Derek Bodner’s Blog

Well, if you consider what we witnessed down at the Wachovia Center last night basketball.

There was a lot of bad, with a little bit of good sprinkled in. I’ll try to touch on a few random thoughts.

• Lou Williams really looks like he can score at this level. His range has improved tremendously since he came into the league, and that step back jumper of his he can get off at any time. The key for him will be keeping his turnovers down. It sure would be nice to get him some time so we can see what we have to work with in the future, but….
• I don’t think he can play at the same time with Andre Miller in the backcourt. It would be nice, as right now I’d much rather start Williams over Green (whom we know to be mediocre, at best), but neither Williams or Miller can defend shooting guards.
• When Carney hits shots, he can give you something offensively. When he’s off….2 rebounds (and one of them was in the final two minutes of the game)? How can you be 6’7″, play 38 minutes, and come down with 2 rebounds? With his length and athleticism, that’s unacceptable. Having both him and Korver getting major minutes would really put us on a disadvantage on the boards.
• I like Thad Young. He’ll contribute this year. Maybe not be a difference maker at this stage of his career, but he’ll contribute. He’s all hustle, and hits the boards better than I thought he would. You can tell the potential’s there, as he does have range and a quick first step. But he just turned 19 this summer, and it’ll be a few years before we see that potential realized. But with his physical skills, hustle, and apparent smarts, he’ll get there. Until that time he’s a hustle player, which with his length, quickness, and effort, he could be a good one at that.
• Speaking of Thad, his ball handling is brutal. Literally an adventure every time. At this stage of his career, he should be a spot-up jumpshooter and cutter. Unfortunately he doesn’t move all that much without the ball. That’s something that should come with experience, though.
• Jason Smith I’m extremely torn on. I’m trying to like him. I’m trying to be upbeat about him. I certainly liked the selection on draft night when it happened. Extremely mobile, strong, legit 7 footer with range and a quick first step? What’s not to like? Seeing him play in the summer league and again last night, and I do say I have some fears. He has a great first step, but doesn’t seem to be able to finish well. He’s got short arms, a low release point on his drives, and doesn’t get much elevation (seems to be a better two-footed jumper than one-footed jumper). Not good. The low release point is the most troublesome. He got rejected on a turnaround fadaway last night. That should never happen. If he can’t finish on his drives, I’m not sure his athleticism is going to translate that well to the NBA. It just seems like his strengths (7 footer, quick, strong) aren’t taken advantage of (short arms, low release point, doesn’t hold ground well). Hopefully that’s correctable.
• For that matter, we don’t seem to have anyone that can finish down low. Smith and Amundson seem to have the habit of bringing the ball down to their side on drives. Carney, Iguodala and Young don’t have the body control to finish a high percentage of contested shots. Williams can finish in the paint, and Randolph could a little, although it’s yet to be seen if he can post injury. Reggie Evans shouldn’t touch the ball on offense unless it’s an offensive rebound.
• Willie Green….eh, I’ll touch on that later. I’ll have all season to complain about him if he continues to start.
• I liked Byars at the draft, thought he was a great value pick. He hasn’t done anything to distinguish himself since then though. He might have trouble making the roster. Although….
• Just a hunch, I think Kevin Ollie’s the odd man out. I think the Sixers really want to give Lou Williams a chance to get some experience, and I think they want to do so at PG. That means getting the minutes Ollie did last year. Not that I mind, as I really want to see Herbert Hill and Shavlik Randolph make the team.
• The food down there was terrible. I bought a “pizza” (they used to be small personal pizza’s, now it’s a slice) that looked to be about 3 hours old. The sauce wasn’t even sauce any more, it was completely hard. What’s worse, the service was terrible. Rude and slow.
• Hip-hop did his thing where they shoot t-shirts into the stands. He shot one into an empty section. Literally. A kid two sections over ran over and got it.
• The fans that were there were very into it. There were a lot of kids, which I’m sure had a lot to do with it, but they get an A+ in my book.
• This isn’t new, as they were doing it last year too, but there’s just far too much going on (visually) anymore. Between the jumbotron, and the ads going around the arena, it’s like a lights show, and really gets distracting in my opinion.
• I didn’t see one appearance of the 76ers dance team