Preseason Game 3

Preseason game three today, against the Spurs — last season’s runners-up.

Except San Antonio sat basically all of their guys: Wemby, Castle, Harper, Fox. Are you kidding me?
On our side, same as last game, Hayes started in place of the injured Nurk, with the usual Key, DP, Lauri and JJJ around him.

I’ll give the conclusion away up front: this was the kind of game that makes you think that if this team stays healthy, they might put together a pretty good season.

The first thing that stood out was how badly they wanted to defend.
The backcourt pressured the ball and generated steal after steal. The flip side is that they got a little too fired up and the fouls piled up right along with it (sigh).
Key is showing the commitment to defense he talked about, but he hasn’t found the timing yet and he’s getting whistled far too easily. JJJ’s defense itself is excellent, but he picked up five fouls tonight — foul trouble in back-to-back games. And some of them were unnecessary ones. JJJ is the anchor of this defense. I don’t want to see him stuck on the bench in foul trouble when it matters most, or hesitating to go up for a block because he’s one foul away from fouling out. I’d like him to make disciplined defense a priority. With DP, I came out of the opener wondering whether he could hold up defensively, but across games two and three he’s adjusted, and he looks like he’s gradually working out where he needs to be.
Late in the third, the two Joshes came in and showed what a different level of defender looks like. About Green — I was pretty harsh on him after the last game, on both ends. What is he even contributing? Is his defense really all that? Sorry about that. Tonight he was excellent. He didn’t get beaten in isolation, he stayed patient against fakes, and he got through it with almost no fouls. I’m sure the last game was just rust after a long time out.

On offense they attacked with a really nice balance, inside and out, with JJJ at the center of it. Key and JJJ in particular were everything you’d expect.
JJJ first. He reminds you that he’s a special player. Threes, pull-up jumpers, turnaround hooks out of the post, and to top it off a driving dunk. In isolation his defender could do essentially nothing. That’s the gap we’re talking about.
Key is so steady now. The shaky stretches are gone, his choices are right, he shoots when he’s supposed to shoot and he knocks them down — and best of all, he draws fouls. He got to the free throw line four times again tonight. Those two only played the first half: 16 or 17 minutes each, 13 points apiece, both shooting over 70%. Ruthlessly efficient.
Honestly, I’d rather Lauri didn’t isolate much. His handle is loose and the ball is there to be taken, so the usual ending is him backing his man down, turning into help, and losing it. He’s an elite shooter, so I’d almost rather he committed fully to catch-and-shoot.
As for Hayes, so many lobs go up to him that he’s the designated alley-oop guy at this point! The athleticism really is something.
Sensabaugh played for the first time tonight. Welcome back, Brice! He hasn’t got his rhythm back and there were plenty of mistakes and some shaky stretches, but it made me happy just to see him out there again.

And then my guy, DP. He really is wonderful. He put up a flashy 23 the other day, but tonight he played with real maturity on both ends.
He has genuine speed and athleticism, but he doesn’t lean on them for highlight plays. He reads the defense, finds the open spot, gets there efficiently, shoots when it’s time to shoot and passes when it’s time to pass. I think the only bad decision he made all night was the three he missed. The floater at the end of the third looked like there was a bit of hesitation in it, but it wasn’t a bad play.
His footwork and the way he uses his shoulders are excellent. He can be matched up with a defender and still get wherever he wants to go without forcing anything, and that is already an NBA-level skill. On top of that, he gives you a selfless appetite for defense and for rebounding.
He’s a 19-year-old rookie. I can’t believe it. Honestly, it’s preseason, so the numbers don’t matter. What matters is how he’s playing. Even so, tonight he gave us 24 minutes, 14 points, 50% from the field, 50% from three, five assists, a steal and two rebounds. A wonderful line.

This rookie class is something. AJ Dybantsa, Caleb Wilson and Cam Boozer are all excellent, and others like Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara are playing well too. I have a feeling that once Aday Mara develops, OKC will have their answer to Wemby all figured out.

Now, the player I most want to talk about tonight is the one whose name I’ve deliberately held back. Yes — Ace Bailey. He is seriously good right now. Ace. The numbers aren’t much: 23 minutes, 3-for-8 from the field, 0-for-2 from three. The shots wouldn’t fall the way he wanted, but there wasn’t a bad one among them. He also chipped in three assists, and one of them — the alley-oop to Hayes out of a pick and roll — was especially good. That was playmaking off the dribble. He missed it, but he also went to a reverse layup off a drive, and you can see the range of what he can do widening. And above all, his defense is outstanding. In his rookie season he’d bite on a pump fake in isolation and foul, over and over; this year he’s defending with patience. He goes up for blocks, he rotates over to help, and the contributions that never make the box score are genuinely moving to watch. The rebounding is excellent too. With Nurk out, and with JJJ, Hayes and Lauri not exactly being great rebounders, having a big athlete like Ace contributing on the glass is enormous for this team. Watching him grow like this gets to me. If I’m honest, I want to see him starting. What worries me is injury. So much of what he does runs on his athleticism, so I want him to get through the year healthy.

By the way, I went to the shrine again this morning and prayed for the health of my Triple Threat — Ace, DP and Key. Lately I pray for those three first and my family’s happiness second, which is a strange order of priorities, I know…

One preseason game left. Next week the regular season we’ve all been waiting for finally starts. Fans and analysts are arguing about what to do with the starting five now that Nurk is out, but let’s enjoy waiting to find out.

No — I can’t wait!