Carmelo Anthony - A Michael Carter Williams - A Bruno Caboclo - C Marquese Chriss - D Vince Edwards - D James Ennis - A Isaiah Hartenstein - A Gary Clark - A Brandon Knight - [DNQ] I thought Clark, Carter Williams and Hartenstein look like they can step up into end-of-rotation spots when they're needed. Hartenstein's ability to hit free throws and scrap makes up for the lack of alley-oop ability that we lose when Capela's out. A nice complement. His defensive foot speed / lateral speed looked pretty bad, though. But his effort balances it out a little bit. Chriss showed bad instincts and bad hands - guaranteed bench warmer. I don't think Caboclo did enough to stick to the NBA roster, and I'm not sure how much more he can develop in G-league. Edwards seemed invisible, except for when he shot the ugliest 3-pointers on the team. He needs time to settle down. Melo showed a total buy-in and desire to play with the team. I think he will fit seamlessly, which is impressive. I had no idea what to expect; was waiting for preseason to get a vibe. Ennis was solid for the role he's asked to play. I think he is equivalent to Moute for sure, and a nice change of pace from Ariza due to his transition speed and his more consistent 3 point shooting. So far, with this very small sample size... looks like Morey dun good.
All fair I think. I think people talking smack about Melo and MCW might need to be eating some of that crow people keep talking about serving around here. It's still early, though.
Brandon Knight gets a zero. He failed to turn in anything at all. Am I fired from clutchfans now? https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opi...iving-zeros-david-whitley-20180925-story.html
Considering my expectations i'd say: Carmelo Anthony - B (not exactly trilled by his defense but at least he's a better offensive player than Anderson, you can always count on Melo making some shots, which is what we wanted and expected by him) Michael Carter Williams - A (looks just a lot better overall than what i expected, being stuck in ugly ass teams/organization can ruin players) Bruno Caboclo - C (i just don't see him having enough impact as a center, and i think he's just not quick enough to play the 4 in a good team) Marquese Chriss - C (pretty much what i expect, really good potential but low iq, doesn't care much...such a waste of talent...) Vince Edwards - C (not sure what to think about him, probably needs another year to see if he can be some sort of Covington or not) James Ennis - A (he looks a better shooter than i expected) Isaiah Hartenstein - B (Reminds me of D.Mo lol...jokes aside i like him, needs some time to develop but i think he can become a solid player off the bench, skilled big man who can do pretty much everything on both sides, nothing to not like imo) Gary Clark - A (looks like some sort of steal and i just like this kind of players, can pretty much do anything on the court and help a team in different ways)
-Ennis lived up to what I hoped he would be. And I am enjoying the young legs and athleticism he brings to the team. We just need to continue to see it. -MCW's fit surprised me. He went from a 3rd PG garbage unit type guy to a full blown bench rotation player on the wing. Need to see more but I like the dynamic. -Clark has exceeded my expectations. I knew he was fundamentally sound, but his WET 3pt shot was a revelation. Has the look of a solid bench rotation player. The kind of player NBA teams hope to find in the back half of the 1st round. -Edwards, as mentioned above, was "invisible." Unlike Clark, he doesn't seem to effect the game in other ways when he doesnt have the ball. Needs more time with the Vipers to find his niche. -Chriss was as advertised and was what I thought. Low BB IQ guy. He is not long for this team. Is his ankle really hurt right now? Or are the Rockets burying him so he doesn't look bad on the court anymore before a trade? -Hartenstein showed he can be a limited rotation player. He was physical and hustled. He has decent hands and good balance. He is more ready to contribute right now than Zhou Qi because of this. -Bruno's calling might be at C. (versus SF). But he doesn't have a great feel for the game...compared to someone like Clark. Bruno gets by with his wingspan. -Knight is INC of course. We'll see down the road.
