MightyReds2020

at ^^

I normally don't like people hyping up a guy like Veal but the Nets do need some 'fresh' faces in their rotations. Looks like Veal is gonna be a Shane Battier-type of blue-color worker. NYCBBallFan obviously pointed out all the good things about Veal but I would like to know if his D is up to speed if he has to go against the top bench forwards, like Corliss Williamson. By the way, is he a better SF or PF, defensively?

NYCbballFan

Why does Woody Harrelson come to mind?

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Carina Perelli, who has been organizing U.N. assistance for Sunday's election in Iraq, said on Wednesday that U.S. soldiers "have been extremely, I would say, over enthusiastic in trying to help out with this election."

Aurelino

Man, his arms look even longer in those pictures!!!

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NYCbballFan

Shane Battier, though he's more of a SF/SG. Eddie Najera. Malik Rose. Mark Madsen, though he's more one-dimensional. That's about the context I place Veal: the NBA's select group of game-changing utility forwards. Veal should become about a Najera level offensive player with less athleticism but deeper range on his shot.

Agreed on Big Nasty. That's the kind of defensive test we need to see Veal pass, and I'm confident he will. Mo Taylor should be a good test for Veal tomorrow, too.

On defense, he's basically a player who keeps himself between the guy he's guarding and the basket. Nothing spectacular, he's not a big-time leaper nor overly quick, and he won't get a lot of steals or blocks. He's not a Duncan-stopper. He's not a defender who'll impose his will on an opponent. He just keeps a body on an opponent and makes him earn it. He uses fundamentals and recognition, and stays aware of what's happening around him, and of course, there's the constant hustle.

I'd say he's better at guarding PFs, just because he's not overly quick and he has the big body to bang with them. He can get in trouble with the quicker SFs who'll face him up and take him out to the perimeter. If a T-Mac or VC was going off, for example, I'd use a Damone Brown before I'd use Veal. IF Damone Brown failed, though, I'd give Veal a shot at it. He doesn't own the quickness of a Mase or LJ in their prime, but good footwork, balance and awareness can do a lot to keep him in a play.

His best defensive strength is his ability to recognize and react quickly. He's not a shot-blocker but he'll close out and be in a guy's grill with arms up when he shoots, just enough to change the angle of a shot. Even when Veal gets beat, he'll at least be close by with arms up, unlike Rogers.

A Veal defensive strength AND weakness is his focus on help defense. Sometimes, it seems like he thinks he has to defend all five guys himself, and he actually does have the awareness to identify gaps. Most of the time, he succeeds in being disruptive or even breaking up a play. But a few times, he hedges his defense too much and tries to cover too many people, when he should just stick with his assignment and trust his teammates to take care of whatever gap he seems to think is about to open in the team defense. At least one time, I saw him guarding the wrong man, and I don't know if it was because he saw something or he was just over-aggressive on a switch. I haven't seen him get burned yet doing that, but it's going to happen.

I'm just waiting for the one time Veal becomes so focused on team defense, he loses it and tries to pressure AI, Tony Parker, Starbury or somebody like that full court. It wouldn't work, and Veal is smarter than that, but I suspect he's tempted to try it.

Can he defend like K-Mart? No, though I'd have to think about it when deciding between Veal and A-Train. A-Train defends man-to-man better and rebounds better, but Veal reacts better, does more in terms of help defense and does more in transition. Veal is all hustle, whereas A-Train saves himself in a few areas - running the floor is one of them. Veal isn't going to replace A-Train anytime soon in the rotation, either; the point is, Veal is a better defensive option than Rogers.

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Carina Perelli, who has been organizing U.N. assistance for Sunday's election in Iraq, said on Wednesday that U.S. soldiers "have been extremely, I would say, over enthusiastic in trying to help out with this election."

ToddMacCulloch11

I'm thinking there needs to be a Veal Fanclub

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hi.

Tom

Veal is such a throwback to the good old days

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The dead will rise on September 9th. 3 of 7 shall survive.

MightyReds2020

Thanks for answering my question. I'm anxious to see how he will fair against Mo Taylor tonight. Based on what I've read (most from NYCBBallFan of course), he's a shooting-touch away from becoming the new generation 10th-man, if there's such thing.