Grades v. Knicks 11/16

[Bricklayer]

Welcome to the Awful Bowl 2007, home of the worst last minute in the history of professional basketball.

In honor of our, er, "team", tongiht's theme is: Famous Dysfunctional Families


Artest ( A- ) -- in the first half repeatedly took advantage of Jared Jeffiries, a good defender, but a stickman. And was just stronger and better than Richardson at the same things QRich excels at -- strength and post play from the SF spot. But did not start to truly shine until the chips were down. Wiht Kevin neutralized in the 4th, Ron stepped up and played huge on both sides of the ball. Not only scoring, but guarding big ole Eddie Curry as well down in the post better than any of our alleged big men could do. Was also the guy we ran our called plays through off on the wing. Repeatedly drew doubles, and kicked it to the open men, who only sporadically converted. Played big in the first OT on both sides of the ball. And had a solid 2nd OT uuntil joining our self destruction parade in the last minute and throwing a dumb TO. Am going to use that and his awful FT shooting -- at one point was 1-7 from the line to justify the "-" here in light of Kevin's A. Should be some distinction, but Ron was the leader down the stretch.

Married With Children -- hey, at least the daughter was a hottie.

Moore ( C+ ) -- well, have to give him credit for consistency if nothing else. Mr. 4pts and 4rebs gave us...4pts and 4rebs. Remarkable. And watching him try to stop Curry in there was fun. Only giving up about 70 lbs. However as Mikki Moore games go, on the small palette on which he paints, this one was solid. He didn't drop many balls with those oven mitts, still can't hit any shot that requires skill, but did get a couple of follows, and was doing his 7'0" Quincy Douby imitation and hopping around trying to draw charges in there. Was probably done for the night after the third I think it was, with us instead choosing to go with a variety of small ball lineups, but once Brad fouled out we were *gulp* forced to turn to Mikki in the OTs, and amazingly not only did he not screw it up for us, he was actually screwing it up maybe the least of all the starters by the end of the second OT (although maybe if he himself had not fouled out he could have thrown something away or dropped something himself -- could just be an opportunity thing. In any case, tongiht he was just a guy...a guy watching his man go for 24 and 16, but still just a guy. And when Mikki is just a guy, you count your blessings.

Psycho -- ok, so you murder your mom, stuff her in the basement for 10 years, and then run around slashing up young numbiles while wearing mom's clothes? That's...not normal.

Miller ( B ) -- got run over by Curry on a number of occasions, but hit the glass solidly and countered with his own points. Threw in a few nice classic Brad passes as well. Nearly got to be the goat for blowing the coverage on Curry at the buzzer, letting himself get pushed out of the paint and giving Curry a free shot at the rim. Was bailed out by Salmons coming over to distract the big ole dinosaur just enough for him to blow the gimme. This ladies and gentlemen being why you DUNK it. Lost him to fouls in the first OT, with the consolation being that Curry himself was already in major foul trouble as well. Tells you what you need to know about Brad's mighty interior defense that we decided that letting 6'7" SF Ron Artest go brawn on brawn on Curry was the better move than lettign Brad continue to fight a losing battle.

Oedipus -- ok, your dad tried to kill you as an infant. And so you grow up, outwit some messed up part bird part lion part human thing, kill dad and get married to your own mother. That's so messed up that they name complexes for it.

Martin ( A ) -- I went back and forth on this grade about 10 times, to add the + or not. And I am still slightly bemused that on what has to be the finest statistical night of Kevin's career, I finally decided agains the "+". But here's why: after the thrid quarter, Kevin was no longer the best player on our team, and was not the guy who mattered most during all the winning times that followed. And that's normally where that "+" comes from. And normally when a guy puts up huge numbers, its just assumed that he was the best player when it mattered. But not tonight. Got of to a big big first half and was allowed to more or less go wherever he wanted to on the court. Had some defensive issues as usual wiht Marbury and Crawfoird, but nothing near as severe as thehurting he was putting on the Knicks. Also was coming back to the glass rather than leaking out, and gave us a big boost on the defensive glass. Got more one dimesnaionl after half, mostly jsut scoring. But the Knicks locked into him in the 4th, and Kevin started forcing bad shots looking for the bailout foul. Really a considerably bad quarter for him, and particularly dramatic given the big first three quarters. Hit one shot in the first OT. Also got called on a tough foul to give the Knicks a tying three point play at the 1:30 minute mark. Had an eventful 2nd OT, hittig a big three that looked like it shoudl have iced it, then contributing to our attempted collapse by choking a pair of FTs in the final minute, then benefitting from the Knicks' need to intentionally foul to win redemption, and set his career high before it was over.

