Patty beastin in D-League

[Pontius]

I'd be stunned if Cunningham isn't a part of the team next season. Stunned.

I don't understand some of the expectations put on rookies around here. He's now averaging what, like 10 minutes a game. He has more experienced players in front of him. He's giving the team almost 50% shooting, a few points a game, and a couple of rebounds.

Many undersized fours have come into this league and put up similar numbers on deep teams and have gone on to have NBA careers.

When given the chance he sure has seemed to come through in the situations I've seen him in from college up to now. If Aldridge doesn't play, I'd expect to see some quality minutes from him.

Great post Crimson. Dante wouldn't even sniff the court right now if it weren't for injuries and he's already contributed in a glue guy type way in some pretty impressive wins. He busts his tail on defense and is efficient enough on offense while also offering some mid-range ability. I have a lot of respect for the intellect of the posters on here, but I have to shake my head sometimes when I read their talent observations and/or expectations. Pendergraph had 14 rebounds in 25 minutes the other night, is 6'9" with a 35" vert, has a pretty soft J, and has shown the ability to get his hand on opponents' shots. He is strong and knows how to use his body in the post for rebounds. Yet I'm reading criticism in this thread about Pritchard not drafting Blair. I'll tell you right now that I'd rather have Pendergraph because I think he has more upside and the best part is that he has cartilage in his knees.

KP is one of the very best talent evaluators in this league and the idea that he's not a good GM for not consolidating towards complimentary players is quite myopic with consideration to his stated plan. Letting it "bake" has to do with in-house development of complimentary players as much as it has to do with the development of the star players. That he chooses to develop complimentary players that are young and that can grow within the team structure is a matter of purpose. DING DING DING And only in the long-run is when it can be properly judged. To assume a position of replacing the developing young players on Portland's roster with proven NBA commodities is to doubt Pritchard's ability to spot talent and with that assumed position I find humor.

 

[J~Rush]

Great post Crimson. Dante wouldn't even sniff the court right now if it weren't for injuries and he's already contributed in a glue guy type way in some pretty impressive wins. He busts his tail on defense and is efficient enough on offense while also offering some mid-range ability. I have a lot of respect for the intellect of the posters on here, but I have to shake my head sometimes when I read their talent observations and/or expectations. Pendergraph had 14 rebounds in 25 minutes the other night, is 6'9" with a 35" vert, has a pretty soft J, and has shown the ability to get his hand on opponents' shots. He is strong and knows how to use his body in the post for rebounds. Yet I'm reading criticism in this thread about Pritchard not drafting Blair. I'll tell you right now that I'd rather have Pendergraph because I think he has more upside and the best part is that he has cartilage in his knees.

KP is one of the very best talent evaluators in this league and the idea that he's not a good GM for not consolidating towards complimentary players is quite myopic with consideration to his stated plan. Letting it "bake" has to do with in-house development of complimentary players as much as it has to do with the development of the star players. That he chooses to develop complimentary players that are young and that can grow within the team structure is a matter of purpose. DING DING DING And only in the long-run is when it can be properly judged. To assume a position of replacing the developing young players on Portland's roster with proven NBA commodities is to doubt Pritchard's ability to spot talent and with that assumed position I find humor.

This is quite a compliment.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Seeing Mills beast is great, but seeing Tolliver beast as well puts it into perspective.

But Tolliver would be doing it in the NBA if it weren't for McClueless's rotations, right?

 

[MrJayremmie]

Go Patty!

I would love for him to end up a stud in the NBA. Maybe with all of our injuries we can bring him up and give him some time once he gets into shape.

Go Blazers!

 

[hasoos]

Awesome, we finally have a guy who shows up to the D league and does what he is supposed to. Show he doesn't belong there.

 

[mook]

Exciting to see. Wish he were a forward or center, but oh well. I'll take whatever talent we can get from a second round pick.

I'll have to go see him play next week here in Boise. Assuming he isn't called up by then.

 

[Crimson the Cat]

Great post Crimson. Dante wouldn't even sniff the court right now if it weren't for injuries and he's already contributed in a glue guy type way in some pretty impressive wins. He busts his tail on defense and is efficient enough on offense while also offering some mid-range ability. I have a lot of respect for the intellect of the posters on here, but I have to shake my head sometimes when I read their talent observations and/or expectations. Pendergraph had 14 rebounds in 25 minutes the other night, is 6'9" with a 35" vert, has a pretty soft J, and has shown the ability to get his hand on opponents' shots. He is strong and knows how to use his body in the post for rebounds. Yet I'm reading criticism in this thread about Pritchard not drafting Blair. I'll tell you right now that I'd rather have Pendergraph because I think he has more upside and the best part is that he has cartilage in his knees.

