Here we are, another Sunday, but this time, it's also Halloween. No, I am not going to do anything Halloween themed this time around, if we make it a whole year, maybe next year. Anyway, here we go . . .
- We have no wins. It sucks, but it's far from the end of the world - especially when you recognize that it's very unlikely that how we start a season actually affects how the season actually goes for us.
- A while back I was asked by Ben Rohrbach of Green Street, a Boston Celtics blog, to write something about what *I* think about his team, and what I think about mine. It was fun, short, and apparently some people didn't agree with what I have to say. (Seems to be a common trend with my writing) You can read it (if you want) here - it's the last one on that page.
- Two games into the season none of the stats are even worth looking at, except for the sake of looking at them. Example 1 why these stats aren't worth discussing: Kyrylo Fesenko is averaging more points per game than C.J. Miles even though Jilla is shooting 60% more than Fes because Fes is shooting 60.0 fg%, and Ceejay only 12.5 fg%.
- That said . . . there are some promising points from that train wreck of a page: Paul Millsap is getting it done in games (which was the opposite of what we saw in the pre-season) while Al Jefferson struggles (and yes, it's struggling when your awesome low post scorer is only averaging 41.7 fg%). Millsap is averaging 17.0 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.0 bpg, and 1.0 spg. Alas, it's *only* two games in...
- The really good news is that much disrespected by the referees in previous seasons, Millsap is only getting called for 2.5 fouls a game -- tied with five other players for 4th worst on the team. His career regular season average is 3.3 fouls against, per game.
- I think that it's fair to suggest that Deron Williams is frustrated. He wants to win, and he did not internalize his feelings on National TV which allows for people like us to make a mountain out of a mole hill. I don't think what he did was correct, but I can also suggest that one play or one 'yelling' isn't indicative of the overall ability or leadership characteristics an individual actually has. Sundiata Gaines is the ultimate proof of this. He had one play where he won the game on a shot. It was great, but has he done anything else his entire NBA career? Deron Williams, on the other hand, was seen patching things up with Gordon Hayward later in that game during a subsequent time out. I think we've all projected (which is wrong) at some time in our lives. Deron did so at work. Not cool. But by the same token, not something to run him out of town for. At least he *wants* to win and feels crappy when it's not happening. It could be worse, we could have T-Mac on our team . . .
- Okay, I lied. Here's some Halloween trivia . . . Karl Malone played in four regular season games on October 31st. Here's his cumulative line for those four games: 21.5 ppg (50.8 fg%, 69.2 ft%), 8.3 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.8 spg, and 0.8 bpg. See, October was not so great for The Mailman either!