Zips Live

[zipboy]

I made it a point to listen tonight since KD was going to be on. For one, I am excited to talk bball after being beaten down all Fall, and KD is always entertaining. Here is what I rememeber him saying .

The starting rotatation is set and the top 8 guys are set. The experienced guys are better than the young guys right now. We need to find depth to get that 9th and 10th guy. Rotation is McNees ( team leader) and Roberts at the guards with Abreau getting minutes. McClanahan will start at the 3 with McKnight coming off the bench. Nik and Zeke will start down low. Nik is playing the best of everyone right now. Zeke is 50% better than last year. We will throw the ball to Zeke everytime. Will he be able to deliver the mail everytime? Not yet, but by the middle of the year to the end of the year look out. His basketball IQ is way up. Bardo has rededicated himself and looks really good. McKnight will play the 3 and 4 as a back up. It it good to get him back.

The East will be tough with Can't and Akron battling it out. Everyone is picking OU, and Miami is good. Buffalo plays hard and BG has that zone. But I think it comes down to Can't and Akron again

[Dave in Green]

..... Zeke is 50% better than last year. .....

Uh oh. We're in trouble now. Just a few days ago, in his media day quotes, KD said that Zeke "is twice as good as last year," and now KD says that Zeke is only "50% better." At this rate, by the time the season starts, poor Zeke is going to be worse than last year.

[72 Roo]

I made it a point to listen tonight since KD was going to be on. For one, I am excited to talk bball after being beaten down all Fall, and KD is always entertaining. Here is what I rememeber him saying .

The starting rotatation is set and the top 8 guys are set. The experienced guys are better than the young guys right now. We need to find depth to get that 9th and 10th guy. Rotation is McNees ( team leader) and Roberts at the guards with Abreau getting minutes. McClanahan will start at the 3 with McKnight coming off the bench. Nik and Zeke will start down low. Nik is playing the best of everyone right now. Zeke is 50% better than last year. We will throw the ball to Zeke everytime. Will he be able to deliver the mail everytime? Not yet, but by the middle of the year to the end of the year look out. His basketball IQ is way up. Bardo has rededicated himself and looks really good. McKnight will play the 3 and 4 as a back up. It it good to get him back.

The East will be tough with Can't and Akron battling it out. Everyone is picking OU, and Miami is good. Buffalo plays hard and BG has that zone. But I think it comes down to Can't and Akron again

This season will be a disappointment w/o a true PG. We will be hamstrung with McClanahan at the 3. We can do better with what we have. Bardo is Bardo. Under the stress of competition he will not be much better than last year. For his inate ability he is under-achieving. If this starting five stays the same, we are in for a very long, tough season.

[yazan07]

I made it a point to listen tonight since KD was going to be on. For one, I am excited to talk bball after being beaten down all Fall, and KD is always entertaining. Here is what I rememeber him saying .

The starting rotatation is set and the top 8 guys are set. The experienced guys are better than the young guys right now. We need to find depth to get that 9th and 10th guy. Rotation is McNees ( team leader) and Roberts at the guards with Abreau getting minutes. McClanahan will start at the 3 with McKnight coming off the bench. Nik and Zeke will start down low. Nik is playing the best of everyone right now. Zeke is 50% better than last year. We will throw the ball to Zeke everytime. Will he be able to deliver the mail everytime? Not yet, but by the middle of the year to the end of the year look out. His basketball IQ is way up. Bardo has rededicated himself and looks really good. McKnight will play the 3 and 4 as a back up. It it good to get him back.

The East will be tough with Can't and Akron battling it out. Everyone is picking OU, and Miami is good. Buffalo plays hard and BG has that zone. But I think it comes down to Can't and Akron again

This season will be a disappointment w/o a true PG. We will be hamstrung with McClanahan at the 3. We can do better with what we have. Bardo is Bardo. Under the stress of competition he will not be much better than last year. For his inate ability he is under-achieving. If this starting five stays the same, we are in for a very long, tough season.

KD always shifts around the starting 5 throughout the season, there's probably a good chance one or two of these new guys could be starting eventually. If I recall correctly, Zeke didn't start right away last season either. I wouldn't be surprised if by the time we hit MAC play, we have a different starting 5. Maybe Abreau eventually starts at PG and McNees is shifted to SG. Likewise I would hope to see someone else starting at the 3 spot by some point in the season. That is, unless Nitro has improved significantly. Either way, I am pumped for the first basketball game!

