[Kstat]

The only thing of note really is after the bulls hit their first 6-7 shots, Jonas got yanked for Maxiell, and then came back with the 2nd unit. You wonder if Frank is starting to consider a different rotation.

[Kstat]

In the short term at least, playing Maxiell with the first unit and Jonas with the second has helped. We've actually managed to erase a 9-point deficit and we're tied after 1.

[Kstat]

Jonas is once again inept offensively. He has to start doing something consistently that defenses have to respect.

His hot shooting to start the season has cooled down considerably. Hopefully this will be the exception to the rule, and not the first few games.

[Hobbs]

Not that bad of play really. We're going to lose, but we aren't just giving it up (yet...).

Also, Monroe might be the second best center in the East. He's playing at all-star level. I don't know that he'll get in because we suck and he's a youngster, but he has been that good so far.

[hack]

Monroe's an utter delight.

[El Axe]

Will Bynum actually played defense for about 20 seconds to end the half and shut down DRose for the posession.

Is it possible to bronze a youtube clip?

[Hobbs]

Monroe might mess around and get a triple double tonight.

[Hobbs]

Well, we collapsed. Some nice turnover action from us and some great contributions by our PFs (Jerebko and Max a combined 3-15 from the floor) certainly helped.

Stuckey would help a ton. He hasn't been playing great, but he's a steadying influence that we really lack.

Monroe is a stud.

[Hobbs]

Max finishes the night 1-12 from the floor.

[mn3]

Any team with a great PG and a great C has a chance to play in some championship games. My only question is: will we have a great PG and a great C who is already on this roster?

[Jangul]

Well we've got a potentially great center, but I don't see any signs of great point guard play on this roster as of yet.

[King Mob]

For the most part is seems like Knight isn't looking to create opportunities; he brings the ball up and runs the play. Whether it's because he can't, or won't, or is isn't being allowed to, you rarely see him probing the defense, or getting a pick and then creating something off the dribble the way Bynum and Stuckey do. Or any PG, for that matter.

[FadedMario]

Knight only has a few free throws all season. Not a good sign at all.

[capnpaco]

Good news: Monroe put up 14 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists.

Bad news: He led the team in all three categories...

[Jangul]

I didn't likKnight as a prospect because of his low assists and high turnovers, but I'm willing to reserve judgment . I was worried about Monroe's rebounding and toughness coming into the NBA and It took Monroe until the all-star break last year to really reach his stride. I would like to see some month to month statistical improvement from Knight, though. He's getting the minutes, so he needs to demonstrate he's learning something out there.

[Kstat]

I said this way back in preseason: Knight's assist/turnover numbers are going to be terrible this year, because he's learning on the job. He's being asked to perform the tasks of a veteran point guard from day one. They aren't bringing him along slowly. They are giving him a crash course.

He will be massively improved next season, perhaps maybe even late this season. Ignore his efficiency numbers for now. They don't tell the whole story of what he's trying to do right now.

[Dave Bing]

10games into a 19 yr old point guard's career is a little early for major pronouncements. Jason Kidd was turning it over four times per game in his second year.

[hack]

And also averaging 9.7 assists per game. It would be great to see some month-to-month improvement. We'll see come February.

[DYNOMITE]

I am willing to wait for year-to-year. I expect a glimpse of his max potential in year 3 or so. Add some savvy and veteran play from that point on out.

[Billl]

I think knight is a pg. He's got a desire to move the ball and decent vision. When he is running the offense, he's mostly making good decisions. Unfortunately at this point, he's not strong enough to play in the NBA. The second anyone gets up and starts bumping him, he becomes an instant turnover machine. So far, his only defense against that is to try to go quick and not give them a chance to body him. That might work as a change of pace, but you can't make a living off it because it totally disrupts the offense. Knight needs a lot of hours in the weight room and desperately needs to work on accepting the pressure, letting it come to him, and then moving the ball to the open spot.

[rpmfla]

The Pistons will scout the Illinois-Ohio State game tonight at Champaign. OSU power forward Jared Sullinger and Illinois center Meyers Leonard are considered lottery picks. ... Rodney Stuckey (sore groin) missed his third straight game, Austin Daye (ankle) missed his second straight, and Charlie Villanueva (ankle) was out as well against the Bulls.

Anyone else see the factual error here?

Hint: He is taller and thinner than Tay.

