Moving without the ball

[jthompson1]

After watching the Kings game last night, not sure how accurate I am on this but, I think that was one of the first times Donte' Greene and Isaiah Thomas played extended minutes together and it worked really well. I think most of it was because of how good Donte' moves without the ball and knowing that Isaiah will find him most times then not. This although could have been because Dallas looked extremely slow but nonetheless, did anyone else notice this? and think that they would like to see Donte' and Isaiah play more minutes together?

 

[bajaden]

After watching the Kings game last night, not sure how accurate I am on this but, I think that was one of the first times Donte' Greene and Isaiah Thomas played extended minutes together and it worked really well. I think most of it was because of how good Donte' moves without the ball and knowing that Isaiah will find him most times then not. This although could have been because Dallas looked extremely slow but nonetheless, did anyone else notice this? and think that they would like to see Donte' and Isaiah play more minutes together?

I don't know how much any of it had to do with IT and Donte on the floor together, but in general, the whole team was moving without the ball, and moving the ball. Usually adds up to easier shots, fewer turnovers, more assists, and more wins. Dallas is minus any kind of interior presence, expecially defensively. So if you continuely penetrate the key, your going to get easy shots.

Dallas looked old and tired, and we took advantage of it. Good job there!

 

[jthompson1]

I don't know how much any of it had to do with IT and Donte on the floor together, but in general, the whole team was moving without the ball, and moving the ball. Usually adds up to easier shots, fewer turnovers, more assists, and more wins. Dallas is minus any kind of interior presence, expecially defensively. So if you continuely penetrate the key, your going to get easy shots.

Dallas looked old and tired, and we took advantage of it. Good job there!

Agreed with all of that, for some reason Donte' just stood out to me. Maybe just because he hasn't gotten significant minutes. After the first two or three baskets we had, our movement just seemed to be contagious. I think one of the reasons we would get easier shots was because Thornton was hitting his shots early. When he is scoring early we're a completely different team, and it just opens up up everything for us.

 

[Prince_XY]

After watching the Kings game last night, not sure how accurate I am on this but, I think that was one of the first times Donte' Greene and Isaiah Thomas played extended minutes together and it worked really well. I think most of it was because of how good Donte' moves without the ball and knowing that Isaiah will find him most times then not. This although could have been because Dallas looked extremely slow but nonetheless, did anyone else notice this? and think that they would like to see Donte' and Isaiah play more minutes together?

I noticed that too. IT was awesome when he does not force himself into making shot for himself and concentrating instead on making sure the ball goes around. Greene was also awesome moving to spots where IT can give him the ball. I wish the others also get to do this consistently - I mean not just standing on a spot and wait for the ball.

I would like to see this line-up more often:

C- Cousins
PF- Thompson
SF- Greene
SG- Evans
PG- Thomas

 

[jthompson1]

I noticed that too. IT was awesome when he does not force himself into making shot for himself and concentrating instead on making sure the ball goes around. Greene was also awesome moving to spots where IT can give him the ball. I wish the others also get to do this consistently - I mean not just standing on a spot and wait for the ball.

I would like to see this line-up more often:



C- Cousins
PF- Thompson
SF- Greene
SG- Evans
PG- Thomas

I wouldn't mind seeing that lineup either, I haven't checked the playoff race lately but I imagine we aren't very close and we really don't have much to lose, but if I was Coach Smart I would have a talk with Thornton and let him know this isn't a knock on him and that we need his scoring punch off the bench.

 

[Bricklayer]

I wouldn't mind seeing that lineup either, I haven't checked the playoff race lately but I imagine we aren't very close and we really don't have much to lose, but if I was Coach Smart I would have a talk with Thornton and let him know this isn't a knock on him and that we need his scoring punch off the bench.

Its going to be really hard, REALLY hard, to bench Marcus Thornton now that he has settled back in as a flat out 20pt scorer in this league. These are hs numbers the last two months:

Feb: 37.2min 20.4pts (.439 .360 .857) 3.5reb 2.2ast 1.5stl 0.4blk
Mar: 32.3min 20.5pts (.485 .406 .800) 3.5reb 1.2ast 1.0stl 0.3blk


And you guys are proposing benching him in favor of either Donte Greene or Isiaih Thomas. Good luck explainging that one to him. Better you than me.

