SL overreactions

[loco_91]

Here's my blatant overreactions, after only 2 SL games--only one of which I actually watched!

-None of our second rounders are good. Nader is the only one who did anything on offense, but it was nothing special. On defense he looked very bad defending the PnR. On one occasion he didn't see the screen coming until a second too late, then tried to go under when he obviously needed to go over, then ran into the screener and got stuck, then his man had a choice of open 3 or open dunk (he made the open 3). On another occasion his man crossed him up and made him look like he had bricks for feet.
-Zizic is unathletic and not NBA-ready. I'm not prepared to give up on him, but he cannot be our primary backup at C this year. It's not that he did really bad thing so much as he didn't really do good things. Even on the boards he seemed to be struggling a bit vs. length; he gave up an offensive rebound on a FT, for example.
-Brown will be a good roleplayer, but I don't see star upside. Defensively he's been good; he can really give you a hard time if your ball handling is suspect, which is the case for lots of guys in SL. He has shot the ball pretty well overall (4/5 in game 1, 0/4 in game 2), consistent with his better-than-expected rookie stroke. He's been dominant in transition and good in semi-transition--when the lane is open he's going to dunk. But he's struggled mightily to create off the bounce in the half court. We didn't see him do this very much last year, and now we see why: he has 11 turnovers and 2 assists in two SL games. He will need to improve a *lot* before he's a second or third option in the NBA, and I fear that many C's fans will ultimately be disappointed in him.
-Tatum has been the clear bright spot. For one thing he looks athletic. People have compared him a lot to PP who was great despite limited quickness/explosiveness, but Tatum doesn't have nearly Pierce's physical limitations. He has shown good explosiveness on dunks and rebounds, good speed in the open floor, good quickness attacking off the bounce, and good mobility on defense. Overall he seems to be an above-average NBA athlete, and it's fair to assume that his foot sprain at Duke limited his ability to show it. Defensively Tatum has been solid. He's used his length to get steals and he hasn't shown signs of inconsistent effort like he did at Duke. He didn't stand out on this end, but there's nothing concerning either. On offense he has been awesome. He has scored in a variety of ways, with impressive turnaround jumpers, post moves, step-backs, side-steps, transition dunks, show-and-go, put-backs, cuts, everything. Lots of his offense came in late shot-clock situations. He had at least two impressive passes vs the Spurs: a lefty bullet pass to Zizic in transition for  dunk, and a bounce pass to Ojeleye between 2 defenders on the move (Ojeleye missed the layup). He had a bit of trouble when the Spurs started trapping him in the second half, but if he's drawing double teams as a rookie then he's doing something right. The two things I'd like to see more of from him are shooting 3's and handling in the PnR.

[hwangjini_1]

1. Please double space between paragraphs. This is borderline unreadable on my iPad. Thanks.

2. Why post over reactions on SL,and two games? Why not watch more games and follow training camp, maybe even pre season before forming any opinions?

[Green-18]

Here's my blatant overreactions, after only 2 SL games--only one of which I actually watched!

