[The8thDeadlySinParticipant]

Everyone likes to talk about what players are good at, but what about what they are bad at?? Alot of these flaws could be easily corrected but some are impossible to fix. What are these players short comings??

What do some of the sophomores need to improve on to really become special players?

Rose
Beasley
Mayo
Love
Westbrook
Gallanari
Gordon
Alexander
Augustine
Lopez
Bayless
Thompson
Rush
Randolph
R. Lopez
Speights
Hibbert

[lalailaParticipant]

Rose- defence,3pt shooting
Beasley-DEFENCE, attitude
Mayo-nothing special, maybe pass little more
Westbrook-just continue to learn to be true PG(Brooks said he looks very good at training camp)
Love-nothing special
Gallanari- add weight
Gordon-all-around game
Alexander- lots of things, i think
Augustine- pass more
B.Lopez-also nothing special
Bayless-learn to be more of a point guard
Thompson-?
Rush-IDK
Randolph-jump shot,weight(he did it well this offseason)
R.Lopez- Offence
Speights-this guy is also good enough, just get more minutes
Hibbert-IDK

[sheltwon3Participant]

HIbbert need to increase his Latteral quickness and offensive in the post. Thompson needs to get tougher and more physical in the low post. Rush needs to get minutes and bring it every game. Eric Gordon to me just needs more seasoning and I don’t know why he is getting knocked for other stuff because he is a combo guard who is probably only going to play 2 guard his whole career and he is not even that short for a 2 like Ben Gordon, He is a stocky 6’4″ and maybe still growing. Wade is a smallish 6’4″ and noone really trips about him.

[sheltwon3Participant]

My bad Gordon is 6’3 and still potentially growing but his a 6’9″ wing span to make up for his height and also he is quick and strong.

[JNixonParticipant]

Rose-Defense, PG skills need more polish

Beasley- Defense, and touching up perimeter skills if he wants to be a full-time SF. Not very explosive, which limits him.

Mayo-Nothing really skill-wise…he’s not very explosive though.

Love- Not an athlete, and he’s undersized. Needs to improve on D as well

Westbrook- Jump shot and PG skills need to improve more. Also basketball IQ.
.
Gallanari- He has a good skill-set, he just isn’t very quick. That’ll limit him from being a star.

Gordon- He could stand to improve everything outside of scoring and shooting. He’s a much better ballhandler and defender than I thought though.

Alexander- Ball-handling, Basketball IQ, and defense.

Augustine- He’s short and he isn’t a good athlete. Better defender than I thought he’d be.

Lopez- He’s not fluid, and it limits him. Basketball IQ as well.

Bayless- He’s not a PG, his size is what limits him. He is very skilled offensively and a good defender.

Thompson- Defense and strength. And Basketball IQ.

Rush- As with all the Rush family: BALL-HANDLING and aggressiveness offensively.

Randolph- Jump shot and strength.

R. Lopez- His whole post game and strength.

Speights- Defense outside of blocking shots and basketball IQ.

Hibbert- He’s robotic and not a good rebounder for his size.

[JoeWolf1]

Rush as a rookie has established himself as a very good defender, he has long arms knows how to play D and is a very good shot blocker for 6’6”. He however, is a more talented offensive player than you would think after watching him as a rookie. I think he needs to improve his offensive confidence so he can be a more productive offensive player. He has a great mid-range game and NBA 3 point range, but he struggles to get in a groove. At Kansas you could tell he was never very comfortable being a goto guy although he was always one of the top scorers because of his talent. In the NBA he doesn’t have to be the top scorer, he can be a defensive stopper, but in order for him to reach his potential, he needs to work on his shot selection, getting a good rhythm a hitting his shots, because if he can do that, not only can he be a good defender, but IMO a 13-16 ppg guy too.

[RickyRubio9Participant]

Rose – Shooting
Beasley – Rebounding, Consistency
Mayo – Point Guard Abilities/Playmaking
Love – Defense? Pretty solid…
Westbrook – Handling the Ball, Shooting, Playmaking
Gallanari – No clue YET
Gordon – Defense, he has everything you’d want except probably being undersized so I guess PG skills
Alexander – Haven’t really seen him play much
Augustin – I guess Defense since he’s small. He has great scoring ability though
Lopez – Post Moves, getting more, so he can score more.
Bayless – GETTING PLAYING TIME lol
Thompson – No idea
Rush – Man, another good player, I don’t know
Randolph – Defense
R. Lopez – EVERYTHING haha
Speights –
Hibbert – Toughness, better rebounder, better defense, assertiveness

I don’t know about every player so I wasn’t able to really answer them all

[marcusfizer21Participant]

Rose- defense (I see his potential in this since he is pretty much quick), shooting

Beasley- consistency and character

Mayo- needs to learn a team concept more and not just OJ, OJ and OJ…

Love- antithesis of an athletic big man… not a skilled player… relies too much on power and build.

