ClutchFans Game Thread: Shanghai Sharks @ Rockets 10/2/2016 (PRESEASON)

few notes from watching the game last night (Although I missed most of the 1st qtr).
-KJ can get up! If only he was more consistent around the perimeter, he'd be getting major minutes in my opinion. I could see him playing a Matrix lite role.
-Prigs is still too hesitant on his shots, I know his heart is in the right place, but for goodness sake, shoot the dang 3!
-Ennis looked sloppy with his handles and was too focused on scoring and not enough imo on finding the open man. We'll see how this develops as we have like 6 pgs on the roster.
-Mitten (GP2) looked good from the limited minutes he got.
-Anderson looked good on his jumper, post game not so much. Had trouble scoring down low against the Shanghai bigs.
-Brewer made 3s?
-Ariza looked good on his 3s
-Bev looks back to OG form.
-Dekker lol
-Capela and Nene looked good. Nene makes FTs!
-Harrell needs to work on finishing, but I like his energy.
-Didn't see enough on Taylor to make judgment.
-Wiltjer has a quick release. Reminds me of a young Novak but with more potential. He could be a scary stretch 4-5 if he can develop consistency
-Harden logged minutes in the 3rd qtr? Looked good with his passing, I think he'll be fine running PG for the Rockets this season.
-Didn't get to see too much on EGo unfortunately.


If I missed anyone, I either didn't see them play, or don't recall their plays.

 

Rockets being cautious with Gordon given his extensive injury list. I doubt we will see him play big minutes in the preseason.

 

Replacing Prigs with Fredette would be a no-brainer

 

I would love to see a
Harden-Gordon-Anderson-Wiltjer-Nene lineup. We would score ALOT

 

He was great. He is a young dwight. We can mold capela into our form for dwight

 

Eww I hope not.

 

First of all, love the new court (don't know why no announcement or more attention on it from our PR / marketing team, just horrible) and Craig Ackerman was a breath of fresh air. He at least cut Drexler & Matt off and responds differently to their rants as opposed to Worrell who would start them or join them. Ackerman gets names right, he knows things about basketball and other stuff like he was the only one who knew anything about Brewer's goat which was a nice little nugget of information I thought, but also just understands the job.

As far as players go, I am really impressed by Nene and his strong hands. Those are some Otis Thorpe type grips he has on the ball and he can still throw it down. For me, he should start if Capela keeps his silly fouls and that horrible FT shooting up. Which brings me to Capela, how in the world does he think this FT routine is going to work. 99% of players bounce the ball at least once between shots. He does not which makes it harder to get into a rhythm. He did show some good block instincts and moves pretty well, managed to catch some balls he dropped last year and take it to the hole but not impressed.

Next guy who impressed me was Ryan. What a breath of fresh air to have a legit power forward again! He can play in the post, create for himself, not make me cringe when he shoots, FTs in particular with TJ & D-Mo was mortifying, and that midrange game is just money. Gordon looked very solid in his short stint, but I am worried he will get injured but that 3pt shot is MT like good. On defense he did alright as well. Ariza and Beverley looked the same as last year. Harden looked active, his shot was on target, but he was also pursuing assists which made him turn down good shots. Not something I hope continues. KJ can dunk, bot not impressed with the rest. Dekker looked solid, but just cannot look at his face without seeing Morey so will never like him.

Brewer, well, his 3pt shot and running was on point for a change. If he cannot get it together under MDA than he will never be good again. This is perfect for him, so really hope he goes back to 14-15 form since I love his personality. Prigioni was indeed hesitant, not impressed. I love, love, love the fact Beasley is gone, for the black hole he was, but Ennis just looked like an incompetent player. Give me Jimmer any day who was really auditioning. Then we have a series of 3rd / 4th stringers who should never be on an NBA team based on their looks or play: Wiltjer is a scary elephant ears weirdo, Taylor looks like Elfrid Payton, Nanu is ****-eyed, Harrell is predator and Bobby Brown well...why the hell was he handling the rock so much when we had the Glove Jr. on the court who I really hope makes the team. Cut Nanu, Dekker or Harrell for all I care.

All in all, I saw some new sets, but it's mainly the new additions in Nene, Ryan & Gordon who make the difference. On defense, we still are horrible though..let's hope it's because of the level of the competition.

 

I'm pulling for Capela but I don't think he'll ever be starting Center material. He's naturally a PF IMO.

 

bruh Orlando Dwight was a beast no one could deny that. Capela has that game but no as physical as dwight as of yet.

 

Not sure why people are so down on Dekker. Dekker doesnt have great fluidity in his movements, but he played a "Parsons" like game. He finished on drives, filled the lanes down the court and hit just enough 3's to present a "stretch" threat

KJ played well. It is against Shanghai ... though except for 1 bad pass he played within flow of game and made the plays that were there, instead of trying to do more than he needs to do. His issue is awareness and IQ past shooting. If he can improve on awareness that's still a good improvement. Coaches trust players who stay in position and have focus.

I think Ennis was just as advertised. Plays like a "true" PG, can get to the rim, shot not good. His strength is pick & roll supposedly. But he's even more hesitant and un-assertive than Prigioni somehow. It all ends up with him being bland with no identity.

The Jimmer Fredette wild suggestions, that's interesting actually. At very least even if he's a net negative he'd be the guard version of Beasley just for entertainment value

 

Yeah it was per week. I re-read that after my post.

 

double double yesterday. That is all you want from him

 

I feel like you made some terrible assessments. While KJ is a leaper that's about the only thing he excels at. He's probably our best off the ball cutter, but please don't expect him to try to handle the ball or anything. Dude can't make anything happen when he has the ball. He should have handed the ball more to GP2, Bobby Brown, and even Ennis during garbage time instead of trying to make things happen. I feel like he gets too excited and tries to play better than he actually is. Putting the ball in his hands for longer than 5 seconds will mess up the entire possession.

Anderson looks good on the jumper? Well, obviously he should be since that's why we signed him but he went 1/5 from deep and got most of his buckets from put backs or fade aways from 7 feet out. Doesn't matter how nice his shot form looks as long as he's making them, and based off last night he didn't look good at all.

How did Ariza look good on 3s? He went 2/7. Did you even watch the game? He bricked some open shots, and it felt reminiscent to game 5 in the playoffs last season where Harden was creating so many open shots and all the players missed their open shots. Seriously, did you watch the game?

What's so lol worthy about Dekker? He just came off back surgery and it's his first real game in a long time. Yeah, he played against scrubs but he still managed to get 9 points on 6 shots and he looked very healthy and fluid. I'm convinced you didn't watch the game. Defensively, I don't think he'll be great, but he's still a rook in my eyes and it will be growing pains.

"I like his energy" is such a crappy assessment.

Nene and Gordon looked the best out of the new guys. Glad to see Gordon make some plays and have a strong chemistry with Nene early on. Please stop calling Eric Gordon "EGo" btw. No one calls him that. His preferred nick name is EJ. Damn. Maybe I'm just having a bad day, but this post made me really scratch my head.

 

Well, glad you're day is bad enough for you to be a dick on the board! Congrats on that. I'm sorry your day isn't going that well, I don't apologize for my own personal notes on the game I did indeed watch last night. Lighten up, enjoy that Rockets basketball is back.