Obviously, I haven't seen the guy play much. While I understand the idea of having some "beef" in the frontline to play against Shaq, I think I would rather keep Walt, although I have never been a big supporter of the Wizard. Walt could be kind of a link between all the young guys and Rice, who will clearly be the oldest guy on the team. Plus, I believe we need more than one sharpshooter, which is why I would have kept Air Bullard. White does not seem to be a very mobile guy who can run with Steve and Cat. He is also a horrible free-throw shooter (makes just a little more than 1 out of 2, while shooting almost 5 per game last season). From looking at his stats, his shot-blocking skills seem to be overrated. I would rather get Bo Outlaw...but I might have mentioned that before .
Why are so many are high on White? I don't know. China White is a very potent and pure form of heroin, so it's easy to get high if you use it. People could have emotional or spiritual strongholds. They could just be hanging out with the wrong crowd. It can be any number of things, so it is hard to speculate.
I like Jahidi because he can rebound and block shots. His offensive game is rough, but depending on the matchup, we could use him on offense as the garbage man. White and Collier would make a great set of backups for Cato, and present two completely different matchup problems for the opponents. White 3.4 blocks per 48 minutes 16 rebounds per 48 minutes
If we get Jahidi, Cato will be the backup and Collier will be on the IR. White would be the perfect fit for our team. While Rice and Taylor are sub-par defenders and rebounders, White and Griffin are above average in rebounding and shot-blocking. They would complement each other very well. Griffin probably won't score much as a rookie (around 10 points would be good). Rice and Taylor would pickup the slack on the offensive end for Griffin and White, while they pick up extra rebounds and blocks and add a few put-backs along the way.
Only problem with Jahidid is that he cannot stay on the floor- you think Cato was bad with fouls? Jahidi is the ultimate hacker! I had him in my fantasy team last season, he produced good stats, but he kept fouling out of games - I guess between him and Cato they could make up about 30 minutes of center
Det The Threat, I totally agree, I don't know what all the news is about this guy. Besides the guy is on 6'9" if that and people are looking at him as our starting center. When have the center ever been the shortest guy in the frontcourt??
If you look at White's numbers, you can see that he can handle the C position. As Dr. Nuege has indicated, White's only problem is he gets into foul trouble easily.
I've seen White play and he is indeed foulprone. But whereas Cato picks up his fouls through lazy, clumsy, out-of-position D, White gets most of his via MONSTER, overly-aggressive play. That is probably something this team needs a little bit of in the frontcourt. I think that's why he may be a good fit for us. If RT thinks he can get his FT% into the 60's and tone down his fouls somewhat than Walt for Jahidi should be a no-brainer.
So he's 2 inches shorter than most centers, big deal. He's also 290 pounds! At 6-9 290 he is definitely a presence in the middle. He is foul-prone, yes, but is also EXTREMELY productive. What would a team like the Rockets need in a center? 1. Inside presence - I'd say he's a pretty big presence inside (Afterall, besides Francis twice, I haven't seen many other dunks on Jahidi) 2. Rebounding 3. Blocks Let Jahidi's numbers speak for themselves in these two categories: Rebounding per 48 minutes: Dikembe Mutombo - 18.8 Ben Wallace - 18.3 Marcus Camby - 16.3 Jahidi White - 16.0 rebounds Shaquille O'neal - 15.4 Tim Duncan - 15.1 Ervin Johnson - 14.9 Shawn Bradley 14.6 Jermaine O'neal - 14.4 David Robinson - 14.0 Antonio Davis - 13.8 Scot Pollard - 13.5 Dale Davis - 13.5 Vlade Divac - 13.3 Patrick Ewing - 13.3 P.J. Brown - 12.7 Brian Grant - 12.5 Elden Campbell - 12.4 Keon Clark - 12.1 Raef LaFrentz - 11.9 Bo Outlaw - 11.7 Now of course Jahidi's numbers are a bit inflated due to playing on a team that had few other rebounders last season, and of course he wouldn't be able to keep up at that 7.7 rebounds in 23.7 minutes pace for 48 minutes in a game as he would wear down. Still his numbers are certainly nothing to scoff at...and White certainly blows away those high energy guys a lot of people wanted us to get, Clark and Outlaw in this category. Btw, Cato is at 10.8 rebounds per 48 minutes. Blocks per 48 minutes Shawn Bradley - 5.47 Keon Clark - 4.30 Jermaine O'Neal - 4.14 Raef LaFrentz - 4.02 David Robinson - 3.99 Dikembe Mutombo - 3.76 Shaquille O'Neal - 3.35 Jahidi White - 3.30 blocks Ben Wallace - 3.23 Marcus Camby - 3.07 Stromile Swift - 3.00 Tim Duncan - 2.90 Elden Campbell - 2.88 Scot Pollard - 2.81 Antonio Davis - 2.66 Bo Outlaw - 2.60 Radoslav Nesterovic - 2.45 Michael Olowokandi - 2.44 As I said before, the longer a player plays in a game the harder it is for them to maintain a high average in a category for 48 minutes. Which would be why White averages more blocks per 48 minutes than Tim Duncan...nevertheless I think his 24 minutes per game is enough time to prove he CAN block shots and rebound well, and for that matter play center, on a consistent basis.
I think White would be a great pick up. Isn't the deal for White all speculation just because Washington is shopping him though? I'd say that he is more productive than Cato, and the Rockets need a 5 more than a 3. With Rice Walt is a backup and don't we have Langhi, Morris and Griffin to fill in that role. If Washington is game and the numbers match why not? It would be a great trade, I just don't see it happening.
I would agree with your point if a player was on the floor for 10 minutes a game, but I think 20 minutes a game is enough playing time to give a good impression of talent.
If White is such a good player, why do the Wizards want to get rid of him?If White is such a good player, why do the Wizards want to get rid of him? Because White has around 3 or 4 years left on his contract and Jordan wants something in return that has only 1 year left on his contract to free up cap room next summer. Walt is in his last year of his contract, that's why the rumor seems pretty hot.
Those are both good responses, and I feel silly opening my mouth before doing my homework. Still, I maintain it's healthy to be a little skeptical about diamonds in the rough. Cato's stats from the season before aren't significantly different from White's. I can't make any judgements since I haven't seen White play, but the criticisms of White from someone I met in the District were very similar to those we make of Cato.
The main reason for getting Jahidi White is durability.... Kelvin Cato and Jason Collier were hurt all last season, can they last a seaon? Thats a question... Jahidi White is big and strong and no one is going to push him around, not even Shaq(he can bang but Jahidi will bang with him). Basically not getting him for his pts, blockshots, free throw%, but we are getting him for defense(which is blockshots), rebounds and MY MAIN REASON DURABILITY.... If Cato or Collier goes down, Maurice doesn't have to worry about playing center like last season when Dream, Cato and Collier were hurt.
TIburon - Rudy will run PFs at the opposing 5s like a dog chases a squirrel (with the squirrel being the PFs - dogs can't climb trees). There won't be any positional difference between a 4 & 5 under this system, except at times when it appears to be advantageous to run a traditional set. Otherwise, expect to see 2 PFs (undersized, at that) and 3 guards out there running circles around the opposing 5. Rudy doesn't care about positions. Expect it to be coached that way.
