crewCut. Except with more athleticism </div>

Let's not jinx it. I'll say that he's the best shooter we've had since Legler.

 

<div class="quote_poster">DTKennedy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Honestly, I don't think you're getting all that far ahead....he sure looks the best pure shooter we've had since that pasty-faced guy with the crewCut. Except with more athleticism </div>

CH is right, let's not jinx it. I'll say that he's the best pure shooter since Mike Dunleavy Jr and Troy Murphy combined.

 

If anybody is interested, 1 hour, 48 mins "recap" for today's game is up in NBA.com...

 

<div class="quote_poster">Kwan1031 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">If anybody is interested, 1 hour, 48 mins "recap" for today's game is up in NBA.com...</div>


Sweet! I hope for POB to be 50% shooting and rebounding more than 8 times.

Big men never get the ball that much in these games, but I'd like to see some rebounding and toughness on that glass. That guy last night (Herbert Hill) and his teammate Jason Smith seemed to be more of a presence than POB.

I liked POB's first game better, but of course he got the minutes and he wasn't taking as many dumb shots from what I can recall.

---

POB 2/2. 15 minutes snagged 4 boards. 3 blocked shots.

http://www.nba.com/summerleague2007/games/...meId=1520700023

I'll have to see those two shots and his presence on the floor.

 

Official trade Ellis to make room for Belinelli thread to begin in 3...2...1...

Seriously, I feel like Mugatu in Zoolander: The man has only one look, for Christ's sake! Blue Steel? Ferrari? Le Tigra? They're the same face! Doesn't anybody notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills! I'm excited about Belinelli, I think he's got a great chance to develop into a very good player. But, we've been down this road so many times when a new player has a few great games, fans are so quick to annoint him as the next great thing that they just end up setting themselves up to be disappointed down the road.

The thing that I really like about him is that we know he can get his shot off against just about anyone. So, he's not going to have a problem with the speed of the NBA game in that regard. BUT, we're talking about a guy who shot 32% from three last year and has never shot better than 41% from three in his career (linky but in Italian).

He's a streak shooter who is hot right now. He's going to cool off at some point. And, as Custodian pointed out, Tskitishvili had some great summer leagues when he was with Denver, included making the all summer league team in 2004. Now, Belinelli has a lot more game experience than Skita, so he's not just a workout wonder. However, I'm also pretty wary of what John Holliger wrote about his formula for predicting how euros will do in the NBA based on their stats from Euroleague.

Holliger said that there is a very predictable relationship between players' stats in five categories when they make the jump from Eurorleague to the NBA:

1. Scoring decreases by 25%
2. Rebounding decreases by 18%
3. Assists increase by 31%
4. FG% decreases by 12%
5. PER decreases by 30%

And, based on this formula, Hollinger predicted Belinelli would have a PER of 7.34. Now, I'm hoping Hollinger comes out with an article saying he was wrong about Belinelli, and I think Belinelli will turn out a lot better than Hollinger predicts, but I think he's far from a sure thing.

 

<div class="quote_poster">wtwalker77 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Official trade Ellis to make room for Belinelli thread to begin in 3...2...1...

Seriously, I feel like Mugatu in Zoolander: The man has only one look, for Christ's sake! Blue Steel? Ferrari? Le Tigra? They're the same face! Doesn't anybody notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills! I'm excited about Belinelli, I think he's got a great chance to develop into a very good player. But, we've been down this road so many times when a new player has a few great games, fans are so quick to annoint him as the next great thing that they just end up setting themselves up to be disappointed down the road.
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Ha ha ha, I love that Zoolander analogy. All Marco does is do pick and pop over and over. And then everyone (including me sometimes) thinks this guy is all-star sharp shooter mechanics. It's true we see some folks get carried away with new faces like Belinelli's, but I'm sure it's just a combo of rose colored glasses and hype built up from watching YouTube mix videos. I'm not sure if anyone here seriously believes Belinelli is the real deal when it comes to all facets of the shooting guard game, but his shot form is just terrific. We will see in time how this guy adjusts to the nba when defenses take a few things from him. I wonder if he can drive and finish as well as Jrich or hit free throws. I wonder if he is consistent inside the three point arc.

