Team Focus: Sour Snails

In a bold move, Trieu was the only owner fearless enough to take the plunge into small ball from the get-go. Ripping a page out of the small ball draft primer, Trieu followed the precepts to a T and now is about to take his team from the science labs to the proving ground. Still the only team with no power forwards or centers on the roster, Trieu passed up a boatload of bigs to commit to shooters and passers.


Assists will come from the duo of Steve Nash and Allen Iverson, with Mike James and possibly Rajon Rondo contributing a few per game. Aside from that, the rest of the team just shoots, and shoots. Of course, it's not fair to label players such as Ron Artest, Jason Richardson, Larry Hughes and Rudy Gay as just pure shooters or scorers. These guys will steal the ball, shoot the three, and put up all the necessary guard related numbers. Morris Peterson, Wally Szerbiak and (the possibly jail bound) Stephen Jackson will hoist it from the perimeter and aside from Jackson, won't contribute much else outside of good %s. The only player even resembling a front court player is Ryan Gomes, who's hardly a power player.

Needless to say, the Sour Snails are going to need to dominate PTS-AST-STL-3PT-FT%. It looks like they'll beat most comers in 3PT and FT% -- first and third respectively. However, they are a bit light in the AST and STL departments. They're good, but not amazing. Of course, all that separates the leaders from Trieu in these two categories is 4 AST and 1 STL a game. So the potential is there for Trieu to take all four each week.

The question will be PTS, as in, can the Snails get enough? Iverson can provide the necessary spark but Artest, Richardson, Peterson and everyone else had better kick it up a few notches. Otherwise it's going to be fun-and-gun, but without many victories since they are conceding the other four categories right out of the gate.

Best pick: Jason Richardson in Rd 4.
Future star: Rudy Gay in Rd9.
Steal: Mike James in Rd6.
Questionable: none. Maybe Morris Peterson in Rd5 but it's hard to argue with the pick considering the team philosophy.
NBA copycat: Seattle Supersonics.