KP is one of the very best talent evaluators in this league and the idea that he's not a good GM for not consolidating towards complimentary players is quite myopic with consideration to his stated plan. Letting it "bake" has to do with in-house development of complimentary players as much as it has to do with the development of the star players. That he chooses to develop complimentary players that are young and that can grow within the team structure is a matter of purpose. DING DING DING And only in the long-run is when it can be properly judged. To assume a position of replacing the developing young players on Portland's roster with proven NBA commodities is to doubt Pritchard's ability to spot talent and with that assumed position I find humor.

Brilliantly said. I agree completely.

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

You're reading waaaaaaaaay too much in to my "Time for KP to earn his money" line the other night. I think KP is a pretty good draft day GM and a talent evaluator, but since about mid February of last year he's shown himself to be increasingly ineffective (or hestitant?) when it comes to actually making the next step to being a "real" GM, and that is the ability to consolidate and make trades and to surround his core with complimentary pieces.

Injuries aside, this roster was showing major signs of chemistry meltdown in the first month and a half of the season and a lot of that had to do with too many young or rookie scale scorers and shooters; guys with the potential to earn a lot of money if they can manage to put up the kind of individual stats that get a player an extension like Roy and Aldridge just inked. Failing to account for how destructive it can be to try to squeeze 11 or 12 young guys into 8 or 9 spots caused me to reevaluate KP's ability to engage in roster building (which is quite a bit more difficult and tricky than simple talent accumulation) -- these chemistry issues are still alive but merely in 'hibernation.'

So when I say it's time for him to earn his money, it means I want to see him take the next step in his evolution as a general manager, and being a brilliant talent scout and drafter does not quite make up for this lack (so far).

Aight, cool, then. I figured as much, but we kept arguing so I was thinking maybe this cat really doesn't like KP. We're on the same page. Gotta give him his props, but the jury is still out on whether or not he has the guts to pull the trigger on a big deal. You can only say, "Bake it," and leave things pretty much status quo for so long, where you have to make some changes if you're not advancing and moving on to bigger things.

 

[Kaydow]

Totally agree. He's got fundamentals, and he's got a decent-looking 14-foot J. I'm not positive that's enough in the league, and him not sniffing the floor behind Howard, Webster, our 3rd guard and Tolliver doesn't lead me to think he's shown he's the "real deal" in anything yet.

If Dante can stretch his range a little bit, he could be a Marvin Williams type guy. 10 pts/5 rbs. A guy who can hit jumpers, get some garbage points with his athleticism, and fill the lanes (if we ever decide to run a little bit) I think he can be a quality/versatile defensive player - that's probably what will decide if he stays in the league or not.

 

[Eastoff]

I just didn't (and don't) like that we took Claver, Pendy, Cunningham (all of whom are primarily 4's, though differently wired) while not thinking that there were better 4's on the board in Jerebko, Brockman and Blair.

Claver is a 3, i'm pretty sure.

 

[Nikolokolus]

If Dante can stretch his range a little bit, he could be a Marvin Williams type guy. 10 pts/5 rbs. A guy who can hit jumpers, get some garbage points with his athleticism, and fill the lanes (if we ever decide to run a little bit) I think he can be a quality/versatile defensive player - that's probably what will decide if he stays in the league or not.

^^This.

(Right now) Dante strikes me as the kind of guy you wouldn't mind having at the end of your bench as an 11th or 12th man, but probably not somebody you want to rely on as a rotation player. He's going to have to add the three ball to his repetoire if he he's ever going to move up from that 11th man 12th man type of guy to an 8th man role in the rotation. Even then I'm not sure if he's going to stick with this particular team, especially since it already has a jump shooting 4 in LaMarcus.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Claver is a 3, i'm pretty sure.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Victor-Claver-336/

Doesn't really sound like much of an NBA 3 ... especially the lack of ball-handling skills.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Claver is a flex-forward.

In the NBA, I think he'll be a KVH/Rashard (worst case/best case) type of Power Forward.

