- Defense last night looked fairly decent and very active. Been more than once this year I noticed Bohannon making a defensive close out or what not and felt like he was more active on defense without having the PG duties or as many minutes. Rebraca not a rim protector unfortunately, but plays hard, plays physical and moves his feet so his body positioning is quite good on defense. I'm still quite high on him and think he'll come along as the season progresses.
- Keegan is great and a huge matchup problem for anyone. He's tough to guard once he turns the corner and gets inside because he has great length and multiple soft finishing moves as well as good use of his pivot foot. I think the biggest difference between Keegan and Kris right now is Kris isn't as good finishing on the drive even though he seems to turn the corner on defenders just as well. As he works on that (he tried several drives last night) I think he can develop into an NBA draft pick also, perhaps 1st round.
- Sandfort is so much better than advertised - just one of the most beautifully soft, high arcing shots off a quick release that you've ever seen, and he doesn't seem bothered by defenders. Add to that his high basketball IQ and his multiple shots in the mid range (fade away, half hook, pull up) and he's going to score a lot of points. Also a great guy to have on the floor at crunch time to space the floor and get late 3's off.
- Perkins is a great "X factor" guy off the bench, and I think he's better off the bench. He can provide some juice. He feels like a 30% shooter from 3 - good enough to shoot a couple and keep defenders honest but not someone you want shooting volume 3's. He's really a mid range guy and he's got a lot of nifty options once he gets inside 15 feet because he's bouncy, tough and is used to scoring in there. He's so much better off the drive than Joe T who really lacks a lot of good options inside. Perkins is a guy who you can ask to score when the defense is taking other guys out of the game and he can drive into the paint and force help defense perhaps freeing Murray's up for offensive boards. I don't think he's a primary scorer if our other guys are open, so he can focus on defense then, but against tough defensive teams he can be a sparkplug.
- Mulvey came in with a reputation as a shot blocker, but I really haven't seen it at this level, which is a bit disappointing. However, the effort he shows to run the court and to get into the best offensive or defensive position is impressive. I see him actively getting bodies on people for defensive rebounds and trying to pin defenders when posting up. I think he shows a lot of promise long term. Reminds me a bit of a slightly more athletic Woodbury at the moment.
- Joe T made a couple of his "going too fast" mistakes last night. I think they happen when he's trying to score and a bit hyped up - I think he'd be better driving to PASS rather than driving to SCORE and should penetrate to force help defense and if the pass isn't there just reverse course. More probing of the defense than attacking the rim. Ulis was pretty good also and I think is coming along. Seems like he's most comfortable in the mid range with that 15 footer.