All in the Family -- dad was a low brow neadrathal, son in law was a hippy, and mom was just really really annoying. Sounds just like home.

 

[Bricklayer]

Udrih ( B- ) -- did little in the first half, and got blown by by Marbury and Robinson on several occasions. But he ran the position and kept the team organized. Hit some big shots in the last 2 minute of regulation, but joined our blatant attempts to throw the game in the 2nd OT by chippping in wiht our 3rd straight turnover in the final minute of the game. Nonetheless, while there is a limit to how high a grade a guy can get for going 10 pts 1reb 5ast in 43min, Beno's composure once again helped. All in all, while he is not a quality starter, I think we may finally have found ourselves a solid backup PG capable of running the team.

The Adams Family -- You rang?

Salmons ( B+ ) -- quiet first half, highlighted by a play where he brought some help defense on Curry, blocked his shot, and got him mad enough to get a T. But picked it up in the second half and made some big plays down the strecth. Was going to be the hero at the end of regulation after he scored a layup with the continuation, but in our first of several chokes we gave it right back. Also maybe saved the winning hoop by Eddie Curry at the regulation buzzer by flying by to distract what shuld have been an easy layup. Made more plays in the first OT, but almost got fitted with goat horns after picking up an offensive foul with 21 seconds to go, giving the Knicks a chance to win it (which they of course declined to take advanatage of). Grabbed some big rebounds for us on both ends as we repeatedly tried to choke it. The offensive board after Kevin choked his FTs (after which John chocked one of his two as well), and then a big defensive board.

The Dursleys -- when first we meet Harry Potter he is living in a closet underneath the stairs in his uncle's home. He will go on to have a friend grow a pig's tail on his cousin's rump, to blow up his, er...aunt in law? like a balloon and have her float off, to be chained and padlocked into his room, and...not quite the picture of harmony.

Cisco ( D+ ) -- in the first half was doing fine, and brought some energy and all around contributions without too many dumb Cisco plays. But struggled to bring the ball up against little Nate Robinson, and missed the big open three at the end of regulation. Waited until OT to pull his first true Cisco moment, suddenly and mysteriously deciding to chuck up a tough shot early in the shot clock without moving the ball -- essentially a turnover -- and resulting in the Knicks coming back down the other way and fouling Brad out. Just anothr duh moment to add to the tally.

The Kennedys -- I am not quite sure it is dysfunction, but America's royal family has had tragedy and scandal enough to do for a thousand families. Of course may help that there are about a 1000 of them to get assasinated, cheat on their wives, get accused of sexual assault, crash their cars, and ariplanes, have drinking problems...and of course every move scrutinized.

Hawes ( B- ) -- finally saw some post moves out of him, but rushed them. Still looked generally solid and comfortable offensively. Not at all rookielike. Managed to grab a whopping zero rebounds, and that, as has been mentioned, will be an ongoing thing to watch. At his height you practically have to duck out of the way to not at least have one fall into your hands, and at times was overpowered by David Lee. But did get a block on the much smaller Malik Rose when he tried to post Spenser and made a great defensive play in the third to avoid having to deal with Curry in the post, jumping around and over him to deflect the post feed, control it, and start the fastbreak outlet.

Cain & Abel/Adam & Eve -- ok, dad is so hard up for a woman that he has one made for him out of a spare rib he has hanging around -- today we use latex. Then mom starts talking to snakes and gets you all kicked out of the garden. Then Cain gets mad because God doesn't like his vegetables and decides to hack up his brother...damn people have issues.

 

[Bricklayer]

Douby ( D ) -- with the team as currently constructed, there just are no minutes. Made several dumb plays to close the third, including stepping out of bounds while trying to bring the ball up under pressure, and then not being aware of the game clock to end the quarter, and passing on an open shot to dribble in and....buzzer went off. Duh. He and Cisco are now stuck in chicken and the egg land, where they make dumb mistakes which prevent them from getting the minutes on a team overloaded at 2 positions, but may never stop making those dumb mistakes unless they get those minutes.

Damien -- ok your son, kind of adopted but still son, may in fact be the antichrist. That's kind of messed up.

Williams ( INC ) -- appeared with little fanfare to suddenly play the final play of the first half for defensive purposes.

