I liked what I saw last night. Evident improvement from the first game. Highlights for me:
Melo looked better. Very spry making his moves. Looked like at first Evan Turner was gonna give him problems but he reversed that quickly and started going to town on Turner. And then if matched up against anyone else either big or small (Bass or Smart for instance) he exploited the mismatch--that dancin' & prancin' move he put on Bass I think? What a move! He also had one of his patented close line blocks on someone (Joel Anthony?), came up with a couple of steals to start breaks and rebounded well. Loved what I saw from him.
Calderon was impressive. Simple for me -- if he plays close to Steve Nash like he resembled last night, he'll be worth it. If he has minimal contribution offensively with zero D, we'll all start to regret adding his contract. Last night he was very good. That move he put on Bass out high right elbow to free himself for a jumper was awesome. Dude had 7 points in under 2 mins. one stretch in the 1st half (3 Js, 1 a 3). I wanna see him continue to look for his shot.
Gotta give Sammy D. some credit. I had him behind basically everyone at the 5 but he's been a surprise. Still has something left to give. He's been a real factor guarding the tin and on the glass. He's definitely playing himself into the starting role. Aldrich hasn't played as well although he's contributing and showing he deserves to play as well. Interested to see how Jason Smith looks for us--he hasn't played yet.
I really like Acy. He's slightly undersized but he's very tough and active. Looks like getting up on the glass and tapping balls back out to teammates with that long reach of his might be his thing a-la Tyson Chandler. Saw that a few times last night. And he definitely can hit an open J. He put a few down last night. If he's open, I want him to take the shot. He can make those. Dude actually has shooting range all the way out to 3. Can't wait to see this guy fully engaged, throwing down some of those monster dunks of his! The Garden's gonna love this guy.
I might be in the minority here I guess just reading some comments but I have no problem with Amar'e's play whatsoever. A ball-stopper? Doesn't pass enough? I don't see that at all, sorry. If Amar'e gets the ball in his sweet spot and it's there, I want him to make his move/take his shot. The man can still score--it's all about him staying healthy. He had a real nice pass to Timmy for a backdoor layup that was right on the money which shows me he's looking for his teammates. Under normal circumstances though, I want Amar'e to continue looking for his shot. He's still one of the top offensive players on the team, isn't he?
I'm not the biggest fan of Timmy's game but I gotta say, obviously there's a conscious effort to put the ball on the floor more this year. He's a bit of a gunner but now if he's gonna start taking it to the rim more, we're looking at a better player.
Shumpert looked real good. Took a few jumpers -- some were dead on, one baseline J barely grazed the rim. First game--it'll come.. The most important thing -- he was fully engaged defensively and got his hands on several balls. I like this guy in the starting lineup -- he brings enough offensively with his outside shooting which will help space the floor and he plays very good D. I want him matching up immediately against the opposing team's best player 1-3. JR and Timmy are more equipped for instant offensive off the bench. It'll be tough to get all 3 sufficient PT though, esp. now with guys like Early and Acy that we also need to find time for. On the other hand, it's good to have quality depth. 82 games is a marathon.
I thought JR looked terrible. He was sloppy with the ball (how 'bout that half-hearted spin move in the lane where he fell on his ass and coughed up the ball? Tell me we haven't seen that before
) and took awful shots. Most of his shots fell last night and I cheered/clapped but truth be told, they were all terrible shots save for one good take early on where he beat Avery Bradley to the rim for a layup. Outside of that -- HORRENDOUS shot selection all night long. I wonder what Fisher was really thinking to himself watching JR running around jacking up shots like that. Dude has to be one of the lowest IQ players in the game. One big positive with him yesterday -- I heard him say he was willing to do whatever Phil & Fish want him to do, either starting or coming off the bench. That's a switch from last year...Good, we need this guy to be a team player. No off the court noise this year please. Let's keep all the nonsense to a minimum..
Larkin continues to have some problems but I still believe in his talent. New system, new teammates, etc.. Gotta give this kid a little time to figure it out. I just wanna see him get to a point where he's looking for his own a little more. He's overpassing right now to a fault and being a little too passive in general. I feel Larkin's a better talent over Phil Pressey yet Pressey was the bigger aggressor between the 2 these first 2 games. I've heard he needs a teardrop in the lane (did Clyde say that or Breeny?), etc.. He's got all that. Very capable outside shooter too..He just needs to start playing more assertive. Fish needs to stick with him. It'll bear fruit sooner than later.
Early really looks like an excellent outside shooter. Good shooting form and he doesn't hesitate to take the open shot. We really need to start seeing a little more variety though. I like how he swooped in for the handoff layup early on. And he's got a nice little shot fake/dribble-dribble move to get in closer for a better shot which is good. I wanna start seeing him take the ball all the way to the rim if it's there but all in all, not bad so far. Wanna see him keep building and adding to his game. I don't want future scouting reports to read 'Crowd him. He can shoot it but can't put the ball on the floor.'
