I was actually pleasantly surprised by how active Randolph was in the opener vs. Philly. He moves quite a bit. He certainly wasn’t dogging it in the game I saw. He was playing hard. I think there may be something to his having poor defensive instincts. I didn’t see a lack of defensive effort. I saw a guy with a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time–poor anticipation that leaves him reaching a lot.

I agree. The offense is really starting to shape up. I was reading on MSG’s Game On! that Thomas thinks the team’s chemisrty is good right now.
(http://blogs.msg.com/gameon/ricky_vaughn/index.html)
I think they need to get better at reading each other defensively before the chemistry is truly “good.”

One key thing to note on defense:
Crawford is horrible. A classic matador.
A player goes by and he gives up. It’s like playing with a bad defender in a pick up game: always looking for the handoff.
He doesn’t fight picks. He doesn’t stay with a player if they make a move to pass him.
It’s pathetic for a guy that is supposed to be athletic.
I have to say: I don’t like him.
Sadly, I think Marbury is often guilty of the same thing: he gives up and tries to hand off.

Of course he has had to post a ts% of 80% to do it, which isn’t going to happen over the long run. But it’s weird. Watching NBA ballers, and looking at their numbers, I often sense there is something almost like a basketball quanta for players , some sort of constant, a production quotient they are bound to more or less achieve no matter what there role is on the court is or who they are playing with.

Let’s hope it works out that way with Lee’s transition to being more of a scoring player, which is what seems to be in the works…

I hate to say this, but it’s entirely possible that some of Lee’s rebounding prowess was due to playing next to poor rebounders in Curry & Frye. During the preseason games I saw him compete with Randolph on one rebound, and Chandler on another. I wouldn’t be surprised if his rebounding dropped a notch this year, especially if guys like Zach, Balkman, Chandler, Collins, and Nate see more playing time. There’ll just be less rebounds to go around.

One other thing I noticed is Lee releasing down the court on one play (earning a fast break basket). Maybe with all the rebounders on the court, he’s able to (either on his own or by design) run more.

So far, through two completely meaningless preseason games, it looks like his offense production might be distracting him from rebounding. But he actually has been almost as effective as ever. He seems to be bizarrely efficient at whatever he is focusing on, whether it’s rebounding or scoring.

You’d think he was Dennis Rodman (who was comical on offense) by how some people described him. But he put the ball on the floor a few times, and one time he beat his defender off the dribble. Lee’s very good finishing around the hoop, either by scoring or drawing a foul (which should have been obvious from the box scores). He moved well without the ball, at least twice receiving good passes from Nate & Jamal as they broke down the defense. In essence, Lee was an active participant in the half court set.