rough game to watch. max did a good job getting position in the paint. kwame did decent defending duncan. everyone else looked bad...tired, not as much hustle, etc.
Pro: Con: Samb missed 3 shots in a row after going through Curry's extreme conditioning boot camp before the game.
Oh now you're being coy. You know I'm referring to the Dumars driven hype machine. That has nothing to do with their respective draft status, talents, or lack thereof. It's all about the kool-aid. Kool-aid man should be the Pistons new mascot.
Man, the guy is 7'1", started playing bball late in life, and supposedly has the ability to hit jumpers in practice. He was drafted late, we got him in a trade, and he was shipped off the D-league. This year he's not expected to get any real playing time. Blocking shots and possibly hitting some J's is all this guy has. I don't blame him at all for trying to show his differentiating ability when he gets into a game. The guy that the kool-aide article mentioned as his outside shooting rival (Sheed) went 0-7, so who got overhyped? If Joe is pumping out the kool-aide, it must either be genuine or an effort to increase a player's trade value.
I think Joe's hype machine may also be intended to sell t-shirts, tickets, and season pass subscriptions. Who doesn't want to come see The Amazing Samb? 3 pt Wonder with a 20 foot wing span. Will he shoot the three or just dunk the ball from the arc? Only the ticket holders will know for sure. The game will be blacked out for you folks at home.
As a GM, you wouldn't want to hype a player that won't play. That would just frustrate the fans and ultimately hurt your brand. You'd get situations where the crowd would be chanting his name and the coach wouldn't put him in the game. That would be rather embarrassing.
Oh comon' You're killing me here. Joe's been hyping players that don't play for years. Forums have had no problem jumping from one great guy with supposed talent to another without skipping a beat. It's when they finally play in the NBA that things start to unravel. Sometimes even that doesn't deter the throng as long as the player can get a good three in from way downtown, ala Blalock.
I think you are mistaking fans' exuberance for Joe's hyping. Here is what Joe said about Samb in an interview: The compliments Joe gives Samb are the exact reasons that he traded for him. He likes his upside and thinks that Samb can be a great shot blocker and an above average shooter for a 7'+ player. That's not hype, it's just an honest representation of his thoughts. Samb is on the team now, so Joe must still believe these things.
Joe's just showing a little and then pulling it back to make the fans clamor for more. He knows what he's doing. No way Joe or Rasheed think Rasheed has his "hands full" with Samb in the shooting department. He only said it to excite the fans.
In practice, I wouldn't be surprised if Samb can keep up. Did you see how Lebron lost back to back games of PIG to an amateur the other day? What about that 60 year old who made 209 straight 3-pointers? He'd look terrible too if he were thrown into an NBA game.
That's all very true. If Joe is talking along those lines though, I still think he's being kind of deceptive.
There is some irony that the GM we say "IJDWT" could be a deceiver. Maybe fans want the illusion of Manute Bol?
