The power players
1. Mike Nzei
The obvious was his motor, athleticism and offensive rebounding. But what I liked and it was a surprise was he seemed to have very good footwork in the paint. Granted there was little defense played so that must be taken into account, but on a couple of occasions Nzei got offensive rebounds and instead of powering up immediately as many bigs would do he either pump faked or took a dribble or two to outmaneuver the defender to take (and make) a higher percentage shot.
Minor point now, but I will be interested to see if he does that in a real game successfully. Footwork is critical at this level for undersized PF's. If Nzei is able to be effective down low he will score more than expected and could get the opposition in foul trouble.
As for his foul shooting if the above happens...I have no idea how accurate he is from the stripe.
Bottom line? I am intrigued to see more.
1. Mike Nzei
The obvious was his motor, athleticism and offensive rebounding. But what I liked and it was a surprise was he seemed to have very good footwork in the paint. Granted there was little defense played so that must be taken into account, but on a couple of occasions Nzei got offensive rebounds and instead of powering up immediately as many bigs would do he either pump faked or took a dribble or two to outmaneuver the defender to take (and make) a higher percentage shot.
Minor point now, but I will be interested to see if he does that in a real game successfully. Footwork is critical at this level for undersized PF's. If Nzei is able to be effective down low he will score more than expected and could get the opposition in foul trouble.
As for his foul shooting if the above happens...I have no idea how accurate he is from the stripe.
Bottom line? I am intrigued to see more.
