http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_ylt=...?gid=2007102325</p> Marco went 3-7 from the field, 4-5 from the FT line, only shot one 3 pointer, had 5 assists to 2 turnovers and had 3 steals in 22 minutes for a total of 10 points.</p> Wright I suppose only played late in the game and got 7 points (3-4 from the field, 1-2 from FT), grabbed 6 boards, had a steal, and I guess a big dunk late in the overtime period, all in 13 minutes of play.</p> But I guess there is a rumor from earlier today which says that Wright, Perovic, and Lasme may be going to the D-League. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/post/Go...F?urn=nba,50262</p> </p> </p>
Man... they gotta play Wright. I trust his game more than POB's or Pietrus.</p> http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap;_ylt=Au....325&prov=ap</p> Plus, he's our only inside scoring presence next to Biedrins (and Harrington if he finishes).</p> <hr width="100%" size="2" /> </p> Nelson didn't want to play the rookie from North Carolina because "he hasn't had an outstanding practice or an outstanding game, he's just learning, he's light, he's young, just turned 20. But I finally said, 'Let's stick him in there and see how he does.' He definitely got my attention. I have to do a double-take on him now."</p> <hr width="100%" size="2" /> </p>
That is a great quote from Nelly. I seriously think Wright needs to be given consideration for the starting PF job over someone like Pietrus at least for the time being. The kid seems likeagamer. He has contributed very well to getting boards and garbage points...</p>
Wright can play. But let's not give up on POB yet; I'm a believer that he can be a contributor.</p> What was more troubling was the 8 TOs for Ellis. Eight? That's awful. Sure wish he had worked on his ball handling and dribbling this summer. Yes its his first game back but that's beyond rusty.</p>
Yeah, I think BW can play, but he should start off in D-league. Being a lightweight in a heavyweight spot means bringing him along slow until he can gain some more muscle and strength. His game is inside so even more so. It's all about being bigger, faster and stronger in the power spots so I can wait.</p>
I am not sure where Brandan Wright will start this season, either in the D-league, bench, or starter. But I hope mainly that he develops over the season and can become an important piece to close out the season. I am hoping this team will not be so bad off without Wright at first. But if the team is, then I guess Wright will have had some game experience from the D-League so he would not be totally flat and rusty when the team actually needs him.</p> I too saw Ellis' 8 turnovers and was like, yikes! At least Marco had good stats there. I am guessing/hoping it had something to do with being injured and just coming back recently and something that will be fixed immediately.</p>
What about Chris Bosh? He entered the league at 210 and only 19 years old and he's still not very strong as a twenty something year old 230 pounder. But he gets you 18-20 points / 9-10 rebounds a game simply because he has the moves, finesse, and the quickness mismatch on his side.</p> I bet Brandan Wright could be something on the way to those numbers in his rookie year if if we're not factoring his possible foul trouble or rookie mistakes or the fact he really, really sux at free throws. He's probably the true power forward you want who can create offense on his own, grab some tough rebounds, and also be the opportunist that Biedrins is while moving off the ball. He's a good passer too. Why Nelson has this grudge against him as a rookie makes me think he's out to derail any post-up player rather than players being rookies. I mean we all remember Murphy and Dunleavy both over Ike Diogu. What a waste if it hadn't been for that future Indiana trade.</p> Okay, so maybe Ike Diogu had to know the playbook somewhat so he's not working against our own guards. He also missed a great deal of time to practice due to those preseason injuries (same as Brandan Wright). But still, it completely seemed like Nelson was picking on Ike Diogu's defense or his attitude, even though the guy could provide some bigger positives than Murphleavey (which I'm not even sure if Nelson was serious about those 2 at starting PF/C or if he was setting them up to fail). I'm saying that Ike could finish strong at the hoop and block more shots than Murphyleavy could and he was a true big man who played bigger than his size rather than smaller. Ike would at least try to challenge people at the rim rather than get bowled over or step out of the way. He didn't need any plays to be run for him to be effective although it was obvious he needed the ball to show his true impact in drawing double teams and working his way to the foul line. How many other players could get and1 plays constantly besides guys like Baron or Montay? Not very many because they weren't smooth and didn't have a strong mismatch to beat anyone like Baron's combo of strength/quickness, Monta's quickness, or Ike's raw strength. We could say Jrich, but that's another story since he was the most effective running without the ball because he simply was not a very good dribbler.