ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Hornets 10/9/2007 (PRESEASON)

Well to be honest, Bonzi is the only one who knows Adelman's system inside and out. It's gonna take awhile for the other guys to catch up. Sloppy game all around.

 

I can't believe some of you are shocked that Mike James doesn't pass the ball. Get ready for a lot of 1 on 5 basketball whenever MJames is out there.

 

that dunk was incredible. Hopefully someone will post a clip of it soon. rafer did look good, but I just don't see him starting over Francis and James.

 

was that dunk after a foul or something? cause the boxscores says he had no points in the game

 

yeah they called over the back on it.

 

Actually, the refs don't pay to much attention to moving picks in the international game. He will have to adapt.

 

trust me, Rafer will be playing much more than Francis. Francis isn't starting over Rafer or James.

 

Give credit where credit is due though; Bonzi was an out of shape turd last season. He didn't even look like he wanted to play. Tonight we saw Bonzi in great shape for the preseason and playing very hard. I know the level of intensity Bonzi plays with tends to fluctuate, but you should at least be encouraged by how great he looks physically. It's night and day from last season.

Also, I forgot to mention that Mike Harris looked good once more. I was impressed with him in the summer league, but it's even better to see him do it against a quality NBA team. His rebounding was fantastic. I really like that we have a bunch of high intensity guys in Battier, Hayes, Scola and Harris. I hope Harris isn't cut.

 

Improvement to last season: Scola, Bonzi, and Harris.

We still have hope!

 

I think I should go get a grenade a blow up bus full of Hornets fans, like some soccer fans do.

 

don't tell that to clutch!

 

I missed the first half. I wish I would have missed the second half.

 

it was an offensive foul

 

The second half didn't happen. What I saw:

1. Rafer is still our best PG. That may be good or bad depending on how you look at it, but I think a Rafer who doesn't play 38MPG is actually very underrated. He did get a ton of assists in his Toronto days after all.

2. Bonzi is def our third scorer now. Thank god he showed up for Adelman.

3. Not counting T-Mac, the guy on the court with the best court vision seems to be Scola. Just wait until after he stops making dumb fouls. Incredible find there.

4. Mike James is our best small guard defender; I loved watching him in the first half against Paul. Say what you want about the other aspects of his game, I think we're going to be very happy he's here by midseason.

5. Head and Harris both look like good fits. They look like they can 'get it' pretty quickly. Snyder looks hapless, he might not be able to contribute to a team like this. And I'm sorry, but Novak and Reed are scrubs at this point. If I didn't know any better I'd have thought Reed was 42.

6. Bonzi's conditioning everyone knows about. But T-Mac and Alston look considerably slimmer, and Head looks ripped now when they zoom in on him.


Things I would like to see more of before making any conclusions:

1. The potential resurrection of Shane Battier's offensive game. He's not afraid to attack the basket anymore, but I think it'll still take a couple of weeks of playing to shake off that JVG-rust. I imagine JVG probably yelled at Battier in practice, "You can't post-up! This is what you're good at! Now do it!"

2. Stevie of course.

3. T-Mac and Yao in the same vicinity of the court. Didn't it always seem like they were never together, and when they were it wasn't exactly smooth?

4. Yao for MVP? With that first half, I'm starting to have some faith. We could be juggernauts

 

not only that, he looked a bit slow tonight, or was it just me?

 

Check your firewall setting. Maybe it's blocking the p2p access?

 

ha, ha


It was a dry run,

losing still sucks.

 

What I saw................

Adelman: Just letting 'em play. I don't think he's even started serious work yet.

Yao: Looked good facing up, not enough low post game though. He'll get more boards hanging out in the paint defensively. His passing was above average, but I think it will get a whole lot better. Sure hope Adelman works on the offense more to allow him to drop back in the post when teams go smaller against us.

McGrady: Blah.....he'll be there when it counts. Dude has gotta get his free throw stroke going. Too many contested jumpers.

Bonzi: Looked really, really good. Seems like he's got a leg up on almost everybody. Great cuts. He will be an obvious mismatch.

Shane: OK I suppose. His shot looks like he hasn't put any up in a while. He's not releasing it right, cupping the ball with the off hand too long, gonna have to work on it. His cutting game looks good.

Hayes: Looked good passing and cutting. Still looked good defensively, but did get abused by Armstrong. Of course, there was no help D down there..he was playing with the scrub unit, and they obviously weren't trying defensively. I am convinced he will get a lot of minutes this year. He's still underrated.

Scola: He'll give us some offense, runs well, motion offense works for him........but his defense and rebounding sux.....big time. If he get a lot of minutes with Yao, we will get outrebounded consistently and we will give away a ton of free throws. He doesn't know how to box out and doesn't seem to want to play much defense or rebound, just wants to get to the other end as quickly as posssible. He'll be a foul magnet or an obvious defensive mismatch for our opponents.

Rafer: He looked like a starting point guard, like the point guard I expected him to be at the beginning of last year. He looked way better at the point than anybody else that played. If he keeps playing like this, he is going to make it very difficult to trade him. He's a natural distributor and floor general. Very surprised and impressed. I really figured after this offseason, he'd throw in the towel, but he hasn't. Actually was disruptive on the defensive end also, playing the passing lanes.

Luther: Much improved handle. He actually looked like he can do more than shoot the spot up 3. Penetrated well. Cut very well. I think he could play the Bibby role in our offense with his shooting touch and if he continues to improve his handle. (If we don't trade him.)

James: Typical James. Still too much dribble and one on one to fit my style in this offense, but he made plays when he was stuck out there with Novak and company. Still, I wished he'd give it up more.

Francis: Dude looked lost. Couldn't ever get it going. Got the ball poked away one time after the rebound bringing the ball up very lackidasically. Sure hope he gets better, I think he will. Hasn't lost his athleticism, contrary to what we've read. But his brain sure looked like it was in slow motion out there.

Harris: Looked like at least Kirk Snyder's replacement. I like him. I think he's an NBA player. I wished he'd gotten the ball more down low.

Snyder: Looked lost in limited minutes. Same ugly a.. jump shot that doesn't have a prayer of going in. Didn't look like he belonged on the team. Just didn't see any bball intelligence out of him at all. As Bill and Matt were talking about a possible trade to reduce the roster, the camera panned down to him at the end of the bench.

Reed: Looked okay. Good free throw stroke. Acceptable post defender and rebounder, much better than Scola's piss poor defense and rebounding.

Novak: Disappointing. Still doesn't seem like he can do anything besides shoot, and his shot wasn't impressive tonight. Can't seem to get free from the defender for any open looks. Most all of his shots are contested. Just don't know about him anymore.

 

Man, I'm late. Is the game over? Was it on FSN?

 

Let's forget about this loss......

Let's just enjoy in our flowing and dominating offense in the 1Q, when we were starting most of our star players, and tearing the Hornets apart !!

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