Westbrook- turnover prone… needs to develop PG skills a little bit more…

Gallanari- experience in the Big League…

Gordon- aggressiveness and defense

Alexander- pretty much everything… he has the athleticism and skill but lacks confidence…

Augustine- small size means a liability on the defensive end…

B. Lopez- defensive awareness… should use his heght for intimidation

Bayless- Playing Time…LOL… agree with that… needs to earn his way in the rotation by working harder

Thompson- simply…strength

Rush- consistent jumper for his good stroke

Randolph- weight and conditioning, must add muscles…

R. Lopez- OFFENSIVE SKILLS!

Speights- Post game is solid but it can be better

Hibbert- quickness and post offense…

[llperez]

fizer, I have to stop and question KLove is not a skilled player and relies strictly on power an build? Wow, you couldn’t be further off on that one. The reality is that his skill is what allows him to play despite lack of athleticism. His shooting, Passing, decision making, Positioning and ancticipation is what make him an nba player. How can you say Love has no skills?

[JNixonParticipant]

I completely agree. He was easily the most “skilled” player in the 08 class…

[llperez]

yeah, I have heard plenty of criticisms of Love, but not having skills is a first.

[marcusfizer21Participant]

I think I overstated Kevin Love not having skills… My bad…My bad… What the hell was I thinking for the moment… Probably in the rush of things… Love does have skills but is athletically challenged that’s why he doesn’t dominate the NBA like he did when he was with UCLA… Wew… My bad ll and iggy…

[llperez]

no prob man. I just saw that and immediately responded without reading the rest. But I agree pretty much with the rest of it. But one of the reasons Love and Jefferson work well on offense is because Love can shoot the perimiter shot and make the smart pass from the outside. He reads the court well and actually has some really good ball handling and post moves for a man his size. He just doesn’t have the athleticism that will allow him to be an all-star.

[marcusfizer21Participant]

It’s rare for a big man to have such good court vision… Love has that… I almost forgot about that… Dang! But you know what, there’s this one incident that had me feeling like he’s overrating himself… The one where the T’Wolves made a website to urge fan voters to vote for him as the ROY whereas he shouldn’t have been sniffing for that coveted ROY since it’s clearly a battle between Rose and Mayo…. He felt he got “snubbed”… That was ridiculous IMO… but anything about Kevin Love’s game… You gotta show respect…

[marcusfizer21Participant]

It’s rare for a big man to have such good court vision… Love has that… I almost forgot about that… Dang! But you know what, there’s this one incident that had me feeling like he’s overrating himself… The one where the T’Wolves made a website to urge fan voters to vote for him as the ROY whereas he shouldn’t have been sniffing for that coveted ROY since it’s clearly a battle between Rose and Mayo…. He felt he got “snubbed”… That was ridiculous IMO… but anything about Kevin Love’s game… You gotta show respect…

[marcusfizer21Participant]

It’s rare for a big man to have such good court vision… Love has that… I almost forgot about that… Dang! But you know what, there’s this one incident that had me feeling like he’s overrating himself… The one where the T’Wolves made a website to urge fan voters to vote for him as the ROY whereas he shouldn’t have been sniffing for that coveted ROY since it’s clearly a battle between Rose and Mayo…. He felt he got “snubbed”… That was ridiculous IMO… but anything about Kevin Love’s game… You gotta show respect…

[llperez]

love had no business as roy, but he should have been in the rookie game ahead of a few guys. He was top 10 in the league in rebounds per 48 minutes. I think he will make that trade of him and MMiller for mayo look a little more respectable next year.

[jeff416Participant]

Rose- Jumper
Beasley- Defense and consistancy
Mayo- Nothing major mainly strength and drive to the basket more
Love- weight loss
Westbrook- jumpshot and pg skills
Gallanari- strength
Gordon- nothing huge for him either but mainly defense
Alexander- everything
Augustine- defense
Lopez- defense
Bayless- playing time
Thompson- strength
Rush- little of everything
Randolph- strength
R. Lopez- offense
Speights- not sure
Hibbert- not being so stiff

[Author]

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