 

[Spike]

Unfortunately, we may be stuck with a three guard lineup for a while. However, Donte does seem to offer more versatility. I think minutes are more important anyway, and hopefully Smart manages them better in the future. Last night was almost tolerable, but still not all that bad.

 

[The Hammer]

Unfortunately, we may be stuck with a three guard lineup for a while. However, Donte does seem to offer more versatility. I think minutes are more important anyway, and hopefully Smart manages them better in the future. Last night was almost tolerable, but still not all that bad.

I can actually tolerate Donte in the starting lineup at the 4 on some nights. Against Dirk, it works. Hurts our rebounding, but if he can keep up his D, we might be seeing who he can really guard. Seems like Smart's plan is the three guard thing, and then either JT, Donte, or Hayes depending on matchups... hmm...

 

[Glenn]

Unfortunately, we may be stuck with a three guard lineup for a while. However, Donte does seem to offer more versatility. I think minutes are more important anyway, and hopefully Smart manages them better in the future. Last night was almost tolerable, but still not all that bad.

It wasn't bad at all. I was shocked, actually shocked at who got the most minutes last night. Maybe it's seconds but it's about who got the most time. Given what I saw on the court, he is the last guy I thought would play a lot of minutes and that was Cousins. Seems like as the game went on, he looked healthier and healthier. Didn't rebound much but that's to be expected. Who ever said he was being a wimp by not playing the game before this was REALLY wrong and very, very cynical.

 

[Section 101]

The biggest thing with Donte is he runs the floor. When he's running on the wing defenders have to guard him which opens up the middle more for the ball handlers. They missed him a few times last night when he was ahead of the defenders too.

 

[jcwkings]

i don't think you bring thornton off the bench now(could be ultimate solution), hes been every efficient lately, and he is a scrappy player that has a knack for coming up with loose balls. I would prefer this lineup though

pg: Isiah
sg: Tyreke
sf: Garcia
pf: JT
C: Cousins

Garcia has been playing very good lately. He is a scrappy defender that has a knack for blocking and slapping away balls from offensive players. He also has been shooting the 3 at a good clip. But the 2nd units seems to have found some cohesion of late, so you don't change it.

 

[origkds]

Its going to be really hard, REALLY hard, to bench Marcus Thornton now that he has settled back in as a flat out 20pt scorer in this league. These are hs numbers the last two months:

Feb: 37.2min 20.4pts (.439 .360 .857) 3.5reb 2.2ast 1.5stl 0.4blk
Mar: 32.3min 20.5pts (.485 .406 .800) 3.5reb 1.2ast 1.0stl 0.3blk


And you guys are proposing benching him in favor of either Donte Greene or Isiaih Thomas. Good luck explainging that one to him. Better you than me.

All of this.

It’s really difficult for me to believe that some of you want to take a guy that’s 24th in the league in scoring (higher than that in the last couple of months) and bring him in off the bench. You would have to have one hell of a team to afford that kind of luxury.

 

[bajaden]

All of this.

It’s really difficult for me to believe that some of you want to take a guy that’s 24th in the league in scoring (higher than that in the last couple of months) and bring him in off the bench. You would have to have one hell of a team to afford that kind of luxury.

I have to agree. Its one thing if you already have a 20 plus guy out there that can hit the open three, and then you have Thornton coming off the bench. But we don't, so it doesn't make any sense. Its certainly more conventional to have a 6'9" plus guy playing the SF spot, but I don't think it would help this team right now. We're stuck with the same problem. We have talent, but all of it doesn't fit together in the conventional way. So either we live with it, or we make some roster changes.

 

[jthompson1]

I have to agree. Its one thing if you already have a 20 plus guy out there that can hit the open three, and then you have Thornton coming off the bench. But we don't, so it doesn't make any sense. Its certainly more conventional to have a 6'9" plus guy playing the SF spot, but I don't think it would help this team right now. We're stuck with the same problem. We have talent, but all of it doesn't fit together in the conventional way. So either we live with it, or we make some roster changes.

I see where your coming from, just frustrating to not have a good defensive team. Hoping we make a few changes, but don't get me wrong I like Thornton for the most part..just brainstorming of things here.

 

[Kingster]

I can actually tolerate Donte in the starting lineup at the 4 on some nights. Against Dirk, it works. Hurts our rebounding, but if he can keep up his D, we might be seeing who he can really guard. Seems like Smart's plan is the three guard thing, and then either JT, Donte, or Hayes depending on matchups... hmm...

