MoonKnight

I was about to post on Beno yesterday. He had a great rookie campaign and appeared ready to have a solid career. He has fallen deep in Pop's doghouse but he would be a low risk/high reward type of move if we did not have to give up too much. He might be worth a shot as the young point guard we can maybe groom. As for Elson or Butler, there were rumors over the summer that BK wanted Elson. Quite frankly, neither of these guys excite me. I was at the Nugs game here last year and Zaza outplayed Elson. I think I read an article out of SA alleging Butler has maturity/character problems. I would prefer to see Batman get minutes here over either Elson or Butler but Batman must have hit on Woodson's wife or kicked his dog and playing time appears unlikely.

How could the movie Shane not be on your list? It is always mentioned as possibly the greatest western ever made. If you get to watch it, check out the very young bad guy towards the end of the movie. He went on to have quite an interesting career.

Once JSmoove fouled out (on a terrible call) we had no one to patrol the paint at all. The paint became a layup drill. On the O end, we had no point guard to create shots for other guys. We would pound the ball until someone had to go one on one. These two big weak areas cost us the game down the stretch. On a possible positive note, MW showed flashes of his play from the summer league late in the game when he constantly challenged Moore by slashing to the rim. Even Smitty commented that he wished MW would play with that spirit every night.

JJ is a very good back to the basket post player against most guards but we have extreme difficulty feeding the post with entry passes. There have been many times during the season when JJ posts up another guard and the rest of the squad either cannot make an entry pass or goes away from the block. On one or two occasions JJ was effective posting up Kobe the other night but we did not return to that play. Shelden might also be a decent offensive post player but he does not get the rock in a position to demonstrate what he can do. Feeding the post is an example of a fundamental skill this team (and Woody) is lacking regardless of the individual skills of the players.

I was going to post about him in the draft catagory until I saw your post. He has put Tech on his back the last two games and carried them to victory. If he continues to play at this level, he will far surpass Young as the player most likely to bolt Tech to the draft. He is big, with a good handle, good D, and can score in a variety of ways when needed. IMO, he would be a better assist man if he didn't need to score so much to keep Tech in games lately. It would not surprise me, especially if Tech makes the NCAA tourney, if Crittendon gets talked about as one of the top point guards in college.

on 790thezone's saturday midday show for his performance last night. In fact, they suggested they may start only calling him Craig from now on. He is getting blasted for playing like a 2 guard instead of getting his teammates involved as he tries to fit in from his injury. I agree with that sentiment. When JJ was hot last night, Craig started totally looking continually for his own shot (which is still ugly even when he is playing well). I think Woody should just sit Craig until he is fully healed (if possible) AND is prepared to play like the point guard we need. I am afraid the Claxton signing could, in a very quiet manner, be BK's most harmful move.

I was at the game last night and IMO JJ looked exhausted. He is playing too many minutes and it showed last night. You all are right about our 5 spot in that we got little from that spot last night (though Dalembert and Hunter's hot shooting was an anomaly). Woody's choice to go small late in the 4th put the final nail in our coffin. We were in striking distance still before he went small and the Sixers quickly put up big points to get to double digits. Shelden should have been in the game during that stretch b/c he was the most effective inside player for us last night. Another bad loss (2 losses to the Bobcats, one to injury depleted Hornets at home, and now this).

has not been mentioned more based on his amazing performance from last night. You are right in that but for his play in the 3rd quarter, we lose this game bigtime. He singlehandedly stood up to their big men with his blocks and changed the momentum of the game. Kudos to JSmoove.

I don't see him as a 5 at all but more of a 3/4 tweener. He is way to light to play in the post and he not overly physical. I see him as an high energy player with some offensive upside....very similar to the South American dude from the Cavs (can't remember his name). IMO, Noah is not the answer to our post woes.

I didn't see the Bulls play much zone but did see KH chasing JJ around on the perimeter where JJ would have to beat KH off the dribble and have the other defenders collapse on him. In fact for most of the game, I saw Bull defenders picking up their man at half court and clearly not playing zone.

That was some of the hardest earned 29 or so points I have ever seen a player earn primarily due to our coaching staff. Did anyone notice how Kirk Hinrich guarded JJ for long periods of time during the game? We only a handful of times tried to get JJ in the post on KH and, when we did, then we had difficulty making an entry pass into the post. This staff either has the inability to recognize mismatches or have failed to teach our players how to execute basic offensive sets to take advantage of mismatches (entry passes, etc.). JJ had to burn enormous amounts of energy to get his points. It should not have been so difficult.

