I know this is a Lakers board, but after 3 preseason games I figured I'd give my thoughts on my team, player by player.
Iguodala: Wow. First, the athlete is simply amazing. All-around world class athlete. Incredible jumping ability, fast, and most importantly quick (both hands and feet). An odd combination of both long (very long arms), and strong. All these attributes, plus his mentality, have lead him to be in incredible defender. Has the toughness to harass his man on the perimeter, but also the footspeed to be able to stay in front of his man even when crowding. Gets his hands on EVERYTHING, and is a terror in transition. He's going to be a shutdown player in this league eventually. In fact, he's close now. I haven't seen this kind of defensive ability come into a league on a perimeter player since a psycho came out of st. john's. And while he might not have Artest's offensive game coming out of college, I think he has far more ball-skills (ball handling and passing). Seems to me like he's going to be ron artest's defense with Doug Christie's offense.
Willie Green: The other young guard. Has played solid defensively, but inconsistent offensively. 0-5 first half followed by a dominating 2nd half has been the norm. Still, think he'll develop into a solid starter, although inconsistent this year.
GRob: Same GRob you expect.
KT: Hasn't really played enough to get a good look.
Dalembert: Shows flashes of brilliance, and looks much farther along as a basketball payer (he's actually showing some offensive skill). Still makes mental mistakes, but he's coming along.
McKie: Eh, hard to tell. Definitely shoiwng his age and not the mckie of 4 years ago.
Kedrick Brown: Wish he would put it all together. Solid defender, when he has his head in the game. Solid 3 pt shooer, incredible athleticism. But doesn't use athleticism in the half court and becomes a stationary 3 pt shooter.
Williamson: As other vets, O'brien hasn't used them very much as of yet, so hard to gauge. Certainly will give us more than DC would have.
Skinner: Solid. Nice backup. Slightly overpaid, but that's the market these days.
Jackson: Looks veyr good. Very good post scoring option and incredible communicator on defense. Just hope he stays healthy. He's already missed one preseason game.
And, of course, AI. Has looked incredible so far. Taking high percentage shots and breaking down the defense at will. Playing the point could either be incredible for him, or hurt him. It could theoretically raise his shooting efficiency. He'll have another scoring guard next to him, and he'll have the ball in his hands coming down the court, which could lead to more advantageous scoring positions (RE: not getting the ball with 3 seconds left on the shotclock and being forced to chuck up a 22 footer). If he stays in attack mode, and puts pressure on the defense, it could be great. But...having the ball in his hands could also hurt him badly, if he then uses it to take more bad shots. More good shots will present themselves to him playing the pg position, but more bad shots will as well. How this transition goes depends on him.
All in all, I'm excited. Dalembert, Iguodala and Green give me reason to be excited. It'll be interesting to see who out of Green, Iguodala or McKie win the starting 2 spot. McKie's said he prefers coming off the bench, and JOB has said that would probably be the best way to use him. Green had the early lead coming into preseason, but Iguodala might surpass him before the all-star break.a
