What's better on a nice Hallow's Eve than an absolute bunker buster of a horror story?
Bogdan Bogdanovic (B-) --
Yet another solid game for the Serb. While he missed some shots, there was never really any doubt as to Bogdan's position as a competent basketball player (something that you actually had to wonder about when it came to several other performances on the night). Had a couple more crafty moves on the offensive end and, while I appreciate the unselfishness, I kinda wish Bogy would take charge and shoot the ball more since he at least seems capable of occassionally finding the bottom of the net. On defense, I thought he played well within the team concept and, matched up on Darren Collison for a surprising amount of time, didn't get his ass handed to him, which immediately made him our best defender on the night.
Zach Randolph (C-) --
Here's an exaggerated summary of Z-Bo's night: iso post up miss, iso post up make, iso post up, random corner three pointer attempt, more isos, slow reaction time on the boards. Overall, it was a less-than-good night from the Indiana native but one that came with the caveat that there were times when it seemed like he was the only guy in a purple jersey capable of not pooping himself on offense. On defense, Z-Bo is slow-footed and thus largely relegated to the traditional center role of standing around in the key to protect the rim (not happening) and box out (he still does this) and rebound (this happens less than it used to). Wasn't matched up with Al Jefferson, which is probably a good thing because I'm pretty sure the collision of the two old traditional big men would have opened up a singularity right there in the Canseco Fieldhouse (is it still called that?)
Willie Caulie-Stein (C-) --
So here's the thing: Willie played really really good in the third quarter. Sure, he was abysmal at times during the rest of the game but during that third quarter he was everywhere on defense and attacking the boards with the aggressiveness that he so often forgets to bring when he plays. On defense, Willie gets caught ball watching at least a half dozen times a game and, while he's fast enough to cover for some of his mistakes, he's not fast enough to just leave his guy open under the rim so he can try to help one of his guards. On offense, Trill is still frustratingly tentative at times, failing to attack the rim off the ball to give lanes to his guards and sorta floundering when he touches the ball at the top of the key in Joerger's pseudo-Princeton system. As it's a problem any of our non-Greek bigmen seem to be having, I'm not sure how much of that is his fault.
Buddy Hield (F) --
Holy moley. At a certain point, you just run out of words to describe what's been happening with Buddy. Touted as a shooter, Buddy is now shooting threes at a worse clip than Zach flippin' Randolph. On defense, Buddy is at least making an effort but with his utter collapse into a blackhole of despair every time he touches the ball on offense, he's still a net negative whenever he's still on the court.
George Hill (D-) --
So another bad night, another horrible performance from Hill. In the second quarter, there was a spurt where it seemed like Hill could barely stay on his own two feet without slipping, let alone run an entire basketball team as its lead guard. On defense, spent a lot of the night matched up with Oladipo, who is really coming into his own. Hill played him alright but was actually overmatched by him on the other end of the floor. People have been talking about Hill as if he's just here for the paycheck but I'm not willing to go that far yet.
--
De'Aaron Fox (B-) --
Skal Labissiere (C-) --
Kosta Koufos (B-) --
Solid Kosta. I said that Kosta deserves to be playing for a better team in the game thread and I will stand by that statement now. He's a great team defender, rebounds, doesn't take plays off, and generally seems like a nice guy (please note that in his three years on the team I've probably never even heard his voice). There's gotta be a playoff team out there looking for a guy like Kosta, right?
Justin Jackson (D) --
From starter to substitute, it's almost remarkable how little Justin Jackson's customary 5 points of production change has affected by his standing in the team. This isn't to say he's been good by any means but you know what he'll do (or what he won't do, namely produce in any other category). But he's still just a rook.
Malachi Richardson (D) --
And the swirling pit of sadness continues. With all the "Malachi is a dark horse best prospect on our team contender" talk of the offseason, standards may have been higher for the former 'Cuse guy than they probably should have been. Tonight against the Pacers, he looked alternatively intriguing and frustrating. First the good, Malachi is completely willing to take shots, something that the collection of "high character" guys on the roster sometimes can have trouble doing. Unfortunately, he didn't really make many of these shots or take many "good" shots. On defense, he (like almost everyone else) got burned by the other Bogdanovic, which probably isn't going to be a career highlight. Also interesting to note that Malachi played a lot of his minutes against the Pacers at his natural SG slot.
Frank Mason (inc.) --
Georgios Papagiannis (inc.) --
#FreePapa!
