Happy Saturday. Thank you for your support of Daily Thunder. Going to Miami.
Tibor Pleiss has now officially left his German team and there have been reports he’s coming to Oklahoma City. Maybe it’s to play in the D-League, maybe it’s to play Summer League, maybe it’s to sign and be on the roster. Who knows. He’s mostly an unknown quantity, but his team Brose Baskets was nice enough to put together this going away highlight video.
He looks much more physical in this video than the past videos I've watched of him. He's still about as athletic as a toilet seat, but it's not like Cole is James Flight White or something either. His screen setting looks bad, mostly because he's so unathletic that he can't sprint out to screens effectively and establish good screen position.
Other than that, it's hard to glean a ton from a highlight video composed of boring dunks. I feel more positive about him though, and think maybe he'll at least crack the final roster, but if he comes in in front of Cole in the rotation, I'm just going to go ahead and hang my head in disgust, knock out one of my own teeth in honor of Cole, and assume that we're trading him for no good reason.
good points from this video: - His tall
- Can catch and dunk the ball
- He sets screens, then rolls middle
- He hit a three, so he could maybe space the floor alittle if he can hit the mid-range
- his dunking without jumping basically
Bad points:
- Doesn't seem like a guy who can hold his ground and not get bullied in the middle by big guys
- He shot a three
- His dunking without jumping
I liked the part where he just went all Robert Swift on that one guy.
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/06/russell-westbrook-mindset/
Russ is playing much more carefully lately. A lot of the criticisms about Russ that Coach Nick had in his videos of poor timing getting the ball to KD seem like Russ afraid to make a pass that could be contested or result in a turnover. He hasn't applied this type of care to his shot selection IMO, he's just barely over 50% TS for the playoffs which is horrible, but he's taking less risks passing the ball. Some of those passes are plays that other PG's make routinely.
@justin_mia Very true.
Tough to tell but he seems to have good hands which might bode well. But he looks weak to me. Might get pushed around a lot. What's his ceiling? Post-injury Ilgauskas?
@justin_mia I hate to say this, but to me he looks like a softer Timofey Mosgov.
@justin_mia probably can't tell his ceiling from a two minute clip
@justin_mia he seems to have a lot of coordination for a guy that young and big and is pretty fluid in his finishes. i.e. I don't see aldrich throwing down that reverse slam like pleiss at the 12 second mark
@thunder_fan_in_korea @justin_mia Dude I have seen Cole do a windmill. I have the video on here somewhere, he did it pregame then KD and Perkins started laughing at him, probably because it was ugly. But Cole can do that dunk
@thunder_fan_in_korea I've seen more than this on Pleiss.
@justin_mia @thunder_fan_in_korea Probably can't tell his ceiling yet from anything you've seen. What is he 22 years old?
He's a true seven footer that appears to have decent hands and at least respectable agility. I'd say at this point those are good signs but beyond that trying to predict his career is pointless.
Probably being too optimistic with that ceiling now that I think of it.
The more I see from him the more I like him. Well, at least he has a ton of potential with his game.
The three balls he drains makes me drool.
@loplopol "The more I see from him the more I like him. Well, at least he has a ton of potential with his game."
The youtube-phenomenon
@loplopol bynum would love it over there...pretty sure they let anyone shoot 3s
Brandon Roy will play in the Jamal Crawford Summer Pro-Am this weekend
I wonder if the plan is to release Nazr after this season, let Cole play back up Center next year, amnesty Perk after next season (to hopefully keep Harden and Ibaka), and roll with Cole and Tibor in 2013-14...
@Grolgar it all depends on what Cole does, 2 years from now he could be the starter, the backup, or not on the team and a failed draft pick
@OBoymuzik my money's on starter or backup
@Grolgar Don't forget we can play Nick in that rotation too.
This comment has been deleted
@FSUThunderFan Honestly, i thought it was pretty garbage analysis that was WAY too focused on the outcome of the play. 2 wide open jumpsots that barely missed (and which "Coach Nick" called bricks) and a great attack that resulted in a spun out layup were given "Bad" ratings. Yes, it would be great for him to make those shots, but the process was correct, the outcome just was not there. Missing a good shot does not turn a good decision into a bad one, and that is the biggest problem I have with all of this "analysis." Yes, we love to see results, but the underlying process behind the play is the important thing. as long as the process of getting the shot is solid, the positive results will come.
Some of those plays also illustrate how much trouble KD has coming off of the a screen around the 3 point line. He really does have trouble creating space, and instead of Russ forcing it to him, he will either wait to KD to create space or take it himself.
Also, near the end, Russ is given a "bad" for his attempted put back on Durant's missed 3. He gets a hand as high as he can, keeps the ball alive and tries to guide the ball to the basket, but somehow that is a negative play.
