Greene ( B ) -- solid game really playing the roleplayer off of Cousins, which is interesting when you see the third year guy with a lot of talent deferring to a first year phenom. Repeatedly got out on the break to receive nifty passes from Cousins.
Whiteside ( C+ ) -- shaky hands early, but hit another nice little side bankshot. Was having trouble finishing insde again, and just not as effective as a shotblocker since that first game. Used a good dropstep in the 4th and may actually have had more flashes of intriguing offense than defense this time. Better on the boards this time out.
Cousins ( A ) -- kid is just flat out good. Scratch that. Kid is great. Early on thought he looked tired and was hoisting too many long jumpers, but even so he seemed particularly focused on being unselfish and was dropping nice dimes all over the place. Continues to gobble defensive boards and turn them into outlets to key the break. Got into a running verbal and physical battle against big scrub Greg Stiemsma. Not sure you could say he exactly overpowered him, but just went over and around him nearly at will after a while. Had a couple of beautiful quick spin moves to the baseline for finishes. Showed off a nice FT stroke when fouled. Continued to really impress just with the constant aggression. Has so much to his game that he calls for the ball time and again and comes up with something new every time, and it all looks comfortable. And then added in something new -- it came winning time, he demanded the ball repeatedly down the stretch, adn just carried us home, including dropping the game winner. Summer league or not, this is a big time player. This is star #2 in back to back drafts.
Thompson ( C ) -- nice open court finish, not able to provide the spacoing
wih the jumper, took a hard fall on the break and did not return
Rice ( C+ ) -- I'm beginning to lose what little interest I had in this SL scrub PG battle. Rice got nothing done in the early going, but hit a couple of shots and set up Atchley for a shot in the later moments of the the half. Some senseless gunning on his part was a factor in us slipping back and losing our lead, and for stretches Cousins was doing a better job as a distributor. Redeemed himself with some nice plays down the stretch but can't say this sort of performance gives yuo any confidence he should be running the big club.
Atchley ( D ) -- ineffective defensively, or at anything else, hit an open baseline jumper for his highlight. can we have Chism back please?
Casspi ( C ) -- this was an odd game for Omri. As a certain familiar sounding announcer noted, there seemed to be a deliberate plan throughout for Omri to post and slam inside. Problem was it did not feel like it really came within the flow. He was not always able to fiinish through the contact, and at times it seemed like the wrong play to even try. Not sure whether to blame that one on Omri or the coaching staff though, given the apparent deliberate strategy. Of more concern was the defense, where it was Omri who got lit up by Wayne Ellington as the Wolves came back and tried to steal this one, and those selfishness questions again. All throughout his rookie year Omri, who is too sophisticated a player not to know better, had these selfish moments, often seemingly almost out of pique at not getting as many shots as he wanted etc. And he seemed to be at it again here, while our big rookie center seemed delighted to be getting everybody involved, Omri wasn't moving the ball, notched 0 assists, and capped things with a blatantly selfish play on the break when instead of dumping the pass to Cousins rumbling down the lane for a dunk (and you always reward your big men for running), Omri faked the pass, pulled it back himself with a man right on him, and was fortunate to get fouled. Was this because Cousins was featured and he was not? Don't know. Just know it was a bad play, and particualrly ridiculous given how unselfish Cousins has shown himself to be these first 3 games. Fortunately kept on attacking got a stong dunnk in the early 4th as an alternate memory from this one, but I was not as happy as the solid numbers suggest I should be.
Downey ( C ) -- came in and no more effective than Rice, repeatedly turning the ball over. Did amusingly wade in there and scramble around showing the big boys how its done with 5 boards in 10 minutes.
Christmas ( B- ) -- struggled at most everything for much of the game, but finally hit a three in the early 4th and it keyed him on a good run. Picked up a nice finsih on the break from Rice, and slashed again to the hole a few minutes later -- soemthign he is not supposed to excel at. He still ended up with another 0reb 0ast effort -- he is fascinatingly one dimensional -- but there was some life here and his contribtuions down the stretch helped us win the champions...er....summer league game.
