.... as much as MMA violence? jk :THT Heart Hands: Like Fedor ... last Saturday night .... yikes, hope that was worth the paycheck. At least the abuse lasted like only 30 seconds. Just saw the clip.
Oh wow, I didn't know that! That's nice for them and for our chemistry. Good role players & chemistry almost always translate to winning.
I love this piece. I'm not sure why Ainge gave up on him but I'm super glad he did. Vando guards every spot on the floor except for the biggest banger centers. He brings elite level hustle and rakes 8rpg in only 24 minutes. I get why some don't want him starting, but I think with the new lineup he would be the best fit with the starters. C: AD PF: LBJ SF: Vando SG: Beasley PG: DLO So, Vando is not an outside shooter and could potentially create a spacing issue. But, the addition of Beasley and DLO is going to give both LBJ and AD space they have not had since KCP left. Vando is a strong offensive rebounder, but he doesn't clog the paint. He is quick enough to wait for the ball to go up and then crash the boards, especially for the longer rebounds that 3point shots create. Think of a poor man's Rodman and how he fit with MJ and Pip on the Bulls even though he provided no spacing. On D is where he will really help the starters. DLO is no stopper. Vando can take the other team's best perimeter scorer. Yes, Rui would work with the starters, but the starters don't need more scoring, the bench does. C: Bamba PF: Rui SF: Troy or Walker or Max SG: Reaves PG: DS
Yeah I never imagined Vanderbilt was available when the Jazz package was rumored over the summer. I guess the emergence of Walker Kessler made Vanderbilt available, Jazz tried to play them together and that didn't go well.
I am sure there will be problems with all the new guys but the hustle I see from Vanderbilt and Bamba looks like a super positive improvement for our lackluster defense.
I'd like to see them all out on the court first, in order to gauge who fits best with who. While most folks are excited about shooting, 3pt percentage, or " spacing ", I'm not sure that was really the biggest issue. Did we really miss KCP all that much? I thought Monk shot better than he did. Lebron has continued to get to whatever spot he wants, and when we decide to get AD the ball, he hasn't had much problem scoring either. We just need guys to do a better job, of knocking down those open shots, that they've been getting all season. I thought we missed the athleticism and size from the bigs more. Vanderbilt is a bigger version of Stanley Johnson IMO, all the things folks liked about Johnson, we just got a longer, more versatile and athletic version of that in Jarred. Bamba is a poor man's Myles Turner...he can hit the 3, block some shots, and seems comfortable playing 4 on offense. Me and Abeer chopped it up over the summer about getting one of these kids. That RFA status made it unlikely, it's crazy that we ended up with both anyway.
the reason we miss(ed) kcp is because he was a good on and off ball defender who also made defenses respect his shot enough not to have them just sit in the paint. i'd take him back any day. i love that two of our pickups are known for defending and have good size and athleticism. i also think vanderbilt will learn where he's going to get his shots and make enough of them that his not being a marksman won't hurt us. having rui and vando as options really changes the way we can play, night in and night out. i'm still really surprised we managed to get what we did at the deadline for what we gave up.
IDK man...we'll see. I think I saw somewhere, that Beasley is like 4th in the NBA in made 3's over the previous two seasons. Rather surprising to me, I never paid much attention to him in Minnesota. Allegedly he's a pretty decent defensive perimeter guy. He has his shot to be another KCP for this team.
He just showed what he can do for us. The guy is brilliant. So much effort, did everything: scored, rebounded, played D.
Nice. Vando... but, why no minutes down the stretch? Although, Rui played nicely. Such a nice problem to have...
