JR Giddens Article

I really wish one of our younger guys could come in and contribute this year, Pruitt, Walker, Giddens, POB….. but I dont know how much of an oppurtunity they’ll get if any, and even if they did, their minutes would probably be nonexistent in the playoffs..You can always wish though huh?

Lakers lose tonight to the pacers. WOO

Unless he underwent some sort of transformation, this is rubbish. Wow, he puts up great numbers in the Dleague. Big deal. A ton of people do that and never perform to their expectations in the NBA.

Yeah he and Walker are putting up great numbers, but they are also taking about half the team’s shots combined. They’re dominating the offense. It’s a different game when you are a role player, and, by virtue of being in the Dleague at all, is all either of these two will ever amount to.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

I’d rather see them playing well than playing badly. So this is good news. Meaningful news? Not really. Having watched some DLeague games, I would say it’s worth it to pay attention because it’s of course fun to see how our guys are doing, but proving that you can dominate a DLeague game is hardly different from proving that you can dominate in college.

The team is rolling and has no need for any of the 4 players mentioned. They do not figure into the rotation this year at all, unless someone gets hurt.

giddens is really doing a good job of making us all fall in love with him. he’s come a long way since his kansas days when he was considered a bad teammate, and a nuisance. first the shamrock tattoo, now it seems like everything he says is just picture perfect. the fact that our team is set and we don’t need rookies to come up and play big minutes is a good thing, come next year they’ll be ready to help and maybe even start to show that they can be more than just role players on this team.

The whole question will boil down to whether the coaching staff can effectively integrate these players if at all. It seems that the league norm is to not be able to do it, hence the existence of guys like Darko who just weren’t getting time despite having game. I personally think the staff isn’t doing it perfect, but have some faith that they’re helping Pat work a bit more on sharpening his game.

The schedule also hasn’t worked out for the rookies either. If there was more time I would say that maybe they would have more time to practice the sets, which I see as their biggest problem. Compared to the rest of the league adding in the find-the-open-man mentality that’s a pretty tall order for anyone, and KG proved that last year variously through quotes. I think the best thing to do with the rookies (outside of Bill and JR, it’s better to stash them in the D-league for now) is to get them meaningful minutes in games so they’re given more responsibility. With Cassell in his assistant coach/player position Pruitt should have an easier time transitioning as the backup PG and possible spot SG if someone gets injured there.

Got more to say about this but maybe I’ll start a fanpost on it…