I dont know much about Casspi from past teams, but based on the last game we had, I would say he did very well indeed. He rebounded, he had one or two blocks and he can runs well. And going 9/10 is no joke, and 50% of them were difficult shots. As for weakness, obviously there are plenty, but as any other player, we need to give the guy a chance to try to work things out. Lets see if McHale would use him with Big4 to test how he mesh with them. That would be interesting to watch... PS; Just browsed his is past year record, it may not look promising. Maybe he had improved and put on serious work over the summer. Lets see
I think Feigen's thoughts are note-worthy-- he isn't the coach but follows the team closely and has sources within the team so perhaps his opinion reflects some of what he heard. Here's what he said: http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterocke...ener-while-wondering-what-happened-to-sunday/
~lol~ Actually I wrote it after you had already started this thread! Just that I didn't see it. Interesting, you're right, I think playing him with the 2nd unit would be easier on him on defense and he could better utilize and hone his low post moves. He doesn't have the body to bang with the big boys yet and his 3 pt shooting is still too inconsistent to really stretch the offense. He does have a very bright future, especially now that he's working with Dream. If Asik can play some with Dwight, it seems like Smith won't see a lot of play time. But if he works hard, he does have a future in this league. It's crazy we have three true enforcers on one team. Trading Asik or Smith makes a lot of sense to me. Well again, he shot 36% from three last March in D-league. I think it is going to be fine for a big man. I think his court awareness would improve just by playing more and getting more experience. He just needs to lock down his man and I think he should be the starter. He is too versatile. Hope the other starters can mentor him more. He could bring very good shooting off the bench. Unfortunately I don't think he has the athleticism to play against the starters of good teams. You're right, Dwight is quicker. Asik can shoot a little. Let's hope he has worked on it all summer. He could be the starter if he shoots the mid-range consistently. (that's what I think but apparently the Rockets aren't supposed to shoot mid-range jumpers?) Well, if the other team go small then a small guy would be on Asik or Dwight. We could adjust easily. Or we could easily play some zone. Defense and rebounding is going to be awesome. Also pick setting would be amazing! Parsons probably won't have to play so many minutes this season since there are so many capable threes backing him up: Garcia, Casspi, Brewer, Harden (playing with Lin and Bev together in a small lineup). I think we will see him play the four quite often, depending on the matchups as you said. It really makes a lot of sense. Lin, Bev, Harden, Parsons and Dwight, that's a potent lineup, very tough to stop. So we've got a big committee that provides a lot of varieties for the coaches to choose from at the four spot. I think it is pretty good. Gonna be even better when the growing pain of the sophomores subside.
Maknusia and TJ, Casspi's performance surprised me against New Orleans. Granted it was only an exhibition game, but he looks capable of putting it on the floor--at least against fours who try to run him off the 3-point line. He appears to have more weapons in his offensive game than I had originally thought.
Starter at the 4: Dwight Howard Backup at the 4: Donatas Motiejunas (with Howard+Lin on the court and Asik on the bench) and Terence Jones (with Asik+Beverley on the court and Howard on the bench)
It's true, but it's just that I think he'll do fine against second unit of bad teams but not against first unit of good teams.