Soap -- I actually know very little about this series, but I was one short, and it was suggested. So here ya go: The show was controversial for its time, dealing openly with the topics of homosexuality, marital infidelity, impotence, interracial marriage, and gay parenting (from the wikipedia description).

Theus ( ) -- the game ran long, and these grades are a day late, so I'm not even going to try to reconstruct a double OT game in a long discussion here. Suffice it to say it was like watching a game of hot potato wiht both teams doing their damndest to give th game to the other. Reggie looked agonized over there too, as this really was an important game to prevent the early season sprial of death. We went to a variety of smallball lineups with Brad or Spenser the only big down the stretch, but the results were dubious. Ron did a great job muscling up Curry, although you can't ask him to do that all the time. But we were still getting getting pummeled inside and on the glass. Reggie's decision to run the offense through Ron late worked well, and resulted in what could have been the winning shot form Cisco if he had hit it. On the other hand we really should have lost this one not once, but twice, as the Knciks beat us up inside and blew two layups -- one by Curry at the end of regulation, and on by Lee at the end of the first OT off an offensive rebound, that would have won it. And of course the last minute was just terrible. Reggie certianly wasn't out on the court, bu even in his decrepitutde maybe he should be as we took a 7 point lead into the final 60 seconds and proceeded to turn the ball over on three straight occasions, then miss three straight FTs, and in all ways lose the game to maybe every team in the league except this one and perhaps the Sonics. Entertaining, but in the way a train wreck is entertaining. Oh well, our pattern is set now, and we are very consistent. Good team on road = we get destroyed. Awful team at home = squeak out win. Everything in between...probably a variety of close losses, the occasional blowout, and then sneaking a W here and there. One of those up next, as Detroit comes to town. A good team, but not a great one. Chauncey is having some issues, and they just got done getting beat by the Lakers. So guess we'll see. Logged a huge load of mintes again, but wiht the day off, an at home, hopefully that won't be decisive.

The Greek Gods -- ok, first of all the gods only get to rule the world by overthrowing their parents. Second, they are all very very closely related, with four or five of them Zeus's siblings, and then all the rest of the major ones basically his children...normally by his sisters (except for Aphrodite, who I think was formed out of somebody's phallus (I kid you not). Then of course these various siblings all get married and start having children. And of course they are constantly fightiing, and cheating on one another and...

 

[Bricklayer]

CLEAN GRADES (grades without the themes to break them up):

Spoiler

Welcome to the Awful Bowl 2007, home of the worst last minute in the history of professional basketball.

Artest ( A- ) -- in the first half repeatedly took advantage of Jared Jeffiries, a good defender, but a stickman. And was just stronger and better than Richardson at the same things QRich excels at -- strength and post play from the SF spot. But did not start to truly shine until the chips were down. Wiht Kevin neutralized in the 4th, Ron stepped up and played huge on both sides of the ball. Not only scoring, but guarding big ole Eddie Curry as well down in the post better than any of our alleged big men could do. Was also the guy we ran our called plays through off on the wing. Repeatedly drew doubles, and kicked it to the open men, who only sporadically converted. Played big in the first OT on both sides of the ball. And had a solid 2nd OT uuntil joining our self destruction parade in the last minute and throwing a dumb TO. Am going to use that and his awful FT shooting -- at one point was 1-7 from the line to justify the "-" here in light of Kevin's A. Should be some distinction, but Ron was the leader down the stretch.

Moore ( C+ ) -- well, have to give him credit for consistency if nothing else. Mr. 4pts and 4rebs gave us...4pts and 4rebs. Remarkable. And watching him try to stop Curry in there was fun. Only giving up about 70 lbs. However as Mikki Moore games go, on the small palette on which he paints, this one was solid. He didn't drop many balls with those oven mitts, still can't hit any shot that requires skill, but did get a couple of follows, and was doing his 7'0" Quincy Douby imitation and hopping around trying to draw charges in there. Was probably done for the night after the third I think it was, with us instead choosing to go with a variety of small ball lineups, but once Brad fouled out we were *gulp* forced to turn to Mikki in the OTs, and amazingly not only did he not screw it up for us, he was actually screwing it up maybe the least of all the starters by the end of the second OT (although maybe if he himself had not fouled out he could have thrown something away or dropped something himself -- could just be an opportunity thing. In any case, tongiht he was just a guy...a guy watching his man go for 24 and 16, but still just a guy. And when Mikki is just a guy, you count your blessings.

