Matas was a pleasant surprise. Coach if you get an opportunity, I’m curious what you think of Matas’ defense in summer league? I wrote a breakdown of Matas’ SL defense and I’m excited about what he can do as a help defender/weak side rim protector.
I thought Dillingham had an interesting summer league. His scouting report was undersized combo instant offense guy ala Jordan Clarkson, Malik Monk, Immanuel Quickley, etc. Dillingham struggled with his shooting. I think he will make perimeter shots once he settles in to NBA speed and length. The interesting thing was how good his feel was for running an offense. Everything from the way he tries to catch the ball with momentum moving up the court to stat transition, and headmanning the ball, to initiating offense on time, and the way he could flow and relocate off of that initiation and transition into an off ball threat. I was also really impressed by his ability to process reads in 2-man game. He isn’t super flashy, but as an example on basically 3 consecutive plays off of a ball screen he pulled up in space when they gave him space to pull up and made a 3, on the next possession they went over the screen and hedges hard with the big, he strung out the big and held him and then touched it into the big slipping, on the 3rd possession they went over and hedges hard again and brought help over to cover the slipping big, he found the 3 point shooter who attacked the advantage. He has a really good handle and despite his size and frame had almost no turnovers related to his handle and passing. This allows him to move pretty creatively on the court which will ultimately help him a lot as he gets more comfortable. I also think you can eventually do a lot of really interesting Steph/Jamal stuff where you start him off ball and bring him into the action and have him run around a big at the elbow. I think he will have a lot of defenses chasing him around as well and even if he may struggle to create 1:1 without a ball screen to start he will be able to generate open jump shots that way. It was interesting to see how despite the shoot first moniker he was consistently willing to get the ball of his hands and make the right read based on the defense in a game like the Sixers game where they were sending a lot of physicality and bodies at him. And then in the Rockets game where they weren’t as intense over screens he was getting into 3 point shots at volume. He may always and will almost definitely be an inconsistent half court finisher at the rim. I think I have questions on how much he can consistently generate rim pressure because he can get bumped and it’s hard for him to turn the corner. But at the same time, his shooting gravity really pulls defenses out. And to the extent that he takes some time to get used to the NBA line, that will give him more space to get into in rhythm jump shots. He makes really good reads, has a great feel to be a true “1” on offense, rarely make mistakes, pushes tempo and tries to get into transition, initiates action early and can flow in as the primary action or off of the primary action with ease having a great feel for space and relocation. He can also start completely off ball and make defenses chase him and get loose that way. This is a good skillset and this may sound surprising but the player I would compare it to is Mike Conley. If Dillingham can be a legit “1” prospect and not a combo guard and is more Conley than he is Herro/Clarkson that’s really interesting for his long term upside. I say Conley because Conley is not a flashy passer but makes the right reads, gets teams into their offenses, can flow off the ball and play off a primary scorer off the ball and is relatively perimeter oriented and good at using ball screens to get open jumpers. Everything was there for Rob but the shotmaking and if you don’t think he can be an average or above average volume 3 point shooter then maybe you disagree. I think for Rob, especially early, developing that floater/lob game will be big for him (similar to Conley and which he did flash against in college) to give him a spot to get to inside the arc where he can do damage. This is an interesting angle behind the poor shooting numbers and rim finishing.
LOL after that serious comment the snarky comment I will make is Dillingham in the summer league is who Coach Nick thought Reed Shepperd was with all of his comments about shot creation, size, and 3 point shooting form at the NBA level.
The kid shot 52% in college and was knocking down 30 foot shots in the first two games. Curry flicking the ball with his off thumb was bad form too. I think Reed will be fine.
Coach being so concerned about Reed's shooting, unaware that he had a 69.9 TS% at Kentucky and was elite on literally every type of jumpshot imaginable including 52.1% from three, is kind of hilarious. A good reminder not to judge anything based on a single game, especially shooting imo.
First three minutes and dude said he didn’t like Reed Sheppard shot and I immediately turned this trash off. How do you have a podcast and not actually watch basketball?
Matas was a pleasant surprise.
