SB Nation User Blog: R-Man

Help. Does anyone know if SureWest carries the Comcast Sports channel? If so, what...

R-Man — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:49:15 -0000

Help. Does anyone know if SureWest carries the Comcast Sports channel? If so, what channel.

Thanks

Artest Trade Revisted

R-Man — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:49:07 -0000

Back when it went down, quite a few people complained about what Petrie got in return for for Ron-Ron. I felt it was about as good as we could get, but quite a few people felt we should have gotten more, likening it to the Bibby trade (which was pretty bad in retrospect).

Now, however, I think this move deserves a second look.

Houston rented Artest for a playoff run, and then let him go for nothing. They swung for the fences and missed, so the trade from their end can't be considered a success.

We received 2 late first rounders for Ron-Ron and an expiring contract. Donte was one of those, and I don't think he will amount to much, but Omri is making the deal look pretty good. I believe he could become a top flight starter at the 3 (from what I have read/heard). The deal was risky because late firsts can be a crapshoot.; however, Petrie is at his best evaluating talent, so I think this was a pretty good move.

It is still too early to tell, but I am beginning to think we got the better end of this one, and it could end up being a potentiel steal if Omri continues to develop.

Complete and utter nonsense

R-Man — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 02:36:52 -0000

Do not continue reading if you hate purely hypothetical situations that have no real chance of becoming reality.

There. You've been warned. If you are still with me, consider this implausible scenario:

First, from the not so crazy file, we will suck balls next year, and be in the lottery. That much is grounded in reality. Then allow youself a flight of fancy, and consider the possibilites if the Kings were, in fact, to completely luck out and win the top spot in the lottery.

We now are in position to draft a potential superstar in John Wall. But wait, there's more...

John Wall plays point guard and so does Tyreke Evens. Neither is a particularly good outside shooter, so they don't necessarily fit well together. Too much yin, not enough yang. So what do you do?

Consider this: Trade Tyrke to Golden State for Anthony Randolph. Draft Wall. Sit back and enjoy.

Why Golden State would do it: Tyreke is the absolute perfect fit next to Monta Ellis. Ellis is a small 2 that can guard the point but has trouble gaurding 2s. Tyreke is a big 1 that can guard the 2. Much like when a Baron Davis was there, Ellis will thrive next to a big physical point. Also, GS is probably going to be in the lottery again. And, the upcoming lottery is stacked with power forwards that could replace AR.

Why Sacramento would do it: Randolph is an extremly athletic and skilled 3-4 combo. I think he has All Star talent, and I believe John Wall is the best player in the draft. By getting Randolph and Wall, we have 2 potential All Stars and some good complementary pieces in Hawes and JT.

Shield your eyes. This lineup would be almost to good to be true.

1- Wall
2-K. Martin
3-AR
4-JT
5-Hawes

I had a difficult time watching the Warriors game...

R-Man — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:57:45 -0000

...because of the nagging feeling of regret.

I want to be the first to say I like Jason Thompson, and I appreciate his effort and hustle. I also want to say that Jason has an NBA body and he will probably will be a solid pro for 10-15. That being said, I think we made a mistake not drafting Anthony Randolph.

Last night, Randolph showed that he could become an All Star. He is long, quick and now has a smooth jumper. He was lethally efficient scoring last night. He showed he could drive, post up and shoot the J. He blocked shots and grabbed rebounds.

Jason, on the other hand, plays hard, fights for the ball in traffic and gets his hand on it, but ultimately plays much closer to the ground. Lots of rebounds went to other players that were close to him. When Randolph went after a rebound, he snatched out of the air and it was his, end of story.

My fear is that Jason will be a solid starter; Randolph, a star.

Randolph could have been ours. We chose the safe pick over the gamble, and it looks to me like the Warriors are going to reap the benefits.

Imagine our squad with Randolph, Evans, Hawes and Martin. That would be an exciting and athletic group. Not to mention that Randoph and Evans would help tremendously in the defensive and rebounding departments.

Again, I'm not trying to bash JT; it's just hard to imagine him turing out as a better pro. I realize that it's only one game and it's just a summer league game at that, but I saw much of the same things in the second half of last year. Despite likeing what I saw from Tyreke, I was left feeling depressed.

Front court help...

