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Finestrg
Posts: 27296
Alba Posts: 1
Joined: 1/1/2006
Member: #1069
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Saw about 80% of the Davidson/Oklahoma game last night and here's what I came away with:
Stephen Curry
- My overall opinion hasn't changed that much - he's very talented but in my eyes he's clearly a scoring off-guard at the next level.
- Good enough handle to bring the ball up and play some point (he's gonna be asked to handle the ball a lot more this year now that Jason Richards isn't around unless the coach's son gives him a break here and there), but he's hardly a classic PG. He's much better and much more comfortable and effective playing off the ball and looking to get his own offense. The guy doing the color last night said the same thing.
- Great shooter & pretty clutch - even forced some shots that wound up dropping last night, a product of him being the best player on his team by far - he's gotta take those shots. His teammates were passing up stuff last night just to get him the ball in the end. Almost single handedly brought his team back from the dead last night.
- Doesn't really go all the way to the rim to finish, usually pulling up for floaters or bankers the same way Crawford does when he decides to take it in close, though he did find his way to the line a lot last night.
- Again, does have a noticibly smooth handle and doesn't appear to get too tired or winded or even rattled down the stretch at all. Had some quick one-handed passes that went awry but overall doesn't appear to be a high turnover guy. All pluses.
- Lack of height could be a problem in the NBA playing the 2 (had one pullup jumper blocked down the stretch - to his credit, he came right back to stick his next shot, a deep 3).
- nbadraft.net compares him to Steve Kerr/Juan Dixon but he's more than that. I definitely don't see the overall Steve Nash package, but to me he's more of a combination of guys like Daniel Gibson/John Starks/Jason Terry/Vernon Maxwell - now for the Knicks, who could pick anywhere from 5-15 depending how this season goes, is he enough or the best value for us considering we may have gotten Gallo wrong (jury still out) and we don't have a pick the following year? Is he enough talent to justify taking him around 5 outright? And say we're closer to 15 and entertain trading up, is he a guy you'd trade up to get? I'm not sure.
Blake Griffin
- Monster game last night - almost 20/20.
- Strong and quick for a guy that size. Commentator called him the next Amare at one point and he could be right.
- Very strong handle for a guy that big.
- Excellent touch at the FT line.
- I'd like to see him develop his jumper a little more and some more moves around the rim but he's the real deal in ever phase of the game. Only minor critique - He was actually passing up postup opportunites when Davidson was making its big run toward the end that surprised me a little. Needs to maintain max. aggresive play throughout the whole game.
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Keep an eye on a couple of other stand-out Sooners this season - freshman PG Willie Warren and PF Taylor Griffin, Blake's brother. Warren, before he got himself in some foul trouble last night was very impressive. Routinely broke down the defense with his quickness for either crisp passes or scores. Might be right up there with the better freshman PGs and combos. out there (Jennings, Jrue Holiday). Right now he reminds me a lot of Jonny Flynn only bigger. And Taylor Griffin, while not his brother, possesses a lot of the same qualities. He's gotta be as big as Blake (somewhere near 6'9", 250 lb.) and has a very similar skill set - he plays hard, can move well, has some ups, can block some shots/rebound and can also surprisingly handle the ball quite well. He could be a nice value/discount version of brother Blake for some team toward the end of the first round next summer.
[Edited by - finestrg on 11-19-2008 4:28 PM]
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