-None of our second rounders are good. Nader is the only one who did anything on offense, but it was nothing special. On defense he looked very bad defending the PnR. On one occasion he didn't see the screen coming until a second too late, then tried to go under when he obviously needed to go over, then ran into the screener and got stuck, then his man had a choice of open 3 or open dunk (he made the open 3). On another occasion his man crossed him up and made him look like he had bricks for feet.
-Zizic is unathletic and not NBA-ready. I'm not prepared to give up on him, but he cannot be our primary backup at C this year. It's not that he did really bad thing so much as he didn't really do good things. Even on the boards he seemed to be struggling a bit vs. length; he gave up an offensive rebound on a FT, for example.
-Brown will be a good roleplayer, but I don't see star upside. Defensively he's been good; he can really give you a hard time if your ball handling is suspect, which is the case for lots of guys in SL. He has shot the ball pretty well overall (4/5 in game 1, 0/4 in game 2), consistent with his better-than-expected rookie stroke. He's been dominant in transition and good in semi-transition--when the lane is open he's going to dunk. But he's struggled mightily to create off the bounce in the half court. We didn't see him do this very much last year, and now we see why: he has 11 turnovers and 2 assists in two SL games. He will need to improve a *lot* before he's a second or third option in the NBA, and I fear that many C's fans will ultimately be disappointed in him.
-Tatum has been the clear bright spot. For one thing he looks athletic. People have compared him a lot to PP who was great despite limited quickness/explosiveness, but Tatum doesn't have nearly Pierce's physical limitations. He has shown good explosiveness on dunks and rebounds, good speed in the open floor, good quickness attacking off the bounce, and good mobility on defense. Overall he seems to be an above-average NBA athlete, and it's fair to assume that his foot sprain at Duke limited his ability to show it. Defensively Tatum has been solid. He's used his length to get steals and he hasn't shown signs of inconsistent effort like he did at Duke. He didn't stand out on this end, but there's nothing concerning either. On offense he has been awesome. He has scored in a variety of ways, with impressive turnaround jumpers, post moves, step-backs, side-steps, transition dunks, show-and-go, put-backs, cuts, everything. Lots of his offense came in late shot-clock situations. He had at least two impressive passes vs the Spurs: a lefty bullet pass to Zizic in transition for  dunk, and a bounce pass to Ojeleye between 2 defenders on the move (Ojeleye missed the layup). He had a bit of trouble when the Spurs started trapping him in the second half, but if he's drawing double teams as a rookie then he's doing something right. The two things I'd like to see more of from him are shooting 3's and handling in the PnR.

I would say you are on point with the early overreactions!  Zizic definitely looks raw but I also wonder if he will play more effectively with better players around him during the regular season.  A guy like Zizic should benefit from a simplified role with restricted minutes.

With Jaylen Brown he has clearly showed improvement but he's also trying to expand his game while he has the opportunity in summer league.  Some of this has resulted in sloppy play and bad turnovers.  Jaylen's offensive game will continue to be a work in progress and I am expecting him to take another 2 or 3 full seasons before he has the repertoire to consistently create his own offense.  Next year he will need to settle for finishing in transition, driving aggressively when the opportunity presents itself, and knocking down his corner threes.  I am also expecting a major jump with his defensive IQ.  All in all I would be happy to see Jaylen either improve his efficiency or maintain the same efficiency on higher volume.  My confidence level hasn't shaken one bit regarding his All-Star potential.  I have just scaled back my expectations regarding how quickly he will get there.  I think it's important to think of Jaylen as a High School prospect who jumped straight to the NBA.  Back in the day it usually took the High School lottery picks 4 or 5 years before they peaked.

As for Tatum, it's difficult to not get carried away about how great he has looked.  He has been able to hit a variety of shots and clearly has "it".  It's difficult to project his ceiling after 2 summer league games but will be able to score at a high level for many years.

[footey]

I kind of had the same over-reaction as OP, including about Brown, but then I remembered how awesome Brown was in game 1--the best player on a floor that included Tatum and Fultz--so I'm going to attribute game to 2 performance as a klunker.  Seemed tired.  Let's see what happens in game 3. The concerns about his handle are legitimate, however.  I think Brad tries to make sure he plays within himself, while during summer league he tries to let it all hang out. Both good and bad.

[footey]

Watching these games makes me recall how good Yabusele looked last season in summer league, much better than Zizic or the SMU dude, and that maybe we will figure out a way to bring him onto the roster this year. I think he can contribute.

[Bobshot]

I agree it's too early, but the observations so far are pretty accurate.

Tatum is the natural. Making everybody else look bad, so to speak. Brown had a strong first game, but clearly needs to work on his shooting, including his foul shooting. Zizic looks greener than his uniform. Nader showing some offense, as expected.

The other thing is, with Tatum and Brown dominating touches, we aren't seeing enough of what those other kids can do--except Zizic and Nader.

Looks like they'll have to trade for another experienced big guy up front. Zizic doesn't look like he can help right away.