He looked good in the Utah game from what I've seen. I still think Turner will be our main PG back up, Lillard will be getting ca. 34 minutes per game, and a lot of the remaining will go to Turner, with Crabbe or Harkless slotting in for him at small forward. If Napier can take his chances though, Turner might be permanently glued to the small forward role and rotating there with Crabbe (who will have to share his minutes between small forward and shooting guard to justify his salary, I see him playing 25-30 mpg next season) and Harkless.. Thing is I reckon Turner will absolutely have to be used at PG for both Crabbe to Harkless to get enough minutes at SF. I like that we are accumulating these assets though. Athletic point guard with decent shot is a very valuable player for any franchise.
The problem with playing Napier with Dame or C.J. is on the other end of the court - same as it was with Frazier or Roberts. It makes our back court go from being undersized for an NBA team to being undersized for a high school team. Turner gives us a third ball handler/distributor with size that can pair nicely with either Dame or C.J. and not leave us with a subminiature back court. I wouldn't worry about Turner's performance in the first preseason game. It was his first game action after the summer break with a new team - a combination of rust and unfamiliarity. Turner has proven he is capable of running an offense at an NBA level. Give him a couple more preseason games to get used to his new teammates and new system and he'll be fine. At the very least, he'll always be 6'7" and Napier will always be 6'1" (in heels). BNM
I am hoping this is all it is as well. He signed the biggest contract of anyone not already on the team and im sure he feels pressure to come in and provide an instant impact. Napier, Ezili and all the others we brought in don't have those expectations. Im watching him closely though, because based on film footage from Boston, I was/am very confident he is what we need. Just left dissapointed after game one of preseason.
One preseason game. See my previous post. Napier had summer league to become familiar with a new system. Turner did not. Not worried. Turner ran back up PG in Boston the last two years and ran it well. There aren't exactly a lot of 6'7" guys who can average 5 apg coming off the bench. Sounds like they are already missing Turner in BOS: Boston Celtics Second Unit: Aggressive and Inefficient "The Celtics need people to step on on offense with the second unit in order to make up for the loss of Evan Turner, their most important offensive instigator." BNM
I'm not worried about Turner, and to be honest I'd rather have him running the offense than McCollum.
Napier was brought in case one of the other guards go down. He look good at the fan fest and first preseason game. But he look good with other quality guys in there but what I was watching is last 5 mins of the game when the bottom of the bench was in and losing the lead rapidly. I was waiting to see if Napier going to lead the way that didn't happen matter fact know one step up big. Yea Montero hit a big 3 that after he turn the ball over 2 times before that score. So do I trust Napier to control the game not yet.
Napier will get plenty of playing time running the point during the 4th quarter during our many blowouts.
Did Napier really have much of a summer league? He arrived late due to the trade, practice once before playing and getting hurt at the end of the first half. I think he and Turner could work well together in the back court. Defensively it is better than Napier with Dame or CJ. But not really enough minutes for him if we want to keep ET in the backcourt while Crabbe and Harkless split the SF minutes.
I want Napier to be terrible so I can call him Shabust (like I do a certain other Shabazz). If he continues to play like he did in preseason game 1, I'll have to start calling him "Shabazz to the Bone!"
I also think Turner and CJ will get most of the back up time at PG. Napier might have scored 20 last night against the suns, but he did it by not passing the ball. I watched him, wondering if he could lead the bench, but I saw a predomentally selfish player. He's a shoot first guy, plays like an undersized SG.
I saw him throw countless passes right to the suns. I don't see him as a good passer. He still has to prove it.
I am not sure why that is a problem. In today's NBA, pass first PG's are usually PG's who can't shoot. They are a dying breed. Dying on the end of the bench. Our offense is not based around one guard whose job it is to get everyone involved in the offense. The goal is to generate points on offense and if our guards are our best offensive weapons then why take the ball out of their hands? That seems counter productive to me. The end results should be getting good shots. As long as Napier is taking good shots I don't have a problem. Your description of Napier has also been used by others in describing both Dame and CJ. And in those cases I don't see that as a problem either. Now if we had a big who was a good scorer down low it would be a different story. He would need to touch the ball. But we don't. I actually want our guards to be selfish. Look at our starting line up of Dame, CJ, Harkless, Aminu, and Plumblee. Who do we want shooting? If Dame starts out the game by getting everyone involved....we will start off behind in every game. He and CJ need to be selfish. And as long as Napier is hot...he needs to look for his shot first when he is in with the 2nd unit.
Makes a lot of sense. It's like in soccer, you want the player who's the best finisher to demand the ball. If they can't shoot then it's another story.
Against Suns: 5/12, 2/5 from 3 http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400899186 Against Jazz: 4/6, 2/3 from 3 http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400899189 9/18 from field: Ballin' 22 pts in 18 shots = 1.22 pts/shot = 61% eFG%: Ballin' 9/11 from FT = 81.8%: Ballin' One can argue that he doesn't have enough assists. Fine. One can argue that he's short. Fine. But what can't be argued is that he's been performing Elite Level shooting in the first 2 games - He's been Ballin'!!!
He looks decent as a gunner, and he may make me eat crow, but I don't see how he's an upgrade over Tim Frazier.
