Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Its preseason for us too around here, and longtime posters will remember that since these grades have always involved a healthy dose of scaling according to the talents of the each player being graded, the preseason has traditionally served as a time to calibrate the grading scales and establish a baseline against which to grade performances over the season.
Nonetheless for entertainment purposes, the quick and dirty preseason short grades.
Stats: 24min 18pts (7-9, 4-6, 0-0) 6reb 1ast 0stl 1blk 0TO
Outlaw ( B+ ) -- got the surprise start as our rookie coach apparently wanted to get it out of his system to put out the very worst rebounding team in the NBA for a night. But Travis surprised and fared better out there than anyone not named Cousins. While it may leave Jerry Reynolds at a loss for tortured explanations, being back at his natural SF position had to help Outlaw as he looked comfortable out there for the first time in about 5 years. Being part of an organized offense may have helped too, as he wasn't doing his awful put the ball on the floor for two dribbles into a contested bricked midrange jumper thing. Instead he was catching and shooting and draining jumpers from all corners, bombing in four threes against a disorganized Lakers team that left him wide open for a couple of them. Gets the B+ here first because he's Travis Outlaw and his accumulated offenses against the sport of basketball and its fans for the last half decade can't be wiped out by one good preseason game. More tangibly, ironically he got back to his natural SF position only to end up matched up against Nick Young, who the Lakers may actually start at SF this year even though he's blatantly a SG. Result was that Travis was at a mobility disadvantage, and Young got free to bomb back the other way for a bunch of points of his own.
Stats: 22min 5pts (2-9, 1-2, 0-0) 3reb 1ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
Patterson ( D ) -- missed the memo that everybody was going to have a good game tonight, and was maybe the one standout suck out of the entire rotation, which potentially could damage his hopes of emerging wiht that prized starting PF job to begin the season. Jason has looked good, and this was a chance to make an argument against the still missing Landry. Didn't happen. Instead was missing all his shots from the very beginning, and compounded his problems by getting lit up by Pau in the second. Since he was no help at all on the glass either, it really was an all around bagel on the whole start me coach! scale.
Stats: 26min 16pts (8-13, 0-0, 0-0) 12reb 3ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Cousins ( A- ) -- Cousins' impressive demeanor continued for a second straight game here, but this time the production came along to match. We'll cover the reason for the "-" here (and a thought about going B+) first: early on turned his head several times letting Kaman slip to the hoop behind him, and had several passing/ballhandling adventures that won't show up in the boxscore that he saved from becoming turnovers just on pure hustle and talent. But in general the defensive effort and awareness remain far above what he showed last season, and the handful of obvious errors aside he was engaged and in the right position. Was lighting up Kaman early with the jumper and some of those nifty drives that maybe only he of all the true centers can complete. came back in in the second as a rebounder, and dominated the glass for the next two quarters, and seemed to just do it easily. Were a lot of jumpers tonight, but they fell, and with only one out of control sequence inside he was efficient and just shy of dominant out there. His per36 pace BTW would have had him sitting at a cool 22pts 17rebs given the minutes, and notably he only committed a single foul so he could actually have played those 36min if we had needed it and the game mattered. Could get a feel for the offense this time out, and everybody, Cousins included, looked settled and calm. Had him running some of the old Vlade/Webber post passing sets with Jimmer trying to cut baseline for the dump pass over the top.
Stats: 21min 7pts (3-5, 1-1, 0-0) 1reb 3ast 2stl 0blk 2TO
Fredette ( C+ ) -- got off to the good start at SG and looked good in the early going as he knocked down 3 quick jumpers. But even while he was rolling it was a bit of a back and forth shootout with Jodie Meeks. When IT left briefly slid over to PG and made a nice little pass slipping it to Ben/M16 as he cut into the paint, but some of the normal problems emerged as the Lakers then double team trapped him resulting in the normal panicked pass turnover. Was not effective in his second half stint as the defensive woes reemerged and he got lit up. Did find himself in the passing lanes a couple of times though, and that was actually the factor that led me to go B- here rather than C+.
Stats: 23min 10pts (4-7, 0-1, 2-2) 0reb 9ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Thomas ( B- ) -- I had to do a double take when I saw the boxscore with IT as I'm not sure where the 9 assists came from. Nonetheless this was the second game in a row where you could clearly see him trying to play it more as a pure PG, no doubt at the instructions of the coaches. The results in both games have been a little erratic, but nonetheless there have been results. Every once in a while here you could just feel him realize he hadn't gotten a shot up in a while and force up something off his own dribble. But those moments stood out precisely because most of the time he wasn't even looking at the hoop. That may actually be taking the concept a little too far for an offensive player like IT, but nonetheless there were no extended stretches locking his teammates out of the game. There were the sporadic dumb shots however, and late in the half he began throwing the ball wildly all over the court. Defensively we saw his size exploited considerably more often than it normally is, and some of that may be a defensive scheme that saw him getting switched onto guys twice his size.
