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Sochan gets overlooked, but he was clutch in the 4th with the energy and defense.
I was in San Diego this week, thought real hard about changing my flight today from headed home to going to PDX, but would have been about a $500 difference in airfare to get home tomorrow, plus game ticket and hotel. Decided to keep my powder dry. Might look at going to the two B2B games @ the Lakers in January
Sochan gets overlooked, but he was clutch in the 4th with the energy and defense.
Correction: He's NOT a terrible free throw shooter and he's better than guys like Sochan but he's had his moments where he misses 2 free throws at the line. Idk if it's just his shooting form, but out of him Wemby Castle and CP3, he's the last person I would ask to shoot technical free throws.
Cant stand that they let the game reach the point that it did, but yeah. Pretty pleased with their poise down the stretch. Still waiting for that complete game though
I’ve not witnessed him missing both very often but I can submit to him missing some head scratchers. That’s fair
Wemby with 28 points
7 rebounds
7 assists
Yeah but no Castle, CP3 got thrown out, and as much as people hate on Keldon and Tre, they are other bodies to throw out there because the alternate is Branham as we saw tonight. I'm just glad they got the win.
Indeed, that steal that lead to FTs (even though he missed one) was absolutely critical
Blake with a game high +19 w/ 8 assists.
Gutsy win
People on Blake, but he didn't even do that bad tonight.
Well they made that interesting
Damn I had to drive after that horrendous third qtr. Look at my phone and we won
Blazers are not good, but we were down basically the first 3 strings of PGs so, hey. OK win.
I'd be pissed about going out on free-throws if it was us instead of Portland lol. Sucks to suck, I guess.
Best win of the season in a sense. Without CP3 they were death spiralling, but they turned up the volume on defense, Mitch played our best 5 players, and they found a way to win, again, without CP3. I'd call that progress.
Sochan and Devin both played great when needed.
Exciting, gutsy win. If they lost it would have been devastating so that's another reason I'll call this a huge win for a young team.
Refs were so bad, I figured they’d give us make up calls if it was close.
Guys, on another topic
Have you heard of the DRONES?
Just caught up with this, Champagnie slander will no longer be tolerated. Perfect 3-D rotation player.
Hopefully Devin can keep this up, just can't allow himself to go 1-4 from the line.
Wemby's most "natural" game in a while. Nothing felt forced, he was always in the flow of the offense.
Hopefully Bassey keeps his backup big role even after Collins recovers from his vagina injury.
Branham and Wesley have shown why they'll never be anything more than third stringers.
And yeah, those refs were just straight up incompetent re s.
Two big games coming up, another chance to get ourselves unstuck from .500, one way or another.
Good win without any point guards on board...that's progress. Even Wesley has made some small strides from last year to this year .. progress. Who doesn't seem to have made any progress is that bonehead Branham. Just cut the guy and open up a slot for someone who doesn't hurt the team. This game showed the need for at least another point guard - in case of an emergency. I know they are hard to find, but we need even a half ass PG more than we need Branham.
In praise of Sochan: wasn't there a game in the NCAA tournament where Jeremy basically brought Baylor back from a 20-point deficit in the second half? If so, then this game against Portland reminded me of that (lol), and what he's able to do purely off his energy and determination. This is a great role for him right now. He's just a hustle, gritty, intuitive player, but he learned just enough from the point guard disaster last year that he can bring the ball up the court like he did last night when needed. He's basically our 6th string point guard at this point but had to fill in a little bit last night. Anyway, sort of rambling, but even without a jump shot he found ways to get the job done.
And his skill set, or lack thereof, is perfectly balanced with champagne who is an effortless spot-up shooter.
Anyway, random thoughts.
I’m thinking when everyone is healthy that the starting lineup should be:
Paul (assuming his game doesn’t fall off a cliff)
Vassell
Champ
Sochan
Wemby
Castle still needs to develop his jump shot more before he can become a full time starter and he could be a good floor leader for the second unit. But if Paul really declines soon, then Castle should start over him. He’s already shown he can handle being thrown into the fire. It really is matchup dependent or who’s having a better game, same with Champ and Barnes.
If castle starts Barnes should be in for sochan. I don’t think sochan really care about starting as long as he got minutes. Vassell, champaigne and wemby can open up the lane somewhat for sochan to cut or castle to drive, but not both. They can deal with their own man but if another guy comes in to help I don’t trust sochans ball handling enough to finish the job. Castle I trust a it more but you can just sag off him with another defender in ready position and it’s be enough to deter the drive.
Castle better get a shot soon because I think he can get there faster than sochan.
Main areas to work on:
Castle and sochan - shooting (duh!). Sochan also has to close out on three point shooters better.
Champaigne - team defense (improved so much, but still got room to go), and more accuracy in shooting. Closing out on three point shooters. Navigate the screens a bit better on defense. But I’m so happy with champaigne. He’s a legit 3 and D player now, with average 3 and slightly above average d with way below average salary.
Wemby - work that ball down low man. High post is his position as well. If he can do the Garnett face up between 18 to out to the three point line he’d be pretty much unstoppable. Crash the boards on offence as well but maybe the coaching staff wants him to stop breaks.
Vassell - court vision, passing on the move.
Wesley - passing on the move, finishing, change of speed
Malaki - defensive awareness, shot selection, passing, individual defense. Basically everything other than maybe mid range.
Zollins - I don’t know
Bassey - defensive sets, offensive sets. Just run sets.
Sidy - gotta watch more, but clearly finishing.
I think that was the North Carolina game in the tournament when Sochan was all over the freaking place. A major reason why I was so big on him in that draft and our position in the draft. He also created a legion of Tarheel fans who hate his guts.
Yes, exactly. That was it.
He's now adjusted and feeling able to play his natural role at the NBA level that he did in college, but with tons of room to grow.
One thing I thought of this morning...
Collins absence was obvious from the improved backup C play we got from Bassey.
On the other hand... I didn't think about Keldon (and his absence) a single time during that game. His absence wasn't memorable either negatively or positively. For a night, I completely forgot he was even on the team. In contrast, even Tre Jones' absence was notable (he was missed). That's a pretty big sign of Keldon's value to the team right now. What he brings to the team is just easily replaceable by anyone else sucking up those minutes.
Exactly my thoughts.
His only actual value is attacking the rim whe he has it going. Noone other than Castle attacks the rim so often.That's a pretty big sign of Keldon's value to the team right now. What he brings to the team is just easily replaceable by anyone else sucking up those minutes.
But Keldon can also be really inefficent at it and often overestimates himself.
His defense and inconsistent shooting make him a non-factor in the bigger picture.
Seems like a great guy and a positive presence, but we don't need his basketball skillset whatsoever.
He'll probably end up as a parennial tank commander that just gets traded around the leauge.
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