You could make a strong argument that 6 championships in the last 10 years could be different minus one NBA player, Robert Horry. Throw in Steve Kerr and you account for almost every championship team. And one great shooter isn't nearly enough. We all know every championship team needs MULTIPLE role players to hit long distance shots in playoff crunch time when your stars get smothered. On the Lakers, Horry had 3pt help in Derek Fisher and Rick Fox. If you think about the Rockets, Rudy put an AMAZING array of clutch 3-pt shooters around Dream: Mario Elie, Kenny Smith, Horry, Sam Cassell, Vernon Maxwell. That very well may be an unmatched number of quality distance shooters on any championship squad. I can't think of any other team with more than 3. (Maybe other people should wonder less how our single superstar '94 team won a championship and admire the team Rudy/CD put together just a little more.) Bottomline: WE NEED TO ACCUMULATE SHOOTERS. Best case, say we develop quickly enough to advance in the playoffs the next 2-3 years. Who's taking the Big Shot Bob 3-ball late in the game? Charlie Ward? Jim Jackson? Lue? Bob Sura? Boki? Forgive me if I'm not shaking with anticipation. Ward and JJ may be decent shooters, but where will their old legs be in the 4th quarter of a playoff game after 40 minutes of Van Gundy style defense? What about T-Mac, you say? OK, say he routinely goes Kobe in the 4th quarter... Kobe's ringless without Horry, Fisher, Fox, Rush, etc. For example, giving away our most proven shooter in Pike for a 40 yr old, fossilized, 1-yr stopgap of a back-up center makes no sense to me. OK, point to last season. No excuses, Pike sucked donkey balls. I'll point to the 7-8 seasons before that. The guy can shoot. Period. Imo, we need MORE quality shooters for the playoff long-distance shots that decide championships, not LESS. We need to hoard them like there's no tomorrow and make Rudy jealous. Yao, T-Mac, and the Championship parade committee thank you in advance.
Pike's not going to help the team at all when he can't make freakin open layups or really move up and down the court and play defense. Other than the fact that Mutombo can still intimidate a bit down low and rebound, he's so funny. If the Rockets do get him, I hope he has a bandaid on his face most of the time like he did in the Finals 2 years ago. The post-game interviews are worth the $4.5 mil he's owed by themselves.
Even if Pike shot ZERO percent last year, it's still a mistake to give up on a veteran shooter. I'm almost positive Jim Paxson and Steve Kerr didn't have "defense" on their business cards. MJ and his 6 rings didn't seem to mind. I'm with you on the band-aided Deke, though. He should get it tatooed on his face. I think he'd be a fine, 1 yr addition, but not at the cost of a shooter.
Here's the problem with your logic; Elie was a streaky shooter at the time of the first title run (.323 3pt). Ditto Mad Max (.298) and Horry(.324). Cassell was pretty streaky both years(.295, .330). Really, Kenny Smith was the only consistent shooter (.405, .429). As long as the role players don't choke terribly, they'll be able to make a name for themselves in the playoffs. JJ, T-Mac, and Lue should be able to get the job done. Cross your fingers and hope Boki cracks the rotation. If all Pike can do is shoot, and from what I've seen that's the case, we shouldn't keep him on the bench, we should trade him for someone that will give us some good minutes. It would be suicidal for us to hoard shooters, keep them on the bench, and then ask them to hit critical threes cold. Because if the shooter can't play D, he won't be getting any playing time for the rest of the game. You realize Kobe didn't win any rings with Rush, right?
Yeah, I caught the Rush thing afterwards... I changed "Kobe needed" to "Kobe's "ringless." Same basic point. I don't think they get to the Finals last year without Rush. Nice with the percentages. Still, Horry was drafted as a 3 pt shooter. Mad Max hit more clutch shots than any Rocket before or since. The Jet may be the best line drive jump shooter in history. And did anyone EVER doubt Elie and Cassell had the cajones to take the last shot? T-Mac's great, but he'll be automatically doubled. At that point, imo our best options are JJ and Ward. To be blunt, I don't trust their legs after an NBA season and playoffs of playing Van Gundy defense.
I don't understand when people use this argument. Isn't the point of having good team defense that each guy doesn't need to be a superior man defender? If you accumulate defenders in lieu of shooters, you cave like the Spurs did this year and multi-year Brent Barry, who has "I will not cross back over halfcourt to play Defense" written in his contract. I've got no problem giving Pike 10-15 minutes off the bench. And at that level of PT, I put my hard-earned $$ on him making an open 3pter before any current Rocket except T-Mac, JJ and Yao. T-Mac will never be open, and Yao doesn't seem to have the option.