Miller ( B ) -- got run over by Curry on a number of occasions, but hit the glass solidly and countered with his own points. Threw in a few nice classic Brad passes as well. Nearly got to be the goat for blowing the coverage on Curry at the buzzer, letting himself get pushed out of the paint and giving Curry a free shot at the rim. Was bailed out by Salmons coming over to distract the big ole dinosaur just enough for him to blow the gimme. This ladies and gentlemen being why you DUNK it. Lost him to fouls in the first OT, with the consolation being that Curry himself was already in major foul trouble as well. Tells you what you need to know about Brad's mighty interior defense that we decided that letting 6'7" SF Ron Artest go brawn on brawn on Curry was the better move than lettign Brad continue to fight a losing battle.

Martin ( A ) -- I went back and forth on this grade about 10 times, to add the + or not. And I am still slightly bemused that on what has to be the finest statistical night of Kevin's career, I finally decided agains the "+". But here's why: after the thrid quarter, Kevin was no longer the best player on our team, and was not the guy who mattered most during all the winning times that followed. And that's normally where that "+" comes from. And normally when a guy puts up huge numbers, its just assumed that he was the best player when it mattered. But not tonight. Got of to a big big first half and was allowed to more or less go wherever he wanted to on the court. Had some defensive issues as usual wiht Marbury and Crawfoird, but nothing near as severe as thehurting he was putting on the Knicks. Also was coming back to the glass rather than leaking out, and gave us a big boost on the defensive glass. Got more one dimesnaionl after half, mostly jsut scoring. But the Knicks locked into him in the 4th, and Kevin started forcing bad shots looking for the bailout foul. Really a considerably bad quarter for him, and particularly dramatic given the big first three quarters. Hit one shot in the first OT. Also got called on a tough foul to give the Knicks a tying three point play at the 1:30 minute mark. Had an eventful 2nd OT, hittig a big three that looked like it shoudl have iced it, then contributing to our attempted collapse by choking a pair of FTs in the final minute, then benefitting from the Knicks' need to intentionally foul to win redemption, and set his career high before it was over.

Udrih ( B- ) -- did little in the first half, and got blown by by Marbury and Robinson on several occasions. But he ran the position and kept the team organized. Hit some big shots in the last 2 minute of regulation, but joined our blatant attempts to throw the game in the 2nd OT by chippping in wiht our 3rd straight turnover in the final minute of the game. Nonetheless, while there is a limit to how high a grade a guy can get for going 10 pts 1reb 5ast in 43min, Beno's composure once again helped. All in all, while he is not a quality starter, I think we may finally have found ourselves a solid backup PG capable of running the team.

Salmons ( B+ ) -- quiet first half, highlighted by a play where he brought some help defense on Curry, blocked his shot, and got him mad enough to get a T. But picked it up in the second half and made some big plays down the strecth. Was going to be the hero at the end of regulation after he scored a layup with the continuation, but in our first of several chokes we gave it right back. Also maybe saved the winning hoop by Eddie Curry at the regulation buzzer by flying by to distract what shuld have been an easy layup. Made more plays in the first OT, but almost got fitted with goat horns after picking up an offensive foul with 21 seconds to go, giving the Knicks a chance to win it (which they of course declined to take advanatage of). Grabbed some big rebounds for us on both ends as we repeatedly tried to choke it. The offensive board after Kevin choked his FTs (after which John chocked one of his two as well), and then a big defensive board.

Cisco ( D+ ) -- in the first half was doing fine, and brought some energy and all around contributions without too many dumb Cisco plays. But struggled to bring the ball up against little Nate Robinson, and missed the big open three at the end of regulation. Waited until OT to pull his first true Cisco moment, suddenly and mysteriously deciding to chuck up a tough shot early in the shot clock without moving the ball -- essentially a turnover -- and resulting in the Knicks coming back down the other way and fouling Brad out. Just another duh moment to add to the tally.

Hawes ( B- ) -- finally saw some post moves out of him, but rushed them. Still looked generally solid and comfortable offensively. Not at all rookielike. Managed to grab a whopping zero rebounds, and that, as has been mentioned, will be an ongoing thing to watch. At his height you practically have to duck out of the way to not at least have one fall into your hands, and at times was overpowered by David Lee. But did get a block on the much smaller Malik Rose when he tried to post Spenser and made a great defensive play in the third to avoid having to deal with Curry in the post, jumping around and over him to deflect the post feed, control it, and start the fastbreak outlet.

