Nick Calethes is incredibly unimpressive

[mstateglfr]

I follow the NBA- this isn't a shock- but I also haven't had the opportunity to watch many Grizz games over the last year+. And even if I had, its not like he was playing a ton.

So watching him the last few games, its like he isn't the same player that dominated at Florida. Yes yes yes, the NBA is different from college. Obviously. Even still, its surprising to see how ineffective he is as a pro. And where he sucks are areas that have little to do with being defended by better players or guarding better players. It has everything to do with him not being good.


Getting lit up by Curry is what it is. You cant fault someone for being made a fool on defense when Curry has the ball on a string and can get his shot off from anywhere at any time.

But Calethes has missed more layups in the few playoff games ive watched that I miss in a winter's worth of Y ball. And he has turned the ball over like crazy. He has made some passes that leave you dumbfounded.

This is a guy that in 2 seasons at Florida scored 1170(16.3/game) points while shooting over 50% from 2 and 38% from 3. He averaged 6.3 assists per game IN COLLEGE while pulling down 5.3 rebounds and getting 1.8 steals.
Compare that to the last few games. Damn that's a contrast.

I never expected him to be an NBA All Star, but back 6 years ago I sure as hell figured he would be a solid NBA contributor and role player.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

There's a reason he went to Europe after college and is third string

 

[mstateglfr]

for sure. its just still surprising to me

...given how good he was in college at a young age. Its like he has regressed.

 

[Seinfeld]

To use a tired phrase, Calethes just is what he is. A guard with 2-guard size but that can't shoot all that well, and then he also doesn't have enough quickness to ever be an elite PG. He's a nice player to have on the bench and he's played very well for the Grizz at times throughout the season, but he was most definitely never meant to be starting in a conference semi-finals matchup. He's just not that kind of a talent, and the reason that he's starting is that Beno is unfortunately an even worse defender against quick PGs like Curry.

I admittedly didn't watch a lot of Calethes at Florida, but I'd have to guess that his 6'6" size just overpowered a lot of college PGs and as we all know, 6'6" doesn't really mean anything in the NBA.

It may not end up making all that much difference in the end, but Memphis needs Conley back ASAP if they're gonna have a prayer of winning a single game this series

 

[RebelBruiser]

I thought he actually did a solid job on Curry. Early on, neither Curry, nor Thompson were doing much of anything to score. It was Draymon Green and others getting it going for Golden State.

Calathes is actually a plus defender in the NBA overall. He gets a good number of steals, and guys shoot below their percentage when he's guarding them. Now, he did get exposed for his lack of quickness some in the Portland series, but usually he does pretty well. Offensively though, he's atrocious. He's worse than Tony Allen when it comes to lay ups, and he does turn the ball over too much.

The Grizzlies must get Conley back. If they do, they can compete with Golden State. Against the GS starters, they can match up on Curry and Thompson with Conley out there, without sacrificing the offensive end. On offense, he's probably the most consistent shooter, which helps give the bigs room to move. The pick and roll offense actually works well with him in the game. It's just a completely different dynamic.

Then, when GS does go to the bench, you can go to Calathes or Udrih and pick offense/defense without having to worry about getting burned on the other end. It's just a shame we won't get to see this series at 100%.

 

[Dr. Funke.sixpack]

He is just not comfortable having to be the man. During the regular season, it seemed like he would always give a solid performance for a third point guard. After Mike went down last series, the pressure got to him and now he is missing open lay-ups. I was hoping that he would be just good enough to distribute and run the offense, but that looks doubtful.

I really hope we can address some of these offensive issues in the offseason, and pick up some type of project PG who at least won't turn it over. Scoring depth seems to be the biggest issue with this team.

 

[Dr. Funke.sixpack]

Yea his defense is good enough, but the guy just goes on a turnover streak which is infuriating.

 

[RebelBruiser]

Really they just need shooters, shooters, and more shooters. I think Adams could be a plus player next year. They need to pick up someone though, because it seems everyone they pick up suddenly forgets how to shoot once they don the Beale Street Blue.

 

[121Josey]

Calethes isn't bad. He plays his role. Hope your not expecting him to be Mike Conley, since you follow the NBA and all.

He could use a little more rogaine.

 

[Dr. Funke.sixpack]

100% true

Scored around 30 points in the second half. I thought Jeff Green would help. Wish they would get someone not on the tail end of their career (Vince Carter)

 

[mstateglfr]

Calethes isn't bad. He plays his role. Hope your not expecting him to be Mike Conley, since you follow the NBA and all.

He could use a little more rogaine.

I mentioned that I follow the NBA since typically NBA threads are ruined by people who know jack about the NBA complaining about something NBA related.
And Calethes is terrible, at least compared to what he was in college. He is Adam Morrison with the correct draft pick. I always thought his draft pick was so low because it was known he was heading to Greece to play. Ends up that was part of the reason but not all of it.

