Everything (2016-2017) Regular Season Game Threads

[DogeLover1234]

it kind of looked like Derozan and JV were options 1 and 2 tonight, not Derozan and Lowry.

Kyle didn't play great, and i expect him to be more involved, but i think long term a transition to a Demar/JV focused offence with lowry as the third option is going to be better anyways.

I thought Lowry did a really good job getting the ball to those other two guys though, he had one pass to a cutting JV (who then got fouled by Drummond) in the first quarter that comes to mind. I don't mind Lowry playing more of a distributor, I still expect him to be the guy making clutch plays in crunch time.

Was expecting Siakam to be bad after reading the boards here during preseason, but I thought he played really well. If by mid season he can consistently hit an elbow jumper I have no problems with him getting 20+ minutes a game. His high motor and mobility make up for most of his mistakes defensively until he has the experience to fix those and keep him active on the boards. Seems to have pretty good hands and touch around the basket.

Other than DD and JV (the stars of the game), wasn't overly impressed by anyone else. Ross looked to be improved somewhat I suppose, active on defense and pretty aggressive on offense, though he missed a few open Js he needs to make. Every now and then he surprises and makes a creative pass which hopefully become more frequent if he keeps driving and improved handles (hopefully lol). Hes not there yet, but man that would improve the bench play a lot (cojo dribbled a lot some of those possessions).

Overall really good imo. If they keep feeding JV raps could end up with 3 all stars, cause I don't see any team stopping him without a double.

[Abbas]

35 minutes for JV, and he scores 32 points and grabs 11 boards. Give him minutes, and he'll produce.

Huge games from some players tonight. AD had a huge game (50pts, 16 boards, 5 asts, 7 steals). Wholy sh!t.

Harden has like 14 assists at the half. LBJ had a triple double last night. Russ was one assist away from one tonight. Going to be a wild season if this keeps up.

*Edit - AD even had 4 blocks!

Man if only AD had help around him

[Puffer]

...Ross looked to be improved somewhat I suppose, active on defense and pretty aggressive on offense, though he missed a few open Js he needs to make. Every now and then he surprises and makes a creative pass which hopefully become more frequent if he keeps driving and improved handles (hopefully lol). Hes not there yet, but man that would improve the bench play a lot (cojo dribbled a lot some of those possessions)...

Ross also picked up 4 rebounds. I liked seeing him take it to the basket as well. Quite happy with his performance in this game.

[Superjudge]

Siakam.

Hate to say i told y'all so..... but I told Y'all so.

Clever pick. makes Biyombo expendable, saves the team a shit tonne of cash.

[KeonClark]

Can't wait till friday already! Gonna be interested to see if jv and derozan can stay hot, if lowry steps his game up, and hoping powell gets some run. Cavs like to play small so I'd like to see him defend jr smith a bit

[Nilanka]

We have a better record than the Warriors!

[Nilanka]

Carroll is STILL meh.

But Pascal looks like a great perimeter defender. He really uses his endless gas tank to run all over with the addition of his length to majorly DISRUPT jump shots. He really effected a lot of shots taken by the guard/wing positions. If he can keep this up he may never be the pure rim protector Biz was but in a way more useful being that the league has become a jump shooting/perimeter oriented game. Teams are getting one shot and it's a highly contested one. But it's just one game of course, but very promising. Now if Powell could get back to playing like Tony Allen with some offence, instead of a poorman's DeMar, we could really have a sufficating defence when those 2 are in.

I'm pretty sure that Masai threatened to ship Siakam back to Cameroon if he fucked up tonight. He was playing for his life, lol.

I loved his motor, but it doesn't seem likely he'll maintain that level of intensity for 82 games. Will eventually have to learn to pick his spots to minimize the effect of the "rookie wall".

[rocwell]

Oh no, how did I miss that... Jonas played 35 minutes last night!

[Nilanka]

Oh no, how did I miss that... Jonas played 35 minutes last night!

Is that because Casey actually trusts Jonas, or because Bebe is dead, and Poeltl is still learning how to walk?

[rocwell]

Is that because Casey actually trusts Jonas, or because Bebe is dead, and Poeltl is still learning how to walk?

[DanH]

Is that because Casey actually trusts Jonas, or because Bebe is dead, and Poeltl is still learning how to walk?

JV actually stayed in really long late when the game was out of hand, which I thought was odd, but in hindsight I think Casey was giving him a shot to hit his career high - he checked out soon after hitting 32 points, and that's a nice confidence booster for a young C with breakout expectations. Otherwise he lines up for about 32 minutes in this one (with it being out of hand) and if the game was competitive down the stretch he probably played the last minute too, so he hits 36. That's the range I'd expect with BeBe out, and maybe even when he comes back. 32-36 depending on the game, matchup, score...

[Nilanka]

It was actually funny reading some of the post game comments on Pistons sites, citing Casey/Raptors as the textbook way to incorporate young players into the rotation while still winning ball games.

We're clearly too hard on Casey.

[slaw]

Very solid defensive effort. Held them under 42% shooting and under 20% from three. Won the rebounding battle. Won the turnover battle. Big game from one of Derozan and Lowry.

Siakam will have ups and downs but it looks as though he will be a solid fill-in while Sullinger is out. Reminds me a little of how they dealt with Powell last year in terms of giving him a limited focus/role initially. Poeltl looks like he will be fine to me but you got the sense he was nervous/anxious and that the speed and physicality was a bit overwhelming in game one.

Speaking of young players, was a little surprised Casey went so tight with the 9-man rotation. Thought we might see more Powell. One positive side-note to all this is that once Wright, Sullinger and Bebe are healthy, it looks like they'll have 13 rotation quality NBA players to roll with. That's pretty impressive.

[Barolt]

Ross currently leads the team in AST%.

[Nilanka]

Very solid defensive effort. Held them under 42% shooting and under 20% from three. Won the rebounding battle. Won the turnover battle. Big game from one of Derozan and Lowry.

Siakam will have ups and downs but it looks as though he will be a solid fill-in while Sullinger is out. Reminds me a little of how they dealt with Powell last year in terms of giving him a limited focus/role initially. Poeltl looks like he will be fine to me but you got the sense he was nervous/anxious and that the speed and physicality was a bit overwhelming in game one.

Speaking of young players, was a little surprised Casey went so tight with the 9-man rotation. Thought we might see more Powell. One positive side-note to all this is that once Wright, Sullinger and Bebe are healthy, it looks like they'll have 13 rotation quality NBA players to roll with. That's pretty impressive.

Great news for a potential Aldridge trade