Well, he may not be a Piston for long, but just incase... They've had 3 prep games for the FIBA WC so far in a mini-tournament (Super 4 Santa Fe). Delfino has apparantly been playing pretty well. Earning big minutes despite playing behind the 2 stars of the team (Ginobili and Nocioni). Atleast that is the word out of Argentina. Apparantly he came up huge in the 4th quarter of the gold medal game. Info is a little hard to come by for the first two games, but I found some decent stuff for the Gold Medal game (they won BTW) Game 1: 9 points Game 2: 12 points Gold Medal Game: Argentina over Brazil, 103-97. Stats Argentina Delfino 21 mins 18pts (5/7 FG) 5boards 2steals 2asts Ginobili 19pts 3asts 4boards Scola 14pts 10boards 2asts Nocioni 16pts 6boards Oberto 10pts 6boards Brazil Barbosa 12pts 3boards A.Varejão 15pts 13boards Tiago Splitter 17pts 7boards 1steals A (translated) press clipping from the final game... I'll post more as they have more games...
I 2nd that, thanks FP22. If you've got the inside info, keep it coming. This info is pretty hard to find.
Today's game (8-2-06) Argentina 85 : 75 New Zealand Delfino: 15 min, 11 points (3/6 FG), 3 steals Manu: 32 min, 12 points (4/9 FG) Nocioni: 22 min, 17 points (6/10 FG) Scola: 33 min, 30 points (12/15 FG) They're playing some small ball with Manu-Delfino-Nocioni at the SG-SF-PF spots to get Delfino some more minutes.
Good enough to compete for minutes from Ginobili and Nocioni, but not with Evans? Looks like he had a good game against New Zealand also: Craig Bradshaw led a scoring spree in the final quarter, sinking three three-pointers, and the Tall Blacks cut Argentina's lead to four points with 2 1/2 minutes to go. But New Zealand could not reply when Argentinian guns Carlos Delfino and Ginobli each sank three-pointers and the home team pushed the margin out to 13 points by the end of the game. "I was exceptionally encouraged by the second-half performance," Baldwin said. "We played the best basketball of this campaign." Is it me, or should New Zealand stop calling themselves the Tall Blacks?
NZ's Rugby teams are known as the All Blacks for the colour of their uniforms. Tall Blacks is just some less than stellar marketing. I wonder if the basketball team performs the Haka (Maori War Dance) prior to tip off the way the Rugby teams do. The Haka is truly one of the awe inspiring rituals in international sport. You can watch it here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8DX_8-uXUk
Delfino's best game yet.... and against the best team they've faced so far. Argentina 88 - Lithuania 87 Delfino: 28 min, 23 pts, 4 rebs, 1 ast, 2 steals (8/15 FG)
I do have my questions about flip, but LB ignored this guy too. With out getting into any debates about his non-PC comments, etc. it's clear this guy could've really helped us last year. This team has always needed a slasher, and Delfino is that guy. He seems to show it whenever he gets trust/minutes.
International competition does not always equate to success in the NBA, otherwise Pepe Sanchez and Arroyo would be all-stars. If Delfino is displaying the characteristics that we could have used and we did not utilize his talents then that does fall on the coach.
Rock on Carlos! Pretty decent stat line. Over 50% shooting. The guy also seems to have a talent for the steal. Granted, his hands are freakishly large, but he does seem to have a talent for it. LB said he gambled too much going for it, but maybe he's learned to be more conservative when picking his chances.
