Wow, this team is going to be special...
My feedback is much like what others have stated:
1. KG and Pierce look like they are in fantastic shape - both look fit as a fiddle.
Rondo looks like he's continuing to improve every season. Today the standounds were his aggressiveness (attacking the rim) and his shooting.
He looks more comfortable and more fluent shooting the ball then he ever has, and 6 for 6 from the foul line is very promising. Flashbacks from his 40 point outburst against Miami not in terms of the number of shots, but just in terms of how comfortable he looked taking them.
Sullinger
Soes not look like a rookie at all. he way he moves, the way he gets into positions on the court, the way he communicates verbally - he looks like a guy who's been in the league for years.
His ability to get into position for rebounds is unlike anyone we've had in (IMHO) the entire big 3 era, and he makes it look easy because he does it with great positioning rather then aggressiveness / athleticism. It always looks like he's a magnet, and the rebounds just come straight to him.
His touch inside is similarly impressive. As predicted by others he has seemed to get put off his aim a little when he's had a bigger guy on him, but when he is around the basket with even the slightest big of daylight he is money - not a single shot bouncing off the rim or rolling out.
Also great hands - a few times Rondo threw Sully some tough passes that had me cringing (expecting him not to catch them) but he just grabbed them and put them in.
Love his attitude too. He looks very intelligent and patient on the court, not too eager to prove himself...he just lets the game come to him.
Downside is that admittedly, Sully does look pretty slow for an undersized big man. I don't think he's really any quicker or more agile point-to-point than Big Baby was, and he definately isn't as good at getting to his spots. In every other aspect of the game though he kills Big Baby - more talented offensively, a better rounder and a more mature mentality.
Melo
Seeing Melo play put a huge smile on my face. Yes, his offensive game needs refining (he seemed to struggle to catch passes at times and his shots around the rim were way off) but on defense he was fantastic.
Not only did he have the two emphatic blocks (one of which was a goaltend) but as another mentioned he is LONG. When he simply put his arms straight up on one of those possessions, I can't think of a single NBA player who could have shot over that reach. He's a big guy, and while he's listed at 7'0", out there he looked more like 7'2".
Just as important, his athleticism is off the charts for a 7 footer. His leap, agility and lateral movement are unlike anything I've ever seen from a 260 pound 7 footer - on defense at times he looked almost as quick as Jeff Green.
More importantly Melo plays with a ton of energy. He's never standing still, always active...always moving his feet.
I'm going to make my bold prediction right now - with his energy level and physical gifts, if this kid gains confidence and learns some fundamentals he will be an ELITE center in this league.
Jason Terry
Terry was lights out from three, but that's something I pretty much expected.
The thing that surprised me about Terry is that he is a much better point guard than I expected. I was really expecting more of an Eddie House / Keyon Dooling type player, but Terry looks really comfortable out there handling the ball and making plays. He really does look just as confident as a PG as he does as a SG, and I wasn't expecting that. I'd have no hessitation letting Terry man the point if Rondo is out of the game.
Jeff Green
In the first half I was a little dissapointed with Jeff. I thought he had one of two nice scores, but on defense I thought he seemed to always be a step behind his assignment, and offensively I think he was a bit tentative.
Second half all that changed. He came out and actually reminded me a lot of Lebron in the way he made plays and attacked the basket...only unlike Lebron he looked very smooth and never looked like he was forcing things. No I'm not saying he's as good as Lebron, but I just say flashes in LBJ's game in green.
The first thing I really like about Green's game was his playmaking. He seemed incredibly comfortable handling the ball, being patient, and making the right pass at the right time.
Second thing I liked was his ability to take it to (and finish around) the rim. Every one of his drives to the basket was tightly contested, and he scored on every one of them seemingly effortlessly. They were some TOUGH shots on odd angles, but every one of the dropped softly in. If Jeff plays like this all the time he may well overtake Terry as our best player off the bench.
Darko
Darko left me with mixed feelings. First thing I noticed is that he is bigger then I remember - in both directions! He's really tall, but he's also built like an ox. There is no one in this league who will muscle him around.
Next thing I noticed is that he's quite aggressive going afer blocks.
First downside is that he doesn't IMO look very mobile. In fact Jermaine Oneal almost seems quick (laterall) compared to this guy.
Second downside is that his activity level to me seemed like a mixed bag. He did seem to stand around a lot at times and not really move much, and (though he did have 6 rebounds) he didn't seem to go aggressively after rebounds. A few times opposing teams seemed to get easy rebounds that Darko seemed to just ignore.
As another person stated earlier, I think Darko really MUST be on the floor with an athletic big. With his lack of agility he seems to look a bit lost when he's anywhere more than 5 feet from the basket - hopefully this is more a mental thing, and will impove as he gets more familliar with the Celtics defensive schemes.
When he's close to the basket, I actually like him. He's big and strong, he takes up space, he throws his weight around well, he seems to have a nice touch around the basket, he's a good passer, and he showed a few signs nice hustle play (getting down on the floor).
Overall still undecided about Darko, but I think with more time around the team and if used the right way, he can be very effective for us in a very "Perkins" kinda way.
Courtney Lee
Mixed bag about Lee on both ends of the floor. His defense seemed solid at times, while other times his assignment seemed to get past him like he was standing still.
On offense he struggled with his shot, but that doesn't really concern me - we all know he can shoot, so he probably just had a bad shooting night.
I really liked his agility and athleticism. His showed an ablity to cover a lot of ground quickly on transition (particularly on D) and he was surpisingly explosive with his first step driving to the basket...but on both occasions he didn't seem to do much once he actually got there.
He has the physical gifts, so I think he might just need more time to become accustomed to the Boston sets on both offense and defense. At this stage my biggest criticism is that he seems maybe too relaxed, and seems to lack that killer instinct / aggressiveness that Bradley has on both ends of the floor. This might prove beneficial as we can thrown different looks out there, but right now Bradley is definately my starter (with Lee looking perfect for a 'shooter off the bench' role).
Bass
Bass really did nothing other then prove what I've been saying all along - he's really a bench/role player who was forced into a starting role by circumstance.
He's still got a nice jump shot, and he still can be explosive on the rare occasions when he does put the ball on the floor and drive hard to the basket.
Aside fom that his size still makes him a liability on defense, he still doesn't like passing (took a few shots with multiple defenders on him that he just happened to make) and he still doesn't rebound with much aggressiveness.
Bass is definately better defensively than Sullinger (who struggles to move laterally) but in every other aspect of the game Sullinger looks smoother, more ploshed and just plain better.
Other rookies
Outside of Sully and Melo, none of the other rookies really impressed me.
Smith to me is a shot jacker - when he has the ball he seems to think "shoot" and not much else. Seems hessitant to give the ball up to other players unless he has no other choice - not a fan of thoset type of players in the Boston system.
Joseph really didn't do anything while he was out there, so I'll save judgement until I see more of him.
Christmas didn't show much other than on one play where he showed an explosive first step, but then ended up turning the ball over - still he seems quite athletic for his size, and that's a nice gift to have.
If I had to choose one of those three for a roster spot right now it'd probably be Christmas, but to be honest I'd probably send them all to the D-leager, as neither really looks NBA ready to me so far. I'll save final judgement until I see more of Christmas and Joseph, but Smith I really don't like.