[hack]

Originally Posted by Billl

I think knight is a pg. He's got a desire to move the ball and decent vision. When he is running the offense, he's mostly making good decisions. Unfortunately at this point, he's not strong enough to play in the NBA. The second anyone gets up and starts bumping him, he becomes an instant turnover machine. So far, his only defense against that is to try to go quick and not give them a chance to body him. That might work as a change of pace, but you can't make a living off it because it totally disrupts the offense. Knight needs a lot of hours in the weight room and desperately needs to work on accepting the pressure, letting it come to him, and then moving the ball to the open spot.

Knight is unquestionably a PG. He lacks the size to be an SG and therefore, given his raw tools, is going to be considered a PG unless he proves unable. He doesn't have the complete package but enough of the tools to have turned himself into a legit PG prospect.

Good point about strength. He is easily pushed around.

[El Axe]

Most NBA point guards don't blossom until their 3rd year -- even very good ones like Deron Williams who stayed in college a few years. Rose is a rare exception. Of course, the scary thing is that Rose may even get better.

I like Knight and consider him a very good building block.

[hack]

Dunno. The NBA's changing. Rubio is wowing right out the gate. Ty Lawson at 3:1 A:TO in his first three years. Wall was 8.3 vs. 3.8.

Our guy is not in the Rose/Rubio/Wall league, and he'll have a different career progression than a polished true PG like Lawson. I don't mind waiting to see how he develops, and of course it's way, way too early to judge, but 2 years before payoff is too long. I think if he hasn't firmly grabbed the starter role by the end of the season there's your first red flag. I wouldn't be suprised either way.

[Kstat]

Rubio has a lot more seasoning than Brandon Knight, though. He was playing future NBA hall of famers in the olympics at age 17.

Even with all the extra experience, he regressed statistically in Spain before he came over this season.

[Stefan S]

Rubio is an unusual case, though, in terms of his career. In addition to being a great talent he also played 5 years in one of the strongest leagues in the world. This will surely hone your chops.

[Santos]

Don't think it is reasonable to evaluate Knight, at least not so far. He hasn't played a single summer league game (to start getting used to the idea of being in the NBA), and he has accumulated so far one NBA pre-season in terms of total number of NBA games played, in a schedule that hasn't allowed him to properly practice with the team and probably not even to reach the gym for long enough (when you are playing every two days, you can't pump up too much or your muscles collapse).

The turnovers tend to go down once he gets a little bit more of experience and his body matures, and the assists tend to go up once the team starts hitting shots and gets better (by adding more good players, learning to play together, and so on).

[Kstat]

Once you've played a minute in the real NBA, summer league is worthless.

[zdwtr]

On the first game of the season, when knight show flashes of intelligent moves. I thought Knight going to shine right away. Since then however his sparks has been diminishing. I think coach Frank can see that too. I remember his comment about Knight regressing.

[Hobbs]

Monroe was total ass for over a month last year and he had multiple college seasons, a summer league, and a full training camp under his belt.

Way, way too early to get pessimistic about Knight.

[Kstat]

I'm not even really getting pessimistic. He is exactly where I thought he'd be at this point. One step forward, one step back.

[Mel Kiper Jr]

Yep. We all knew Knight wasn't a PG when we drafted him. He can atleast score though.

Didn't he start slow at Kentucky and come on strong as the season progressed?

[Jeff Hause]

Come on -- we gave Stuckey five freaking years!

[Mel Kiper Jr]

It's not like 1 player playing really well would even matter. It will just hurt us getting a high lottery pick which we desperately need.

In hindsight, moving Billups to make room for Stuckey at pg set this team on a downward spiral. Yeah brining in Iverson was part of it. Yeah drafting Darko was too.

[Orwellian O.]

Originally Posted by Jeff Hause

Come on -- we gave Stuckey five freaking years!

Stuckey showed himself to be a gamer immediately, however. He just isn't CP3.

[papalawrence]

And Knight is only 19. Or is he 20 yet?

[Kstat]

he's 20.

[Stefan S]

He needs time to gain strength and to learn to play at NBA's pace.

The talent is obviously there.

[Billl]

If knight was being aggressive and picking up turnovers trying to make plays, I wouldn't be worried. Most young pgs take a while to get up to NBA speed and realize how quickly players can react even when something looks open. That isn't what is happening to knight though. He's getting turned over 30ft+ from the rim. Doing that and watching the other team waltz in for easy buckets is just demoralizing for the players. They are working so hard on D and then we just give up layup after layup due to turnovers.

