Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Watched this late last night after having it recorded again, working from memory and notes now that the belated box score finally popped up. We got beat worse than these grades reflect, but with the guys we were throwing out on the court, we were susposed to get beat badly:
Peja ( B ) -- only played the first quarter. While he was out there shot was on and just as importantly he was getting set up in his favorite spots in rhythm (aside from one three pointer that Kurt Thomas came out and defended surprisingly well forcing Peja to abandon the jumper in mid shot and make a desperate dump off pass). Hard to grade only a 10 minute stint, but shot looked very good, while he did nothing else at all once again. Box score says 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 1, with the "1" being a foul.
Thomas ( B- ) -- ended up playing most of the night, perhaps in some sort of apology for the Portland game. Had some moments, but overall effort was nothing to get excited over. Did a good, but not great, job on the boards, but struggled with the shot inside and out. Best thing he did on the night was make a number of good passes.
Miller ( B- ) -- only the first quarter again. Passed well to start the game but otherwise was fairly quiet. "B-" grade here is a bit of a giveup as there really wasn't much to go on here. Looked fine, set a few people up, then sat the rest of the night.
Martin ( A- ) -- got the start and played almost the entire game. Made a savvy play to steal an inbounds pass, but also fell asleep a few times when guarding Nash with predictable results. Scored inside on looks from a variety of Kings , but still struggling to consistently hit the outside jumper, and just does not have true NBA 3pt range yet. Has really been helping out what remains an inept rebounding crew in the last few games by diving down back to the baseline to help out. Tied for the team lead tonight with 9, and continues to show a more mature well rounded game than he had last year.
Bibby ( C+ ) -- only in there for the one first quarter stint. Nash clearly got the better of it, but I did not think Bibby looked as bad as the box might indicate. So the C+ is the last of the giveup grades. Room for improvement, but not a disaster. Just had no time to work it out.
Skinner ( B ) -- started off as another strong game this preseason. Came up with a MONSTER block on Shawn Marion in the second quarter. Marion was coming in for a huge flying dunk from the side, and Skinner met him right at the rim and sent the ball with the arm still attached back with authority. Brian pretty much played the rest of the game from that point. But while he remained active, showed offensive ability against the smaller Suns as well as some passing ability, and generally contributed in a variety of ways, as the night went on the glow faded a bit and it really wasn't a banner outing. Did not grab many boards against a midget team that was at one point running Boris Diaw, an OG, at either PF or C. And turned the ball over. A lot. Game was just a little wild, and maybe Brian got sucked into that. In any case, pretty good long-minute outing highlighted by that monster block, but not without its warts.
Price ( B+ ) -- hit an early three, good early sign for a guy who has struggled to show anything at all on offense thus far. Got the start in the second half against Steve Nash and settled down and played solidly this time out + looked more and more like an NBAer as the game went along. Nash mostly ignored him, but did not make him look silly, and Price held his own against the rest of the Suns PGs. Might be just the sort of solid effort needed to wrap up the #13 slot for him, although I've gotten the feeling that the powers that be in Kingsland were going to hand him the spot regardless unless he was just spectacularly bad. I just gave him the "+" because of who/what he is. Truth is he did not really impress me that much despite the stats. More solid than spectacular. But that may be all he needs to be to fill that 3rd PG role.
Garcia ( C ) -- in a game that resembled a summer league game in a lot of ways, Cisco struggled on offense. For the second night in a row the shot was off, but unlike last night in Portland, he didn't do the other things this time out. Didn't grab a single board in 36min, turned it over, forced shots again. Finished with 16 points by pure persistence, but a struggle all the way. Giving him the C because of the point total and the potential he continues to show to be an inside/outside scorer who can get his points anywhere on the floor. If he settles down into rhythm and actually hits his shots that is.
Shareef ( INC ) -- yes, had more than my 6 minute cutoff for grades rather than INCs, but it was a strange 8 minute stint for him. I was just not really sure what he was doing out there, or even susposed to be dong out there. Had a couple of hoops, a few boards, a few turnovers, but kind of a fish out of water in this scrimmage surrounded by camp invites and rookies, so hard to really assess.
Sandrin ( C ) -- perhaps the most, and last we'll see of Eric. Got himself a dunk to tell his kids about, also got worked over by Jimmy Jackson on the other end. Looked ok, but also a bit overwhelmed.
Flores ( B ) -- for second game in the row showed willingness and ability to drive inside and create his shot. Best part of his game seems to be to the hoop, but its to the hoop for himself, not creating for others. Made a great hustle play just before half, chasing down Marion from behind on a breakaway and stealing the ball back. Took a lot of shots perhaps in a last ditch effort to dislodge Price. Active game for him with some spectacular plays, but probably not enough.
Sampson ( C+ ) -- came up with a very impressive block of a three pointer in the 4th, but a night after a strong, if short, showing in Portland, didn't have much impact in this one. Outside of the perimeter block, just did not do much.
Adelman ( -- ) -- a preseason game in the truest sense of the word, and tonight Rick finally played the kiddies. Peja, Mike and Brad all sat down after the first quarter. SAR only came in for a cup of coffee, and Bonzi took the night off. A night after not playing, Kenny played the bulk of the game this time out with marginal results. Basically a game for experimenting and seeing the young guys, and much like summer league, just letting Cisco and Martin have the run of the place. Defense and rebounding, even amongst our regulars, was just not there against a team that was running OGs at PF half the night. Still, pretty much impossible to get any read at all on the team after a "game" like this, so I'll just leave it at: was nice to see the kids finally get some run.