Douby ( D ) -- with the team as currently constructed, there just are no minutes. Made several dumb plays to close the third, including stepping out of bounds while trying to bring the ball up under pressure, and then not being aware of the game clock to end the quarter, and passing on an open shot to dribble in and....buzzer went off. Duh. He and Cisco are now stuck in chicken and the egg land, where they make dumb mistakes which prevent them from getting the minutes on a team overloaded at 2 positions, but may never stop making those dumb mistakes unless they get those minutes.

Williams ( INC ) -- appeared with little fanfare to suddenly play the final play of the first half for defensive purposes.

Theus ( ) -- the game ran long, and these grades are a day late, so I'm not even going to try to reconstruct a double OT game in a long discussion here. Suffice it to say it was like watching a game of hot potato wiht both teams doing their damndest to give th game to the other. Reggie looked agonized over there too, as this really was an important game to prevent the early season sprial of death. We went to a variety of smallball lineups with Brad or Spenser the only big down the stretch, but the results were dubious. Ron did a great job muscling up Curry, although you can't ask him to do that all the time. But we were still getting getting pummeled inside and on the glass. Reggie's decision to run the offense through Ron late worked well, and resulted in what could have been the winning shot form Cisco if he had hit it. On the other hand we really should have lost this one not once, but twice, as the Knciks beat us up inside and blew two layups -- one by Curry at the end of regulation, and on by Lee at the end of the first OT off an offensive rebound, that would have won it. And of course the last minute was just terrible. Reggie certianly wasn't out on the court, bu even in his decrepitutde maybe he should be as we took a 7 point lead into the final 60 seconds and proceeded to turn the ball over on three straight occasions, then miss three straight FTs, and in all ways lose the game to maybe every team in the league except this one and perhaps the Sonics. Entertaining, but in the way a train wreck is entertaining. Oh well, our pattern is set now, and we are very consistent. Good team on road = we get destroyed. Awful team at home = squeak out win. Everything in between...probably a variety of close losses, the occasional blowout, and then sneaking a W here and there. One of those up next, as Detroit comes to town. A good team, but not a great one. Chauncey is having some issues, and they just got done getting beat by the Lakers. So guess we'll see. Logged a huge load of mintes again, but wiht the day off, an at home, hopefully that won't be decisive.

 

[TheFifthMookie]

Awful bowl lives up to its rep!!!

Yowza! what an ugly finish.

at least the 1st overtime was good!

 

[PixelPusher]

Placeholder "It was close, but Isiah Thomas's Lamerade still reigns supreme" post.

 

[BawLa]

Placeholder: Spencer Hawes with some defense...






but no rebounds...

 

[VF21]

Really? I would have sworn he had at least one. I thought sure I even typed "Hawes rebound" during the PBP.

I know one thing... Mikki Moore actually did more good than bad tonight!

 

[HighFlyingMonkey]

Placeholder "Next stop, Sucksville!"

 

[kgrichwine]

The game the King's could not throw away.

 

[kingsfan916]

A+ for kevin!

 

[Glenn]

Welcome to the Awful Bowl 2007, home of the worst last minute in the history of professional basketball.

Remarkable last minute or so in all the bad ways a person could imagine except for one thing. We won! I think the stat going into the last 20 seconds or so was 4 turnovers and 1-4 free throws. Luckily the ship was righted and they didn't let this horrendous minute drag them down for the rest of the game.

 

[BawLa]

Really? I would have sworn he had at least one. I thought sure I even typed "Hawes rebound" during the PBP.

I know one thing... Mikki Moore actually did more good than bad tonight!

I thought he had 2 blocks and the ESPN boxscore said 1 so it's probably them.

 

[allrightythen]

Really? I would have sworn he had at least one. I thought sure I even typed "Hawes rebound" during the PBP.

I know one thing... Mikki Moore actually did more good than bad tonight!

OOOH! Maybe he'll get a C

 

[SacTownKid]

Really? I would have sworn he had at least one. I thought sure I even typed "Hawes rebound" during the PBP.

I know one thing... Mikki Moore actually did more good than bad tonight!

I think he may have tapped a few to other guys. Good as getting one I guess.

 

[6th]

Disclaimer: I love my Kings (actually I am a Homer and proud of it) and, therefore, tend to grade rather generously...most of the time. These, then, are obviously only my own opinion.