If Tyreke can rebound the ball like he did last night at the three position, it might make up for some non-Donte rebounding at the 3. Smart is making some good moves with this team. Maybe he can pull one more trick out of the bag: get Donte to rebound the ball.

As an aside, I think that Tyreke has been given the ultra-green light that if he gets a defensive rebound, push it up the court at full speed with near total abandon. That's probably good motivation for him to get rebound, don't you think?

 

[Bricklayer]

If Tyreke can rebound the ball like he did last night at the three position, it might make up for some non-Donte rebounding at the 3. Smart is making some good moves with this team. Maybe he can pull one more trick out of the bag: get Donte to rebound the ball.

As an aside, I think that Tyreke has been given the ultra-green light that if he gets a defensive rebound, push it up the court at full speed with near total abandon. That's probably good motivation for him to get rebound, don't you think?

Tyerke has rebounded at the same rate his whole career regardless of position (and has always triggered the break with his defensive rebounds). He's at 5.5 as a starting forward this year. His career average is 5.1. The difference is that that's excellent for a PG and gives you about 2 extra rebounds a night from your guard above the average. Its merely average for a SF. Now given we were about a -1 reb/gm team before the switch, and you take 2 rebs/gm advantage out of the lineup (Isiah averages 3.2reb/gm as a starting guard) your rebounding is already going to be in trouble (the ameliorating factor is that Salmons is not a SF either and is a terrible rebounder at that positon). Now you want to take Jason Thompson out and put Donte in for him as well...only an idiot would intentionally, through nothing more than personnel choices, turn his team into the worst rebounding team in the NBA. An idiot or a Nellie disciple.

#2 rebounding team in the entire NBA last year. #2. The joke is that Smart himself said early in his tenure that the thing that they always had to prepare for last year was our rebounding dominance.

 

[The_Jamal]

Tyerke has rebounded at the same rate his whole career regardless of position (and has always triggered the break with his defensive rebounds). He's at 5.5 as a starting forward this year. His career average is 5.1. The difference is that that's excellent for a PG and gives you about 2 extra rebounds a night from your guard above the average. Its merely average for a SF. Now given we were about a -1 reb/gm team before the switch, and you take 2 rebs/gm advantage out of the lineup (Isiah averages 3.2reb/gm as a starting guard) your rebounding is already going to be in trouble (the ameliorating factor is that Salmons is not a SF either and is a terrible rebounder at that positon). Now you want to take Jason Thompson out and put Donte in for him as well...only an idiot would intentionally, through nothing more than personnel choices, turn his team into the worst rebounding team in the NBA. An idiot or a Nellie disciple.

#2 rebounding team in the entire NBA last year. #2. The joke is that Smart himself said early in his tenure that the thing that they always had to prepare for last year was our rebounding dominance.

A lot of good that rebounding dominance did for us eh?

 

[Bricklayer]

A lot of good that rebounding dominance did for us eh?

Yes it did actually. It covered up for a bevy of woes, including a lousy roster, injured star, and clueless rookie.

Here's your top rebounding differential teams this year, with winning percentages:
1) Chicago .791 win%
2) Lakers .600 win%
3) Clippers .605 win%
4) Miami .775 win%
5) Denver .561 win%
6) Okalhoma City .780 win%

So let's see, the three teams favored to win the title, all playoff teams....

Here are the teams below even us in rebounding differential:
24) Sacramento .350 win%
25) New Jersey .333 win%
26) Washington .231 win%
27) Milwaulkee .400 win%
28) Boston .538 win%
29) Golden State .417 win%
30) Charlotte .128 win%

so... 6 lottery teams, including maybe the three worst teams in the league, and one decrepit one with old man legs on the way down?


Rebounding is a hugely important factor in basketball. To intentionally ignore it the way we do...well as I've mentioned in the past, its not just bad luck or conspiracies that have kept this franchise down. Willfully not getting it has beena healthy factor too.

 

[roasthawg]

An idiot or a Nellie disciple.

I gather it's pretty much unanimous around here that being a Nellie disciple is a terrible thing?

Not the end of the world imo... Nellie has a pretty good track record with three coach of the year awards and a ton of winning seasons. 75-91 in the playoffs isn't great but it's not like he ever coached Jordan or Bryant either. The best he had was that Dallas team with Nash and Dirk that he took to the Western Conference finals but no one was beating San Antonio that year. I dunno... small ball hasn't won anything but it's had good results in a limited sample size nonetheless.

