...and I'm going to do this a bit differently since it's just intrasquad.
Random player observations:
- Tyson was a bit nervous with his shot, made up for it with being active in transition. No worries --- he can stroke it.
- Brown looked more polished than I expected --- good sign for the future
- As I expected, Seth is asserting himself (as in practice) with more confidence --- also, really enjoyed seeing him calmly run his team when EC was out
- Lubin and Claude were as expected --- physical and scrappy
- Wash needs to touch the ball more (see below) but is effective when he does
- Jackson and Powell flashed the exact sort of stuff I mentioned in the last preview thread that will make them major parts of the rotation. Once they get their court "bearings", watch out. Powell's Len Bias bursts stand out already
- RJ is still RJ, and hopefully just got a scare and some soreness
- One of my guys played pickup with Withers this summer and was on him about dribbling less and not getting loose with the rock. When he runs the floor and gets to the rack his athleticism is next-level. Nice knock-down of a transition 3, BTW.
- Best of all, this was a glimpse of the Eliot Cadeau Show. I wasn't keeping stats but he easily scored in double figures, handed out a half-dozen or so dimes (and more potentials) and had complete control over the flow. EXACTLY what we need.
Scheme observsations:
(with the
caveat that it was a simple scrimmage and we'll hafta wait til we play someone else to learn more)
- I liked the tempo and especially the commitment to solid OUTLET PASSES --- something we too often got slack with last season.
- I liked that we are indeed pushing after made shots
- I liked some of the hard cuts to the basket
- I did NOT like (with the above
caveat notwithstanding) that we still aren't utilizing the key trigger of the Carolina Secondary, i.e, the trail dive, before we start perimeter action. Granted, our own guys are gonna get back on transition D, so it's wait-and-see.
- I did not like that we ran the same shell scheme in Freelance off transition pretty much every time. Again, with the caveat of not showing too much too soon, we'll know more from the Exhibitions.
- I did not like the clunkiness off the high screen action, in particular Bigs taking too long afterwards to get the heck outta no-man's land to make themselves useful. We can't only rely on EC's penetration to trigger vital inside-out geometry. It's fine to start Bigs high but if we don't dive to a post like we mean it, 4-out becomes
de facto 5-out and I'll say straight-up that nothing good will come from that. We absolutely NEED to see to JWash getting touches in and around the magic triangle!
Finally, good to see the guys playing, and I'm anxiously looking forward to Tuesday!...