 

[TheStateUofMS]

If I'm not mistaken he wanted to go play in Greece/Europe and not the NBA

I wasn't even aware he was in the NBA until last week. I was shocked to see him. He's an ugly Mother 17'er now. He had a thick, gelled up guido cut at Florida if I remember correctly. 5 years later he's lost all his hair except on the sides. That beard makes him look worse.

 

[Drebin]

Calethes isn't bad. He plays his role. Hope your not expecting him to be Mike Conley, since you follow the NBA and all.

He could use a little more rogaine.

Calathes is terrible. The only role he should be playing is "bald guy sitting in the second row rooting for Russ Smith." He's an embarrassment to Grizzlies fans everywhere. Joerger should be fired for playing him. Russ Smith should be getting his minutes.

This much-ballyhooed defense he plays is ********. He gets steals on occasion because he catches guys napping on out-of-bounds plays. But Curry could have scored at will on him if he wanted to. Two dribbles and one shake and Calathes was falling down last night. He is slow as molasses and can't guard athletic point guards in the league. Those who didn't see that don't want to see the truth. His offensive game is an abomination. More appropriately, it's offensive.

Every minute Calathes is on the floor is a minute that Joerger spends telling Grizzlies fans, "I really don't care if we win this game." If he were cut today, somebody should be fired for waiting so long. I have totally lost faith in Joerger simply by his insistence to play Calathes for meaningful minutes in games - particularly ahead of Beno Udrih and Russ Smith. Terrible.

 

[codeDawg]

He could use a little more rogaine.

Or fewer roids.

 

[121Josey]

What was the Jaegermeister thinking? 17 what was I thinking?

2013-14 SEASON:
Completed his rookie season in Memphis with averages of 4.9 points, 1.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 0.92 steals on .457 shooting in 16.5 minutes in 71 games (seven starts) following an acclaimed four‐year overseas career with Lokomotiv Kuban in Russia (2012‐13) and Panathinaikos Athens in Greece (2009‐12)… Ranked fourth among rookies in steals per game, sixth in assists per game and 17th in points per game… Named Western Conference Rookie of the Month for February, the first Grizzlies rookie to win the award since O.J. Mayo in April 2009, after averaging 10.7 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.75 steals on .495 shooting in 28.6 minutes during the month… Averaged 14.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.57 steals on .518 shooting in 36.0 minutes in seven starts from Feb. 1‐12… Scored a career‐high 22 points and made a career‐high four three‐pointers in his first career start on Feb. 1 vs. Milwaukee… Recorded the second‐highest scoring total by a Grizzlies player making a first career start (Pau Gasol, 27 on Nov. 6, 2001 at Phoenix)… Recorded 10+ points and 5+ assists in six consecutive games from Feb. 5‐18, a streak accomplished by only four other Grizzlies (Greg Anthony, Mike Bibby, Mike Conley, Jason Williams)… Recorded a personal‐best four steals on Feb. 3 at Oklahoma City, Feb. 12 at Orlando and March 5 at Brooklyn… Dished out a career‐high nine assists on March 11 vs. Portland… Collected a career‐high eight rebounds on March 14 at Toronto… Shot .480 from the field in his final 44 games compared to .369 shooting in his first 27 career games… Led the team or shared the team lead in scoring twice, rebounding once, assists 13 times, steals 21 times, blocks twice and minutes four times… Scored 10+ points 12 times and 20+ points once... DNP (Coach’s Decision) 11 times. 2014 Playoffs: Serving a 20‐game league suspension, announced by the NBA on April 18… Not with team for first five games while serving league suspension… Moved to Suspended List starting in Game 6 of the opening round series on May 1 vs. Oklahoma City.

 

[121Josey]

You do know that he claimed the roids.came from his hair restoration treatment, right?

 

[Drebin]

What was the Jaegermeister thinking? 17 what was I thinking?

Put down your out-of-date media guide and actually watch a game. Focus on him. Gasol and Randolph were on his *** all day Sunday.

Keep count of the following:

1. His turnovers
2. Team turnovers when he's on the floor
3. Other team shooting % when he's on the floor (his gambles on defense and inability to go over picks consistently makes others help too much - it's why Golden State had a layup line going Sunday)
4. His number of missed layups/runners
5. How many times the guy he's defending finishes at the rim or draws help defense to open someone at the rim

I'll hang up and listen.

 

[RebelBruiser]

The problem is, who do you want Joerger to play?

Beno played a few minutes and got absolutely torched on the defensive end so bad that they had to pull him?

I agree that neither Calathes or Udrih can make it work against the Golden State starters, but I think you're better off with Calathes than Udrih.

And don't give me Russ Smith. The guy may be good some day, but he's a rookie, and Golden State would chew up any missed defensive assignments he had along with forcing him into tough spots on offense.