6'11" 236 lbs, basically the size LMA was as a rookie (6'11" 234 lbs). Our team docs (via radio interview that summer) Claver was measured at 6'10 and a quarter w/o shoes.

[video=youtube;kcAj-RTgGvQ]

 

[RoyToy]

But it doesn't mean nothing. If he continually shines when given chances, even if those chances are under less competitive circumstances than the NBA, that's a good sign that he's more likely to be an NBA player than not.

Combine his performances in college and international competition with his debut in the NBDL and I'd say that's further proof that he'll stick, especially considering the general manager that drafted him.

He's always been a NBA player, at least in my eyes. It's just how good of a NBA player he will be that's the question.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Victor-Claver-336/

Doesn't really sound like much of an NBA 3 ... especially the lack of ball-handling skills.

I'm sure they're as good as recent board-fave Omri Casspi. Observe (starting at 0:48)...

 

[mgb]

Mills 38 points 7-10 from 3 and 12 assists

I didn't see this posted anywhere. If it has been delete or merge.

link

 

[SpanishFly]

Per J Quick, likely to be back in POR for Monday's game as Blake out for all next week at least.

 

[RoyToy]

Nate McMillan will be sure to let Mills know everything he does wrong and yank him after one bad play.

Can't wait!

 

[THE HCP]

Patty is meeting us in LA.

 

[KingSpeed]

Patty is meeting us in LA.

Nice.

 

[Crimson the Cat]

Can someone explain to me how the heck Dante Cunningham has shown he's the "real deal" of anything right now? I must've missed something.

To put things into perspective, Patty Mills' running mate tonight took Dante's position in the rotation (such as it is) while he was up. He promptly got sent back down. What is Dante? Is he a 4/3? A 3/4? A defensive specialist? A rebounding stud? A pure shooter? A scoring threat? A "glue" guy who doesn't get into games?

Seriously, which one of those is he he "real deal" in?

College: check. Summer league: check. Pre-season: check. End-of-the-bench contributor: check. Rotational player: check.

WTF does Cunningham have to do to begin proving that he belongs in the NBA?

This is only the beginning IMO. Dude can excel in any role, plays the game the right way, and is a heady player. He was picked to be a Blazer for a reason.

 

[BrianFromWA]

College: check. Summer league: check. Pre-season: check. End-of-the-bench contributor: check. Rotational player: check.

WTF does Cunningham have to do to begin proving that he belongs in the NBA?

This is only the beginning IMO. Dude can excel in any role, plays the game the right way, and is a heady player. He was picked to be a Blazer for a reason.

Clever. I'll ask again. (BTW, he was "2nd Team" All Big East behind D. Blair, among others.)

What is Dante? Is he a 4/3? A 3/4? A defensive specialist? A rebounding stud? A pure shooter? A scoring threat? A "glue" guy who doesn't get into games?

Seriously, which one of those is he he "real deal" in?

 

[Kaydow]

Clever. I'll ask again. (BTW, he was "2nd Team" All Big East behind D. Blair, among others.)

What is Dante? Is he a 4/3? A 3/4? A defensive specialist? A rebounding stud? A pure shooter? A scoring threat? A "glue" guy who doesn't get into games?

Seriously, which one of those is he he "real deal" in?

Looks like a tweener to me, like Outlaw (not that their games are similar) He won't be a specialist at anything IMO - he'll be an energy guy that can come in and knock down some jumpers, play some defense, grab some rebounds, and goes back to the bench. Somebody posted George Lynch's numbers and that looks about right. 8/4 guy. I don't know what the "real deal" means. Maybe just that for a 2nd round player, he actually WILL be a rotation player that contributes.

 

[Crimson the Cat]

Clever. I'll ask again. (BTW, he was "2nd Team" All Big East behind D. Blair, among others.)

What is Dante? Is he a 4/3? A 3/4? A defensive specialist? A rebounding stud? A pure shooter? A scoring threat? A "glue" guy who doesn't get into games?

Seriously, which one of those is he he "real deal" in?

The Big East was a beast last year. Making 2nd team is quite an accomplishment in that season. Again, I'm not disputing Blair's superiority, but question his durability.

Why does DC have to be the real deal in any one skill area???

He's the real deal period as a NBA Player. He's an undersized four (which I've already stated and you've ignored), but his wherewithal, jumper, and hustle will keep him in this league IMO.