uptempo wrote:Centers and low block players were never Nelson's cup of tea. He had Patrick Ewing jacking up three point shots and got his tired ass fired from the Knicks because of his misuse of Ewing on the perimeter. Look for POB, Biedrens, and Foyle playing at the top of the arc and shooting threes.

You bring up a great point, uptempo: Nelly's always been a fan of big guys who can shoot.

Now, the obvious thing to predict is that Troy Murphy will start at center (because of his range... Nelly loves that in a big man)... but the other (more curious idea) involves the big rookie. Patrick O'Bryant was hitting jumpers 16, 17, 18 feet out in summer league play! Anybody else think there's a possibility of him becoming Nelson's pet this season, busting his ass to improve his outside jumper, while swatting big men on defense?

Sounds like a whole new kind of species for an NBA big man. Usually, the big guys with outside jumpers don't get their hands dirty on D. O'Bryant has the potential to be the first nasty 7'0" defender with an outside J. Nothing extremely dangerous (we're not talking about the next Dirk here... or a 7-foot Ray Allen); just something to keep the defense honest. Say, 37-39% from around 20 feet? 32% from the arc? Realistic. Attainable. Up Don Nelson's alley. And not a complete stretch for someone like O'Bryant; whose already shown outside savy.

If I'm Nelly, my mouth is already watering with the idea.

I believe MDJ will come out of his shell next year. Nelson loves to use "point fowards." Mike going to be able to play his game to the fullest. He disciplined and shaped up Antoine Walker that one year in Dallas. He's going to do it for MDJ too.

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

I expect Pietrus to fall out of favor. He isn't a smart player. He could be a Josh Howard without the IQ, but I think his lack of handles will put him out of favor in Nellie's system. Would not be surprised if he got less than 10 minutes a game. Besides, Ellis > Pietrus.

I don't know, Nellie loves Euro players. I think the bad things about Pietrus can be ironed out.

6'5-'6'6 athletic players always seem to do well playing for Don Nelson. Look at guys like Moncrief, Pierce, Bridgeman, Johnson, Richmond, Marčiulionis, Ellie, Teagle, Finley; they all thrived under Nelson.

Air France should do well with a wide open offense that emphasizes running and athleticism.

A lineup of Baron, Monta, Richardson, Air France and Dunleavy may become part of the rotation.

Unfortunately, if the team makes the playoffs, it will get ousted early because no Don Nelson coached team plays the kind of defense nor structured half-court offense to succeed in the playoffs.

uptempo wrote:6'5-'6'6 athletic players always seem to do well playing for Don Nelson. Look at guys like Moncrief, Pierce, Bridgeman, Johnson, Richmond, Marčiulionis, Ellie, Teagle, Finley; they all thrived under Nelson.

Air France should do well with a wide open offense that emphasizes running and athleticism.

A lineup of Baron, Monta, Richardson, Air France and Dunleavy may become part of the rotation.

Unfortunately, if the team makes the playoffs, it will get ousted early because no Don Nelson coached team plays the kind of defense nor structured half-court offense to succeed in the playoffs.

You're right, and that rotation sure looks like a Nellie small ball lineup. But don't knock on his style in the playoffs. He's been to the WCF with the Mavs with pre-prime Nowitzki and Nash and post-prime Finley.

I'm curious to know the key differences between the old Mavs and the current Suns because the Suns have been successful enough to reach the WCF two years in a row now.

Hoonyo wrote:I expect Pietrus to fall out of favor. He isn't a smart player. He could be a Josh Howard without the IQ,

Pietrus is similar to Josh Howard and if he could become like that, he would be a real asset! Definately is alot of pieces to work with for Nelson

I wonder if Air France ever had a great coach to teach him the fundamentals and good decision making, like J-Rich had with Izzo.
If anyone can school Pietrus its Nellie - and MP has got to know this is his last chance to make a splash in the NBA.
I hope Biedrins still gets playing time - i like his pootential and think he thrives when he is confident - but Nellie has a way of tearing a player's confidence to shreds. Hopefully either he or patrick will be the future legit center we need, otherwise we may make the first round of the playoffs (which is cool to me) but in a few years I'd like that to not be enough.

Peitrus and Biedrins should both have upgrades in playing time. If anyone knows how to manage talent it's Nellie. Pietrus and Biedrins aren't at the level we'd want them to be in their respective stages of their career because of one reason, one specific person...Mike Montgomery. He never gave those guys enough time to produce more during games which is why we never saw the true talent from our young bench.

xBayAreaWarriorx wrote:Peitrus and Biedrins should both have upgrades in playing time. If anyone knows how to manage talent it's Nellie. Pietrus and Biedrins aren't at the level we'd want them to be in their respective stages of their career because of one reason, one specific person...Mike Montgomery. He never gave those guys enough time to produce more during games which is why we never saw the true talent from our young bench.

Dude, Pietrus started 18 games last season and averaged 22.7 minutes per game. Have you seen him on the France team in the FIBA tournament? He's been horrible.

Biedrins didn't get time because he's a foul a minute.

Hoonyo wrote:

xBayAreaWarriorx wrote:Peitrus and Biedrins should both have upgrades in playing time. If anyone knows how to manage talent it's Nellie. Pietrus and Biedrins aren't at the level we'd want them to be in their respective stages of their career because of one reason, one specific person...Mike Montgomery. He never gave those guys enough time to produce more during games which is why we never saw the true talent from our young bench.

Dude, Pietrus started 18 games last season and averaged 22.7 minutes per game. Have you seen him on the France team in the FIBA tournament? He's been horrible.

Biedrins didn't get time because he's a foul a minute.

Yea MP couldn't even step up against weaker opposition in FIBA.. dood has to go..

coltraning wrote: My only concern is that I wonder how Ike will do under his system, since Ike is not of the mold of players nelson usually uses.

That's also my only concern at this point... Ike is not like the players Nellie has coached till now... I wonder what will happen, but at least he already has the offensive game. I'd be a lot more worried if he were just a project with upside (a la Kwame Brown when he was drafted. He's not a project anymore, he's been upgraded to bust).

coltraning wrote:
While I am dubious that Murphy belongs in the same sentence as Dirk, and am certain that Dunleavy doesn't belong in the same sentence as Mullin, there is no doubt the team will raise it's level of play.

Oh, but they do... I'll give you some examples:

"Mullin fired Dunleavy's sorry ass".

"Dirk scores again against the non-existant defense of Murphy".

See?. A perfect fit.

I don't think you upgrade to bust. You downgrade. Ike's got three point range. I hope Nellie doesn't turn him into Raef LaFrentz. He may just use Ike predominantly with pick-and-rolls or pick-and-pops with his range ala Nash/Nowitzki. Has Nellie's offense ever taken advantage of low-post scoring?

Yea don't sleep on Ike's perimeter $hot, also his ability to run the floor and get to the ft line and make them

If Diogu really performs well in the preseason, Nelson might see the advantage of having Diogu post up and feeding off him sometimes. The run and gun is great but you have to have half court offense as well and Diogu gives a way of having that

Taft could be Nelson's version of Stoudemire