GUHoya07
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Post by GUHoya07 on Oct 28, 2004 17:27:39 GMT -5
The official thread for all updates on Sweets' play this season!
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GUHoya07
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Post by GUHoya07 on Oct 28, 2004 17:34:24 GMT -5
***PRESEASON STATS*** Through 7 preseason games Big Mike has been playing an average of 20.9 minutes per game, scoring 9 points, grabbing 5.9 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 assist per contest. He is currently shooting .404 from the field and .758 from the free throw line. 1 preseason game left till the start of the regular season. www.nba.com/knicks/stats/
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GUHoya07
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Post by GUHoya07 on Oct 28, 2004 22:56:08 GMT -5
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Post by aussiehoya on Oct 30, 2004 8:55:54 GMT -5
my friend who is visiting from australia and i were at the garden to watch sweets against the jazz. sweets truthfully did not look good at all, and was a complete defensive liability. he looked 3 or 4 steps too slow on pick and rolls and generally struggled to play any kind of defense on his man. i am a big sweets fan, but his lack of a defensive presence is really going to limit his minutes.
of worthy note: during a quiet couple of free throws from Carlos Boozer, I yelled out at the top of my lungs "Carlos - You Suck!". It was right at the start of the game and the crowd was quiet - i calculate about a 60-70% of carlos hearing it. the crowd around us was pretty happy with it.
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GUHoya07
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Post by GUHoya07 on Oct 30, 2004 23:22:15 GMT -5
Your observations are a bit concerning. Hopefully Sweets can pick it up defensively and really get things together. He scored 18 pts and grabbed 6 rebounds at Utah earlier in the preseason so he has definitely shown his scoring ability. If he can just sure things up defensively he'll be able to get those big time minutes.
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Post by aussiehoya on Oct 31, 2004 10:14:16 GMT -5
offensively, i'm confident that sweets can play one-on-one against practically anyone in the league. he gets fouled EVERY time he gets a couple seconds to post up and do a move on his guy.
but like i said, he's just not athletic enough to keep up defensively against most guys at this level
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Oct 31, 2004 14:53:36 GMT -5
I don't agree with that. And really what does athleticism have to do with it? Charles Oakley wasn't athletic and he could guard people. Charles Barkley had all the athleticism in the world and he was a horrible defender. Its about desire and effort more than anything. Sweetney had the footspeed to slow down Hakim Warrick who is plently long, quick and athletic as hell. Iverson, despite all of his athletic abilities, was never a great one-on-one defender during his NBA career. Meanwhile the more slow footed and far less athletically gifted (in terms of explosive first step and leaping ability and overall quickness) Jason Kidd and John Stocton have been much better at defense.
But even if Sweets was a horrible defender with no chance at getting better it still isn't much reason to keep him off the court when he is capable of doing things on the other end of the floor. Most NBA players are not very good at BOTH ends of the floor. Even Bird and Magic were stellar on offense while being downright nonexistent at times on D. Not that Sweets is in their league or anything but the point is its not as if you would pull Bird and Magic (or Barkley) off the floor just because they couldn't stop their man.
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hoopsmccan
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Post by hoopsmccan on Oct 31, 2004 15:42:53 GMT -5
After watching Sweetney last year (and limited preseason games), I agree with Aussie's assessment. He looks a bit slow footed and will have trouble with guys that play away from the basket. I think that this will hurt his playing time because a) he is a bit of a defensive liability and b) poor/slow defense often leads to fouls. Fortunately, Sweetney has proven to be a tenacious rebounder and the Knicks aren't a great team. As for his offensive capabilities in the NBA, he still has a lot to prove. If he proves to be an offensive force, or at least a good offensive presence, he will get really good minutes.
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GUHoya07
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Post by GUHoya07 on Nov 3, 2004 23:35:08 GMT -5
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Cambridge
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Post by Cambridge on Nov 4, 2004 9:27:42 GMT -5
If he played a full game, that works out to about 25 and 15. Damn boy. Get your game on!
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Post by HoyaLawya on Nov 4, 2004 11:34:33 GMT -5
The contrast really stands out when comparing Sweets' productivity per minute against the 18 minutes played by "Mad Dog" on the opposing side.
;D
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Post by ColumbiaHeightsHoya on Nov 4, 2004 11:59:17 GMT -5
I thought he was going to start over Thomas. Did I miss something or are the Knicks going to get him more minutes as the season progresses?
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alleninxis
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Post by alleninxis on Nov 4, 2004 15:00:32 GMT -5
^ wilkins has been toying with the idea of thomas at C and sweets at PF which he used late in the game. Thats the best lineup as Nazr is just too streaky. Thomas isnt goin to the bench, he was just named captain and wilkins really likes him
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Nov 4, 2004 15:23:15 GMT -5
I thought he was going to start over Thomas. Did I miss something or are the Knicks going to get him more minutes as the season progresses? Sweetney didn't dominate on offense the way they expected (certainly not the way he had in practice or during the summer). He started out strong, especially in the first preseason outing against Utah in which he had the Jazz announcers raving about him. But then his shots stopped falling and his fg percentage got kinda low. Kurt Thomas, though, had some preseason games in which he did not miss (although he took jumpers more than anything else). To be fair Sweets only got the chance to start one preseason game even though Wilkins promised he and Thomas would get an equal number of starts (7 to 1 ain't equal in my math). I guess Wilkens is the type of coach who is afraid to put the younger guy in the lineup if he has a choice. Sixers are raving about how Jim O'Brien gave the starting positions and minutes to the players who earned it, regardless of their experience. Anyway once Sweets starst finishing the way he is capable of he'll be okay. Fans were raving about his post moves but pointed out he has had the misfortune of shots simply rimming out when it looked as if they were going down.