Whiteside ( C+ ) -- shaky hands early, but hit another nice little side bankshot. Was having trouble finishing insde again, and just not as effective as a shotblocker since that first game. Used a good dropstep in the 4th and may actually have had more flashes of intriguing offense than defense this time. Better on the boards this time out.
Cousins ( A ) -- kid is just flat out good. Scratch that. Kid is great. Early on thought he looked tired and was hoisting too many long jumpers, but even so he seemed particularly focused on being unselfish and was dropping nice dimes all over the place. Continues to gobble defensive boards and turn them into outlets to key the break. Got into a running verbal and physical battle against big scrub Greg Stiemsma. Not sure you could say he exactly overpowered him, but just went over and around him nearly at will after a while. Had a couple of beautiful quick spin moves to the baseline for finishes. Showed off a nice FT stroke when fouled. Continued to really impress just with the constant aggression. Has so much to his game that he calls for the ball time and again and comes up with something new every time, and it all looks comfortable. And then added in something new -- it came winning time, he demanded the ball repeatedly down the stretch, adn just carried us home, including dropping the game winner. Summer league or not, this is a big time player. This is star #2 in back to back drafts.
Thompson ( C ) -- nice open court finish, not able to provide the spacoing
wih the jumper, took a hard fall on the break and did not return
Rice ( C+ ) -- I'm beginning to lose what little interest I had in this SL scrub PG battle. Rice got nothing done in the early going, but hit a couple of shots and set up Atchley for a shot in the later moments of the the half. Some senseless gunning on his part was a factor in us slipping back and losing our lead, and for stretches Cousins was doing a better job as a distributor. Redeemed himself with some nice plays down the stretch but can't say this sort of performance gives yuo any confidence he should be running the big club.
Atchley ( D ) -- ineffective defensively, or at anything else, hit an open baseline jumper for his highlight. can we have Chism back please?
Casspi ( C ) -- this was an odd game for Omri. As a certain familiar sounding announcer noted, there seemed to be a deliberate plan throughout for Omri to post and slam inside. Problem was it did not feel like it really came within the flow. He was not always able to fiinish through the contact, and at times it seemed like the wrong play to even try. Not sure whether to blame that one on Omri or the coaching staff though, given the apparent deliberate strategy. Of more concern was the defense, where it was Omri who got lit up by Wayne Ellington as the Wolves came back and tried to steal this one, and those selfishness questions again. All throughout his rookie year Omri, who is too sophisticated a player not to know better, had these selfish moments, often seemingly almost out of pique at not getting as many shots as he wanted etc. And he seemed to be at it again here, while our big rookie center seemed delighted to be getting everybody involved, Omri wasn't moving the ball, notched 0 assists, and capped things with a blatantly selfish play on the break when instead of dumping the pass to Cousins rumbling down the lane for a dunk (and you always reward your big men for running), Omri faked the pass, pulled it back himself with a man right on him, and was fortunate to get fouled. Was this because Cousins was featured and he was not? Don't know. Just know it was a bad play, and particualrly ridiculous given how unselfish Cousins has shown himself to be these first 3 games. Fortunately kept on attacking got a stong dunnk in the early 4th as an alternate memory from this one, but I was not as happy as the solid numbers suggest I should be.
Downey ( C ) -- came in and no more effective than Rice, repeatedly turning the ball over. Did amusingly wade in there and scramble around showing the big boys how its done with 5 boards in 10 minutes.
Christmas ( B- ) -- struggled at most everything for much of the game, but finally hit a three in the early 4th and it keyed him on a good run. Picked up a nice finsih on the break from Rice, and slashed again to the hole a few minutes later -- soemthign he is not supposed to excel at. He still ended up with another 0reb 0ast effort -- he is fascinatingly one dimensional -- but there was some life here and his contribtuions down the stretch helped us win the champions...er....summer league game.
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