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One thing to add: I caught the Duke-Illinois game last night. If Coach Webber thinks that Trent Meachem, Chester Frazier, and the McCabe kid are going to stop EG23, Bassett, and Crawford, he's sadly mistaken. Anything less than a sweep of the Illini this year will be a dissapointment.
Not that I'm looking ahead or anything...
http://blogs.indystar.com/pacersinsider/archive...
As far as the defense is concerned, it will take a while for the team to gel. There are ALOT of new faces and defense is about team. Yes, you need the ball pressure and effort, but just one guy falling asleep will lead to open looks. But for what it's worth, I thought the defense was pretty good the last 8 min. of the first and most of the second. (again, I didn't see UNCW jump out to the ten point lead).
regarding Stemler...why is there this love/hate thing going on? Yesterday, he was the worst player ever; today he is a valued contributor. I don't get it. You guys sound just like the commentators last night...jocking Stemler for hustling. Isn't that what every player is supposed to do?
A lot of guys come up to this level with athleticism but don't quite have a shooting touch yet. Or, some come up as deadeye shooters without anyway to create their own shots. Gordon seems to possess both. I mean, the kid looks like he's had NBA range on his threes since he was 16. It's unreal.
Stemler is grit with a capital G. Without Errek Suhr around, who's going to draw all those offensive fouls and dive for balls?
Holman is so raw. I can just imagine Sampson yelling at him during practice all the time. On a team with freshman who excel -- Gordon, Crawford -- he definitely sticks out as the freshman. But if he can grow into his body a bit, he could be a real threat in the coming years.
UCLA is overrated
K.Love is overrated....got his shot blocked waaay to much last night....a glorified role player
Illinois will get beat by IU twice
Neitzel can't score without screens
Right now it's a small sample size, but Armon Bassett is arguably every bit the shooter Eric Gordon is. Lots of kids at the college level can shoot, too -- not to mention the hordes of sub-Division 1 mid-major players who do nothing but shoot well -- but rare is a player like Gordon who combines that skill with an elevated level of athleticism. That's where he sets himself apart.
Yes, like I said, it's him possessing both facets. I'm just more impressed by his shooting than his ability to blow by someone. People are holding O.J. Mayo in the same regard as EJ and it's pretty obvious who the better shooter is. That's why he's a better player in my mind.
It's kind of like LBJ -- his passing was unreal in high school, something you rarely see. It's what all these guys can do on top of their athleticism that separates them from each other.
every player is supposed to hustle, and every player should be diving for loose balls and drawing charges. unfortuantely, many players don't hustle and dive for loose balls like an errek suhr, a patrick ewing jr, or as lance stemler did last night. i never had a hate for stemler, i actually felt bad that any of iu's players would receive such harsh criticism from their fans. i'm also not a lover because stemler showed us for the first time this year what he's capable of contributing to this team...the same things he did often last year (which is why i think sampson has trouble keeping him out of the line up). every team needs a guy that can come in and play with a lot of heart and energy, and that player is usually someone of lesser talent who makes up for it by giving more effort.
When you add his passing ability to the equation, I disagree with your overall assessment. Yes, he is going to score most of his points by backing smaller defenders (everyone he that will guard him) into the paint or under the hoop, but he is also able to use that ability to create for teammates. He also has that Shaq mentatility of "I am taking this ball to the rack no matter what" that DJ sometimes lacks and leaves DJ with a missed basket rather than a two shots from the stripe. My 2 cents, fwtw.
I am also beginning to see Jordan Crawford becoming as good a scorer than EJ.
I look forward to this weekend primarily because it is on the road, neutral court, and better competition. You will know a lot more about this team by Sunday morning.....especially if they play Xavier
LeBron James. Ha.
Fair enough. I would say (besides his range, which is silly), I'm more impressed thus far with Gordon's sheer strength and speed than I am his shooting. The shooting feels almost like a bonus. But put together ... unreal.
Basically, EJ is good at everything. We can all agree on that.
jaime