Road Trip Summary

So I've watched way too much of these first four games, and need to vent a little, here are my impressions:

Beno

Its been really painful.  His ball handling has been terrible, and he really looks completely overmatched by the likes of Jameer Nelson & Mario Chalmers.  I never was a huge fan (I know that's easy to say at this moment), but he was so much more confident last year.  He looks overwhelmed by the speed and intensity of the game this year.  My hope is, he's still not 100%, and we'll see better.  Honestly, its difficult to imagine how we could see worse.

Speed Racer

He certainly struggled, but his struggles are more understandable.  Unlike Beno, I have no long term worries; Speed's figuring it out.  Not a great start, but its one week in a long season, and there's be definite progress.

John Salmons

I know he's easy to pick on around here, but I don't have as many problems with his style as others.  Yes, he pounds the rock too much at times, no question about it, but he hasn't been too bad about that this year.  He's a slasher, he needs to dribble some, and honestly this team needs someone to do it.  We're short of players that can create shots, Salmons can do it, but he needs to probe the defense to do so.  My biggest disappointment so far has been his lack of intensity and leadership.  We've seen a little of it, and it has to be tough when the team has been this terrible, but JS has to be one of the leaders, both offense and defense, and I haven't seen it.  He needs to see this is it, its his shot to be a starter and he needs to do more.  Either that or he's just not good enough and should be a back-up whether he likes it or not, which is a distinct possibility.  I think he's probably the 5th best starter on a really good team, and I am not sure he'll get the chance to be that here, we need more.

Mikki Moore

He's a backup player forced into starting due to circumstances that aren't his fault.  Don't hate the payer, hate the circumstance.  He won't be in our lives much longer, give the guy a break, he plays hard, and is just a limited player.

Spencer Hawes

Wow, one of the two positive revelations of the season so far.  There's three things that really stand out for me:

He's so much more comfortable this year.  Fewer dumb fouls, better rebounding, it seems he's caught up to the speed and intensity of the NBA.

Spencer is scoring around the rim much more effectively.  The complaints I had last year, about him not doing the basics big guys are supposed to be able to do he has fixed so far this year.  He's scoring with either hand near the basket and doing a great job.  He obviously has difficulty with really athletic big men (Greg Oden and Dwight Howard), but I can't hold that against him.  Experience will help some there, and honestly, there's only so many of those guys.

Spencer's decision making has also been light years better.  He still makes some dumb plays, but he really seems to be starting to get it.  He's been our best or second best player on the floor most of the time so far, tremendous progress.

JT

Once again, what more do you want from the guy, he's been tremendous.  For everyone that wants him to start...patience please.  Let him come off the bench and destroy backups for 20 minutes a night.  That's working, in not too long he'll get 25-30 minutes and some of those will come for decent stretches against Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand, etc.  If he's still playing well, then move him into the starting lineup.  He's been ridiculously successful so far, let him grow, but let him do it at a reasonable pace.  He'll get his chances, but we want him to have the best chance of success.  That means building confidence, give him and the coaches some time.