According to an article on Hoopshype today he might be available before the trade deadline. I have my doubts about whether the Magic would want to trade in their own division but he might fit in here well. IMO, he is a great shotblocker with good offensive potential. He also appears to be getting physically bigger though he is still a 4/5 combo. The questions about him regard his mental toughness and what position he will play. To me, he might fit in well here at the 5 spot because he a far better shotblocker than any of our current 5's (Zaza, Lo, Jones, Batman) and that fact alone will greatly help our interior defense. His new contract (he is a restricted FA) might be reasonable. Thoughts?

There is one big difference between JSmoove's treatment as a rookie and MW's treatment now........JSmoove as a rookie showed real "flashes" of great play. What scares me about MW is that I don't see "flashes" of great play. Instead I see a younger Tim Thomas with less skills. I would expect the #2 overall pick in the draft to demonstrate something, even at this point in his career, other than mediocrity.

"Once we are healthy, our coach knows we expect more success on the court and if he doesn't produce he realizes his job is in jeopardy." I cannot imagine that he could currently maintain this position given our play tonight and this month so far. We may never be completely "healthy". That is the nature of the NBA but well-run teams find ways to win games they are supposed to win. We don't.

we will soon be hearing someone playing the world's smallest violin while protesting "what about our terrible rash of injuries?" "What could Woody do" Here are the facts: We are playing at home. The Hornets are without their three best players. Byron Scott is their coach. The Hornets primary players left are Desmond Mason, Pargo, Rasual Butler and Chandler. Even with the injuries, we still have JJ maybe at 70%. We have JChill, Speedy healthy for a full half, Zaza healthy for one full half, Shelden at maybe 80%, Marvin Williams, LoWright, Salim, Jones, Ivey, etc. We should still win the %$#*& game. There is no reasonable excuse for losing this game.

of our recent horrible play. As I and others that were at the Clips game mentioned not to read too much into the win Saturday because it was more of what the Clips didn't do versus what we did to win that game. Last night's loss was from a lack of effort and from no offensive identity whatsoever. At least in the past we gave good effort. Yes individual players did fail last night (Danny Granger had far more of a positive impact on the game than the more hyped MW), but it appears to me this team has tuned Woodson out. As we sit today, I see no light at the end of the tunnel.

I agree that the Clips looked tired and uninterested. While this was a big win for us due to our recent stretch, I can't say we did anything special last night. Speedy had a few good D plays and Zaza was aggressive offensively with good results. Jones also gave us a shot of energy that the Clips were missing. Kaman and Brand were playing very well offensively in the post and the Clips simply forget them for long periods of play. Good win but I am not certain that the effort last night indicates we have turned any corner. Having Lue and Smoove back with better coaching might result in sustained improvement.

How many 10 day contract players have turned a losing team into a winning team? This is another example of Woody's inability to recognize our problems and how to correct them. I am surprised more people have not been more upset by this quote. If Woody believes a 10 day contract player is going to "jump start" this franchise into a winning program he has a better chance of winning the megamillions lottery.

Agreed. He might be back at some point as a 10 day contract if needed.

just reporting on what I heard on the radio from the beatwriter. I didn't know about the article but I don't recall the Miami beatwriter mentioning this either. Regardless it is abit strange Riley would be having the surgery now for injuries.

I was just driving to get lunch and was listening to 790thezone when they had on a miami sports beat writer to talk about Saban. He stated that his sources gave him breaking news that Riley is taking a leave from coaching that may be permanent. He claimed Riley is furious with the vets on his roster and thinks the vets have quit on him. Rothstein or even VanGundy could be assuming coaching duties for the rest of the year. The city of Miami certainly has some flaky coaches.

I would not say poor character traits but I think BK has selected guys that are not internally driven or intense in how they approach the game. While it is common to attack today's NBA player for having too much attitude, BK appears to be selecting guys without enought attitude.

I need to see this movie because I believe Mia Kirshner is in it. She is simply one of the hottest best kept secrets in Hollywood.

MW might know how to attack the rim but he never does it. He has become a standstill jump shooter that is not hitting his jumpers. He is having no impact on the game. To this point, JSmoove's impact on a game far outweights anything Marvin has done. It is great that he is being active in practice but it is time to show some flashes when it counts of why he was chosen #2 overall. I hope he shows it soon or this pick could be a Koncak-like lead balloon attached to this team for some time.

and even played decent man D against Duncan in the 1st half. I agree with you in that Shelden should have gotten many more minutes in the 2nd half. Childress also gave us alot of energy and keep us in the game at crucial intervals. MW played pretty poorly yesterday. He looks very timid about driving or playing in the paint (if he is so self conscious about his hand then he should not be playing). There were several times when Brent Barry was matched up on MW and he did nothing. If MW continues to remain a stand still jump shooter then he will be a bust. Decent effort overall but the Spurs are too good and get the benefit of way too many calls.