On the plus side, knight's defense has been great by rookie standards. His length and quickness are disruptive. He also is obviously putting forth effort even when he makes mistakes.

[mn3]

Knight's been thrown into the deep end of the pool. It's going to take awhile, but I don't think there's much question that he has a great deal of talent. Plus, according to guys like David Thorpe, his reputation for a hard work ethic is "legendary." (Thorpe's word, I believe).

[Mel Kiper Jr]

Originally Posted by mn3

Knight's been thrown into the deep end of the pool. It's going to take awhile, but I don't think there's much question that he has a great deal of talent. Plus, according to guys like David Thorpe, his reputation for a hard work ethic is "legendary." (Thorpe's word, I believe).

He has scoring talent.

I don't know that we can say that he has demonstrated pg talent...even at Kentucky as he was playing with other 1st Round picks against teams that didn't have 1st Round picks.

[mn3]

Originally Posted by Mel Kiper Jr

He has scoring talent.

I don't know that we can say that he has demonstrated pg talent...even at Kentucky as he was playing with other 1st Round picks against teams that didn't have 1st Round picks.

There are about 5 PG's (that I can think of) in the league right now who have unreal passing talent - who see everything on the court and can deliver clever and perfect passes to set up scorers that none of the other PG's can deliver: Kidd, Rondo, Nash, Paul and now Rubio. Other great PG's in the league do not have that level of passing skill, Rose, Westbrook, Wall (if he ever becomes great - he's not there yet) - are dominant scorers who pass the ball to open players that they create being open because teams collapse on them trying to prevent them from mauling them going to the basket.

Knight has shown plenty of court vision in spurts this season, and the ability (again in spurts) to make quick decisions and excellent passes. Yeah, he's not Rubio in that regard, but he does seem to me to have the talent to eventually become one of the great scoring Point Guards.

David Thorpe is on record as saying that among Knight, Irving and Rubio, he thinks Knight will be the best player 5 years from now. I hope so, although if I got to choose today, I'd pick Rubio - even though I think Knight will be great.

[Mainevent]

who see everything on the court and can deliver clever and perfect passes to set up scorers that none of the other PG's can deliver: Kidd, Rondo, Nash, Paul and now Rubio.

D. Williams and Calderon too. They are both natural passers as well.

[Mel Kiper Jr]

Originally Posted by mn3

There are about 5 PG's (that I can think of) in the league right now who have unreal passing talent - who see everything on the court and can deliver clever and perfect passes to set up scorers that none of the other PG's can deliver: Kidd, Rondo, Nash, Paul and now Rubio. Other great PG's in the league do not have that level of passing skill, Rose, Westbrook, Wall (if he ever becomes great - he's not there yet) - are dominant scorers who pass the ball to open players that they create being open because teams collapse on them trying to prevent them from mauling them going to the basket.

Matt...he might develop into a PG...but right now he is a scorer as he's been his entire career. It's going to be like learning a new position.

Stuckey never really developed into a good pg that can run an offense.

Knight may or may not. Knight does seem to have more basketball-IQ than Stuckey which helps...so maybe he will.

[Orwellian O.]

Originally Posted by Mel Kiper Jr

Matt...he might develop into a PG...but right now he is a scorer as he's been his entire career. It's going to be like learning a new position.

Stuckey never really developed into a good pg that can run an offense.

Knight may or may not. Knight does seem to have more basketball-IQ than Stuckey which helps...so maybe he will.

Stuckey is a pretty decent PG. However, since he obviously won't become CP3, and unless his 3 gets better (which it actually has) he won't become another Billups (who took forever to develop), he will make a fine SG since we have a rookie who should eventually be able to play PG at least as well as Stuckey can.

[Stefan S]

Originally Posted by Mel Kiper Jr

Matt...he might develop into a PG...but right now he is a scorer as he's been his entire career. It's going to be like learning a new position.

Stuckey never really developed into a good pg that can run an offense.

Knight may or may not. Knight does seem to have more basketball-IQ than Stuckey which helps...so maybe he will.

He has a PG mentality.

he may develop (or not) into a good NBA player
mayb he will be a good PG maybe a good something else, we'll see
he obviously has talent and he is a gym rat and he seems to listen
and is generally a great and ambitious kid.

That's the thing, he is a 20 years old kid --
1 year college experience
no training camp
playing like the 7th game of your NBA career
with the roster that generally sucks.

It's not just learning a new position
he is learning a position, any position,
after the better and starting PG went down.

The difficulty of this is enormous.