The solution is simple. Since we want to have a defensive minded center and somebody to hit the three, just forget Mutombo and get Manute Bol.
Jimmy Jackson's "old legs" were pretty good in the 4th quarter last year. In fact, Jimmy Jackson got better as the season went on, and the guy is a damn good shooter. Detroit didn't have a bunch of great shooters. The Lakers didn't really have a bunch of great shooters either last year, Fisher was horrible until the last second shot against the Spurs. Besides the same people complaining about trading Pike for a "40 year old fossil" would complain that the Rockets were stupid not to trade Pike for that "40 year old fossil" months from now. Pike was horrible last year, and I would put money on JJ and McGrady hitting a 3 before him. As for putting money on Pike hitting a 3 before Yao, duh the guy's a center!
Good points. Complaining about JJ and Ward's old legs is a little off. JJ's old legs let him hauled down 8 RPG in the last playoffs. Ward doesn't need to play the whole game to hit 3s in the last minutes - we have depth at the 1. Lue is a pretty good 3 point shooter. The Lakers had geezers like Ron Harper and Brian Shaw in their first title run. I would like to get Jon Barry though, the guy is capable of being a cold blooded shooter straight off the bench.
The thing about those Laker role players is that they've been getting open looks forever. I have a ton of confidence that JJ or Boki can hit an open 3 from the SF position and Lue and Ward can do it from the PG. Heck Lue's done it already. I don't know about Sura however. His career 3pt % is pretty crummy. But his stroke looks awesome, so maybe if he get's those open looks he might be able to get them down better.
Play off time it is not just a matter of shooting % But it is all about clutch Elie- clutch Horry- clutch Jordan- clutch Kerr- clutch Pike may be a natural shooter, but is he play off clutch? That's what Rush did for a couple Laker series You need someone to step up in the heat at the end during the big crunch time. We will see come playoff time if we have a big time clutch shooter in the fold. - I don't think it will be Pike.
I think 15 minutes with a decent backup center is much more important than the possible 15 minutes that Pike, AGriff and Wilks would be getting in the rotation. If you want another shooter, bring back Padgett. That guy can flat out play, unlike Pike. And he can play the three or four. Pike can only really play the two.
Insider info: Between now and 2-3 years from now, the Rockets will make a trade or sign a free agent to bolster weaknesses on the team. Seriously, it seems pretty obvious to me the Rockets made every possible move this summer that made sense. JVG said it himself this week, until you win a championship, you keep trying to get better. After 'the trade' they had serious holes to fill and they have/are addressing that. If we still need a shooter, that will come in time but at least we can put a competative team out there. What is clear is that Pike just hasn't done crap here. It is tough to argue against results.
Some great responses. I just don't want the "We need shooters" JVG/CD mantra going the way of "We're going to run this year." It's too important to sink to the bottom of our priority list. OK, when it counted most, JJ shot 27% in the playoffs against the Lakers including TWO 1 for 7 stinkers (Losses). Went 3 for 6 in the only game we won. I happen to think it had a lot to do with the minutes and D he played over the course of the season. With the Kings he played 20 minutes and ole! defense. He'll start the season 34 yrs old. And this is the guy I'm MOST comfortable with taking the Bob Horry 3. I couldn't say it any better. You don't think it'll be Pike. Fair enough. But I know for damn sure it won't be Mutumbo. We MUST have options. Imo, the makings of a clutch playoff shooter: 1) You got cajones and not quite pure shooting stroke: Elie's the perfect example. JJ's that guy on our team. OR 2) You are a pure 3 pt shooter: Kenny Smith is the Rocket standard. Pike is a career 40% shooter over 10 seasons. Last year when he sucked donkey balls he shot 35% from 3pt range. I happen to think he may be useful in the playoffs. No one knows until we get there.
Wesley Person... gone to the Heat for the minimum. The Heat were in the same market we were, surrounding a center and scorer with shooters. Imo, they did better and cheaper. Damon Jones 2 yr/5 mill and Wes Person (Vet min) >>> Charlie Ward 3yrs and Bob Sura 4yrs Pat Riley didn't teach JVG everything, did he?
