Friendly Bounce Open Run: Kristaps arrives, and Shabazz Napier gets revenge

Welcome back to Friendly Bounce’s Open Run. 

The Knicks’ Latvian savior makes his debut: Jack Maloney (@jackhaveitall)

I really want Kristaps Porzingis to be good. Not because I’m a Knicks fan or anything, I just really like the kid. Being a top-five pick comes with a ridiculous amount of pressure, but being in New York just exacerbates that. Yet so far, Porzingis has been handling everything beautifully.

Tonight he made his debut as the Knicks took on Paschoalotto Bauru from Brazil. It was nothing spectacular, but he knocked down some threes, and was unlucky to have a few other shots rim out. Most of all though, it was good to see him finally on the court in a real game.

I mean, how can you not love this guy?

The Shabazz Napier revenge game: Chris Barnewall (@ChrisBarnewall)

Shabazz Napier has had a pretty rough time so far in his NBA career. He was drafted to play next to LeBron James, but everybody knows how that went. He then struggled for most of his rookie year, and the Miami Heat decided that developing him wasn’t in their interest so they traded him to the Orlando Magic.

Tonight, in a meaningless preseason game, Napier got take revenge on his former team. The Magic and Heat went down to the wire with everything tied up at 97. Napier, tapping into some of that clutch shooting ability he was known for at UCONN, hit the game winning 3-pointer. The game may have not mattered much, but you can bet he was thrilled to show his old team what they were missing out on.

(h/t Orlando Magic)

Alec Burks steals the show: Donnie Kolakowski (@donniebuckets)

With all the stars that were hurt last year, it’s easy to forget some of the lesser players that missed most of the season.

Alec Burks may not be a superstar, but he’s a key player for a flourishing Jazz team. He missed a good chunk of last season after shoulder surgery, and looked off in his return to the floor in Utah’s preseason opener. He went 0-for-5 in 22 minutes.

On Wednesday, Burks looked like the kind of player that contributes to playoff teams. He finished with 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting. He also got the line for 14 free throws.

It’s never a good idea to put too much stock in one preseason game (stop me if you’ve heard that before), but you can definitely feel good for a player coming back from injury that has a big game. Some people seem to think you should never feel bad for players making a lot of money, but it kills guys like Burks to be off the floor for that long. And it takes a lot of work to get back to producing at an NBA level.

So, enjoy the heck out of what Burks did, regardless of whether it was the preseason. Hopefully, this is a launching point for Burks to return to form. It may be one preseason game, but it marks the moment when Alec Burks truly returned.

~~LeBron Selfie Alert~~

(h/t @imbeccable)

Marco Belinelli: Volume Shooter Extraordinaire: Taylor Smith (@TaylorBojangles)

The Sacramento Kings made a slew of moves this summer, one of which was inking ex-Spur Marco Belinelli to a three-year, $19 million deal. Few really thought much of it at the time. After all, it’s the Kings, who have shown zero evidence of having a viable long-term plan for quite some time now. Secondly, this is Marco Belinelli, a former first-round pick that will be suiting up for his sixth NBA team since being drafted just eight years ago.

However, might Sacramento be the home Belinelli has been seeking for all these years? I know it’s early, but the numbers are kinda fun. In two preseason games in which he’s come off the bench so far, Marco has jacked 33 shots in 60 minutes of playing time. He’s connected on 16 of these 33 shots to this point, which adds up to a cool 48% success rate. Quite stellar! Unfortunately, that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Belinelli was scorching in the Kings’ preseason opener, hitting 12-of-18 field goal attempts (32 points in all) in an OT win over the Blazers. In Sacramento’s second preseason game, though, Marco was an ice cold 4-for-15 from the floor, and scored 12 points in a loss to Phoenix. Of course, Belinelli also starred for his native Italy at this summer’s Eurobasket tournament, where he averaged over 16 points in seven games. He wasn’t shy about getting his shots up then, either, as he finished the tourney 36-88 from the floor (40.9%).

Something seem to have changed within Marco, you guys. Is this the Belinelli we’re going to be seeing for the Kings all season long? If so, sign me up. The Kings are fairly chaotic to begin with, but add “Marco Belinelli: Volume Shooter Extraordinaire” to the mix and you’ve got me locked-in for 82 games. Boogie + Rondo + Rudy + Willie Trill + Marco? Let’s get weird, Kings!