I watched part of the Croatia game, including some of the few minutes Caleb played. Croatia had a well-conditioned, skilled team out there, and they were 1 FT away from winning the game. I think Caleb didn't play all that much in that particular game because the Croats were good at getting down the floor fast in transition, and that's not a scenario that plays well to Caleb's strengths because at this point at least he's not fast running the floor. Croatia had a good Euro-big (#13) who could run the floor fast & was scoring a lot, though I do think Caleb actually defended that guy better in the 1/2 court than the other US player who played more minutes than Caleb. As others have said, the bigs weren't getting much love down low on offense.
My earlier evaluation of Caleb's play is essentially unchanged. Biggie is a smart player. He works hard to get positioned well at both ends, and he's a good (maybe great) passer. At his size, he's hard to push around down low, and his stroke looks decent.
As far as an area to work on, he's on the slow side running the court, even for a big, though he can speed up for bursts. Not everybody has much opportunity to significantly improve their speed, but I think Caleb actually can improve a lot by losing extra weight, conditioning, and training on proper running form. Also, Caleb should hit the weights hard to become stronger and, more importantly, more explosive. If our bigs could each add just 2-3 inches to their vertical, the payback on the effort would be big time IMO. Man, I hope they do.
