ClutchFans Game Thread: Pelicans @ Rockets 10/5/2013 (PRESEASON)

Starters
J.Lin
Harden
Parsons
T.Jones
Howard

Bench
P.Beverly
Brooks
F.Garcia
Casspi
Asik

3rd String
Greg Smith
M.Camby
R.Brewer
R.Williams

D League
DMO
Cannan
Covington

 

NO! lol seriously NO!.

 

Oops I had looked under the wrong column and thought they had 33 assists.

 

then yer expectations of him waaaaay tooooo high. go chill out

 

Get ready cause knowing McHale's crazy antics, he will be playing the four.

 

All in all I have to agree with your assessment. D-Mo played excellent defense against Davis. However he was in a mode where he never took his own shot and always deferred to the more experienced players. Which, in my mind is totally fine. D-Mo only had 3 FGA for the game, but had 6 rebounds, three assists and 4 made free throws. Just what the starting unit needed, but the coaching staff could have a different opinion.

D-Mo only took 3 shots and one of them was a three pointer.

 

The reality is Lin does not have the green light to do things he is good at. This the biggest differentiator in the NBA. Hopefully, he improves his catch and shoot especially at the end of the clock. He must get good at eating the "leftovers" so to speak.

 

Man, we're good to go. I'm pumped. Loved out guards trying to feed Dwight all game. Harden is boss. Bev terrorized Jrue, lol. Lin is even faster this year. Jones looks solid. Parsons gets in where he fits in like a boss. Missed Omer's presence. Our 8-9 man rotations gonna beast this year.

 

So Canaan looked lost?

 

Disagree. Here is my list
Starters
J.Lin
Harden
Parsons
D-Mo
Howard

Bench
P.Beverly
F.Garcia
Casspi
T-Jones/Smith
Asik/Smith

3rd String
M.Camby
Brooks
R.Williams
Brewer

D League
Cannan
Covington

 

You give up some rebounding but alongside either Asik or Howard I think he would be fine. He has the height, and the length.... he's just a little thin to go against someone like Z-Bo or future Anthony Davis as we saw tonight.

Offensively though he more than makes up for what you might lose on a few defensive possessions. That's why Morey loves going small with a player like Delfino, and potentially Casspi this year if he keeps on playing anywhere close to the way he played tonight. Stat guys love going small while old-school purists hate those 2 or 3 possessions a game when a player gets manhandled on defense.

Still, I think McHale would prefer to have a more natural PF start alongside Dwight to have a more consistent defensive unit starting night after night. I think Jones gets a shot in Manila, and we will later see the Asik/Howard combo starting here when Asik gets back.

Still, I think the small-ball Casspi/Howard frontcourt is something you can definitely keep in your back pocket if none of the other big lineups end up working. Ideally Casspi is a tool you'd like coming off the bench in the Delfino role like last year.

Dont forget, this is only 1 of 8 auditions that McHale has players making to figure this conundrum out. We will get a better idea probably after game 4 or 5.

 

man where ever I go this guy always has the most insightful posts

 

Disagree. Jrue is a mediocre pg and he's an all star. Our pg tandem will compete with the best of the them this year.

 

What about the turnovers and fouls? He had 6 fouls and 2 turnovers.

 

Thx. Definitely a good read.

 

Casspi wouldn't be able to guard almost all of the pf's in the league.

 

the only change would be to have Jones start

 

This. Hopefully Casspi can pan out be a rotational player.

 

My Thoughts:

-Turnovers were an issue. I counted 9-10 turnovers that game just because of unfamiliarity with each other. There were a decent amount of turnovers from the players trying to feed Howard in the post which I'm 100% confident will get better.

Players that stood out:
=Harden: Excellent defense, wasn't turnover prone as usual, didn't stop the ball much.

-Howard: Excellent play on both ends. Post moves seemed a bit robotic, but improving.

=Cassipi: For a player I had little expectations for, he played very well. I'm not going to proclaim him as a closer (cough Cxbby), but I liked what he's shown.

-Jones: On offense he was very aggressive all night. I think his jumpshot needs work though. His defense I thought was pretty average this game, but the mistakes he's been making seem correctable. I see a poor-mans Lamar Odom in him

-Beverly: Opposing point guards hate him

Motiejunas just seems to be all flash no substance to me. He shows so much potential, but it's just not coming together (Terrence Williams without locker room distractions). I think Jones is our starting PF by the start of the season.

Outlook: Our first team defense looks much improved. Our offense flowed very very well. I feel they did try to force things to Howard too much at times, but I expect it to improve. The bench unit has a lot to improve on defense (Asik will help tremendously).

 

what about this game did you think that dmo is worthy to start over tjones? i don't get it.