Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Tape delayed grades again.
first, this has to be said, because it looms over all comments hereafter: THE BLAZERS ARE JUST AWFUL. Pathetic even. It was embarrassing watching them in the first half -- they had no idea how to play basketball. Made it a little tough to assess us at times, because there was little if any resistance for long stretches of the game.
Peja ( B ) -- not a prolific night on offense, and again not many shots. But looked fine when he did shoot, and provided both solid support on defense and in a welcome development even grabbed his share of boards on this night. Not the story of the night, and was considerably outscored by his opponents, but provided solid support this night by doing other things than score.
Corliss ( A ) -- got the surprise start at PF, but was excellent early. Helped that the Blazers started a SF (Miles) at PF rather than Zach Randolph, but Corliss was very active regardless and poured in 13pts in the first quarter. More importantly, because Corliss can still score when called upon, he also really seized the moment in other areas that he normally struggles with. Was actually a disruptive defender on the night, made several steals including a breakaway, and helped down inside by biting the Blazers' bigs on their ankles. Kept it rolling into the early third by being active and continually attacking while the Blazers were either incredibly careless, or just never developed a plan on how to stop him. Best player of the night.
Miller ( B- ) -- hit a few open jumpers, and while Wiltbilla was still a factor down inside, it was more of reasonable matchup this time out than last year. Portland's big guy was a definite factor, but never completely dominated (I say after he racked up 15rebs 3blks in 29min again), and Brad at least competed. He was active and grabbed more than his fair share of rebounds, but had a lot of trouble finishing in around the hoop against the Blazers' length. Turnovers, missed shots, lower this grade, but overall happy just to see him not get dominated by this guy.
Bonzi ( B+ ) -- good solid game while making contribuions across the board. Scored inside and out, moved the ball, active and had flashes of strong defense, although also let his man loose for some jumpers in the second half (perhaps understandable as by that time I had concluded they were never going to hit an outside shot too). Started the game off by making a breakaway steal...but then was chased down by Ruben Patterson from behind and had the ball stolen right back.
Bibby ( B ) -- much better effort this time out. Shot looked much better, and while I'm not sure how much the defense had actually improved, his effectiveness on that end was up considerably thanks to Telfair's inability to hit a jumper. Jumped into obvious passing lanes for a number of steals. Good solid outing directing the team.
SAR ( B+ ) -- big dunk soon after entering and was active on offense throughout the night. Made a nifty bounce pass to Skinner from the top of the key in the 4th to continue his string of games where he has made at least one good pass. Was a bit of a stabilizing force when he returned late in the 3rd with us struggling and the lead eroding. Still playing the game in fits and spurts and with minimal physicality. Making occasional spectacular plays, but not many solid bread and butter ones to fill in around the edges.
Martin ( B ) -- got off to a bit of a shaky start, tried to challenge Theo Ratliff at the rim and got lucky to draw the foul, and was still not showing the ability to consistently hit the three. In the second half made some good late defensive plays leading to breakaways and really put his athleticm on display.
Skinner ( A- ) -- excellent mix offensively -- hit several nice long range facing jumpers, and a few nice quick inside moves. Normally the jumper is the basic shot for a King, but in Brian's case its nice to see him show a little ability there as a counterpunch to his normal inside stuff. When faced with 7'3" Ha Seung-Jin, immediately squared him up and took him hard to the rim with an explosive drive and dunk. Not his normal impact defensively and on the glass.
Garcia ( B ) -- struggled to hit a shot, but a good game in every other way. Played good defense, rebounded the ball very well, and was cured of some of his shothappiness this time (did still chuck a few quickies). Best thing was that the focus was off of the excessive shooting this time out, and on the variety of other things he can bring to the table. Active, passed well, if he shoots better than 25% this is likely an A of some sort.
Price ( C+ ) -- was reasonable in his first stint, did nothing spectacular, but played solid defense and did not make many mistakes. Wasn't really running the offense though so much as just bringing the ball up without too much incident. Forced his offense and put up nothing statistically. Best thing he did was stay in front of his man on defense and gets what grade he does here for that alone.
Sampson ( INC ) -- looked impressive in his short stint -- nice drive around Jin, made a good pass, went very high for a defensive rebound. Live body, but showed some skills too. Tempted to grade him with an A- or so despite the lack of minutes, but generally I draw the line at fewer than 6 minutes because of lack of sample size. Still, looked good tonight and if these minutes actually matter, took a step toward wrapping up the 12th spot.
Sandrin ( INC ) -- didn't do much of note this time out except almost throw away a pass up top.
Flores ( INC ) -- came in and immediately challenged the Blazers' giant center on the drive to draw the foul. Can't speak to the intelligence of that play, but showed guts at least.
Adelman ( -- ) -- team defense looked good early, although hard to get a good read with the pathetic slop that is the Blazers lineup. Basically we jsut sagged back into the paint and let them brick open jumper after open jumper. Thought maybe the Corliss start was a way to contiue drawing out the PF battle by playing the political game and avoid upsetting KT by not starting EITHER guy. But then we didn't play KT at all on the evening. Which can happen in preseason, but was still strange. Corliss did very well out there, but he's not going to be the starting PF this year and you always know what you're going to get from him, so a bit confused about the purpose of his experiment. Got Price good assessment minutes this time out, and...eh. Played defense at least, and can't expect too much from a undrafted 13th man. Still, would like to see Flores get the bulk of the minutes tonight and see if he can do any better.
first, this has to be said, because it looms over all comments hereafter: THE BLAZERS ARE JUST AWFUL. Pathetic even. It was embarrassing watching them in the first half -- they had no idea how to play basketball. Made it a little tough to assess us at times, because there was little if any resistance for long stretches of the game.