</p> It just sucks to me that Brandan Wright is in almost the same boat as another talented power forward like Ike Diogu even though he has way more potential and raw athletic ability than the stronger Ike Diogu. I think Brandan Wright could actually be capable of holding his ground against 230-250 pounders because of his terrific length, sense of balance and recovery time. After all, wasn't the 230-240 pound Biedrins able to hold his own against some centers masquerading as power forwards and even some crappy centers? Give the N.C. kid a chance to be at least a 10th man rather than sub in Austin Croshere who is almost the same, but quicker footed super tweener combined version of Murphleavy. Maybe Nelson knows something about Wright that I don't know, but it's like the situation with Biedrins. If the guy can stay out of foul trouble at a bigger position like center, put him in there because he's naturally good. But that is why I said that Nelson gets the benefit of the doubt because he has all the scope of the situation to know if a guy like Wright is ready or not. I guess that Wright is pretty ready skill wise, Nelson says he isn't team wise. But I think Nelson is biased against that role of power forward in his system. So it's hard to say that Brandan Wright would get to start or play bench for another team and not get to play at all in the run n' gun style except unless he's a center.</p> But, hey, this is one of the reasons why ultimately when we finally have developed big men, I think Don Nelson won't be here to coach it. He's good at coaching smaller teams, but you just can't play that way if a team has finally become serious about championship contention. Right now we're not contending for a championship, but some day we will and this overplay of small men has to stop when it is not working against the matchups that require a great deal of rebounding, halfcourt play, and inside scoring other than the fastbreak. But we're a ways away... and the franchise has to figure out if they're still an 8th seeded playoff team. We have to figure out in the future if Kevin Durant or Greg Oden will singlehandedly beat what the Warriors have started to build because we have no dominance in terms of big men. I'd hate to think that the draft worked against us again and gave other Western teams more surefire big men franchise pieces. I'd hate to think that we're not even developing our own big guys who are or might be ready enough to play in the nba right now. I don't want to see a repeat after repeat where we get killed by a team with a guy or guys who can rebound and we keep putting in guys who can't rebound or establish good position the blocks.</p> Ug... I thank Nelson for giving credibility to the franchise again, but there's got to be higher expectations than a repeat of Run TMC... I feel like we won't get anywhere with just Baron, Ellis, and Sjax. and not emphasizing more big man play from Biedrins and guys like Brandan Wright. But hey if they not offensive players or they're not ready, I can't complain about the issue... There might be a case where Nelson will demand a lot from his guys and its better that the power forward be eased into a situation without a whole lot of expectations riding on their shoulders. In that case, it's better not to force rookies into a high expectation type of position and shatter their confidence.</p> </p> P.S: I know I've changed my position on Brandan Wright since the draft about him being too light and skinny. But, if we look at some of his tape, you might be able to feel that he can compete against heavier players and aid the guards in making big finishes inside. Inside finesse, length, and footwork is key to improving areas where the team is weakest at. Wright has all that in addition to rebounding (what we need), shotblocking (what we could use more of to intimidate attacking our zone D), and passing (what we definitely need to have in order to avoid dead ball movement). Inside-Outside ball movement would improve by a decent margin with guys like Brandan Wright and POB. But it's up to them and whether or not Nelson feels they are comfortable with the playbook. If they aren't, why send them to the NBDL where they will not practice any of the plays that Nelson could teach them? That I don't get.</p>