I'm more concerned with how the coach interacts with the players... motivate your talent and get them to buy into the "team" concept and you'll win games. Fail to do that and you won't.

 

[Bricklayer]

I gather it's pretty much unanimous around here that being a Nellie disciple is a terrible thing?

Not the end of the world imo... Nellie has a pretty good track record with three coach of the year awards and a ton of winning seasons. 75-91 in the playoffs isn't great but it's not like he ever coached Jordan or Bryant either. The best he had was that Dallas team with Nash and Dirk that he took to the Western Conference finals but no one was beating San Antonio that year. I dunno... small ball hasn't won anything but it's had good results in a limited sample size nonetheless.

I'm more concerned with how the coach interacts with the players... motivate your talent and get them to buy into the "team" concept and you'll win games. Fail to do that and you won't.

1) yes you are right that being a Nellie disciple is a bad thing. Its like stamping a big L on your forehead. It means you are about the show, not winning anything.

2) Nellie's great Conference Final team with the Mavs should never even have gotten there. The only reason they did was because that was the series/year that Webb blew out his knee in the playoffs. And we were the best team in the league that year not San Antonio. You take away that Webber knee injury and Don Nelson goes the last 25 years of his career as a coach without a single Conference Finals appearance. Think about that. Tons of talent too -- always a great little man talent evaluator. Dirk, Nash, Hardaway, Richmond, Mullin, Sprewell, even briefly got to coach Webber and Ewing.

3) Nellie won 3 coach of the year awards. The last was in 1992. And only the last, when his smallball was still cute and innovative and ooh I wonder if that will work, happened during his stupidball era. When he won the first two it was the early to mid 80s and he coachd the Bucks, and beleive it or not, he believed in defense. He was already beginning to trend toward smallball with "point forwards" and whatnot, but he also kept a stable of 3 7 footers to man the middle and the best defensive SG/SF pairing in the league. That was long LONG ago. Another age entirely for Nelson, and decades before Smart became infected by his junkball era.

 

[roasthawg]

1) yes you are right that being a Nellie disciple is a bad thing. Its like stamping a big L on your forehead. It means you are about the show, not winning anything.

2) Nellie's great Conference Final team with the Mavs should never even have gotten there. The only reason they did was because that was the series/year that Webb blew out his knee in the playoffs. And we were the best team in the league that year not San Antonio. You take away that Webber knee injury and Don Nelson goes the last 25 years of his career as a coach without a single Conference Finals appearance. Think about that. Tons of talent too -- always a great little man talent evaluator. Dirk, Nash, Hardaway, Richmond, Mullin, Sprewell, even briefly got to coach Webber and Ewing.

3) Nellie won 3 coach of the year awards. The last was in 1992. And only the last, when his smallball was still cute and innovative and ooh I wonder if that will work, happened during his stupidball era. When he won the first two it was the early to mid 80s and he coachd the Bucks, and beleive it or not, he believed in defense. He was already beginning to trend toward smallball with "point forwards" and whatnot, but he also kept a stable of 3 7 footers to man the middle and the best defensive SG/SF pairing in the league. That was long LONG ago. Another age entirely for Nelson, and decades before Smart became infected by his junkball era.

Definitely get where you're coming from... personally I just want to see a good team again. Whether or not we win a championship isn't necessarily the be all end all for me... I loved the Webber years even without a title. We were competitive and exciting each and every year. If I were a Mavericks fan I'm sure I would've loved how Nellie turned that team around... 8 straight losing seasons before he came in, 2 more with him and then a bunch of great years since.

I just like winning. Not every team is gonna be fortunate enough to win a title but you'd like to believe you have a chance at that as a fan every year. Small ball or not.. I don't care much as long as we win more than we lose.

 

[rainmaker]

There's some key differences between our team and the more successful small ball teams in Dal and Pho/GS of recent history, which is why I believe it's not even the right path to take in the short term given it doesn't fit the strengths of our best players and likely never will.

Those teams had Nash running point, maybe the best up and down, open court passer of his era. GS had what seem to be the last prime years of Baron Davis who was great pushing it in the open court or pulling up for 3's.

And, both those pg's were surrounded with a number of above average shooters. Having shooters, and a few of them is key to small ball success. You have to be able to spread the court, and have 3pt threats both in transition and if the half court. We have arguably the worst shooting core in the league.