Bogdan Bogdanovic (B-) --
Yet another solid game for the Serb. While he missed some shots, there was never really any doubt as to Bogdan's position as a competent basketball player (something that you actually had to wonder about when it came to several other performances on the night). Had a couple more crafty moves on the offensive end and, while I appreciate the unselfishness, I kinda wish Bogy would take charge and shoot the ball more since he at least seems capable of occassionally finding the bottom of the net. On defense, I thought he played well within the team concept and, matched up on Darren Collison for a surprising amount of time, didn't get his ass handed to him, which immediately made him our best defender on the night.
Zach Randolph (C-) --
Here's an exaggerated summary of Z-Bo's night: iso post up miss, iso post up make, iso post up, random corner three pointer attempt, more isos, slow reaction time on the boards. Overall, it was a less-than-good night from the Indiana native but one that came with the caveat that there were times when it seemed like he was the only guy in a purple jersey capable of not pooping himself on offense. On defense, Z-Bo is slow-footed and thus largely relegated to the traditional center role of standing around in the key to protect the rim (not happening) and box out (he still does this) and rebound (this happens less than it used to). Wasn't matched up with Al Jefferson, which is probably a good thing because I'm pretty sure the collision of the two old traditional big men would have opened up a singularity right there in the Canseco Fieldhouse (is it still called that?)
Willie Caulie-Stein (C-) --
So here's the thing: Willie played really really good in the third quarter. Sure, he was abysmal at times during the rest of the game but during that third quarter he was everywhere on defense and attacking the boards with the aggressiveness that he so often forgets to bring when he plays. On defense, Willie gets caught ball watching at least a half dozen times a game and, while he's fast enough to cover for some of his mistakes, he's not fast enough to just leave his guy open under the rim so he can try to help one of his guards. On offense, Trill is still frustratingly tentative at times, failing to attack the rim off the ball to give lanes to his guards and sorta floundering when he touches the ball at the top of the key in Joerger's pseudo-Princeton system. As it's a problem any of our non-Greek bigmen seem to be having, I'm not sure how much of that is his fault.
Buddy Hield (F) --
Holy moley. At a certain point, you just run out of words to describe what's been happening with Buddy. Touted as a shooter, Buddy is now shooting threes at a worse clip than Zach flippin' Randolph. On defense, Buddy is at least making an effort but with his utter collapse into a blackhole of despair every time he touches the ball on offense, he's still a net negative whenever he's still on the court.
George Hill (D-) --
So another bad night, another horrible performance from Hill. In the second quarter, there was a spurt where it seemed like Hill could barely stay on his own two feet without slipping, let alone run an entire basketball team as its lead guard. On defense, spent a lot of the night matched up with Oladipo, who is really coming into his own. Hill played him alright but was actually overmatched by him on the other end of the floor. People have been talking about Hill as if he's just here for the paycheck but I'm not willing to go that far yet.
--
De'Aaron Fox (B-) --
Skal Labissiere (C-) --
Kosta Koufos (B-) --
Solid Kosta. I said that Kosta deserves to be playing for a better team in the game thread and I will stand by that statement now. He's a great team defender, rebounds, doesn't take plays off, and generally seems like a nice guy (please note that in his three years on the team I've probably never even heard his voice). There's gotta be a playoff team out there looking for a guy like Kosta, right?
Justin Jackson (D) --
From starter to substitute, it's almost remarkable how little Justin Jackson's customary 5 points of production change has affected by his standing in the team. This isn't to say he's been good by any means but you know what he'll do (or what he won't do, namely produce in any other category). But he's still just a rook.
Malachi Richardson (D) --
And the swirling pit of sadness continues. With all the "Malachi is a dark horse best prospect on our team contender" talk of the offseason, standards may have been higher for the former 'Cuse guy than they probably should have been. Tonight against the Pacers, he looked alternatively intriguing and frustrating. First the good, Malachi is completely willing to take shots, something that the collection of "high character" guys on the roster sometimes can have trouble doing. Unfortunately, he didn't really make many of these shots or take many "good" shots. On defense, he (like almost everyone else) got burned by the other Bogdanovic, which probably isn't going to be a career highlight. Also interesting to note that Malachi played a lot of his minutes against the Pacers at his natural SG slot.
Frank Mason (inc.) --
Georgios Papagiannis (inc.) --
#FreePapa!
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