The Kleiz is Right

Nor'Easter drops Brooks, picks up Kleiza

U of O standout Aaron Brooks, discussed many times, has continued to produce, but is fairly one-dimensional, and has benefitted less than most from the Rockets' injury woes due to the strong recent play of Skip-to-my-lou. Surprisingly good bench production from L-Head and Von Wafer(!) have cut into Brooks 'microwave' role off the bench. Brooks is a three-teamer thus far - will he join his fourth?

The Spoonful recently dropped Kleiza, who now joins his third team, and Nor'Easter was looking to improve his rebounding without giving up 3s. Kleiza is a perfect fit! He gets his 22 minutes, 10 pts, a couple 3s, and a few DREBs. He's not rebounding, as mentioned in a previous post, at the rate he did in the past (partly because he's not being asked to play PF...yet),

Judgment: We think this is a strong move for Nor'Easter. They're both consistent 6th-7th men and provide strong 3-shooting. The shift to (supposedly) better rebounding is a smart one, and we believe Kleiza has more upside in general.

Bonner and Kleiyde

Spoonful drop Kleiza, pick up Bonner

Kleiza's been in our news quite a bit lately - we suspect he'll be picked up many times as the year progresses.

But he'll also be dropped a lot for potentially hot commodities, as Matt Bonner has, in assuming the SAS starting C job, become. Now, starting C in SA is a notoriously poor position (since the Admiral's time, anyway) - Oberto, Nazr (the bad Nazr), FElson, MEly, Rasho, The Matrix (Kevin Willis), and even the great Cherokee Parks have graced the position during the PR2K years. But, unlike those big men, Bonner has the shooting touch, as well as the good looks, of a Brian Scalabrine, and can hit 3s. Right now he's averaging 7/4 with a 3, and his minutes have been increasing steadily in the last 2 weeks, even as the Spurs have gotten Manu and Parker back. 10/7 with 1.5 3s isn't out of the question, though neither is riding the pine..

Judgment: Kleiza surely has more long term upside, but BonBon has the opportunity, and should get both more rebounds and better Pcts, and may contribute a bit in BLK as well. He is more Foul/TO prone, but the 3-shooting big man is always exciting to have. Kleiza and J.R. Smith are alternating productive nights at this point, and, as mentioned in previous posts, isn't rebounding as much as we'd like.

Off the Morrow

Spoonful drops morrow, picks up Kleiza

Linas was recently dropped by thenopp, and discussed here. Morrow was picked up by the Spoonful during his 37/11 breakout, as discussed here.

Morrow's stock has fallen quite a bit, as Nellie has given him a couple DNP-CDs and very little PT overall. In fact, after his 37 pointer and his 25 pt follow-up, he hasn't gotten to double digits or shot more than 33% from the field. He doesn't do anything other than shoot 3s, and the arrival of JamsCraw in GS makes that less necessary. Nellie says that he's not playing Morrow because opposition teams have "started to guard him". Chances are they won't stop any time soon. He may have a hot night here and there, but it seems like he won't be a consistent contributor.

Kleiza's situation hasn't changed much, but he is good for 20 minutes and is in line for more minutes should any the Nugs get hurt.

Judgment: Being free from Nellie's gouty whims is delight enough for anyone, and the acquisitions of Posey and Kleiza should make the Spoonful a little more competitive in DREBs and help bolster the 3pt numbers.

Kleiza Dropped!

Thenopp drops Kleiza, picks up J. Maxiell

We discussed Maxiell here. He's had 10+ PTS in 4 straight (until today), including an eye-opening 13/8/6 BLK line. We know he had that kind of potential, and could put up 13 & 8 with decent block numbers easily if given the minutes, and if he can stay out of foul trouble. But a crowded frontcourt and the imminent return of McDyess give us pause. Also, those 4 games were either blowouts, or against teams with poor frontcourts (the Bogut-less Bucks, for example).

Linas Kleiza, Denver's Lithuanian backup SF/PF, was thenopp's 15th round pick. Since he gets few minutes as Carmelo's backup, the Nugs sometimes try to play him at PF (he's started there twice this year), where, gets some rebounds, but isn't much of a defender. On the other hand, he's a good shooter, and shoots a fair number of 3s. We saw toward the end of last year that he can put up big PTS numbers when his 3s are falling, but doesn't provide much else. He's averaging 10/4 this year (basically the same as last year)., and unless he gets significantly more minutes as Big K-Mart gets banged up, probably won't get much higher than that. Still, his 3's/DREB combination will make him useful for some team.

Judgment: Though we suspect Kleiza will put up better overall numbers this year, Maxiell makes sense for thenopp. As an addition to their relatively thin frontcourt (Yao, Hurt Jermaine, B-Lop, and M-Gas), Maxy should provide, though inconsistently, enough blocks and OREB to be useful. Watch the minutes when McDyess returns, however, or if one of the other Piston frontcourters (Herrmann, A-Johnson) gets hot.