Preseason Grades v. Warriors 12/17/11

The Good: The Guards
The Bad: Everybody Else

Evans ( B ) -- Reke was back, and then some. Looked good out there, big, athletic and aggressive, critically on both ends of the court. Some great takes to the rim early, and some good help defense, but also forcing a little on the perimeter leading to turnovers. Faced lots of doubles, but looked considerable smoother as a passer and using his drives to set up Fredette and Thornton. Looked like he knew where they were going to be too rather than that jump in the air and look around and awkwardly throw it thing. Form on his jumper looked considerably better too. It was quicker, and much more upright. Unfortunately it did not go in, but they were all on line. Looked much more setteld as a team player as well, taking only 10 shots despite looking physically dominant and moving the ball willingly.

Hickson ( D ) -- began the game determined to attack in the post, which could be handy when Cousins is out of the game. Unfortunately despite our repeatedly feeding him on the block, he wasn't converting any of them. Otherwise invisible out there and looked confused and impotent on defense. Grabbed a few boards early, disappeared entirely after the break.

Thompson ( D- ) -- effectively our steady, senior hand along the frontline, and came out and still played like a rookie. Was ineffective on either end in the early going. More settled on defense after half and helped settle us on the interior defensively. But the 6'11" guy formerly known as a rebounding fool grabbed all of 2 rebounds on the night, and rather remarkably racked up not one, not two, but THREE moving screen violations after half on his way to matching his points (6) with his fouls (6) an turnover (6). You've been around Jason. No excuses for not showing up here.

Thornton ( B- ) -- attacking early but not really integrated on offense. Was active on defense however, stepping into passing lanes even when not able to stop his man one on one. Played a bit of the gunner after the break, firing away and attacking but not always at great percentages.

Fredette ( B ) -- the third of our three guard experiment which scored the great bulk of our points, Jimmer got off to an embarrassing start getting repeatedly pantsed on defense by basically everyone in a Warriors uniform. Went over him or just blew by him, or sometimes just suddenly found themselves wide open while Jimmer raced off to...not sure what he was doing. Was happening so fast and so often I would be surprised if it was just recognition on the Warriors part, and suspect it was something their staff talked about. Couldn't guard anyone, but drained a three after settling in a bit as a first sign of resistance. Began to fight into things offensively in the second quarter, and showed his first signs on defense as well, stepping in to get a hand in Monta's face on back to back pullup attempts. We also saw him finding open guys around the perimeter. Not creating shots for others, but recognizing when they were open and finding a way to get the ball to them. Came out in the third with the jitters maybe lessened and starting stroking it offensively. Still had spots of getting burned on defense, but it was less pronounced then the early debacle. What we found out was that in many ways all the pundits had it right. Guy can play and be a rotation player. Great shooter. But they also had it right when they questioned whether he coudl guard anybody. It was bad. Made Beno look like Battier. So he's good enough I have no doubt he's the third guard in our 3-guard, and that crew is, like tonight, going to put up a lot of points. But I have no idea at all how a defesnively challenged team is going to cover for him defensively, particularly when he's paired with another small guard in Thornton.

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Bench

Greene ( C- ) -- bit of a deceptive stat line in this one. Yes he continued to smootly hit his shots, as he did in the intrasquad scrimmage. But with Hayes and Cousins out he was pressed into service as a 3rd big man, and did his best to finally quash Jerry Reynold's silly claims that he should be a PF by displaying absolutely incompetent interior defense and boardwork. Just wasn't competing inside despite being able to look all the Warriors' bigs square in the face. I'm going to give him a little grade for hitting those shots -- it was the big thing he could never do consistently last year. But he was a -26 for the game and it was pretty much well earned.

Garcia ( D ) -- shot terribly in the first quarter, and just never gave us anything at all really. During his good moments he was invisible. During the bad ones he was the other guy on somebody's poster. He's always been erratic of course, but to have he and thompson, effectively our vets and lockerroom presences both fail to even show up for our first warmup game hurt.

Thomas ( B ) -- speedy but didn'ty get anything done in his first stint. After half was much more effective and I think may have had all of his points. Still sometimes out of control, but pesky and aggressive and constantly moving. Size was exploited on defense a few times, but looked more competitive than Jimmer on that end.

Whiteside ( D ) -- danger danger Will Robinson. Our shotblocking prospect laid an egg and really did not look ready for NBA action. First he was no factor on defense where he looked confused and late when he did figure out where he was supposed to be. Second he seemed more focused on trying to be an offensive player, but his post moves were awkward and off balance (didn't this guy have a semi-reliable jumper in college that he could fall back on as a roleplayer? And third of course for anyone watching were his hands. Or perhaps hooves. He dropped everything. Every pass, could not catch rebounds cleanly, looked like his left hand was on an entirely different circuit from his right. He got some boards on a night when nobody else did, but like the Hickson performance you barely noticed it in the wake of the other struggles.

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