Coach if you get an opportunity, I’m curious what you think of Matas’ defense in summer league?
I wrote a breakdown of Matas’ SL defense and I’m excited about what he can do as a help defender/weak side rim protector.
I thought Dillingham had an interesting summer league. His scouting report was undersized combo instant offense guy ala Jordan Clarkson, Malik Monk, Immanuel Quickley, etc.
Dillingham struggled with his shooting. I think he will make perimeter shots once he settles in to NBA speed and length. The interesting thing was how good his feel was for running an offense.
Everything from the way he tries to catch the ball with momentum moving up the court to stat transition, and headmanning the ball, to initiating offense on time, and the way he could flow and relocate off of that initiation and transition into an off ball threat.
I was also really impressed by his ability to process reads in 2-man game. He isn’t super flashy, but as an example on basically 3 consecutive plays off of a ball screen he pulled up in space when they gave him space to pull up and made a 3, on the next possession they went over the screen and hedges hard with the big, he strung out the big and held him and then touched it into the big slipping, on the 3rd possession they went over and hedges hard again and brought help over to cover the slipping big, he found the 3 point shooter who attacked the advantage.
He has a really good handle and despite his size and frame had almost no turnovers related to his handle and passing. This allows him to move pretty creatively on the court which will ultimately help him a lot as he gets more comfortable.
I also think you can eventually do a lot of really interesting Steph/Jamal stuff where you start him off ball and bring him into the action and have him run around a big at the elbow. I think he will have a lot of defenses chasing him around as well and even if he may struggle to create 1:1 without a ball screen to start he will be able to generate open jump shots that way.
It was interesting to see how despite the shoot first moniker he was consistently willing to get the ball of his hands and make the right read based on the defense in a game like the Sixers game where they were sending a lot of physicality and bodies at him. And then in the Rockets game where they weren’t as intense over screens he was getting into 3 point shots at volume.
He may always and will almost definitely be an inconsistent half court finisher at the rim. I think I have questions on how much he can consistently generate rim pressure because he can get bumped and it’s hard for him to turn the corner. But at the same time, his shooting gravity really pulls defenses out. And to the extent that he takes some time to get used to the NBA line, that will give him more space to get into in rhythm jump shots.
He makes really good reads, has a great feel to be a true “1” on offense, rarely make mistakes, pushes tempo and tries to get into transition, initiates action early and can flow in as the primary action or off of the primary action with ease having a great feel for space and relocation. He can also start completely off ball and make defenses chase him and get loose that way.
This is a good skillset and this may sound surprising but the player I would compare it to is Mike Conley. If Dillingham can be a legit “1” prospect and not a combo guard and is more Conley than he is Herro/Clarkson that’s really interesting for his long term upside.
I say Conley because Conley is not a flashy passer but makes the right reads, gets teams into their offenses, can flow off the ball and play off a primary scorer off the ball and is relatively perimeter oriented and good at using ball screens to get open jumpers.
Everything was there for Rob but the shotmaking and if you don’t think he can be an average or above average volume 3 point shooter then maybe you disagree. I think for Rob, especially early, developing that floater/lob game will be big for him (similar to Conley and which he did flash against in college) to give him a spot to get to inside the arc where he can do damage.
This is an interesting angle behind the poor shooting numbers and rim finishing.
LOL after that serious comment the snarky comment I will make is Dillingham in the summer league is who Coach Nick thought Reed Shepperd was with all of his comments about shot creation, size, and 3 point shooting form at the NBA level.
The kid shot 52% in college and was knocking down 30 foot shots in the first two games. Curry flicking the ball with his off thumb was bad form too. I think Reed will be fine.
Coach being so concerned about Reed's shooting, unaware that he had a 69.9 TS% at Kentucky and was elite on literally every type of jumpshot imaginable including 52.1% from three, is kind of hilarious. A good reminder not to judge anything based on a single game, especially shooting imo.
First three minutes and dude said he didn’t like Reed Sheppard shot and I immediately turned this trash off. How do you have a podcast and not actually watch basketball?
Werewolves