Peja ( B ) -- not a prolific night on offense, and again not many shots. But looked fine when he did shoot, and provided both solid support on defense and in a welcome development even grabbed his share of boards on this night. Not the story of the night, and was considerably outscored by his opponents, but provided solid support this night by doing other things than score.
Corliss ( A ) -- got the surprise start at PF, but was excellent early. Helped that the Blazers started a SF (Miles) at PF rather than Zach Randolph, but Corliss was very active regardless and poured in 13pts in the first quarter. More importantly, because Corliss can still score when called upon, he also really seized the moment in other areas that he normally struggles with. Was actually a disruptive defender on the night, made several steals including a breakaway, and helped down inside by biting the Blazers' bigs on their ankles. Kept it rolling into the early third by being active and continually attacking while the Blazers were either incredibly careless, or just never developed a plan on how to stop him. Best player of the night.
Miller ( B- ) -- hit a few open jumpers, and while Wiltbilla was still a factor down inside, it was more of reasonable matchup this time out than last year. Portland's big guy was a definite factor, but never completely dominated (I say after he racked up 15rebs 3blks in 29min again), and Brad at least competed. He was active and grabbed more than his fair share of rebounds, but had a lot of trouble finishing in around the hoop against the Blazers' length. Turnovers, missed shots, lower this grade, but overall happy just to see him not get dominated by this guy.
Bonzi ( B+ ) -- good solid game while making contribuions across the board. Scored inside and out, moved the ball, active and had flashes of strong defense, although also let his man loose for some jumpers in the second half (perhaps understandable as by that time I had concluded they were never going to hit an outside shot too). Started the game off by making a breakaway steal...but then was chased down by Ruben Patterson from behind and had the ball stolen right back.
Bibby ( B ) -- much better effort this time out. Shot looked much better, and while I'm not sure how much the defense had actually improved, his effectiveness on that end was up considerably thanks to Telfair's inability to hit a jumper. Jumped into obvious passing lanes for a number of steals. Good solid outing directing the team.
SAR ( B+ ) -- big dunk soon after entering and was active on offense throughout the night. Made a nifty bounce pass to Skinner from the top of the key in the 4th to continue his string of games where he has made at least one good pass. Was a bit of a stabilizing force when he returned late in the 3rd with us struggling and the lead eroding. Still playing the game in fits and spurts and with minimal physicality. Making occasional spectacular plays, but not many solid bread and butter ones to fill in around the edges.
Martin ( B ) -- got off to a bit of a shaky start, tried to challenge Theo Ratliff at the rim and got lucky to draw the foul, and was still not showing the ability to consistently hit the three. In the second half made some good late defensive plays leading to breakaways and really put his athleticm on display.
Skinner ( A- ) -- excellent mix offensively -- hit several nice long range facing jumpers, and a few nice quick inside moves. Normally the jumper is the basic shot for a King, but in Brian's case its nice to see him show a little ability there as a counterpunch to his normal inside stuff. When faced with 7'3" Ha Seung-Jin, immediately squared him up and took him hard to the rim with an explosive drive and dunk. Not his normal impact defensively and on the glass.
Garcia ( B ) -- struggled to hit a shot, but a good game in every other way. Played good defense, rebounded the ball very well, and was cured of some of his shothappiness this time (did still chuck a few quickies). Best thing was that the focus was off of the excessive shooting this time out, and on the variety of other things he can bring to the table. Active, passed well, if he shoots better than 25% this is likely an A of some sort.
Price ( C+ ) -- was reasonable in his first stint, did nothing spectacular, but played solid defense and did not make many mistakes. Wasn't really running the offense though so much as just bringing the ball up without too much incident. Forced his offense and put up nothing statistically. Best thing he did was stay in front of his man on defense and gets what grade he does here for that alone.
Sampson ( INC ) -- looked impressive in his short stint -- nice drive around Jin, made a good pass, went very high for a defensive rebound. Live body, but showed some skills too. Tempted to grade him with an A- or so despite the lack of minutes, but generally I draw the line at fewer than 6 minutes because of lack of sample size. Still, looked good tonight and if these minutes actually matter, took a step toward wrapping up the 12th spot.
Sandrin ( INC ) -- didn't do much of note this time out except almost throw away a pass up top.
Flores ( INC ) -- came in and immediately challenged the Blazers' giant center on the drive to draw the foul. Can't speak to the intelligence of that play, but showed guts at least.
Adelman ( -- ) -- team defense looked good early, although hard to get a good read with the pathetic slop that is the Blazers lineup. Basically we jsut sagged back into the paint and let them brick open jumper after open jumper. Thought maybe the Corliss start was a way to contiue drawing out the PF battle by playing the political game and avoid upsetting KT by not starting EITHER guy. But then we didn't play KT at all on the evening. Which can happen in preseason, but was still strange. Corliss did very well out there, but he's not going to be the starting PF this year and you always know what you're going to get from him, so a bit confused about the purpose of his experiment. Got Price good assessment minutes this time out, and...eh. Played defense at least, and can't expect too much from a undrafted 13th man. Still, would like to see Flores get the bulk of the minutes tonight and see if he can do any better.
Last edited:
