| 2nd half Milwaukee game
Wow. A whole lot of great stuff from our bench. Evans can flat out shoot. But he is a zero on ball handling. Dupree did some good stuff. Some. And is a zero on ball handling. The two together are bad news for an offense. Anyone notice the couple times Amir Johnson handled the ball? This guy showed me more there on ball handling than Mo Evans for the whole game, and equaled Dupree for a whole game.
Back to Mo. Only missed one shot all night on the way to 20 points, and showed us all kinds of rebounding and defense. An absolute must for a rotation, and a guy who can come off the bench and score. Only if he could handle the ball just a bit.
Nobody is going to mention cutting Acker at this point. No way, no how. He showed us his scoring touch. A triple. A midranger. Went inside once. A floater. Considering he was virtually out there by himself, he did ok on ball handling too. His defense looks pretty good too, including rebounding. And 5 assists in the 2nd quarter. He is easily leading the team in assists per minute so far in his limited minutes this preseason. And this is without the benefit of getting much playing time at all before tonight.
I get the impression if you left Maxiell out there for a few games, he would start outdoing everybody. Those dunks were powerful. His midranger looks good. His rebounding is dynamite. What the heck more could you want? Well, I'd say he was at least a better ball handler vs. Evans. Evans has that range though.
Darko hit another outside shot, and one or two just rang out. Yep, after two years, you got to give that shot some time. Looks very promising. Made both free throws too, something I would like to see young Mr. Maxiell do just once. Something mental there. He can do better at the line.
Tay hit another outside shot. Otherwise, can't say much about the starters. CB played into the 4th just a bit. Still don't know what's up with that seeing CB with the 2nd and 3rd units. Some plays Flip is trying to teach the rookies and other young folk I guess.
It was one very exciting game with us getting a chance to watch the rookies play. After tonight, the only question is whether they want Hunter on the team or Dupree. Dupree can add depth for you at small forward. A guy who just might in some situations be the right guy for you. Hunter can give you some solid D. If played just as a defensive specialist, he could be quite valuable. My vote is for Hunter at this point. That improved shot, and the improved ball handling simply have not materialized as of yet from Dupree. Just really can't see him getting any minutes from Evans, and if he did get any minutes at all, it would be at the expense of Amir Johnson, who needs all the NBA experience he can get. Experience that will allow Amir Johnson to help the Pistons. |