PRESEASON THOUGHTS

DETROIT

Some ups, some downs in the preseason for Detroit so far. Flip Murray has looked great in the two preseason games he was in, averaging 17 & 5 in 30 minutes. An excellent pickup for Detroit, they really struggled not having a guard to bring off the bench to kickstart the offense during those long, long stretches when everyone looks like shit--and at only $2M per season.

Mohammed has been pretty up and down, just like his entire career. He started out with a nice 16 & 8 with 2 blocks, then followed that up with some underwhelming performances. He'll be OK, he'll be a big body, an offensive upgrade from Ben Wallace (he better be), and he'll block some shots, but I'm concerned about his rebounding. The Pistons were already a mediocre rebounding team with Wallace, and Mohammed can range from crappy-to-pretty good on the boards. The beauty is that, with a one-year deal, he's playing for a contract, so I don't expect effort to be an issue.

In their continuing quest to develop some kind of bench, Delfino has been playing a lot, with his usual mixed results. In two games he shot well and put up 13 & 15 points, the other two he shot 4-17. I still wouldn't count on him as a reliable bench scorer.

The good news is that Jason Maxiell has been playing great, with double figures in all four games and solid rebounding. He's also been to the line an unbelievable 44 times, showing that he's playing extremely aggressively. Like Murray, he's not going to be a superstar, but the Pistons don't need him to be--just someone they can throw out there for 15-20 minutes a game and have him hold his own. Of course that person could have been Darko Milicic, but Dumars threw him away in a stupid panic move that compounded the damage this situation had already done to the franchise. One black mark in an otherwise nearly flawless career.

Speaking of Darko, he's continuing his good play from last year in the preseason, with double figures in each game and 6 rebounds per in limited minutes. I also thought he played very well in the World Championships.

INDIANA

I wasn't sure how how Al Harrington would fit in with this team. He's a good player and everything, but doesn't Danny Granger make him redundant? In 17 games as a starter last year, Granger averaged 10.3-6.7-1.6, a steal and a block per game, and shot .474 from the floor and .357 from three (on almost 2 attempts per game). Those are very solid rookie numbers, and he's the future of this franchise.

But it looks like they're going to start both of them with O'Neal at center, or at least play that way for large stretches of the game. Makes sense--even though you're smaller, it's probably a defensive upgrade given that Jeff Foster sucks. Harrington led the team in scoring in their first two preseason games before getting hurt, getting 20+ in each. I still like Granger much better as a fantasy player--even when Harrington was the man, he gave you decent scoring, a little rebounding, and not much else. Those guys are a dime a dozen in fantasy league.

PHOENIX/LAKERS

Amare played an energy-filled 31 minutes against the Lakers, putting up 15-9 with 5 steals (fucking Kwame Brown (just kidding, he didn't even play)) and 2 blocks. That's encouraging for those of us with him in our keeper fantasy leagues. Maybe he wasn't *quite* as explosive as usual, but he did get a pass directly under the basket and, in traffic, went straight up and threw down a pretty sweet jam. Even on healthy knees, no more than 10% of the league's big men can do that from a standing start.

Speaking of the Lakers, Vladimir Radmanovic has really, really sucked so far. I suppose a shooter just has to find his stroke, but he's shot 4-20 and 1-7 from three in the Lakers first three preseason games. He'll come around, but I don't think he'll be a franchise saver. Probably the 12-5 guy with bad FG%/good 3-pt shooting that he's always been. Still, that's a healthy improvement over Devean George.

ROOKIES

Marcus Williams has been playing well for the Nets. He's averaged 15-3-8 through the first three preseason games. His shooting hasn't been great, but those are still excellent numbers. He's obviously behind Kidd, and they signed Eddie House (who's out indefinitely after arthroscopic knee surgery), but I'd still expect him to get decent playing time off the bench. I mean, Jacques Vaughn got 15 minutes a game on this team last year.

Also on the Nets, Josh Boone is out 4-6 months with a shoulder injury, not that you gave a shit about him anyway.

Jordan Farmar has looked good for the Lakers, getting 9&2 and 10&5 in his first two preseason games. He's also active on D, he'll get some steals. I'm still not sure he can shoot the NBA three, but he's a nice draft pick for where they got him, I could see him turning into a decent starter down the road.

Daniel Horton is on the Miami roster, but I don't believe he's played yet, which doesn't bode well. Meanwhile, fellow last-spot-on-the-bench-contender Chris Quinn from ND got 30 minutes--although he didn't do much with it.

Rudy Gay had 21 points in a game against the Pistons. Maybe he will get some shots, but I just don't see him having the scoring consistency or the ability in any other part of the game to make him a worthwhile fantasy player. Although he did have 3 steals and 3 blocks in that game...I guess I'll keep an eye on him.

Anthony Roberson unbelievably scored 28 in a game, but the real story in Golden State is Monta Ellis, who showed major flashes of potential last year and who they like a lot. In three late starts, he averaged 17-5-4. He had 17-3-2 in 24 minutes in GS's only preseason game. He still might not get huge minutes this year--he's only 20--but he's a player to keep an eye on down the road.

Adam Morrison's getting all the press in Charlotte, but Sean May has played really well so far in preseason, averaging 13-6 in about 24 minutes a game. He's still stuck behind Okafor and Brezec, but he'll get decent minutes as the only decent big man off the bench. I really liked his game coming into the league, I think he'll have a solid year this season--in real life, not fantasy b-ball, where he's pretty limited.

Renaldo Balkman had a nice 11-7 effort in only 15 minutes. I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be, um, not shitty. Isiah knew he was betting his entire job on this kid, and as retarded as Isiah is, the one area in which he's been competent is drafting.

Randy Foye had 13 points in 21 minutes in his first good performance of the preseason (after getting more raves than anyone in summer league). I also saw an interview with Kevin Garnett where he was practically weeping at how much potential Foye has, but that might be Garnett's desperation speaking.