Custodian, I understand your frustruation however, let's back up a little. Before Nellie came along, we were mired in traditional bball with Monty ball. That did not get very far. Mully tried to get the traditional pieces, Murphy, Dunleavy, Diogu, Claxton, Fisher, et al. and play traditional basketball, inside-out, and we were a long way away.</p> Nellie's system is a shortcut, no doubt, but it is better than Run TMC already; they beat the #1 seed.</p> Don't forget the Webber year too, they played traditional ball (post ups) while running alot and won 50 (but flamed out in the playoffs against the Suns).</p> Brandon Wright will be pretty good, he's shown power, shooting range, and good hands. He'll be alright, he's not going to be a waste like Diogu, he's got more skills and no doubt more confidence in himself, especially coming from NC.</p>
I still think Diogu got a raw deal here. Monty played him out of position and he just wasn't a very good NBA coach. With Nelson, he had no confidence in him and would yank him most times after a single mistake instead of letting him work though it. When Diogu got long minutes, he generally performed well despite Nelson never making him a focal point offensively (he makes the same mistake with Biedrins in my opinion). He rebounded consistently, altered and blocked shots, shot a high %, had great footwork and moves around the basket, and had a knack for getting to the freethrow line (often making the shot at the same time), and he knocked down his freethrows at about 80%. Sure, I don't know all the inside information. Maybe he didn't have the playbook down, but the dude knows how to score. Considering he allowed us to unload both Murphy and Dunleavy (a bloody miracle if I ever saw one), it's hard to say it wasn't worth letting him go. But I'm still an Ike fan and I think if he ever gets the right coach and the right system he can be a very good NBA player.</p> Now I just hope Biedrins gets the chance to really show his stuff offensively because he's reduced to a clean-up/bailout role on this team. He's very good at that, but he can be much more. Wright we'll have to see. I guess I just don't have much confidence in Nellie's ability to get the most out of big men. I agree with CR2 that we need to be looking beyond the next year or two while Nelson is here with his high-wire circus act and figure out where all these pieces are going to fit long-term in a probably more traditional system.</p> </p>
philsmith, I know I've got to take things one step at a time. I think we already have traditional pieces right now if we use em right. I'm pretty split on the wait and see approach or throw them into the fire approach. If Nelson lets a guy like Monta Ellis get more minutes with him being the turnover king, I don't see why we can't do that with guys like Brandan Wright. With Wright and Diogu, it's one mistake and you're out, but with Ellis and other guards, it's like you're in no matter what because you can shoot threes and dribble. It's a bias against big men that I'm not sure whether to give Nelson the benefit of the doubt even though I'm standing further away from what he sees. It's like Nelson is to small ball as Monty is to big ball and neither can play middle of the road against certain matchups when we need to be more balanced. We're just lucky Dirk Nowitzki sucked almost the whole series. Dirk Nowitzki beat Dirk Nowitzki while Sjax and company slowed him down.</p> I think the reason why both coaches initially failed was because we had bozos like Foyle, Murphy, Dunleavy, and during the first half of 2004 no pure point guard and several injuries to our depth. We can't use the SF, PF, or C as starters in up tempo or halfcourt because there's no inside scoring or defense. When Biedrins stayed out of foul trouble more and the Indiana trade went through, it actually helped us get some of those elements we were missing like stronger perimeter defense, more athleticism, and more ability to score inside by driving or posting up.</p> I'm like HiRez in that if we can't get better shots going or put up decent defensive rebounding %'s, we need different personnel. I'm hoping for these guys to try to find something inside by running the ball through the post and then setting somebody else to take the outside shots off the outlet pass instead of off the dribble or the cut all the time. If we try to make plays off the dribble too much or there's no passing lane, it's too easy for passes to get picked off IMO. If we get a taller guy who can protect the ball facing away from the basket, force doubles inside, that should give plenty of room for perimeter guys to bomb away for open twos and threes. The taller guy has the advantage of the passer because he can see more, he can operate when Baron is sitting down, and he can feed quick slashers and cutters like Ellis or Pietrus. I think Wright should get more time spent with the team to learn how to run plays so he can help the guards back. Right now he's a garbage player. Nelson would probably play him at center or not play him at all.</p>