[Quickzips]

I highly doubt we will see a starting lineup of McNees, Roberts, McClanahan, Cvetinovic and Zeke at the end of the season. In fact, I doubt that will be the starting lineup we take into MAC play or the Vegas tournament. This is usually the way KD works, starting the season giving more minutes to guys he is more familiar with. I'll honestly be surprised if Peterson and Oldham don't get some minutes early in the season. As the season goes on though I'm sure you will see more Abreu, Diggs, Euton, etc.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Nik is playing the best of everyone right now.

That would be a welcome surprise. He was playing the worst of any Zip at the end of last season.

I like Nik...I hope the "light" turned on for him.

[Dr Z]

I made it a point to listen tonight since KD was going to be on.

The starting rotatation is set and the top 8 guys are set.

Rotation is McNees & Roberts at the guards with Abreau getting minutes.

McClanahan will start at the 3 with McKnight coming off the bench.

Nik and Zeke will start down low

Thanks for taking the time to post this ZB. Good info.

Glad to see Abreau get mentioned. I can't wait to see if he has what it takes to help this team compete against good competition.

[Quickzips]

Nik is playing the best of everyone right now.

That would be a welcome surprise. He was playing the worst of any Zip at the end of last season.

I like Nik...I hope the "light" turned on for him.

I've been hoping to hear this kind of report on Nik myself. He was, quite frankly, out of control at the end of last season. Turning the ball over, drawing offensive fouls, rushing shots, not getting back on D, complaining to the refs. It seemed like our worst fears for him had come true in that he had let his emotions get the best of him for good. Hopefully he sat down over the offseason and had a chance to reflect on that and can come into this season and harness all of that energy and emotion into helping the Zips win. We've seen it in spurts before. He's certainly a matchup problem for a lot of 4's in this league on nights when he puts it all together. But his game requires him to play right on that edge and when he crosses over it, things can turn pretty ugly pretty fast.

[Dave in Green]

One of the things I noticed last year was that Humpty spent a lot of time on the sideline getting in Nik's ear trying to calm him down. Then Humpty ran into a problem where he couldn't seem to calm himself down, let alone someone else. It was after Humpty had some of his own worst meltdowns that Nik seemed to lose focus. There seemed to be a lot of chemistry going on between Humpty and Nik, but I don't know exactly what it was and how it may have affected their play.

Having someone on the team with volatility can be a good thing for generating positive energy as long as it doesn't get out of control. Having more than one volatile player who occasionally get a little out of control may not be such a good thing. Team chemistry is one of those mysterious aspects of sports that is always hard to measure and hard to clearly define. But you know it when you see it. I hope this year's team has an appropriate mix of volatility and stability.

[The Hip Zip]

I can understand Nitro getting some early starts as it can boost his confidence. I'm just not sold on him though. To me, it always appeared that he had the old " deer in the headlights " look as he entered the games last year. His strength is his shooting and he had a rough time knocking them down. I also think he's a defensive liability at the 3 spot. I just think he has a rough time with quicker or stronger guys.

I really hope that he has improved because it's obvious that he's a good kid and his effort is always strong. Between him and Brett I think it's about a toss up at this point. Brett just has not become the player that he was expected to be. He needs to really bring it this season. The 3 spot has me worried.

[The Hip Zip]

One of the things I noticed last year was that Humpty spent a lot of time on the sideline getting in Nik's ear trying to calm him down. Then Humpty ran into a problem where he couldn't seem to calm himself down, let alone someone else. It was after Humpty had some of his own worst meltdowns that Nik seemed to lose focus. There seemed to be a lot of chemistry going on between Humpty and Nik, but I don't know exactly what it was and how it may have affected their play.

Having someone on the team with volatility can be a good thing for generating positive energy as long as it doesn't get out of control. Having more than one volatile player who occasionally get a little out of control may not be such a good thing. Team chemistry is one of those mysterious aspects of sports that is always hard to measure and hard to clearly define. But you know it when you see it. I hope this year's team has an appropriate mix of volatility and stability.

Thats a good call Dave. We sit right behind the Zip's bench and we heard it all. Humpty just really lost it several times last year and he had some really ugly rants at Nik, Nitro and others.

I had the pleasure of spending some time with Humpty last year when he appeared at a school assembly along with Chris and Jimmy. All three were perfect gentlemen and they were great when they had plenty of interaction with the young kids. I really believe that Hump is a good person but his emotions just get the best of him at times. Don't forget that episode late in the Ark. Pine Bluff game last year when Humpty just lost it bigtime. I wish him well and hope he's a good fit with his new team. I think he'll do well.