Depth Charges - Part 1

Jeff, what are the chances that Doc might follow your gut feelings?

I agree 100% with what Jeff said. Manuel and Wallace are goners.

i thought Powe would have ranked higher than pollard and scali
after the nice season he had last yr

I’d say Manuel and Jones will be cut. Wallace is too intriguing to cut. Send him to the developmental league. As Jeff said, Jones averaged 7 points on a bad team, and I’ve heard nothing about Manuel impressing anyone, much less doing anything to warrant a post. I hope that’s the way it works out.

Don’t Sleep on Jones. He’s quite an athlete, very intelligent, no ego, plays good defense and is a hard worker. Think Tony Allen with half the scoring but with leadership skills. If we like Powe’s attitude, we will like this guy. I think a team like this is perfect for him. He can find a niche. Very much like the Bruce Bowens, Steve Kerrs, Luc Longleys etc…I just think he is too good to get cut. This might be one of the feel good stories of this year. Look into Grizzlies forums and you will see how positively fans think of him.

Scalabrine and Pollard belong at the end of the bench. Powe, Batista and Davis are better players. IMHO the real battle in this camp is among those three as to who will be the backup center and backup pf.

No team will win a championship with either Scalabrine or Pollard playing significant minutes.

Wallace and Manuel came in before KG (and the subsequent series of vets) came in. I think that Danny was hedging at that point, not sure where we were headed.

They’re goners.

My vote’s for Jones and Manuel to be cut, though I wonder why everyone’s so enamored with Batista considering he’s 6-10 and couldn’t get a guaranteed contract anywhere.

By the way, Scal played twelve minutes a game for the 2002-3 Nets team that made it to the finals. I think around ten a game for the C’s won’t be the end of the world.

I agree that some of the players we have came in when we were just starting to acquire the best available bodies we could at that time. Since then, we have been finessing our stock and thats why manuel and Pollard seem to be out of the mix. Now that we have Batista, well, Pollard has become less needed (I want to nice to the guy). Then we got Jones, and that makes Manuel expendable.Wallace is till an enigma. I like the kid, and would have no problems keeping him instead of Scal, but now that I see Master Po has fell in love with the guy, Scal has to stay. So be it – anything that will make Master Po happy, I can live with.

Yeah im surprised you have Pollard is an immediate bench guy cause that would entail that he is Perks main back-up. From what I’ve read on this site and other places, it seems like Batista is gonna take that role

the fewer mins a guy plays the more experience helps,that’s why guys like Pollard,Scal,House etc might suck and are not “rotation” guys but will come in handy for 5-8 mins per…the bigger the game the more 5-8 mins counts,hence we use vets over younger talent…bottom line-KG drags whomever along with him&Paul on the frontline..or we got issues…lol

The reasons I’m high on Bastista is that I saw him play in the FIBA Americas tournament. He was the best big man in the tournament, excluding the American frontcourt players. He ouplayed Splitter, Nene and every other post player. And on the offensive end, he outplayed Tyson Chandler and Dwight Howard.

What happened or didn’t happen in Atlanta is irrelevant. There are countless examples of players who blossomed with a different team. I’m not saying that Batista will blossom, but the potential is there. He’s big, strong, has excellent feet and can score with either hand.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Pollard is NOT a rotation guy. In addition to having profoundly limited skills, he is the definition of chronically injured. In 10 seasons, he’s managed 50 games only 4 times. Forget about him, please.

Yeah I think the vets are ahead on the depth chart right now. I think Glen Davis and Pruitt have the best chances of getting in.

Petula is right on the money. We didn’t have the big deals go down prior to this and so that makes no difference at all.

The best group will stay, but a little lean towards Batista making it anyway due to his size. I think Wallace can be big as well. The one almost guaranteed gone is Manuel. I think Jones is gone as well due to House playing so well supposedly. If not Jones, then Wallace will be gone.

Just had a thought. If they deem Jones and Wallace expendable, then they could actually get rid of Scal. They will pay the same amount of money no matter what, so why would that make a huge difference if they feel he won’t contribute?! I do think that he adds veteran presence and can knock down the three and play tough defense. Don’t really see them letting him go, but if they see something special in one of these young guys they just might.

Cousin It – I would tweak your comment about Pollard with him not being a rotation guy IF he doesn’t stay healthy. With limited minutes because of injury you are right, but if he is healthy, he is a guy you want on the floor with the second unit. He is a scrapper and can come in and lay the wood down on oppsing bigs. Remember, Grant Hill just had a healthy year after a lot of injury plagued ones. It is possible…

Brick and Cousin It have nailed it. I guess it seems fashionable to consider Pollard the backup since he was the only 5 we signed. But he was never more than insurance from the beginning, based on his age and limited games he has been able to play in the last few years. He is this year’s Olowakandi, with more humor, basically, a guy who won’t care if he goes games and games without playing, a perfect 12th man, vs a young kid who thinks he should be getting minutes when he isn’t.