R-Man — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:17:25 -0000

Alade Aminu

Has anyone seen this guy? He went undrafted and I remember people talking about him being a late first early second pick. He's 6"10" with a 7' 3" wingspan and he's athletic and only 21. It looks like he needs to add more weight, but he excels in pick and roll situations and getting out into the open floor and running.

Very few guys that go undrafted ever turn into something, but I think we should take a flyer on him. The price is right and we are going to need 3 d-league type players to fill out the roster.

What do you guys think? Anyone remember watching him?

BPA

R-Man — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:56:19 -0000

I don't understand. Prior to the drat, everyone seemed to agree that we needed to take the best player available. The sentiment was that we have so little talent that we really shouldn't concern ourselves too much with positon. Back when we had dreams of drafting #1, no one seemed too upset if we drafted Griffin despite having Hawes and JT. And then on draft day, Geoff does the unthinkable: he takes the best player available on his board, and everyone completely craps the themselves.

Yes, I know that most on this board had a serious mancrush on Ricky, but I am not upset that we took Tyreke Evans. And I am not that surprised. Jerry had been dropping hints for months. He mentioned him as one of his top picks on telecasts long before he was even being considered as a top 5 picks by DX and ESPN. He mentioned that they were going to take the "best player, not necessarily the player everybody wants" in interviews with the Rise Guys. And then, they did exactly that. I wasn't sure if he was talking about Flynn or Curry or Evans, but I wasn't surprised that we didn't pick Ricky even though he was on the board.

I have no idea what will happen down the road, but given Petrie's track record, there is a good chance that Evans could become the best player from this draft. Better than Griffin. Better than Rubio. Better than Thabeet, etc., etc. And, if Evans does turn out to be the best player in this draft despite not being a pure point guard, will you really be that upset?

If he is in a 3 man rotation between the 1 and 2 and turns out to be a lethal scoring option, are we really worse off. Would we really be better off with a "pure" point guard that lacks top-shelf athleticism or a consistent jumper at a position that demands, at the very least, one or the other, and often both to be successful?

Case in point: I can't name one successful point guard that lacked both of these traits and was successful in the modern era (and, please don't compare Rubio to Kidd. I'm sorry, but Jason Kidd in his prime was unbelievably quick, fast and strong for his position). I don't care how good you are at the pick and roll, it's just not going to matter if your defender slides under the pick and dares you to shoot (no pick-no roll). I agree it would have been nice to fill our biggest need with the best player available, but Geoff obviously didn't think that Rubio was the BPA.

Outside of Griffin, I honestly believe that most scouts would point to Tyreke as the player most likely to become an All-Star from this draft, and I don't think we can't afford to pass on that.

Shaq heading to Cleveland

R-Man — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:51:15 -0000

Shaq heading to Cleveland

Tyreke coming back for a second round...

R-Man — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:40:59 -0000

Tyreke coming back for a second round...

Amick says that we have a several big name players (Curry, DeRozen, Evans) coming in here in the next few days, including Tyreke again. Interesting.

Yet another Trade scenario...

R-Man — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:33:33 -0000

If Rubio slides, would you trade Rubio and Donte for Brandon Jennings and Anthony Randolph (assuming Jennings slides to #7)?

Put Randolph and 3 and Jennings at the 1. I think it would make us more athletic, better defensively and better in rebounding. If Jennings and Randolph worked on their Js, we would be unbelievably fun to watch.

What say you?

PS--Nice work on the radio TZ. Really was hoping for the "Peaches" reference, but I liked that Pooky got some love.

Jennings at #4?

R-Man — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:43:24 -0000

I've heard an awful lot about Brandon Jennings calling out Rubio (which is all fine and good), but there hasn't been much comment on the fact that Amick is reporting that he outplayed Flynn who was guarding him (and who is more athletic and quick than Rubio).

Amick's blog this morning was eye opening. It sounds like Jennings can get anywhere he wants on the floor, and his jumper (at least yesterday) was better than advertised. We had 300 comments on whether or not was professional to call out Rubio (it wasn't), but very little on the impact of the workout.

Jennings came off as cocky or confident afterwards, but it sound like he had a right to be. If he did clearly outplay the other two, I don't care if he is cocky, I want him on our squad. We need a little swagger and athleticism, and it sounds like Brandon Jennings has both in spades.