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Bench
Stats: 29min 12pts (5-11, 2-4, 0-0) 5reb 2ast 1stl 0blk 3TO
McLemore ( B+ ) -- encouraging game, really both of them. What is notable here is to what degree Ben/M16 is being exactly as advertised, both good and bad. Showed good off ball movement again, immediately coming in and flashing toward the hoop to get hit by Jimmer. His movement looks random/impromptu, but I have to pay ore attention next time because its too sophisticated to be playground stuff and we must be setting him up off the ball. Showed that quick shooting motion repeatedly, getting off the ground going straight up and draining shots. Its encouraging that those included easy looking NBA threes, which was a range he really struggled at during summer league. The combination of the shooting and movement are a classic setup for some big nights against lazy defenders/bad teams which don't stick with him. Made more consistent use of his athleticism this time. Didn't always get something done, but was consistently flying about being a presence. Didn't look in any danger of ever dominating the game, but kept on popping up as a contributor. Downsides remains the ballhandling, where its just myriad. Traveling trying to make one on one moves. Unable to change direction in the open court so ran over a guy for a charge. Showing a tendency to throw big loopy moonball crosscourt passes that are probably not going to fly in the regular season, but has been getting away with them to date. Had rookie issues on defense, where the athleticism let him make plays, but he loses contact and angles on his man a lot. But right now looks more hopeful than our last two lottery picks. There are strict limitations, but they aren't size/athleticism oriented, and the skills he does have seem to be translating, and are the sort of things you can make use of in bursts even if he's not ready to start.
Stats: 16min 2pts (1-1, 0-0, 0-0) 10reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Hayes ( B ) -- only so much you can say here. Nothing much happened except that he really rebounded well this time out, blocking out and going after balls and dominating the taller Lakers frontline on the glass during his minutes. Defensively I guess he made things a little difficult, but there weren't many mano a mano stands. Got his solitary hoop as he should when a pass was lasered to him just below the rim and he turned and flipped it in.
Stats: 26min 8pts (4-8, 0-2, 0-0) 4reb 0ast 0stl 1blk 1TO
Salmons ( B ) -- appeared to have had a rare forkectomy procedure before tipoff to remove the giant utensil impediment from his back, and looked 10 years younger in what was a pretty energetic (by Salmons standards) defense of his minutes/job. Looked pretty good on offense as he and McClemore seemed to just be quicker than their Lakers opponents off the bench. Was even active on the glass, which is a pretty amazing statements for one of the league's biggest weenies on the boards. Was beaten several times on defense and even for The Fish an 8pt night isn't going to net you any kind of A. Still though, he looked good out there, and was probably more effective than his numbers show.
Nonetheless for entertainment purposes, the quick and dirty preseason short grades.
Stats: 24min 18pts (7-9, 4-6, 0-0) 6reb 1ast 0stl 1blk 0TO
Outlaw ( B+ ) -- got the surprise start as our rookie coach apparently wanted to get it out of his system to put out the very worst rebounding team in the NBA for a night. But Travis surprised and fared better out there than anyone not named Cousins. While it may leave Jerry Reynolds at a loss for tortured explanations, being back at his natural SF position had to help Outlaw as he looked comfortable out there for the first time in about 5 years. Being part of an organized offense may have helped too, as he wasn't doing his awful put the ball on the floor for two dribbles into a contested bricked midrange jumper thing. Instead he was catching and shooting and draining jumpers from all corners, bombing in four threes against a disorganized Lakers team that left him wide open for a couple of them. Gets the B+ here first because he's Travis Outlaw and his accumulated offenses against the sport of basketball and its fans for the last half decade can't be wiped out by one good preseason game. More tangibly, ironically he got back to his natural SF position only to end up matched up against Nick Young, who the Lakers may actually start at SF this year even though he's blatantly a SG. Result was that Travis was at a mobility disadvantage, and Young got free to bomb back the other way for a bunch of points of his own.
Stats: 22min 5pts (2-9, 1-2, 0-0) 3reb 1ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
Patterson ( D ) -- missed the memo that everybody was going to have a good game tonight, and was maybe the one standout suck out of the entire rotation, which potentially could damage his hopes of emerging wiht that prized starting PF job to begin the season. Jason has looked good, and this was a chance to make an argument against the still missing Landry. Didn't happen. Instead was missing all his shots from the very beginning, and compounded his problems by getting lit up by Pau in the second. Since he was no help at all on the glass either, it really was an all around bagel on the whole start me coach! scale.
