I hope Tre is alright. If I recall correctly, they called his back injury last year a hip thing before ultimately ruling him out for back.
Didnāt realize he was injured. Only saw most of the first half.
Wow the emotional depthsā¦thatās Emmy/Tony material!
Thanks for posting your thoughts on the pre season games. Grant, Josh, Kon, Tre and Mason/Ryan sounds like a workable bench to me. But hey, what do I know.
Tre being injured is a bit terrifying.
This also has some exceptionally positive statements about Brandonās potential:
I really donāt think Plumlee should see a minute on the court, we should just run with Kalk and Moussa switching who starts depending on matchups
Well, the bench units have not looked good when on the floor thus far. And I get it, Coach Lee is giving bench guys some run and wants to see whatās clicking. But Dallas ran our bench units off the floor with huge runs as soon as they were subbed in.
And I donāt expect a unit of five consisting of all bench players to light it up, but damn it was rough at times.
Also-Tre Mann is injured??? Cmon man I want him healthy so bad!
Itās preseason, I wouldnāt be worried about hip soreness, feels i saw 10 players with that over the last few days. Assume itās big muscle groups getting fully exercised in earnest.
Please let these two guys stay healthy this year. We donāt ask for much.
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Very exciting.
Friendly reminder, to the board, ESPN has a whole page dedicated to pre-season highlights:
This was an awesome game to watch, and Iām starting to feel much better about our prospects this season.
I get the caveat that itās just preseason, and itās just one game. But itās how the game was played that was different than the recent Hornet teams weāve watched the last few years.
Itās not just that weāre emulating Bostonās 3 point barrage, they actually played like the locked in Boston team. What I mean is, it wasnāt just volume hunting and bad shots, end of shot clock grenades, and selfish chucking after 20 dribbles. The ball moved. Quick. There were multiple passes around the perimeter until it found the open guy. And there were multiple open guys!
And the guards were constantly probing the middle, driving in looking for a kick out or a lob down low. I like this version of Melo, he wasnāt the volume shooter heād been lately, he was really looking for lobs and freely giving passes out all day, took contact without falling as much, scrapped on the floor, and looked like he was genuinely having fun and trusting his teammates. (Also had Collin as the lead guard when they were out there together, letting him be the off ball scorer that he can excel at).This version of Melo is an All-Star, no questions this time.
Brandon is starting to settle in and get into a rhythm now. Still needs to gain some strength, or learn how to adjust his timing in the lane to get defenders off balance to draw fouls. And I know we were talking about earlier how he looks taller in pictures, Dell and Eric were talking about how he definitely seems to have grown, maybe 6ā10 even!
Another Boston similarity is our defense looked really dialed in. We were switching hard, not getting lost. There is a noticeable toughness that was alway missing before. The rookies and Collin and Moussa have this baseline effort that is contagious. Melo hit the floor a couple times for loose balls too. Getting Grant back soon will only increase it.
The last thing that gives me confidence, the centers may not be a gaping weakness like we thought. I can see why they trust Moussa way more than they ever did Mark. The effort level is ridiculous. Every time there was a 50/50 ball, he always was the first to get it. It almost felt wrong when we kept getting loose balls, like this isnāt who we are.
Also, he is more skilled than we think. I went to the fan event a couple weeks ago, his jumper looks pretty good, not just around the basket, but out to the 3 point line, and he was hitting half court shots during a contest. He has good hands, good feet, can guard the post and perimeter, can handle entry passes and initiate dribble hand offs, seems to be a good passer. Like, I am buying all the stock in Moussa that I can, Iām convinced he will continue to get much better. Not saying a Bam like trajectory, but Iām not not saying it either. Heāll never get the shot load of Bam, but the defensive side is definitely in play.
Also, Kalk looks like he getting better and better, especially compared to summer league. His length continues to bother people inside, even if he doesnāt get the block, so many chip shots were missed. And he has great hands and instincts to roll to the basket and get easy buckets. I think if he can get lighter in his feet and a little more agile, I can start to see that Brook Lopez template some. Heāll just have to be able to hit a couple 3s per game before we can say he becomes that.
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Yeah, Moussaās effort level has always been off the charts. What I love is that it looks like his ability to catch and finish in traffic, and even make a move and score in the paint has improved from where it was last year. We saw occasional flashes of that last year, but never consistently. If he can continue to develop offensively, along with his defensive presence and relentless rebounding effort, heāll definitely be a force to be dealt with. Heās a keeper for sure.
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Not just, asking the Kalk flattery, there was a play in the second that I absolutely loved that we never ran with Mark, and couldnāt worth Bobble-Hands Richards. It was a pass into the paint from the corner which he immediately rerouted to the top of the key for a Sexton? wide open 3.
The second was the side pick and role that he executed perfectly with Brandon ? (In front of our bench) the ball never came below 6ā10ā off the floor and was an easy layup. No way any of it prior centers do that. And itās such simple basketball.
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BTW, anyone think Spencer sitting last night was an indicator heās staying and Pat got some showcase minutes before his departure?
Dinwiddie waived per Shams
Ah, so I had that very wrong lol
didnāt see that coming. but we finally got there.
if last night was any indicator - exciting play - rookies looking good - vets playing like they have played together more than 20 games, etc. its going to be a fun season.
all of us here deserve it.
I like Spencer more as a player, but I donāt think either should be getting minutes on this team and Pat seems more likely to take a bench role and just be a good veteran leader in the locker room than Spencer who would actively be fighting for minutes and shots.
The good thing about Pat is his expiring contract. This seems more like a money decision than anything else.
pretty sure Spencer will get his full 3.6 mill we signed him to & fairly certain it was a 1 yr deal. so honestly not sure it was the smartest decision if it was a money decision. haha.
If it was purely driven financially, not sure we would have signed Spencer in the first