What we do need is for James to be more involved in the offense and play more minutes. Play 1 big and play Harden starters' minutes, and I think we win the series.
@Matt32 @FSUThunderFan yea it was odd a missed shot is bad? that makes zero since.
@Lost Ones @Matt32 @FSUThunderFan lol i'm watching the first video now....most of it i agree with, the layup getting wedged as bad cracks me up tho
@Matt32 @FSUThunderFan One play I hated that Nick also hated was the weird bank shot attempt with KD wide open late in the game.
@Matt32 @FSUThunderFan It was a pull up sideways leaner going almost full speed with the dribble with 17 seconds on the clock and nobody in rebounding position. Not a high percentage shot.
@justin_mia @FSUThunderFan He did miss KD on the wing, but I didnt think it was a bad shot. He was basically unguarded and has become a pretty darn good shooter using the glass. It was an uncontested 14 foot jumper, and he just missed it. The pass Durant on the semi-break would have been the right play, but missing players will happen when you are attacking so hard.
@FSUThunderFan i expect more Russ kick out's to open guys on the perimeter, hopefully less of KD fighting for position for 15 seconds and then Russ and KD scrambling to get a bad shot, and KD running the offense, that worked well at the beginning of the 3rd
This comment has been deleted
@FSUThunderFan Jeff Green isn't even that good. Why would we want him?
@FSUThunderFan nah, if uncle jeff was on our roster sure you he would be coming off the bench. replace minutes for nazr i would assume
@cleandoe @FSUThunderFan You clearly don't remember the love that Scott Brooks had for Jeff Green.
@ou_sas @FSUThunderFan
ibaka has improved though and scotty obviously doesn't want to change his line up so i still don't see it
@FSUThunderFan i can assure you*
@FSUThunderFan and what would serge be doing during all of this?
This comment has been deleted
@FSUThunderFan yeah it's just i'm pretty sure if Jeff Green was on this team Harden and Ibaka wouldn't be the players that they are now, Jeff is above average on most everything in his game, but not great at 1 thing, and has played out of his position his whole career...hopefully he comes back healthy and finds a good fit somewhere tho
from royce
Russell Westbrook was asked what adjustments he has to make in Game 3 to "become a better point guard": "I'm not making no adjustments. Regardless of what anybody says or regardless of what you guys say about how I play, it doesn't matter. I'm going to play my game regardless of what happens. I'm going to go out and give 110 percent, and try to find a way to help us win the game."
This comment has been deleted
@FSUThunderFan we're not the new york knicks
@FSUThunderFan @OBoymuzik wouldn't make me happy at all. keep it real russ - keep on giving it to those troll media haters :)
So......another 7ft guy who when wide open can catch and dunk........you would think these guys who are lucky to be 7ft tall would try to put together more of a game than simply catch under basket and dunk. Oh well I still hope Cole gets his shot, shows real promise when he actually plays and I can't believe Nazr has been getting the minutes Cole should've gotten. Well he's not in the finals(thank god)but still.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib8Clfreyak&feature=player_embedded beals form is ridiculous
idk if y'all seen this gif but its comedy http://i.minus.com/ip7tCn1KGSMPH.gif
@Lost Ones LOL. I'm dying over here.
@Lost Ones i laughed because i remembered the episode, but was quite offended. however i did laugh so here is your well-deserved like
@Zyzz @Lost Ones IT would have been funny if they played it in real time.
Dude seems to have some really-long arms (even for a 7-footer). Seems pretty coordinated for a young guy who is still growing into his body, i'd bet.
Still, he seems like a Mullens who is actually invested in dunking/rebounding (which is what we wanted from Mullens anyway, right?).
Hope he gets a year on the bench while Perk is still here to push him around some. A future of Aldrich/Pleiss seems at least as good as Perk/Nazr imo.
if we can force the heat to give more minutes to Haslem, Joel Anthony, or Turiaf we can take 2 in miami.....can serge really not score over battier around the basket?
@OBoymuzik You bring up a great point.
If the Heat go small, abuse them in the post. Russ tried to do that in game 2 by himself (6 shots in the paint in 1st quarter) and failed. I think Ibaka will be a major factor in game 3.
@alvarex russ got to the line twice in the post in the 2nd tho
He seems to be a poor man's Cole Aldrich. I'd love for him to replace Cole on the end of the bench when Aldrich finally gets a shot at continuous contributions.
@alvarex i saw nearly all offensive highlights in this clip. that is the opposite of cole's. his would have all been defensive highlights. we have no bigs on this team with much of a consistent offensive game. MAYBE collison, but i mostly say that simply because he makes the most of his attempts and rarely leaves points behind. (rarely turns it over, takes it hard to the basket, dunks or gets FTs).