Kevin...A+...He had a career high 43 pts to go with 10 rebs and 2 assists. This was only his 5th career double-double.

Miller...A-...another nice double-double by Brad. He had 12/11/3/2/1. He led the team in both rebounds and blocks.

Artest...A...Ron was a beast in only his 2nd game of the year. while his 28/8/2/1/2 was a very nice line, his most impressive contribution doesn't even show in the box score. He did a monster job against a monster player when coach had him defend the 300 lb (or so) Curry.

Salmons...A-...Salmons really seemed to adjust his attitude and was a huge contributor down the stretch. His 16/7/4/1 was much needed for the win.

Udrih...B...a solid contribution from our new pg. His stat line 10/1/5/0/1 wasn't fantastic, but was certainly needed while Bibby is recuperating.

Moore...C+...while not a great outing stat-wise, 4/4/0/1/1 Mikki at least contributed some on the defensive end and was more of a help than a hindrance for a change.

Garcia...D+...I either really love this guy, or he makes me want to pull my hair out. Not much to contribute in the stats, 4/3/1/0/1, and did everything he could to help the Knicks back in the game in the 4th qtr by making boneheaded decisions. I am minus a few hairs tonight.

Everyone else...INC

 

[joejoe]

I saw my first Kings game of the year. Well, I saw the second half. I left the bar after the end of the first overtime in disgust. Too much for me. For what it's worth, here are my impressions of some of the players:

Spencer Hawes has energy. Nice block and recovery, and a good dish in the paint. Once he's established that he's healthy, he should get good minutes for a rookie.

Miki Moore is active and athletic. Didn't see much offense, but he was trying to take charges. He even got one on Marbury. He's a decent backup.

Beno is solid. Good backup. Didn't see many mistakes, and he played under control.

Martin and Salmons are much more confident this year, and they can score. These guys will do the bulk of our scoring. Salmons can create his own shot, except at the end of regultion, when four Knicks were guarding him. When four players guard you, you need to pass earlier.

Miller is a bit more spry and nimble. He's trying hard. But not a huge change from last year, except that now he can make no-look over the shoulder shots in the paint. Sweet!

On the Knicks side, I wonder when Eddie Curry discovered donuts. Man, he's packing some heft.

Marbury's "what, me?!" face after Miki drew the charge was priceless.

I think I saw Zeke grab a courtside waitress' ***, but I can't be sure

I see that the Kings won the game. They need it. It should never have gotten into overtime. But it seems to me that most of the players were hustling when on the court. The roster is set, but if I see hustle, then I'll be happy.

 

[bibbinator]

All hail the Keystone Kings! Still, it was good to get the win and there were some exciting moments.

 

[Warhawk]

Brick - an A+ for leading this thread off with "Married with Children". Now you just need to include "SOAP".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_(TV_series)

 

[=LarryLegend=]

My wife and I went to game with two Knicks fans (their first Knicks game in Sac) dbl ot loss, them talking crap all night.....priceless!

ohhh and they were hating on Kmoney! LOL

KEVIN MARTIN IS BACK TO 2ND LEADING SCORER IN THE NBA 1 POINT BEHIND LEBRON!!!!!

 

[Kingster]

Hawes ( B- ) -- finally saw some post moves out of him, but rushed them. Still looked generally solid and comfortable offensively. Not at all rookielike. Managed to grab a whopping zero rebounds, and that, as has been mentioned, will be an ongoing thing to watch. At his height you practically have to duck out of the way to not at least have one fall into your hands, and at times was overpowered by David Lee. But did get a block on the much smaller Malik Rose when he tried to post Spenser and made a great defensive play in the third to avoid having to deal with Curry in the post, jumping around and over him to deflect the post feed, control it, and start the fastbreak outlet.

Hawes continues to impress. He is the anti-Thomas: he exudes intelligence on the floor. Basketball IQ is nothing to take lightly. This kid has it. He'll be absorbing more basketball info in the next three years than most guys can absorb in six. I like foot speed as much as the next guy, but I also like anticipation. This guy has it, and as a result he's quicker than you would expect. When he starts to get a feel for the players and the teams he's playing against, he's going to use that anticipation to be quicker than his foot speed would indicate.

As far as rebounding is concerned, I think he'll do fine. Not great, but good enough. Rebounding isn't just getting the ball, it's keeping others from getting the ball in blocking out. It will be fun to see and review him in the upcoming games to see what impact he will have in that regard.