Another thing those teams had were stretch 4's that could hit the 3, as well as pretty athletic SF's and PF's.

Our top two players are built for the half court game. Cuz especially. Yes Reke can get out on the break and score, but he's a bull in a half court set and an elite penetrator in the half court. MT fits the profile of a run and gun team a little more, but then again the more successful get up and down small ball teams were full of great and willing passers. MT doesn't really move the ball in half court or transition. But he still is a great threat to have in the open court spotting up or finishing it off, just not creating.

So even though our two top guys Reke/Cuz, are built for the halfcourt game, it still might work for our roster in the short term, IF, they weren't surrounded by some of the worst, most inconsistent shooters in the league.

So not even talking about the failing this sets you up for on defense and the glass, and just looking at the offensive end, it still doesn't seem to fit our roster at all, and in their primes Reke/Cuz won't be the centerpieces of a small ball, transition team. Not how they're built. So really, how does this help their development when compared to learning a style they'll most likely win with later on in their careers, and a style which long term plays to their strengths, instead of against?

Just hope it's short term, and if we have a more balanced roster this philosophy is crumpled up and tossed in the garbage, because it won't win. Never has, even with teams much better built for the style. We can still be a large team which dominates the glass and excels defensively(with the right moves), leading to running when we have the opportunity, just like we did under Adelman. We scored and pushed the pace frequently, but we we also had far bigger lineups, played defense, and controlled the glass, which allowed us to get out and run.

 

[IfAt1st]

Gee, if only there were an available, seasoned NBA coach who has proven to take teams into the playoffs (inexperienced and experienced) that knows how to coach defense, get the most out of his players, and excels at half-court, bruising basketball?

If only there were......

 

[Bricklayer]

Gee, if only there were an available, seasoned NBA coach who has proven to take teams into the playoffs (inexperienced and experienced) that knows how to coach defense, get the most out of his players, and excels at half-court, bruising basketball?

If only there were......

I too would have been down with Jeff Van Gundy, but that die is cast. Smart is here to stay. He's not a dumb guy at all. But he may end up being a dumb coach.

 

[Prince_XY]

I too would have been down with Jeff Van Gundy, but that die is cast. Smart is here to stay. He's not a dumb guy at all. But he may end up being a dumb coach.

Let us just all hope that maybe Smart knows there is no hope for a playoff berth for the Kings and that, he is just doing these weird rotations to experiment and to know the strength of all his players.

On second thoughts, I remember I've hoped for the same thing on coach Westphal. So, let us get ready to tame our moans and groans watching this team.

 

[Kingster]

Tyerke has rebounded at the same rate his whole career regardless of position (and has always triggered the break with his defensive rebounds). He's at 5.5 as a starting forward this year. His career average is 5.1. The difference is that that's excellent for a PG and gives you about 2 extra rebounds a night from your guard above the average. Its merely average for a SF. Now given we were about a -1 reb/gm team before the switch, and you take 2 rebs/gm advantage out of the lineup (Isiah averages 3.2reb/gm as a starting guard) your rebounding is already going to be in trouble (the ameliorating factor is that Salmons is not a SF either and is a terrible rebounder at that positon). Now you want to take Jason Thompson out and put Donte in for him as well...only an idiot would intentionally, through nothing more than personnel choices, turn his team into the worst rebounding team in the NBA. An idiot or a Nellie disciple.

#2 rebounding team in the entire NBA last year. #2. The joke is that Smart himself said early in his tenure that the thing that they always had to prepare for last year was our rebounding dominance.

The sample size isn't big enough to judge what kind of rebounder Tyreke could be at the three. As he gets more comfortable from that position, I think he has more nights like the Dallas game and he gets markedly more rebounds from the three position than from the pg position. With his athleticism and reach he should average 7-8 rebs a game at the three imo. I agree that this team isn't rebounding at the level we were. That's irrefutable. But at the same time I think it's irrefutable that the assist/to is waaay up on this team. It's been fantastic recently. So there is somewhat of a zero sum game with the rebounding and assist/to because our overall lineup isn't that good right now to have both.

As far as Thompson is concerned, the more I watch him, the more I think that the 4 position is a big need on this team. He's definitely a backup. Not that Greene isn't. With either one you have drawbacks. If Smart was substituting Greene for a legitimate 4, then I'd agree that didn't make any sense. But because Thompson isn't a starter in this league, the substitution pattern becomes more dependent on matchups than anything else.