Bottom line, we need Conley back. Hopefully he plays some tonight so that he's back in the swing of things by Game 3, and we can try to win two home games to make it a series.

With Conley back, you can let Beno get the back up minutes again and just make sure he's out there when he doesn't have to guard Curry or Klay. Then you don't have to worry about his defensive liability, and he can help generate offense for the bench unit. Until then, Joerger is up a creek with Conley out. You have to pick your poison, or you have to go with the no PG line up that he's employed a few times recently.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

We also replace Green with Tony in the starting lineup, which leads to 4 more turnovers and 7 more missed layups

 

[Drebin]

The problem is, who do you want Joerger to play?

Beno played a few minutes and got absolutely torched on the defensive end so bad that they had to pull him?

I agree that neither Calathes or Udrih can make it work against the Golden State starters, but I think you're better off with Calathes than Udrih.

And don't give me Russ Smith. The guy may be good some day, but he's a rookie, and Golden State would chew up any missed defensive assignments he had along with forcing him into tough spots on offense.

Bottom line, we need Conley back. Hopefully he plays some tonight so that he's back in the swing of things by Game 3, and we can try to win two home games to make it a series.

With Conley back, you can let Beno get the back up minutes again and just make sure he's out there when he doesn't have to guard Curry or Klay. Then you don't have to worry about his defensive liability, and he can help generate offense for the bench unit. Until then, Joerger is up a creek with Conley out. You have to pick your poison, or you have to go with the no PG line up that he's employed a few times recently.

I saw your post earlier that said Calathes was decent defensively, but no, he wasn't. He is too slow to guard Curry, period. Udrih was better. I know that goes against the narrative, but any objective observer would agree.

And yes, give me Russ Smith. At least he has the speed to stick with Curry. And he's a scorer, something this team desperately needs.

Also, we can do more of Lee or even Green running the point. There are about 28 directions we can go that are better than giving minutes to Nick Calathes.

 

[121Josey]

What do you want me to say? Youre a bandwagon Grizz fan who starts following the team in April?

You start running down the guy when he's having to guard the league MVP. Everybody knows that he's better on offense than defense. Beno and Russ are good role players but to say that they are closer to Conley than Calethes is just stupid.

They will start doubling Curry so it won't matter who defends him.

 

[Hammer Down]

You all are just hatin' on the white boy.

 

[Drebin]

What do you want me to say? Youre a bandwagon Grizz fan who starts following the team in April?

You start running down the guy when he's having to guard the league MVP. Everybody knows that he's better on offense than defense. Beno and Russ are good role players but to say that they are closer to Conley than Calethes is just stupid.

They will start doubling Curry so it won't matter who defends him.

I'm a season ticket holder who's been watching Calathes **** the bed all year. It's a running joke in section 104 at the grindhouse.

He occasionally does some good things. On the rarest of occasions, he might hit a jump shot or make a free throw. He's decent defensively when he's guarding the other team's backup point guard. He should not be getting meaningful minutes. I'd put Jeff Green at the point before I put him out there.

As his minutes went up this year, the winning percentage went down. You can look it up, and it's not a fluke. And the Grizzlies were a game out of the #2 seed because they farted around down the stretch giving too many minutes to guys like him and fumbled away a couple of games they should've won. The Grizzlies should be the #2 seed and currently whipping that trick from LA, but instead they're stuck playing the golden state warriors with two non-scorers in the starting lineup.

 

[aTotal360]

But Kenny Paul Geno is the next Pistol Pete.***

 

[mstateglfr]

What do you want me to say? Youre a bandwagon Grizz fan who starts following the team in April?

You start running down the guy when he's having to guard the league MVP. Everybody knows that he's better on offense than defense. Beno and Russ are good role players but to say that they are closer to Conley than Calethes is just stupid.

They will start doubling Curry so it won't matter who defends him.

EVERYONE gets lit up by Curry from time to time(and more often than that). Curry makes EVERYONE look like a fool- sometimes a whole team is victim- sometimes all in the same play(ahem Clippers).

The reason why I am even responding to your absurd post is because you claimed Calethes' offense is better than his D, as if that is something even worth a mention. His offense has been terrible over the last few games, which is why the thread started.
The guy blows layups left and right.

Over the last few games, these were his stats- in 74 minutes played he had 18 points on 7-24 shooting overall, 4-8 from 3 and 0-2 from the line and dished out 9 assists. So on offense, the area you say he is best at, he averaged 25 minutes each game and managed to get 3 assists, not make a single free throw, and shot 29%.

His offensive stats just aren't that much better for the season- they are marginally improved over what he did in the previous 3 games, but even his season stats aren't worth defending.

 

[Hammer Down]

I'm a season ticket holder

There is your problem right there. Paying good money for the NBA.