Zombie Blazers VS NO game thread, bitches (lillard's first summer league game)

My pizza delivery friend, Randy Bodek compares Leonard to Brobik Lopez. Yes, a combination of both. Size a skill of Brook, Athleticism of Robin

 

Is Robin athletic? I don't recall.

 

I think Leonard is more athletic, but Robin is more athletic than Brook, and pretty athletic all around

 

What's so surprising about that? Rivers does everything you'd expect a great point guard to do... Except pass. Great handle and driving instincts, and he's got all the shots. (Finishing is another matter.) Monty will break down his selfishness somewhat, so the major weakness should become passable, no pun intended.

 

If you don't/can't pass then you are not in any way shape or form a point guard ... and I think history will show that you can't really "coach" selfishness out of a player.

He looks like a two and if he can add some strength he might even turn into good one, but trying to shoe-horn him into becoming a point guard will fail spectacularly

 

Your Pizza guy thinks he's a Combination? You sure he doesn't think he's Supreme!

ML is a very hard worker, he's athletic, he's not that skilled. So, if he concentrated on rebounding more I would say he's a bigger, more athletic Anderson Varejao (spelling?), which is pretty damn good especially next to LMA. The even better news is that I think he can become more than that, but it will take time.

 

Earlier in the thead (and only part-way through the game), you mentioned you had counted 5 blocks from Leonard (I had noted maybe 4 at that same point). He had 2-3 after that. I'll have to re-watch, but I'm thinking he maybe actually had 6-7.

 

This. I'm wondering if Handiman watched Rivers at all last night, because the player I saw was not in any way, shape, or form a "point guard".

 

I give them the "weekend's worst". That game was played on Sunday, but they have him under "Saturday's Worst"??

 

What's so surprising about that is that I (and probably even NB3) can't think of a player in the league that became even an average PG who had never played the position before playing in the NBA. As Blazer fans, we've witnessed a PG sized player who dominated summer league and had played a little bit of PG before the NBA and has yet to become average.

Put another way, teams run plays because they are more effective when they do. What's the point of having great players on your team if you can't get them the ball where and when they need it? Rivers can't do that, and never will be able to. That doesn't make him a bad player, just not a PG.

 

Rivers admitted after the game that he'd never played PG before.

 

Having a guy like Rivers at the point would be fine.... if he was your only option on offense. But the Hornets will need a facilitator to get the ball to Gordon and Davis. I can see why they took him at 10, but in the end a guy like Kendall Marshall would have been awesome on that team.

 

I was thinking triangle would good for him

 

Is Monty running the triangle?

 

That's right. He did not do shit on Saturday.

 

I'm not so sure that's true nowadays. He has the tools of a scoring point guard, just not the mentality you'd hope for of a distributor. If he becomes a good finisher, he'll be very effective.

 

No. Just in general I was thinking that

 

Oh, well sure... most scoring guards that can handle the ball will be effective in the triangle, but they also need to be able to pass.

 

That's true. Not sure he has the willingness or not. Has the ability, for sure

 

Maybe "willingness" will come with age