Troy Murphy with a 20/20 game...is that correct??? 21 rebounds!! Ilgauskaus looks like he's back!! Here's one for rimbaud: Jason Terry with 9 assists and 0 turnovers last night. <b>What other surprises have you seen.</b>
Here's one: Despite all the press about how Butler was the best player in this class and oh so Pierce-like, he has yet to put up stats to justify all the hype. Not saying he might not eventually, but it seems like the "experts" expected him to come out right away with a flood of 20 point games or something. Miami is going to suck so hard this year.
Crisco, yeah i saw Butler had a big game yesterday, then realized it was a Rasual Butler. Right now, it looks like Kenny Thomas is doing everything they said Butler would be doing. I'd like to see how fast Butler is, and how tall. I can't imagine too many small forwards as fast as Kenny is moving this preseason. He really did block paths to the rim by both McGrady and Hill drive attempts. McGrady tried baseline and Kenny slide him right off the court, leaving McGrady to pass it out front before he went out of bounds. McGrady tried going to the lane, as well, and Kenny drove him right into help defense ... I think that was a turnover. Hill had less success. Kenny also looks very fast off the ground. It's like...who is that guy flying through the air....that's not Griffin. Oh...it's Kenny!!!
yeah Gooden has been awesome. Be interesting to see how they get him on the floor w/o comprimising the minutes of Pau, Battier, and their multitude of sgs, and Wright. Michael Bradley has put up good stats when he gets the minutes. The Richard Jefferson hype machine keeps rolling along. Grant Hill looks like he really is back. I bet the Celts are so kicking themselves in the ass for picking JJ and Brown over Troy Murphy. I never really understood those selections, esp when they already had a sf in Pierce. Rockets are the best team ever. Still, just preseason, but I'm really looking forward to this season. Lotsa interesting stuff to keep tabs on this year.
Drew Gooden has been very impressive. He is scoring and rebounding all over the place. It will be interesting to see what the Grizzlies do with their front line of Gasol, Gooden, and Wright. Gooden seems to be getting a lot of shots but now that Gasol is back I am sure that will be curtailed. Last night Keon Clark had a line of 14pts, 12rbs, 7ast, 6 blocks! Pretty impressive! Another guy that has been impressive is Z. Ilgauskas of Cleveland. Last night he put up 21pts and 9 rbs and a few nights ago he had 30pts and 12rbs. I guess he is finally over his foot problems. Pretty good numbers! Troy Murphy's 20/20 game was impressive. You would think it would be Fortson that puts up those numbers (at least rebounding wise). Wonder if it is the player or the system that allows for those rebounds? Nevertheless, with those numbers Fortson looks as good as gone. I think they favor Murphy. Chris
Keon Clark will be huge, teams that passed on him will be very sorry. I am a bit surprised at how well Vlad Radmanovic is playing in Seattle. As I expected Dunleavy Jr. does not look like a pick#3 material by any means. Other hyped rookies that haven't shown much: Caron Butler: remember the ROY predictions, the Pierce comps etc...), Bostian Nachbar: "a steal"? "future start"? "better pick than Yao"?, all of these are real quotes from the media.
Starting alongside Erick Dampier tends to be good for your rebounding totals. Dampier isn't a great rebounder himself, but he's big and boxes out well, clearing space for his teammates to rebound. A few years ago, Dampier started only a dozen or so games all season because of knee problems. In three of those games, IIRC, Donyell Marshall had 20 or more rebounds.
You had to squeeze that Kenny Thomas stuff in there, didn't you? But I have changed my mind and now I do hope that we will go to war for years with the current team (and that includes Kenny Thomas), with some minor adjustments here and there. I hope it is possible cap-wise. Regarding preseason surprises, I thought the same thing when I saw the Butler statline. Isn't Rasual the guy which Cuttino is "taking under his wings"?
Stromile Swift also. Grizz has some nice young big men. I never realized Clark was capable of getting so many assists. Indeed impressive. Almost approaching a quadruple double. Ive always liked Ilgauskas. He dominated us when the Cavs where here this year. If they guy is healthy for a full season, he might be one of the best centers in the East. Plus hes only 27! Id love to see Yao and him match up.
Darius Miles: 17 points and 7 boards per game in the preseason. I'm telling you, dude is going to go off this year, though he might hurt Cleveland's chances in the Lebron-a-thon...
While Cleveland was the frontrunner early on in the Lebron race, I'm thinking no one is going to be able to touch the Nuggest in pure tank ability this coming. Unfortunately, that means they probably won't get the top pick.
yeah, i agree.. the touted big bust kwame brown has gone off and shown the high school boy might be able to play surprises? hmm, how about the talented courtney alexander who was forced to play 2nd fiddle behind aging jordan only to find once he's been traded and getting major minutes ... unleashing 20 pts a night with good fg% and low TO's for new orleans. and btw, how bad does the east suck? from what i've seen, the crappiest west teams are beating the playoff east teams easily.
I dont think Butler has been that bad. Other than one game, he has averaged about 15 points per contest.
Really?? Do you think he`s going to start when the regular season starts?? Glad to hear he`s doing well, he looked like a whipped pup last year sitting on the bench
I can almost guarantee you he's going to start. In the preseason, he was averaging around 18 ppg, 8 rpg, 2 bpg on 58% shooting...in only 27 minutes.
Caron Butler will win Rookie Of The Year this season. As for comparing him to Kenny Thomas...shirley your joking? right? Thomas cannot dribble and is an average passer. Caron is already head and shoulders above Kenny in these departments. Caron needs to work on his defense (he is a rookie after all), he is above average in the low post, can finish off a fast break (as well as lead one) and is very unselfish. Oh yeah, he has a nice outside shot too.