Frankly, I just get excited about the guy because it's just enjoyable to watch somebody on our team who can shoot so smoothly and quick. I think if there's a lot of praises being sung about this guy being an all-star, it's just talk. It's all it is. We don't know if this guy can play defense, if he can dribble the ball as smoothly as he shoots, or if he's strong enough to finish inside. Everyone still loves Ellis and I'm sure they don't need to be reminded about how good Ellis is getting to the hoop and how injury prone Baron Davis is. But yeah this sort of topic could happen at a time when Ellis hype has settled. Even if Ellis still stays the same, he's sure great in regular season. I'm not even sure if Belinelli can last 82 games or do the back to back game on the road. We'll see how he starts and how he finishes, though.

<div class="quote_poster">wtwalker77 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">
The thing that I really like about him is that we know he can get his shot off against just about anyone. So, he's not going to have a problem with the speed of the NBA game in that regard. BUT, we're talking about a guy who shot 32% from three last year and has never shot better than 41% from three in his career (linky but in Italian).

He's a streak shooter who is hot right now. He's going to cool off at some point. And, as Custodian pointed out, Tskitishvili had some great summer leagues when he was with Denver, included making the all summer league team in 2004. Now, Belinelli has a lot more game experience than Skita, so he's not just a workout wonder. However, I'm also pretty wary of what John Holliger wrote about his formula for predicting how euros will do in the NBA based on their stats from Euroleague.

Holliger said that there is a very predictable relationship between players' stats in five categories when they make the jump from Eurorleague to the NBA:

1. Scoring decreases by 25%
2. Rebounding decreases by 18%
3. Assists increase by 31%
4. FG% decreases by 12%
5. PER decreases by 30%

And, based on this formula, Hollinger predicted Belinelli would have a PER of 7.34. Now, I'm hoping Hollinger comes out with an article saying he was wrong about Belinelli, and I think Belinelli will turn out a lot better than Hollinger predicts, but I think he's far from a sure thing.</div>

First of all Hollinger isn't saying (or I haven't read it yet) about whether those increase and decreases were due to a variety of issues such as language/communication problems, reduced role (starting player to bench), consistent minutes, player-coach chemistry, current nba team chemistry, or the types of roles that the new player will have on this new team. From what little I've seen of Belinelli, I've seen him take outside shots off screens and try to feed high post entry passes off double teams. That's all I've seen him mostly do other than the occassional drive and layup where nobody is there defending at the rim anyway, otherwise he'd probably change his shot a lot or try to go away from the defender. But anyway, let's say if his role increases on this Warriors squad rather than shrinks (if that is what Hollinger is trying to generalize about most Euro players). So maybe more minutes means that Belinelli has more opportunities to get more of those 5 stats in the right place. Who knows?

He's not a sure thing, I agree, but I think he'll be a super role player with a chance to expand his game with the right conditioning and the coaching. He could be like Brent Barry, maybe with better focus on defense if he tries.

Now Brent Barry... there was a quick guy that was athletic in his youth, could shoot, pass, handle the ball well, and he could play both backcourt spots. He's not an all-star, but he's definitely a good glue guy and threat from outside. He's a minority among the nba slam dunk contest winners.

 

Oh and food for thought. If we have Baron Davis healthy, a guy like him could make a guy like Belinelli a much better player statistically. Maybe Belinelli never had a distributor like him on his team that makes everyone around better. Hollinger stats might not apply in this case because maybe in most cases the guy coming in from Europe is expected to be the facilitator or setup guy on offense rather than the efficient scorer who will punish double teams and shoot high %'s off pick and rolls. Alternatively, the guy coming in could be one dimensional and easily predictable role on offense. But I think Marco can do a lot more things than maybe what we've seen in summer league play. We just haven't seen it yet because it's been two games and I'm sure he's trying to make a good impression and listen to his coaches who are trying to figure him out.

And what happens if Marco is a smart passer who will make the extra pass and hit somebody inside. Guys like Biedrins or that new power forward we picked up could be more nba ready than we think, especially in the open court. Dumping off to them inside might mean easy buckets and easy dimes. Inside and outside threat could complement each other very well with the way the ball can move in and out and side to side.

I do however, don't think Belinelli will rebound that well, but we never know. I think he'll be more like the type that will come up with a sneaky steal a la Brian Cardinal because of the way he hustles and tries to pressure in the backcourt. I think Belinelli could be very solid. Maybe... young Brent Barry or Cutino Mobley solid?

 

What pick was Ginobili?

 

http://www.nbadraft.net/1999.htm

2nd to the last pick of the entire 1999 nba draft.

and then he started playing in the nba 3 years after that.