Been a bit ghost what with the holidays and didn't get to watch last night as closely as normal but a few quick thoughts:
- Luke Kornet's three ball is looking like a real weapon, but that's pretty much all he gives you. 63% from 3 on 24 attempts in the last 3 games but he's also made 4/13 inside the three point line. He also has grabbed 15 boards in 90 minutes over the last 3 games; 5 per game from your starting Center is pretty ugly fam. Defensively the good thing is that he shows you can get more out of slow feet than what Enes Kanter was giving; but it's still not enough to be an effective defender on most nights. That said, what he's done for the spacing has been blatant. I'll take the spacing and effort on defense from Luke over the interior scoring and rebounding of Enes personally.
- Frank had his best game in a long time last night. I'm not sure what kept Frank and Dot out of the game so much in the second half, but they had a really good first half and then slim opportunities in the second.
- Trier's been struggling since before he got hurt. Last night showed a good sign in that he got inside and finished a couple of times really nicely...but that was against Jokic as the big and Jokic is awful on defense. 3/9 last night from Zo. He's hit 45% from the field once in the last 9 games he's played in (five prior to injury and 4 after). When he's in the second unit with Frank and Dot, he's also the target from offenses trying to spot a weak link. Basically, he's gotta give you scoring right now because his defense and playmaking aren't enough yet and that scoring hasn't been happening.
- Knox first quarters are epic but we gotta figure out how to sustain that energy throughout a game. Step one is probably trimming his minutes; 39 minutes last night and he was averaging around 38 mpg over the prior 10. I LOVE seeing the young kids get big roles and minutes, but Knox shows some signs of fatigue as games wear on. You could catch him settling further and further from the basket as time wore on and his rhythm faded last night. It's hard to argue with playing Knox the entire first quarter because of how he's blitzing teams; but throughout the night I'd like to see quicker hooks and longer breaks just to see if that helps him keep the attacking mentality longer.
- Mud's still very much an enigma to me. Look at his game log and if he's not shooting above 50% then he's usually 40% of below from the field instead. I also feel like there are games where he's really moving the rock versus games like last night where he was prone to some tunnel vision; but the assist numbers don't reflect it so much as his TO numbers. I thought he was a better passer in Utah and Milwaukee than last night for example; even though he had 9 assists last night to 5 and 6 in those other two games. That's partially eye test and then partially because he had no turnovers in the two games I liked as opposed to picking up 4 in Denver.
- Vonleh can go 2/8 from the field and still look like a gem because he does so much besides scoring.
- Kanter 20 minutes 17 and 12 actually did a bit of hedging on defense. That's optimal.