Arby's Roast Beef
Starter
CruzDude's got it; we're playing our younger players, but they are more "young" in terms of the sense that they're all still trying to prove themselves and carve a niche in the league. We've got a solid blend of "young" homegrown talent (Garcia, Douby, Hawes, Williams) and we've got a solid blend of "young" diamond-in-the-roughs (Udrih, D. Jones). With the exception of Hawes, all the players listed above are within the 23-27 age bracket; not terribly young, but definitely, definitely not terribly old. Hell, these players are essentially the core of our bench. Garcia's actually older than he plays, but the talent is undeniable, and Douby's do-or-die season has shifted one notch up after a series of good back-to-back games.
What's most intriguing to me, however, is how we have converted those "supposedly" destined bench players into legitimate starters; case in point, both Beno Udrih and John Salmons. Both of these guys had the label "does a little bit of everything, but not terribly good at anything" on them at drafttime, and both got drafted in the mid-to-late 1st round accordingly moreso for production as opposed to potential. And, not surprisingly, with those labels and few playing time to spare, both players got dumped by their first teams. It seems like almost a feel-good story, to me, how the combination of these players has translated into moderate success, given our talent level, in the past couple of games. Beno Udrih has shown extra penetration ability and crisp, offense-oriented passing as well as the defensive intangibles that I, at least, thought he once lacked, and John Salmons has really channeled All-star scoring levels, not to mention his already solid all-around abilities from prior years. This almost has to make me wonder whether the Grizzlies' dump, Dahntay Jones, would go through the "prove the naysayers wrong" sort of event and play well with us. He's already shown a flair for dunking and the type of athleticism we need at the wing positions, and needless to say he's been impressive. He can definitely be the next player to take the step with us.
What's most intriguing to me, however, is how we have converted those "supposedly" destined bench players into legitimate starters; case in point, both Beno Udrih and John Salmons. Both of these guys had the label "does a little bit of everything, but not terribly good at anything" on them at drafttime, and both got drafted in the mid-to-late 1st round accordingly moreso for production as opposed to potential. And, not surprisingly, with those labels and few playing time to spare, both players got dumped by their first teams. It seems like almost a feel-good story, to me, how the combination of these players has translated into moderate success, given our talent level, in the past couple of games. Beno Udrih has shown extra penetration ability and crisp, offense-oriented passing as well as the defensive intangibles that I, at least, thought he once lacked, and John Salmons has really channeled All-star scoring levels, not to mention his already solid all-around abilities from prior years. This almost has to make me wonder whether the Grizzlies' dump, Dahntay Jones, would go through the "prove the naysayers wrong" sort of event and play well with us. He's already shown a flair for dunking and the type of athleticism we need at the wing positions, and needless to say he's been impressive. He can definitely be the next player to take the step with us.