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Cambridge
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Post by Cambridge on Nov 4, 2004 16:27:27 GMT -5
Keep working Sweets and you will be a force in the league. With your work ethic and soft touch, you will be something. Really something.
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MEGAFAN
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Post by MEGAFAN on Nov 6, 2004 17:40:39 GMT -5
Given that I used to be the guy who posted constantly about Sweetney's progess on the Knicks during his first year, I will post for the first time in quite a while.
I'm actually surprised that others (especially GUHoya2007) haven't discussed the Knick's opening game against Minnesota, in which Sweets the Beast sat for most of the game, and then was given big minutes during the third quarter, and played the entire fourth quarter.
He ended up finishing the game with 18 minutes of burn, in which he shot 2-6 from the field, 6-9 from the charity stripe, and grabbed 6 boards. He rounded it out with 1 steal, 1 block, 1 assist and just 1 turnover and 2 fouls.
Basically, he finished with an impressive 10 & 6 in only 18 minutes. Double that up to 36, and you got yourself a 20 & 12 performance. Not too shabby.
Unfortunately, when the Knicks really needed some points, and were trailing by 6 with a couple left in the 4th quarter, Sweetney bricked two free-throws. However, he was asked, alongside rookie sensation Trevor Ariza, to do a lot, playing the entire 4th quarter, and often being the focus of the Knicks' offense, with the ball starting with him downlow. It is amazing how he went to the line for 9 free throws in 18 minutes. Unless teams double team Sweets, he is going to make things happen. He had a really nice turnaround j, that the commentators said they hadn't seen in his repetoire, but again, this is an example of Sweetney continuing to impress with skills that he demonstrated at Georgetown. Obviously, he has fine-tuned his game since leaving, but we all know how much skill (let alone potential) big Mike has.
While he still needs to work on his defense, he was by no means a liability in this game, and was able to do alright defending. Of course, Kurt Thomas had his hands full with KG, and I seriously doubt Sweetney could have done anything to stop KG, so those Sweets fans out there should be happy he never had that assignment.
The Knicks' center tandem of Nazr and Vin didn't get much burn, and looked overmatched against the Candy man, and I have a feeling that Kurt and Mike are going to spend many crunch-time minutes on the floor together.
Well, tonight is the Knicks home opener against Boston, and I have a feeling Sweets will play more than 18 minutes, and I wouldn't be surprised if he were able to be more dominant against the Celtics inferior front-line.
GO BIG MIKE - WIN 6TH MAN OF THE YEAR!!!
HOYA SAXA! GO HOYAS!!!
P.S. Now that my Hoya blood is flowing stronger by the day, I will try to aim for more regular posts, like during my glory days of years past!
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GUHoya07
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Post by GUHoya07 on Nov 6, 2004 18:04:00 GMT -5
I mentioned Sweets' performance in the Knicks' opener but I can't actually watch many games so its hard for me to discuss. I just post what I get from game stories and box scores, but I can't go into depth about his defensive play or his moves on offense.
Anyway, I hope you're right and Sweets does start to get more time, I think he deserves it and I would love to see him put up some big numbers and get the respect he deserves.
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GUHoya07
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Post by GUHoya07 on Nov 6, 2004 22:40:02 GMT -5
****CELTICS VS. KNICKS 11/6/04**** Sweetney finally gets some respectable playing time. He played 32 minutes (tied for most PT on the team)and put up 18 pts on 7-12 shooting and 4-7 from the line!!!!!!! He also had 5 rebounds, an assist and 2 blocked shots. But he didn't get any help from his teammates. The next highest scorer for the Knicks was Marbury with 12, then Crawford with 11 and then Thomas with 9. The result of this was an embarrassing 107-73 loss to the Celtics. Paul Pierce and Ricky Davis had 28 and 20 respectively and almost all of the scoring in general was by the Celtics guards so I dont think Sweets was too much of a defensive liability, but Crawford and Marbury apparently were. box score: www.nba.com/games/20041106/BOSNYK/boxscore.html
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Nov 7, 2004 9:58:52 GMT -5
****CELTICS VS. KNICKS 11/6/04**** The result of this was an embarrassing 107-73 loss to the Celtics. Any loss to this Celtics team should be an embarrassment. Sweetney had a nice game though. ;D
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GUHoya07
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Post by GUHoya07 on Nov 7, 2004 11:34:42 GMT -5
"Michael Sweetney had 12 straight points in the 4th quarter, finishing with 18 pts and 5 rebs."
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