Chriss has just blown a $4m team option. We will not be picking that up, just like Ujiri did not exercise his on Caboclo last year. If fact, imo, declining the option improves our ability to trade him. Melo is as expected ... which, compared to the media, is an A. MCW is beyond expectations. I'm stoked. As much as the Game Threads talk about Clark's shooting, - Ennis shot 9-16 = 56.3% from three - Clark shot 10-18 = 55.5% from three and Clark's best game (4-6) was against the Sharks, while that was Ennis' worst game (1-4). Minus the Sharks, Ennis was 66.6% and Clark was 50% I'm really excited about what Ennis showed in transition, and attacking the basket off Catch-n-Shoot situations. Ariza and Moute are probably better defenders (Ennis so far has a little Brewer frantic-D in him), but Ennis looks like he'll give us better offense than either.
I think there are far stricter teachers giving out grades out there than in here. Most of the guys have not played more than 30 minutes so personally I cannot/ will not grade them playing these kind of minutes.
Was hoping Bruno would work out. He has the body and potential to be a star, but just hasn't figured it out yet (on many facets)
Pickups like Bond, Rodriguez, and Sampson are so weird. Morey is using them as currency. As for Coboclo, I'm guessing this won't be his last chance. Teams experiment with 7'+ wingspans until they've exhausted every last drop of potential. He'll be on a lot of G-league teams.
Out there = where? The media? We didn't see much but we saw enough that we can start to form an opinion. This all depends on whether they can sustain what we saw in the regular season. But that's the best you can do that this point. I think we're all grading them based on the role they fill, too. I'm not expecting each guy to be an all-star.
Carmelo Anthony - A+ Michael Carter Williams - A Bruno Caboclo - C Marquese Chriss - D Vince Edwards - D James Ennis - C+ Isaiah Hartenstein - B- Gary Clark - C+
Melo A+ -for the vet min you get a starter quality player at worst, Gordon level at best. Ennis A -will be our Ariza replacement for vet min MCW B+ -Nit sure how many mins he will get when Knight comes back but as a 3rd/4rth guard he is great Isiah Hartenstein B -Shows good progress, maybe 3rd big off the bench this year Chriss D -Had good first game but garbage after that, no way his option is picked up Edwards/Clark C -Meh Morey A+ -Morey somehow improved the team from last year by getting vet mins, unbelievable. Whereas last year the Rox were weaker than GSW when everybody is healthy I think the Rox have now closed the gap with GSW, we improve more with Melo than they do with a healthy Boogie.
Anthony, Carter-Williams, and Ennis are the only players worth rating for me at the moment. Guys like Hartenstein and Clark show promise, but I'm not convinced either could break into rotation unless they completely outplay some fellas in practice. Even then, I'm not quite confident that MDA will trust younger players. Anthony - I think offensively he will be a B+ on this team. Defensively.. probably a D+. The best use for Melo that I can think of is adding a scoring threat when Harden isn't on the floor, and being thrown onto the court when the Rockets are slumping hard offensively. I can't think of a scenerio when I would want him defensively. Carter-Williams - Call me a POS pessimist, but the pre-season may be fool's gold. I was thoroughly impressed with MCW in the games he played in... but I'm not quite sure about him yet. I think he'll grade out as a B- defensively, and a C- offensively. I see a lot of people saying "he's our Shaun Livingston" and I think that is no where close to being true. The way he was playing in the pre-season I was thinking "Corey Brewer." I wasn't impressed with his PG skills in Chicago and Charlotte. I feel like Knight is more of a SG-Combo Guard than a PG-Combo Guard. Still would like to #DecreaseDaDrop and get a legitimate 3rd creator. Although, MCW does bring balance with his defensive potential. Ennis - I think offensively... he's gonna be better than Ariza. Hate calling him an Ariza replacement, but if he's going to be starting at the 3 potentially.. well. Yeah. So I give him a B- offensively. Defensively.. I think he's gonna be a B-. But I'm really glad we got James Ennis. He honestly couldn't have asked the basketball gods for a better opportunity. He is guaranteed money NEXT season, BUT he could potentially have a huge pay day. He's been given the chance the replace the starting small forward on a 65-win team. If he can convince the league that he can be a solid 3-point threat, and a good defensive wing then he could net a 3 year deal of $15m + total. That's a major opportunity. Dude has to be hungry not only to win a championship, but get a huge pay day. I'm rooting for him to go awf.
