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My favorite teams
I know it's only preseason, but there are always some things that we can take out of it. Everything must always be with a grain of salt, of course, but we shouldn't dismiss everything entirely just because it's preseason. Plus, it'll be easier to distinguish from the normal of IGTs.
So...from the first preseason game some things I saw:
Rose looked good. Athletically and just basketball wise, he looked way better than in FIBA. I thought he could've been more aggressive, but it is just preseason so I can see why he settled for jumpers. Overall, pretty good in his 15 minutes.
McDermott was solid. Again, I thought he could've been more aggressive offensively, but since this was his first game playing with everyone, I can see why he just tried to play good team ball. He can definitely shoot it and I'd like to see the Bulls run more plays for him in the next few games. He also didn't get killed defensively and puts forth some pretty good effort. The effort should translate to the season regardless of his success so there's something for Thibs to work with there.
Mirotic did much better than I expected. He missed his first few shots, but wasn't shy about letting it fly despite those early misses. I knew he could handle the ball decently, but he exceeded my expectations there. His drives looked pretty solid and his handle on the perimeter didn't look too awkward. He looks like he could lead a break himself and that pull up 3 in transition looked really smooth. He did look lost at times on both sides of the court, but the raw talent is definitely there.
Gasol definitely exceeded expectations defensively. He had 3 very good blocks and showed that he's no Boozer in that regard. There was a quote from one of the Lakers' coaches that said "he's not a great individual defender, but he's a great team defender because he's got great basketball IQ" or something to that effect. I definitely saw that last night. He also showed some great passing ability. Between him and Noah, passes out of the high post should be a huge strength. Also a good outlet passer, somewhat of an underrated ability. Didn't see much of the low post game from him as he was looking to pass more often than not, but perhaps we'll see something different tonight.
Thoughts on the rest of the pack:
Butler played really well in every aspect except shooting the ball. Hopefully he can get himself going in a rhythm the next few games. We need him to make shots. The rest of his game looks on point though and he even had 5 assists. His block on Beal's step back was awesome.
Hinrich will be Hinrich...missed all of his shots, but had 6 assists and played pretty good defense. He took good shots too. You'd think at least one of them would fall. Oh well...Hinrich's gonna Hinrich.
Our free throw shooting was a little disappointing. I'll attribute it to the first game of the year, but I hope that's not a trend. In contrast, we shot 38% from 3 in the game, a trend that I hope will continue. Overall though, our shooting was pretty bad. We didn't really score in the paint outside of Rose. Taj and Jo struggled mightily from the field, but I expect them to get into their groove by the regular season.
Feel free to add your own thoughts
So...from the first preseason game some things I saw:
Rose looked good. Athletically and just basketball wise, he looked way better than in FIBA. I thought he could've been more aggressive, but it is just preseason so I can see why he settled for jumpers. Overall, pretty good in his 15 minutes.
McDermott was solid. Again, I thought he could've been more aggressive offensively, but since this was his first game playing with everyone, I can see why he just tried to play good team ball. He can definitely shoot it and I'd like to see the Bulls run more plays for him in the next few games. He also didn't get killed defensively and puts forth some pretty good effort. The effort should translate to the season regardless of his success so there's something for Thibs to work with there.
Mirotic did much better than I expected. He missed his first few shots, but wasn't shy about letting it fly despite those early misses. I knew he could handle the ball decently, but he exceeded my expectations there. His drives looked pretty solid and his handle on the perimeter didn't look too awkward. He looks like he could lead a break himself and that pull up 3 in transition looked really smooth. He did look lost at times on both sides of the court, but the raw talent is definitely there.
Gasol definitely exceeded expectations defensively. He had 3 very good blocks and showed that he's no Boozer in that regard. There was a quote from one of the Lakers' coaches that said "he's not a great individual defender, but he's a great team defender because he's got great basketball IQ" or something to that effect. I definitely saw that last night. He also showed some great passing ability. Between him and Noah, passes out of the high post should be a huge strength. Also a good outlet passer, somewhat of an underrated ability. Didn't see much of the low post game from him as he was looking to pass more often than not, but perhaps we'll see something different tonight.
Thoughts on the rest of the pack:
Butler played really well in every aspect except shooting the ball. Hopefully he can get himself going in a rhythm the next few games. We need him to make shots. The rest of his game looks on point though and he even had 5 assists. His block on Beal's step back was awesome.
Hinrich will be Hinrich...missed all of his shots, but had 6 assists and played pretty good defense. He took good shots too. You'd think at least one of them would fall. Oh well...Hinrich's gonna Hinrich.
Our free throw shooting was a little disappointing. I'll attribute it to the first game of the year, but I hope that's not a trend. In contrast, we shot 38% from 3 in the game, a trend that I hope will continue. Overall though, our shooting was pretty bad. We didn't really score in the paint outside of Rose. Taj and Jo struggled mightily from the field, but I expect them to get into their groove by the regular season.
Feel free to add your own thoughts