From Hollinger’s chat:

Steve (NYC): Do you have any thoughts on Estaban Batista? Apparently he tore it up in the European Championships…

 John Hollinger: (1:06 PM ET ) It would be quite a shock if he tore it up in the European Championships, given that he’s from Uruguay. But he did play well in the FIBA Americas tournament. He also played well in that tournament a couple years ago, which is why the Hawks signed him, which is something they’ve regretted ever since because he’s overmatched against NBA athletes.

Isn’t Hollinger based in Atlanta? If so, his opinion would seem to carry some weight…

Pierce has already commented that Scal is playing much better this year in all phases of the game. Perhaps we shouldn’t put too much emphasis on the past year’s in discussing Scal this year.

I like Batista and Wallace because they both have size and a skill level. But I have to agree with Jeff in that we need to see these guys actually perform to expectation on the court. We could be disappointed or blown away with their talent.

I saw Gabe Pruit play and he seemed totally lost at the point. I was not impressed with ANY facet of his game except perhaps his size and athleticism. But since he came with sooo much hype and was signed for “3” years, perhaps a wait and see attitude makes more sense.

Jones couldn’t be that good if Memphis gave up on him. Manuel is a stranger to most of us and, as already suggested, he was signed early before we had access to Posey and before we knew whether Tony Allen was ready.

While Davis has potential, we’ve got to see an early upside and sensible weight management. Ditto for Wallace, although he should GAIN what Davis loses.

We’ll have fun on the 7th provided we get to see all the guys in action on the 6th. I do hope that Batista is the real deal because he could be the “missing piece” for a championship run.

Right now I think Powe and Scals have the inside track to the backup 4-5 spots. I agree that Pollard is this year’s Olowokandi, though Doc could try to use him more than that if none of the other guys step it up. I hope that Batista is the real deal because that would strengthen the team up front considerably, without having to resort to playing PF’s at the C spot.

I feel the need to point out, every time his name coems up – that Dahantay Jones is TERRIBLE – he’s not good on defense, he’s just so bad on offense that he seems like a good defender, by comparison.

theham – you’re right, Hollinger is based in Atlanta. And whatever you might say about his PER, etc – his scouting is usually spot-on.

Wallace and Manuel are gone. Batista will get more mins than a lot currently think. When Perk gets into foul trouble 5 mins into a game, Batista will get the call over an injured Pollard.
Dahntay Jones will play some pg for us, mark my words. When Rondo comes out, he will play the point like he did at times for Memphis when Chucky Atkins came out. Jones is a pretty good ballhandler. House will be the backup SG.

EJ,
I definitely hope you’re right. Your way works out better for the Celtics than mine!

Well, since HOLLINGER said it, we should believe it! He did say that Batista played well in the FIBA America’s tournament but that he’s “overmatched” when playing against NBA talent. Too bad the FIBA tournament did not include NBA talent (chuckle!).

A typical example of how some writers fail to be original and expect their readers to be naive when it comes to evaluating the veracity of their comments.

Batista may indeed be an NBA failure but not on the basis of Hollinger’s faulted rationale.

the wild card is scal. doc likes him and plays him. if he plays, somebody has to tell him to get to the boards. he is a nice guy and he hustles and he drove tony to the hospital,but someone please explain to me what it is or what his potential is that we need so much.

Scal’s “calling card” is his high basketball IQ, his perpetual motor and that he makes his teammate’s better. He plays excellent “big man” defense, spaces the floor well to preserve player balance, sets great picks, boxes out well underneathe (but rarely benefits with rebounds) and is a positive locker room presence. I should add that he rarely makes mistakes on the court and always plays to his talent level (which could be higher).

The tournament of the America’s featured very few NBA atheletes. The USA team, obviously, and Brazil. But not a huge amount aside from that.

I don’t know whether Batista will fail or not, and I’ve been or record as saying we shoudl give him a chance. But Hollinger has had to suffer through more Hawks games then anyone else I could name, so I would lead some credence to his scouting.

moskqq- thanks for the info.

Unfortunately it does not matter what we think. Doc is the man who will be pushing the buttons and pulling the strings. Hopefully he will not screw it up and if he does, will be gone by Christmas.

Couldn’t be any easier this year. Every spot is already preordained. Only two spots (PG & C) could possibly be up for debate and they happen to have the least amount of depth.

Perkins, Batista, Pollard, Scalabrini, even KG in a small lineup. Seems to me plenty of depth there.

PG … well thats another story. 1 true point guard? yikes.