sanfranduck said:
I didn't see Saturday night's game, but a buddy and I upon reviewing the box score were pretty damn surprised to see that he scored 21 points. Can someone post a breakdown of how he looked?
Vik' looked absolutely wonderful on Saturday night. The short answer to your question, IMO, is that he "looked" like a young Detlef Schremph, with a solid defensive game and the ability to finish in the open court. Certainly it's too early to judge whether or not he's going to have a career as great as Det's, but in terms of a prior NBA comparison, that is who I'd compare him to. I'm sure I'll be flamed right out of this joint for that comparison, but oh well.
sanfranduck said:
Beyond shooting 9 of 10, obviously we can see he was on fire, looking for a little more detail. Did he create his own shots?
IIRC, he didn't really "create" any shots for himself, but created quite a few opportunites for the team. His shots were just in the flow of the offense.
sanfranduck said:
Move well without the ball?
This could end up being one of his better assets, IMO. He seems to not only be willing to set screens, but to set them correctly as well. He cuts to the hoop very nicely. He seems to make his defender work pretty hard to cover him... by running off of screens and cutting to the hoop.
sanfranduck said:
Handle the rock much on the break?
I think he only brought the ball up thr floor once, and looked like he wanted to get it out of his hands, and into either Telfair's or Damon's (I can't remember who was on the floor during that particular play). Though he looked rather indecisive on that play, you can see that he has the ability to bring the ball up the floor. It's definitely not something that you want him doing all of the time, but it's nice to know that he's able to, if necessary.
sanfranduck said:
Considering he still has a "bum wheel," his footwork awesome. Grant Hill made a couple of successful/aggressive drives on him, from the perimeter, but I think they can, more or less, be attributed to his foot still healing and the fact that he's still learning how to defend these NBA guys (especially guys as savvy as Hill).
sanfranduck said:
In abundance. Dude races up and down the court and seems to have a knack of finding a seem in the defense.
sanfranduck said:
Good elevation/lift on his jumper?
Nothing like Outlaw has on his, but sufficient. His stroke looks wonderful to me. If Monia is, indeed, a better shooter than Khryapa (as stated by Viktor, himself)... then I think we're all going to be completely stoked about him too.
sanfranduck said:
Play like more of a "2" or a "3"?
IMO, he's definitely a three and that is where he should play the bulk of his minutes. But, with that being said, he shoots well enough to play some 2 and could probably defend well enough in the post to even play a little 4 (not necessarily now, but when he develops a little more).
sanfranduck said:
And finally, why in god's name didn't the man get more shots if he was 9 of freaking 10.
Well, the short answer to that question, is that Damon Stoudamire is still playing. In previous games, I've seen a reluctance on the part of Damon to pass to Viktor, but it appeared to be less obvious on Saturday night. Also, I think Viktor is just such a tremendous "team player" that he doesn't want to take too many shots and be perceived as "greedy". I guarantee that, whenever we get our new coach in here, Viktor will start looking to shoot the ball a little more. He's too good of a shooter not to take open shots when he has them and I think the new coach will point that out to him. Who knows, maybe Pritchard is already telling him these things, as evidenced by Saturday's game. I, seriously, hope he is. More PT (and shots) for Viktor (and Outlaw)... less for Damon. :biggrin:
Here's a link to the shot chart for Saturday's game (you can select his name from the list below to see just Viktor's shots):
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/shotchart?gameId=250319022
Hopefully this helps to answer some of the questions you had.
yangsta said:
Am I the only one that noticed that he's an excellent passer? He seems to have high court IQ...he made some nice no look passes too bad the other players couldn't finish... I think he's going to be a prototypical 3rd option for a team one day.. much like Manu is...
Outlaw, Telfair and Krapper are actually making this season watchable... As I have been for the past 5 years.. I'm very excited for this team's future..
Yeah, he made some pretty slick passes. One of which resulted in a turnover along the sideline. He was trying to get the ball to Outlaw, and Outlaw came back towards Khryapa. Viktor tried to lead Travis with a bounce pass towards the right corner, and had Outlaw read it correcty, it would've probably resulted in his most vicious dunk to date. Instead the pass bounced straight out of bounds. Though the play was botched, I absolutely loved the fact that Viktor threw it. It was one of those plays that you could just tell they need some more playing time together, to get the correct communication.
