Even though it was pretty much a garbage game, I was wondering what folks thoughts were about Patty Mills. It looked to me that Diener was playing so badly they went with Mills instead at one point. I have to say his game reminded me a lot of a Lawson. He is not quite as physical as Lawson, but at the same time he doesn't look to have taken his body to NBA level yet. I also thought he shot the ball pretty well. It was only one game, against a really bad defensive team though (if any defense...) so you have to keep it real.
Well that has pretty much been the case all season. Let's put it this way. I am not a big Steve Blake fan.
He definitely looked like he could be an Aaron Brooks type player with some more seasoning...... So if Bayless doesn't pan out, then why not? Diener who?
That's a pretty good comparison. Speed and a perimeter shot. Not bad assets for a backup point guard. Man, I'm getting a little bummed about Bayless over the past few weeks. He seems to have fallen off some.
I think his good shooting is potentially a plus, but that he needs much more experience at understanding what he needs to do to get off a good drive or good shot. He appears to be mostly relying on quickness alone, instead of closely watching the defender and taking advantage of the defender being off balance or too far away to be effective. I'm not explaining my thought well -- he seems to just be hoping that "blind quickness" will be sufficient. He will be much better if he can learn like Andre Miller, to selectively use quickness when it counts. I couldn't really tell whether or not his foot speed was good enough on defense, but it seemed that he has a ways to go before he can be at all effective on the defensive end. He looks to be too light, too slow to jump, and not willing to be proactive on the defensive end. My sense is that it will take at least one more year to determine if he can ever play defense, without being a real liability. I couldn't really tell whether he can run an offense or not. In my own mind, my hopes increasingly are focused on PKoppenen. This seems to be an era of few decent point guard. Passing on both DWilliams and CPaul is increasingly looking like monumentally poor scouting/judgement. I guess, unlike you, I see SBlake as probably the best obtainable option out there for a backup (underline that word) PG for any real push forward the next two years. That still would leave a vacuum in the future when Andre is out of gas.
I think the most disappointing part is that Bayless seems to have lost his confidence. That kid used to be cocky as all hell, but now he seems to be tentative and unsure of himself.
How could that be? We get the worst luck with PGs...they come here full of promise and wonder and after being tutored for 2-3 years by our Coach (who, luckily enough, was a PG) they end up looking "tentative" and "unsure of themselves" and have "lost confidence". So far, Telfair and Jack and Sergio have been shipped away. Is Bayless next? Why can't Kpee just draft a good PG? EDIT: I forgot Taurean "I'll win 4 games this year alone" Green. In all fairness, he only made it a few months, and wasn't very good to start with.
Yea I noticed Mills got caught "watching" a lot on defense last night. On many plays he was playing a zone while the rest of the team was playing man to man. His foot speed won't matter unless he does the right thing.
I'm curious why we're discussing Mills' game but not much mention of JP's game. I've seen comments on other threads, but Mills gets his own thread! JP looked pretty good last night! I know you have to have a caveat that we were playing GS and it was the last game of the season, but he seemed pretty solid throughout the game. It wasn't just the 6 dunks, but he hit a couple 15+ foot jumpers too. I liked what I saw!
More or less because the Blazers backup guards have not been getting it done. I dig everything Pendergraph brings to the table, not much to discuss there. My main concern for the Blazers right now is the backup guard positions. Earlier this season I talked about how I was for getting rid of Blake and Outlaw so we could find out of any of the talent behind them was legit. It was obvious to me we weren't going to win jack shit with Blake on the team, and the same with Outlaw. The reserve guards have been given a ton of minutes so far, and not produced. That doesn't mean they are failures per say, but it does raise a lot of concern that they will ever be successful. When it gets to that point, I start looking for options down the line for the future of the team.
I'd sure like to see Blake playing the backup PG spot for the playoffs instead of Bayless. The sooner the Blazers admit that JB's not a PG and move him to the 2G spot, the better.
Yeah, I know your opinion of Blake...I just happen to disagree. JB brings the offense to a screeching halt every time he enters the game. Blake has his weaknesses, but he's very good at setting up the offense. I'm not saying he's the longterm answer for PG, but I'd like to have him for this series, especially if Roy's not going to be able to play much. Oh well. Pointless discussion since he's not available.
Very good point. This wasn't just a "let's evaluate Mills" thread, it was a "what do you think of Mills taking over PG responsibilities in the future" thread. We aren't really in need of JP's service as a back up or starter at least at this point as much as we are of Mills'. Got it. Fair enough. That being said, I thought Mills played alright. In 13 minutes: 11 pts (on 4-8 shooting (2-3 from 3)), 2 asts, 1 reb, 2 TO's, and 4 fouls aint too shabby for someone who hasn't really gotten any burn during the season.
