Very impressive and encouraging. But unfortunately, where do the minutes come from when Kevin and Cisco come back? If you squint really hard you can see Spencer and Jason still playing at least 25+ with Brad and Mikki in the rotation. But Donte, behind Kevin, Cisco, and John? Not much, unfortunately.
Good first impression in the regular season. I don't expect the 40 pt game he put up in preseason, but as long as he makes himself a viable offensive threat and hopefully continues doing the little things such as getting rebounds/playing defense he should be fine.
Btw anyone notice how perimeter oriented our bigs are getting to be? Hawes and Miller and really essentially forcing/showing off their three point range at times, and Donte has the legitimate stroke and range. Thompson seems to have some potential to develop this area of his game as well. Hopefully they all don't get reduced to perimeter jumpshooters
Btw anyone notice how perimeter oriented our bigs are getting to be? Hawes and Miller and really essentially forcing/showing off their three point range at times, and Donte has the legitimate stroke and range. Thompson seems to have some potential to develop this area of his game as well. Hopefully they all don't get reduced to perimeter jumpshooters
Can he teach him how to get suspended for the first five games of the year? Or maybe how to take the ball to the hole and get rejected every time? Or how about a cheapshot against the smallest player on the other team?
All this talk about Brad teaching Spencer is nonsense. Brad is NOT A ROLE MODEL. A guy like Vlade Divac is a role model. Not Brad.
All this talk about Brad teaching Spencer is nonsense. Brad is NOT A ROLE MODEL. A guy like Vlade Divac is a role model. Not Brad.
You definitely hard on Spencer, as most of us are as well. But to state such a statement that Brad teaching spencer is nonsense... well it makes the statement nonsense. Brad might not be a role model but with basketball he got a lot of experience.
Edit: Disregard the above post...after reviewing some of the older thread you definitely will see it your way or the high way.
Anyway I'm happy to see that Donte is doing well. Credit to GP anyone?
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See this is where I disagree. To be a successful face of a franchise you need to be good and you need charisma. I'm not sure if I see Jason or Spencer with a ton of charisma. Kevin has it and for now he is the face of our franchise. Donte's got a special personality so if he ends up being a great NBA player, then he can pull it off.
You definitely hard on Spencer, as most of us are as well. But to state such a statement that Brad teaching spencer is nonsense... well it makes the statement nonsense. Brad might not be a role model but with basketball he got a lot of experience.
Edit: Disregard the above post...after reviewing some of the older thread you definitely will see it your way or the high way.
Anyway I'm happy to see that Donte is doing well. Credit to GP anyone?
Like I said before, if a guy like Vlade Divac was still around, I would love for him to mentor Spencer. That's a guy that could teach him a few things.
Actually that is not quite right -- Brad was actually an amazing passer in Indiana, but the problem was that they did not run an offense that let him make decisions with the ball. His passing was wasted because they had him just playing a traditional big man role. Playing with Chris & Valde I thinnk helped, as did the entire system when he arrived here -- foor the first time I think it made him think that a big man controlling the game with his passing was within the realm of possibility. But the skills and instincts were already there, just underutilized.
Is Brad really going to teach Hawes how to pass? I think Hawes has as much god-given passing ability as Brad. Maybe more. All Hawes needs is experience, working with his teamates, getting to know their game, experiencing different defenses in order to improve his recognition on the floor. Every minute that Brad takes away from Hawes on the floor is less experience for Hawes. Brad's presence is more a negative than a positive.
If the Maloofs want a role model/coach for Hawes, forget about Vlade. Get Kareem. Hawes wants to learn the sky-hook. Who's better than than Kareem? Think big and go for the gusto. Get the best there is.
If the Maloofs want a role model/coach for Hawes, forget about Vlade. Get Kareem. Hawes wants to learn the sky-hook. Who's better than than Kareem? Think big and go for the gusto. Get the best there is.
Right, in his last year with Indiana, he averaged 2.6 assists playing 31 minutes for a team that didn't at all emphasize passing by its centers. It didn't take any qualitative change in his passing abilities to manage 4 assists playing 35+ minutes on a team that regularly ran its offense through the center.
It was thrilling to watch Donte step up and deliver on his first NBA start - and also not wither down the stretch with extended minutes. He's anti-Douby!
I don't mean to bash Douby. I'm rooting for the guy to make it (Douby, you can do it - I believe in you even if you don't!) - but I fear his window of opportunity is shrinking to the size of a pinhole (which is probably the size of the basket to him right now).
On a historical note, Douby reminds me of Dennis "Deer in the Headlights" Hopson, who was aquired back in 1991 from the Chicago Bulls for Bobby Hansen & a 2nd round pick. Ahh, memories. (Douby, nooo, snap out of it!).
I don't mean to bash Douby. I'm rooting for the guy to make it (Douby, you can do it - I believe in you even if you don't!) - but I fear his window of opportunity is shrinking to the size of a pinhole (which is probably the size of the basket to him right now).
On a historical note, Douby reminds me of Dennis "Deer in the Headlights" Hopson, who was aquired back in 1991 from the Chicago Bulls for Bobby Hansen & a 2nd round pick. Ahh, memories. (Douby, nooo, snap out of it!).
Ah, but Dennis Hopson was actually pretty good as a 6th man the one year we had him. I was annoyed when we let him walk after that. A famous draft bust, but having him behind Mitch was actually a pretty strong shooting guard rotation. Averaged 11pts for us in about 21min/gm. Was never quite sure what happened. Maybe an attitude problem. Maybe our normal duhness at the time (think Jerry Reynolds was our GM at that point).
Brick, thanks for pointing that out. Memory fades sometimes (or in my case, completely disappears - or worse, I fabricate new things that I thought happened!). I thought he was the one that had a total meltdown in confidence and skills when he got traded to us. But I trust your memory much more than mine.