<div class="quote_poster">Quoting legendisdope:</div><div class="quote_post">Swift needs to step it up big time..Man we should of just let him go to college or something lol. I can almost just picture this big white kid with orange hair acting scared in the post. lolollol. But man, we need to get some Ws, even if its preseason. Preseason means alot because it gives all these guys the confidence ect going into the regular season.</div> I have not left my stance that Swift is a bust. It is the impression I got of him in the McDonalds game. I thought, 'some poor team is going to draft this kid, and waste alot of time developing him into Jim McIllvaine". Then when we drafted him I was like, 'oh...damn.' Preseason means nothing. NO THING! last year we were 4-6. I remember SA having a 1-8 record or something like that a few years ago.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting odde23:</div><div class="quote_post">I have not left my stance that Swift is a bust. It is the impression I got of him in the McDonalds game. I thought, 'some poor team is going to draft this kid, and waste alot of time developing him into Jim McIllvaine". Then when we drafted him I was like, 'oh...damn.' Preseason means nothing. NO THING! last year we were 4-6. I remember SA having a 1-8 record or something like that a few years ago.</div> i think we were 2-6 last preseason werent we? Anyways your right in wins/losses preseason means nothing. Player performances I think do mean something though. And Swift is without a doubt failing that test.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Coolguy777:</div><div class="quote_post">I know you attended the game and I didnt even see highlights but Swift going scoreless and reboundless seems like bad news to a guy thats supposed to be in our rotation this season.</div> He only had two chances to score, and he did blow both of them. I said he was tentative offensively. He only played in the first 6 minutes of each half and all the rest of the starters were in during that time meaning the plays were run around Lewis and Allen. He did his job fine. He was better than James on help defense, but if Amare had been playing he would have been toast. He didn't get defensive boards because he was running out on the shooters which left the boards for Evans and the guards. His impact on the Sun's shooters was obvious. He literally interfered with every shot around him. When he subbed out the Suns started to hit shots. It was night and day. <actually, the suns started hitting shots shortly before he subbed out in both quarters....perhaps he gets tired too easily> He is still to young and inexperienced to be a bust. He wasn't great, and he is has shown little or no offensive game, but I was impressed with his athleticism and movement on defense. They were both better than I expected. We have been worried about not having a shot blocker in the post, and I think he is going to become that. If his timing improves he will actually touch the ball, but it was enough that he caused plenty of clanks and few airballs. I am not a fan yet, I just was pleasantly surprised.
You don't want to put a lot of stock into the preseason but when the coach is playing guys 30+ minutes, at home, against a team who had one starter on the floor from last year's team you would think you'd come away with a win. This is exactly what I hate about the preseason. You hear all the time about such and such's progress and who is playing well in scrimmages--blah, blah, blah--but at the end of the day you have to play the game well against whomever your playing against. Bobby Swift has been given every chance in the world this off/preseason to show what he can do and each time he has been a disappointment. I went to the Cavs/Celtics preseason game on Tuesday and that kid from Cleveland Martynas Andriuskevicius has a similar build of Swift but was more aggressive, skilled, and more seasoned than Swift is right now--and he is younger. How that kid slipped to the 44th pick is beyond me. I'm glad that Luke played well. I'm just interested in knowing who his assists are going to if our bigs aren't scoring in these games. Are these assists point guard assists or ball reversal assists? Luke has to be able to score much more than he did last season and get into the lane for assists more than he did last season b/c we don't have the luxury of Big Game James underneath finishing around the basket or getting some post looks. Bob Weiss needs to approach this season giving people who earned the right to play the minutes they deserve. If Swift can't cut it you may have to go with a Pot/Fortson/Moore/Collison/Petro rotation ahead of Swift. Dudes like Swift shouldn't feel that he is owed minutes. It's amazing also that Ray and Sweet Lew were subtedly complaining about how many minutes they got last night. This season already has the makings of a Ray Allen 'Puppet Master Theater', w/ the star none other than Bobby Weiss. Nate McMillan said it best when he said, "I can't worry about what is going on up there. That is Ray Allen's and Bob Weiss' team now."
8 assists to Lewis and Allen, one to Scales and one Flip. He was penetrating and kicking out to the shooters when the defense collapsed or hitting the wings running the break. Swift is barely getting minutes this year. Based on what I have seen so far he shouldn't play against any strong bigs. They need to use him when other teams go small. He is fast enough to keep up and will disrupt their shots. He was effective last night against a front line of Kurt Thomas and Shawn Marion, both undersized for their positions. You put him against Shaq, Duncan, Miller, Amare, Yao, O'Neal, and they will cast him aside like an old pair of high tops.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting psheehy:</div><div class="quote_post">8 assists to Lewis and Allen, one to Scales and one Flip. He was penetrating and kicking out to the shooters when the defense collapsed or hitting the wings running the break. Swift is barely getting minutes this year. Based on what I have seen so far he shouldn't play against any strong bigs. They need to use him when other teams go small. He is fast enough to keep up and will disrupt their shots. He was effective last night against a front line of Kurt Thomas and Shawn Marion, both undersized for their positions. You put him against Shaq, Duncan, Miller, Amare, Yao, O'Neal, and they will cast him aside like an old pair of high tops.</div> Quotes from wise say differnently. Besides I refuse to call a center effective when he doenst get a single rebound. I mean come on ONE! lol
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting psheehy:</div><div class="quote_post">He was a stiff on offense. The Suns looked lost without Nash running the point or Amare in the middle for the first half. Raja Bell and James Jones are nice pick-ups though. There are still shooters on this team, and D'Antoni got them fired up at the half. The offense still looks scary, if not for the loss of Amare I could see them having the similar kind of season they had last year even with the loss of Q and Johnson. Bell should bring a little defense to the perimeter and Barbosa was finally using his length to get his shot off. What was up with Boris Diaw running the point from the PF spot??? He had Felix scampering, but a big isn't going to be able to guard someone full court, and Diaw is way too big for the guards to handle. Looks like D'Antoni is experimenting a little.</div> They've decided they will play Diaw as a 1 or a 4 but not as a wing because he can't shoot. During the Euro games he held Kirilenko to like 8 points and kept Okur scoreless (if I remember right). I'm pretty excited about his potential even if he only scores from drives. I think the notion of playing Swift as a small Center isn't a bad one. There are so few true centers that he has a chance to get minutes (maybe not this year).
I suppose we could still have Cal. C. Booth 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 That two is PF. Only 2 in 6 minutes. He is coming along nicely, no?