Peja ( B ) -- only played the first quarter. While he was out there shot was on and just as importantly he was getting set up in his favorite spots in rhythm (aside from one three pointer that Kurt Thomas came out and defended surprisingly well forcing Peja to abandon the jumper in mid shot and make a desperate dump off pass). Hard to grade only a 10 minute stint, but shot looked very good, while he did nothing else at all once again. Box score says 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 1, with the "1" being a foul.
Thomas ( B- ) -- ended up playing most of the night, perhaps in some sort of apology for the Portland game. Had some moments, but overall effort was nothing to get excited over. Did a good, but not great, job on the boards, but struggled with the shot inside and out. Best thing he did on the night was make a number of good passes.
Miller ( B- ) -- only the first quarter again. Passed well to start the game but otherwise was fairly quiet. "B-" grade here is a bit of a giveup as there really wasn't much to go on here. Looked fine, set a few people up, then sat the rest of the night.
Martin ( A- ) -- got the start and played almost the entire game. Made a savvy play to steal an inbounds pass, but also fell asleep a few times when guarding Nash with predictable results. Scored inside on looks from a variety of Kings , but still struggling to consistently hit the outside jumper, and just does not have true NBA 3pt range yet. Has really been helping out what remains an inept rebounding crew in the last few games by diving down back to the baseline to help out. Tied for the team lead tonight with 9, and continues to show a more mature well rounded game than he had last year.
Bibby ( C+ ) -- only in there for the one first quarter stint. Nash clearly got the better of it, but I did not think Bibby looked as bad as the box might indicate. So the C+ is the last of the giveup grades. Room for improvement, but not a disaster. Just had no time to work it out.
Skinner ( B ) -- started off as another strong game this preseason. Came up with a MONSTER block on Shawn Marion in the second quarter. Marion was coming in for a huge flying dunk from the side, and Skinner met him right at the rim and sent the ball with the arm still attached back with authority. Brian pretty much played the rest of the game from that point. But while he remained active, showed offensive ability against the smaller Suns as well as some passing ability, and generally contributed in a variety of ways, as the night went on the glow faded a bit and it really wasn't a banner outing. Did not grab many boards against a midget team that was at one point running Boris Diaw, an OG, at either PF or C. And turned the ball over. A lot. Game was just a little wild, and maybe Brian got sucked into that. In any case, pretty good long-minute outing highlighted by that monster block, but not without its warts.
Price ( B+ ) -- hit an early three, good early sign for a guy who has struggled to show anything at all on offense thus far. Got the start in the second half against Steve Nash and settled down and played solidly this time out + looked more and more like an NBAer as the game went along. Nash mostly ignored him, but did not make him look silly, and Price held his own against the rest of the Suns PGs. Might be just the sort of solid effort needed to wrap up the #13 slot for him, although I've gotten the feeling that the powers that be in Kingsland were going to hand him the spot regardless unless he was just spectacularly bad. I just gave him the "+" because of who/what he is. Truth is he did not really impress me that much despite the stats. More solid than spectacular. But that may be all he needs to be to fill that 3rd PG role.
Garcia ( C ) -- in a game that resembled a summer league game in a lot of ways, Cisco struggled on offense. For the second night in a row the shot was off, but unlike last night in Portland, he didn't do the other things this time out. Didn't grab a single board in 36min, turned it over, forced shots again. Finished with 16 points by pure persistence, but a struggle all the way. Giving him the C because of the point total and the potential he continues to show to be an inside/outside scorer who can get his points anywhere on the floor. If he settles down into rhythm and actually hits his shots that is.
Shareef ( INC ) -- yes, had more than my 6 minute cutoff for grades rather than INCs, but it was a strange 8 minute stint for him. I was just not really sure what he was doing out there, or even susposed to be dong out there. Had a couple of hoops, a few boards, a few turnovers, but kind of a fish out of water in this scrimmage surrounded by camp invites and rookies, so hard to really assess.
Sandrin ( C ) -- perhaps the most, and last we'll see of Eric. Got himself a dunk to tell his kids about, also got worked over by Jimmy Jackson on the other end. Looked ok, but also a bit overwhelmed.
Flores ( B ) -- for second game in the row showed willingness and ability to drive inside and create his shot. Best part of his game seems to be to the hoop, but its to the hoop for himself, not creating for others. Made a great hustle play just before half, chasing down Marion from behind on a breakaway and stealing the ball back. Took a lot of shots perhaps in a last ditch effort to dislodge Price. Active game for him with some spectacular plays, but probably not enough.
Sampson ( C+ ) -- came up with a very impressive block of a three pointer in the 4th, but a night after a strong, if short, showing in Portland, didn't have much impact in this one. Outside of the perimeter block, just did not do much.
Adelman ( -- ) -- a preseason game in the truest sense of the word, and tonight Rick finally played the kiddies. Peja, Mike and Brad all sat down after the first quarter. SAR only came in for a cup of coffee, and Bonzi took the night off. A night after not playing, Kenny played the bulk of the game this time out with marginal results. Basically a game for experimenting and seeing the young guys, and much like summer league, just letting Cisco and Martin have the run of the place. Defense and rebounding, even amongst our regulars, was just not there against a team that was running OGs at PF half the night. Still, pretty much impossible to get any read at all on the team after a "game" like this, so I'll just leave it at: was nice to see the kids finally get some run.
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