Talkin’ ’Bout Practice
I’ve been able to make it to the morning sessions of Grizzlies training camp the past two days, though I haven’t had time to stick around to the end or talk to anyone.
Yesterday we saw some four-on-four halfcourt drills and brief bit of full-court scrimmaging. Today (with Michael Heisley in the house), we saw the roster divided into three teams for a fairly lengthy series of full-court scrimmages. For the record, the “white” team today consisted of Mike Conley, O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay, Hakim Warrick, and Marc Gasol. (Before you get too excited, the previous day’s scrimmages had Darko Milicic and Javaris Crittenton with this group instead of Gasol and Mayo). The “blue” team was Kyle Lowry, Marko Jaric, Greg Buckner, Antoine Walker, and Darko Milicic. The remaining six players rotated on the “green” team.
I wouldn’t put too much stock in a couple of brief snatches of practice on the first two days of training camp, but a few team-wide tendencies seemed notable. Defensively, point guards have been applying pressure full court. And the team certainly seems to be preaching more aggressive pick-and-roll defense — hedging harder and sometimes trapping the ball-handler.
Offensively, the team has been running and looking for transition opportunities (most memorably Crittenton connecting with Darrell Arthur on a halfcourt alley-oop play). In the halfcourt, things look are understandably perimeter-oriented, rooted in dribble penetration and pick-and-roll. Bigs have scored on catch-and-shoot, catch-and-finish, and off the boards. I don’t think I saw a traditional post play in the two bits of practice I saw. I’m sure that will come, but given the personnel, it’ll be a secondary part of the offense.
A few observations on individual players:
Hamed Hadaddi appears to be more agile and athletic than Jake Tsakalidis, but considerably less so than Darko or Gasol. He also might have some conditioning issues, as he was by far the last one to finish a running drill. I’m not certain about this, but Hadaddi seems to have a pretty average wingspan for a guy his size, which might mitigate his 7’2” height. Again, I don’t know for certain, but I suspect Darko and Gasol might have a greater standing reach. He was also pretty lumbering with his approach to the hoop. I did see Hadaddi sink a straightaway jumper from about 18 feet.
In the two days I saw, Conley’s jumper looked spotty, but his penetration and control was very encouraging. Yesterday, I saw him blow by Mayo to get in the lane and find Gasol for a lay-up. Today he drove into the paint and floated an alley-oop pass to Warrick for a dunk. A few moments later, he jetted into the lane and sank a Tony Parker-esque floater. He seems to be able to get wherever he wants on the court.
Gay was active on both ends of the court, turning steals into breakaway dunks, passing up open threes to drive to the rim and draw fouls, hitting jumpers over smaller defenders (Buckner). He looks really good so far.
Mayo’s jumper was in good form. I saw him make shots coming off screens and spotting-up for three, but his athleticism still doesn’t look special, which given his so-so size for the position he’ll be playing concerns me a little.
I’m not sure Jaric is really someone you want bringing the ball up the floor (in fact, I know some Timberwolves fans who are absolutely sure about that), but he showed some of his playmaking ability, getting into the paint and making smart passes. I liked his demeanor today. Given his versatility, experience, and ability, I think the team almost has to find a way to get him into the rotation.
Crittenton showed good defensive intensity.
Lowry was a bowling ball, knocking multiple players to the floor, including Conley on a fierce foray to the hoop.
With so much action on the perimeter, the bigs haven’t stood out as much. After finger-rolling (and missing) a play at the rim yesterday, it was nice to see Darko flush one today. Gasol seemed adept at playing pick-and-roll on both ends of the court, showing harder than his brother ever did on the defensive end and playing a two-man game with Gay on the offensive end in which Gasol set up Gay for an open jumper.
