1) I don't dispute that Demps is a good option. But somebody really needs to sit him down and remind him that he's not Michael Jordan. There's at least one offensive option that's as good as he is, and depending on the night, there's usually two options (not tonight with that god awful overtime lineup).
If he simply looks for a pass, I'd be satisfied. He's a nice player, but ...
2) On a more positive side, I'm surprised there isn't more BMac love. The kid was a playa tonight!! 19 pts, 8-15, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 4 assists.
I hope he's conditioned as well as he's playing. I also hope his limp off the court amounts to nothing also.
3) 6-1? Yea, I'll take it.
I'll also keep my fingers crossed for a consistent third scorer and juuuuuuuust a tad more defense. I don't think either is out of the question by the time the conference rolls around.
Agreed Demps needs to keep his head up even when on iso. But late in the clock everyone except he and BMac appear afraid or unable to create their own shot, so even if they don't get a great one they are usually the best option. Do you recall the one time in 2H Tap tried to do it? I like the kid, but it was an ugly half push airball. And Lindsey has had some inauspicious possessions when he tries to create late in the clock too. Olah, well for that to work we would need someone to get the ball to him in decent position and him to catch it. So Demps def needs to keep his head when the clock is above 8 - but he's getting better at that, I think he hit Tap twice on pick and pops to the baseline when they double teamed him on a wing screen, and then he dumped to JVZ for a easy dunked when they rotate doubled him on the side to adjust against the pick and pops from earlier. It's just late in the clock the others clench up aside from BMac. And the shot he got at the buzzer - a floater from 7 feet in the lane? I'll take all day.
Other notes
1) Yes Mac is a stud. Nothing to add really aside from that he still is occasionally a bit casual with the ball and if he fixes that he can reduce his TOs by 1 pg. And that please please get him some minutes off against the bad teams upcoming so we don't have the same thing happen as last year late in conference. Same applies to Tre, who played all 45 last night. Get Lindsey and Ash some work.
2) Shout out to Sanjay. He shut down their leading scorer all game. And then props to CC for switching him onto Allen on the last play, cause he knew that's where the ball would go. They had no TOs left and VT didn't know where to go. Sanjay shut him down and he was forced to pass away twice, the other guy had no idea what to do and just ping ponged it back into the black hole of Sanjay's defense. Plus a couple timely shots from him and one nice and 1 inside. I loved how all the players ran to him right after the game and pounded him on the back. They knew he was the player of the game for us.
3) Tap hit some nice shots. We all know he still needs to get better on D though. Same with Falzon.
4) Looks to me like it will be a near even split on minutes between Olah and JVZ. And it's hard for me to argue against that based on what I've seen thus far this year.
5) And defense- we are all agonizing over it. Agreed it's not good yet. But if I'm reading CC and the trends correctly, the guys who can play good defense will be getting more minutes once conference season comes along. Most notably, Skelly and Lumpkin at the 3/4. Tap and Falzon will either need to improve on ball defense and rotations or they will see less court time, particularly late in games. I think even Ash will see 8 mpg (prob mostly in 1H) as long as he doesn't turn it over cause he is a solid defender, prob better than both Mac and Demps.