Stats: 26min 16pts (8-13, 0-0, 0-0) 12reb 3ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Cousins ( A- ) -- Cousins' impressive demeanor continued for a second straight game here, but this time the production came along to match. We'll cover the reason for the "-" here (and a thought about going B+) first: early on turned his head several times letting Kaman slip to the hoop behind him, and had several passing/ballhandling adventures that won't show up in the boxscore that he saved from becoming turnovers just on pure hustle and talent. But in general the defensive effort and awareness remain far above what he showed last season, and the handful of obvious errors aside he was engaged and in the right position. Was lighting up Kaman early with the jumper and some of those nifty drives that maybe only he of all the true centers can complete. came back in in the second as a rebounder, and dominated the glass for the next two quarters, and seemed to just do it easily. Were a lot of jumpers tonight, but they fell, and with only one out of control sequence inside he was efficient and just shy of dominant out there. His per36 pace BTW would have had him sitting at a cool 22pts 17rebs given the minutes, and notably he only committed a single foul so he could actually have played those 36min if we had needed it and the game mattered. Could get a feel for the offense this time out, and everybody, Cousins included, looked settled and calm. Had him running some of the old Vlade/Webber post passing sets with Jimmer trying to cut baseline for the dump pass over the top.
Stats: 21min 7pts (3-5, 1-1, 0-0) 1reb 3ast 2stl 0blk 2TO
Fredette ( C+ ) -- got off to the good start at SG and looked good in the early going as he knocked down 3 quick jumpers. But even while he was rolling it was a bit of a back and forth shootout with Jodie Meeks. When IT left briefly slid over to PG and made a nice little pass slipping it to Ben/M16 as he cut into the paint, but some of the normal problems emerged as the Lakers then double team trapped him resulting in the normal panicked pass turnover. Was not effective in his second half stint as the defensive woes reemerged and he got lit up. Did find himself in the passing lanes a couple of times though, and that was actually the factor that led me to go B- here rather than C+.
Stats: 23min 10pts (4-7, 0-1, 2-2) 0reb 9ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Thomas ( B- ) -- I had to do a double take when I saw the boxscore with IT as I'm not sure where the 9 assists came from. Nonetheless this was the second game in a row where you could clearly see him trying to play it more as a pure PG, no doubt at the instructions of the coaches. The results in both games have been a little erratic, but nonetheless there have been results. Every once in a while here you could just feel him realize he hadn't gotten a shot up in a while and force up something off his own dribble. But those moments stood out precisely because most of the time he wasn't even looking at the hoop. That may actually be taking the concept a little too far for an offensive player like IT, but nonetheless there were no extended stretches locking his teammates out of the game. There were the sporadic dumb shots however, and late in the half he began throwing the ball wildly all over the court. Defensively we saw his size exploited considerably more often than it normally is, and some of that may be a defensive scheme that saw him getting switched onto guys twice his size.
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Bench
Stats: 29min 12pts (5-11, 2-4, 0-0) 5reb 2ast 1stl 0blk 3TO
McLemore ( B+ ) -- encouraging game, really both of them. What is notable here is to what degree Ben/M16 is being exactly as advertised, both good and bad. Showed good off ball movement again, immediately coming in and flashing toward the hoop to get hit by Jimmer. His movement looks random/impromptu, but I have to pay ore attention next time because its too sophisticated to be playground stuff and we must be setting him up off the ball. Showed that quick shooting motion repeatedly, getting off the ground going straight up and draining shots. Its encouraging that those included easy looking NBA threes, which was a range he really struggled at during summer league. The combination of the shooting and movement are a classic setup for some big nights against lazy defenders/bad teams which don't stick with him. Made more consistent use of his athleticism this time. Didn't always get something done, but was consistently flying about being a presence. Didn't look in any danger of ever dominating the game, but kept on popping up as a contributor. Downsides remains the ballhandling, where its just myriad. Traveling trying to make one on one moves. Unable to change direction in the open court so ran over a guy for a charge. Showing a tendency to throw big loopy moonball crosscourt passes that are probably not going to fly in the regular season, but has been getting away with them to date. Had rookie issues on defense, where the athleticism let him make plays, but he loses contact and angles on his man a lot. But right now looks more hopeful than our last two lottery picks. There are strict limitations, but they aren't size/athleticism oriented, and the skills he does have seem to be translating, and are the sort of things you can make use of in bursts even if he's not ready to start.
Stats: 16min 2pts (1-1, 0-0, 0-0) 10reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Hayes ( B ) -- only so much you can say here. Nothing much happened except that he really rebounded well this time out, blocking out and going after balls and dominating the taller Lakers frontline on the glass during his minutes. Defensively I guess he made things a little difficult, but there weren't many mano a mano stands. Got his solitary hoop as he should when a pass was lasered to him just below the rim and he turned and flipped it in.
Stats: 26min 8pts (4-8, 0-2, 0-0) 4reb 0ast 0stl 1blk 1TO
Salmons ( B ) -- appeared to have had a rare forkectomy procedure before tipoff to remove the giant utensil impediment from his back, and looked 10 years younger in what was a pretty energetic (by Salmons standards) defense of his minutes/job. Looked pretty good on offense as he and McClemore seemed to just be quicker than their Lakers opponents off the bench. Was even active on the glass, which is a pretty amazing statements for one of the league's biggest weenies on the boards. Was beaten several times on defense and even for The Fish an 8pt night isn't going to net you any kind of A. Still though, he looked good out there, and was probably more effective than his numbers show.
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