 

[Kingster]

There's some key differences between our team and the more successful small ball teams in Dal and Pho/GS of recent history, which is why I believe it's not even the right path to take in the short term given it doesn't fit the strengths of our best players and likely never will.

Those teams had Nash running point, maybe the best up and down, open court passer of his era. GS had what seem to be the last prime years of Baron Davis who was great pushing it in the open court or pulling up for 3's.

And, both those pg's were surrounded with a number of above average shooters. Having shooters, and a few of them is key to small ball success. You have to be able to spread the court, and have 3pt threats both in transition and if the half court. We have arguably the worst shooting core in the league.

Another thing those teams had were stretch 4's that could hit the 3, as well as pretty athletic SF's and PF's.

Our top two players are built for the half court game. Cuz especially. Yes Reke can get out on the break and score, but he's a bull in a half court set and an elite penetrator in the half court. MT fits the profile of a run and gun team a little more, but then again the more successful get up and down small ball teams were full of great and willing passers. MT doesn't really move the ball in half court or transition. But he still is a great threat to have in the open court spotting up or finishing it off, just not creating.

So even though our two top guys Reke/Cuz, are built for the halfcourt game, it still might work for our roster in the short term, IF, they weren't surrounded by some of the worst, most inconsistent shooters in the league.

So not even talking about the failing this sets you up for on defense and the glass, and just looking at the offensive end, it still doesn't seem to fit our roster at all, and in their primes Reke/Cuz won't be the centerpieces of a small ball, transition team. Not how they're built. So really, how does this help their development when compared to learning a style they'll most likely win with later on in their careers, and a style which long term plays to their strengths, instead of against?

Just hope it's short term, and if we have a more balanced roster this philosophy is crumpled up and tossed in the garbage, because it won't win. Never has, even with teams much better built for the style. We can still be a large team which dominates the glass and excels defensively(with the right moves), leading to running when we have the opportunity, just like we did under Adelman. We scored and pushed the pace frequently, but we we also had far bigger lineups, played defense, and controlled the glass, which allowed us to get out and run.

This team doesn't have the BB IQ to be a good half court team right now. Just too inexperienced. If you have to either/or, I'd go with the run and gun rather than the grind it out style. They will have to survive by playing good enough D to get TOs and run. Tyreke, IT, Donte, and Thornton are all at their best in the running game. Cousins is the guy that can get the defensive rebound and throw the outlet.

 

[Bricklayer]

The sample size isn't big enough to judge what kind of rebounder Tyreke could be at the three. As he gets more comfortable from that position, I think he has more nights like the Dallas game and he gets markedly more rebounds from the three position than from the pg position. With his athleticism and reach he should average 7-8 rebs a game at the three imo.

I am kindly going to go call that unlikely. How did all of a sudden Reke become an elite ahtlete? He's giving up 3-4 inches and sometimes as much as 20lbs to these guys. And there are exactly TWO SFs, and they are truly built like SFs, in the entire league who average 7+ rebs: LeBron and Durant. The next pack below them incldues Rudy Gay, Geralad Wallace, Shawn Marion, Andre Igoudala...surely Reke is not remotely in those guys' class size wise or athletically. At 6'5" and stuck to the ground he's doign pretty well if he can just maintain his pace. If he can hit 6 given away size and leaping ability every night that's a considerable acheivement.

 

[Kingster]

I am kindly going to go call that unlikely. How did all of a sudden Reke become an elite ahtlete? He's giving up 3-4 inches and sometimes as much as 20lbs to these guys. And there are exactly TWO SFs, and they are truly built like SFs, in the entire league who average 7+ rebs: LeBron and Durant. The next pack below them incldues Rudy Gay, Geralad Wallace, Shawn Marion, Andre Igoudala...surely Reke is not remotely in those guys' class size wise or athletically. At 6'5" and stuck to the ground he's doign pretty well if he can just maintain his pace. If he can hit 6 given away size and leaping ability every night that's a considerable acheivement.

When I talk athleticsm for Reke I'm talking about quickness to the ball, strength and a very long reach for a guy his size. If he gets 5 rebs a game from the point guard position, I think he can do more than 6 from the sf position. We'll see. I just want him motivated to get the rebounds and then we'll see how it plays out.