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BasslineSpin.com Bobby Gerould Basketball
Blog September 30, 2008 ...A
50+ day break from basketball blogging allowed me time to return fresh for
the 2008-09 season. ...Where to start? Stephon Marbury sounds
like a good place. No way would I buy him out. Is he Stephon Marbury the
GREAT? No. But he is a heck of a lot better than a bunch of guys who were
earning an NBA paycheck last year. Steph under Mike D’Antoni would surely see an efficiency rise
if Marbury could try being a good teammate and tone down his ego a bit. If
Marbury tries and acts like a pro - you play him. If he thinks he is above
the team - then you keep him there but let him rot on the bench or inactive
list (the same way the Kings did Kenny Thomas last
season). ...Can the Celtics repeat? Who knows. They would have to handle Lebron and the Cavs who upgraded offensively by landing Mo Williams. Now the Cavs have legit guards in
Williams and Delonte West.
Almost as importantly, using the old ‘addition by subtraction’, —Damon Jones is gone. The Celtics will have to
beat Dwight Howard and
the Magic, and hope that Jermaine O’Neal doesn’t
find a second wind playing with assist machine Jose Calderon—thus making Toronto a contender. The
Celtics will have to do all this without key hard-nosed baller James Posey. That is the East picture. Detroit?
New coach, older players. Atlanta? Not yet. ...Out West it looks to me like
Utah and the Lakers should be the favorites. I like Phoenix, Dallas, and New
Orleans next with the Spurs still good but off to a slow start without Manu Ginobili. ...Nick Fazekas landed in Denver’s training camp. Justin Williams signed with the Warriors. ...2008-09 Stinkers? Memphis. They have a
shot, in my estimation, to be among the worst NBA teams in recent memory. August 2, 2008 ...I
wonder what will happen in Houston now that they have three prime players
that are best suited to play Small Forward. Ron Artest, Shane Battier, and Tracy McGrady can play other positions but it says
here their best spot on the floor is the three spot. ...I wonder what becomes
of my man Mike Harris in
Houston.
Read
this about Mike. ...Nick Fazekas was waived by the Clippers. He is
awkward as heck but he is also effective and efficient offensively. He
rebounds like a champion. Someone should immediately snatch him up. Cleveland
- he might help you. August 1, 2008 ...So Ron Ron is gone gone. How does the trade affect the Kings
this season? I think they take a hit in the W column but the short term dip
is worth it. Ron Artest is one
of the best two-way players in the NBA. In my book—he is one of the six best
Small Forwards in the world. As much as I like Francisco Garcia - he just doesn’t bring the defensive
tenacity and intimidating presence that Artest brought. No one in the
NBA does really. But make no
mistake—Artest had to go. Not because of his weekly fuel for the fire in the
media—but because Ron had become increasingly unreliable about nights he
could play or not play. This wasn’t a case of the “Tizzy Rules” (Stub your
toe—say you can’t go), Artest was actually hurt when he decided on respective nights—to not play. It was
the method. Artest would routinely make his decisions about playing or not
playing within a couple hours of tip-off. The coaches hated that. That gave
Ron an F on the John Wooden (can
you trust him?) scale. ...Getting Donte Greene, and
a first round pick in 2009 plus a solid back up combo-guard in Bobby Jackson is more than enough in return. Greene
is a talented talented kid. As far as a skill set combined with athletic
ability and size —Greene is the most talented youngster that the Kings have
EVER had. His shot selection is horrible but that can always be improved
(unless he goes the route of Gerald Green and never learns the value and
necessity of a good shot ). Donte has a very high ceiling and he should be in
no rush on the Kings roster—with Garcia a lock to be the man at the three
spot. ...While the disadvantage of not having a defensive killer like Artest
will be sizeable, the biggest advantage I see is Sacramento now having a
backup to Beno Udrih that
should be more consistent and productive than what was previously in place.
Jackson ranked 34th last season in point guard efficiency - which to me
signals he is among the best bench PG’s in the NBA. July 27, 2008 ...I
finally finished the first of three Summer league stat audits.
The
Orlando Summer League findings are here. July 26, 2008 ...The
good news is that the Kings didn’t spend much to sign Bobby Brown. The bad news is that Brown is not
nearly as good as
Marc Stein or the Kings think he is. He is a
poor deep shooter with a very questionable shot selection. His college career
efficiency at Cal State Fullerton was .367 which should be way higher given
the level of competition he faced. His 2008 Las Vegas Summer League EFR of
.400 is hardly special either. I am NOT sold. When I complete the Vegas stat
audit for the entire Summer League—I will have a better idea of where Brown’s
numbers stack up related to the rest of the point guards. But from experience
I KNOW that .400 is not going to be near the top. July 20, 2008 ...I
am koo koo for Summer League! I watched a triple header Saturday. Jerryd Bayliss went nutso in the Blazers game,
scoring at will in every possible way. He did that against a good defender in
D.J. Strawberry. ...I
like the play of Washington players Andray Blatche, and Dominic McGuire. Blatche has great hands while
McGuire displayed the ability to do a little bit of everything. ...Orien Greene looked especially sharp for
Charlotte. He has great size for a point guard and his shot looked better. He
didn’t get much of a chance in Sacramento last year as Reggie Theus prefers aggressive scorers—which
Greene is not. July 17, 2008 ...Brandon Jennings, who is tentatively listed as our
number one
NBA
Draft pick in 2009 has signed a contract to play in Italy
next year—bypassing his freshman college campaign.
Read
more here. ...As we’ve been saying for some time now—Anthony Roberson is an NBA guard.
ESPN
is reporting that the Knicks will make him officially an Association member
again. ...Look for Oklahoma City to name their team the
Thunder. ...Of course I’ve been watching Summer League games on NBA-TV.
...Here are some thoughts I’ve had… I like Wilson Chandler’s game. The New York second year player
from DePaul has strength, and skill. ...Charles Rhodes is
just one of several Summer Mavs that have impressed. He went un-drafted but
we had him as a second rounder on our ‘big board’. ...JaJuan Smith is a
kid I did not have listed in my top 60 but he has shown that he can score in
an explosive manner. ...Last year we had Reyshawn Terry listed
higher than all the draft sites. He played in Europe. He looks good to us
this Summer as well. ...The Summer T-Wolves are not very good up front once
you get past Kevin Love. I
love Love. But I’ve never thought that Chris Richard should
be in the NBA. Ditto for Longar Longar. ...Marreese Speights is
picking up where he left off in college by showing a mixture of power and finesse. I strongly believe he
will be the guy that most GM’s misjudged in the 2008 draft. He is an absolute
STEAL for Philadelphia. With the knowledge that the Kings took Spencer Hawes in 2007, I nearly become ill when I
watch Thaddeus Young play.
Young, selected 12th, is about a zillion times better prospect than Hawes who
went tenth. ...Un-drafted Bryant Dunston from
Fordham is holding his own for the Summer Lakers. We listed him in the late
second round. |