Judging from our recent history of rookie-contract lotto players we pick up on the cheap, I'd say OKC has already figured out he's a bust and took an opportunity to get rid of him. I think we should hang onto him and Greg Smith both and see what happens.
The last game against Magic was most impressive game for Smith. Jones started at PF but was too small to contain Davis, who was 290. Smith did a tremendous job on Davis defensively and was equally impressive with his post plays at offensive end. Smith was so stellar in his performance that Jones never came back for the rest of the game. Base on the last game of the preseason, no way McHale nor Morey will waive or cut him.
I think Aldrich will get the back-up C nod over Greg Smith, even though I'd really like Smith to play, and he's shown a lot of improvements. The reason is ... we need consistent rebounding and shot-blocking at the center spot. The Rockets have looked bad defensively every time Asik subbed out, whether it is playing Jones, PPat, Smith, or DMo at center. Even against other team's back-ups. Not saying Aldrich is a more talented player, but he will be the most consistent rebounding + shot-blocking role player out of that group. For the second unit, if Aldrich can rebound and defend well, I'd love to see the Rockets play Jones and Morris together as interchangeable 3/4s, with both being able to stretch the defense to the 3-pt line as well as post up and handle the ball a bit. With this group, either Lin plays PG with Delfino/Cook as another stretch shooter, or Douglas plays the floor spacing PG with Harden play-making out of the SG position. In any case, if we want to maintain 48-mins of high speed transition offense (as much as possible), we need to be able to make stops and secure the rebound. And Aldrich will be a better anchor for that than Smith.
He should be on a plane to Jordan with only two things. A duffle bag with 200K in it A post it note with Dreams address.
He has a pretty nice hookshot with either hand. He doesn't use it much, but I've seen him shoot it fairly often and his form is nice. I think he's definitely above Greg Smith in the rotation.
Perkins ain't exactly a all NBA center, if he couldn't get any significant minutes in OKC I doubt he will here.
So, now that he's been in a couple games... thoughts? He is a big body. Rebounds at at fine level. Had a couple impressive looking dunks. Even showed some post moves. The question is whether he has the smarts to be at the right place at the right time defensively to be an effective NBA center. McHale seems to trust him, though, with Greg Smith injured.
FACE of the franchise! but seriously, he's still young and learning. hasn't been giving a lot of chances yet, but did show some low post moves which i'm sure Mchale is salivating over. he'll get a lot of chances here under Mchale, like it or not. Mchale will pound it into him like he did with Love and all the bigs here even though they have no low post moves (Morris, PPat).
Considering the short time he's been here and his lack of familiarity with most of the guys I'd say he looked pretty good. He got the same number of boards Patterson got in less than half the pt. I liked seeing the post moves and him cutting to the basket. Probably isn't too fair to judge him on his defense until he has practiced some more and gets a better understanding of schemes and chemistry.
I really think he should not see minutes before Smith. What is the status on Smith. I'm not too high on Aldrich. He seems like a larger, clumsier Ryan Bowen. Maybe a smaller Ostertag. His arms are small and he gets pushed around a lot. His numbers don't look bad tonight but I don't trust him on D or Offense. He was getting abused by Atlanta after the power-putback. He also seems to have butter-fingers. There were back to back plays where he let the ball just slip through his hands. One of them should have been a Greg Smith power-slam. I know that Aldrich was a lottery pick, but I'm very impressed with Greg Smith after the Detroit game. Greg Smith wins us the game tonight.
He's a lottery pick and only been in the league for a few years. Can't say he's a bust yet because big man takes longer to develop. Plus when he was in OKC, he was buried behind all the big man in Perkins, Serge, Collison and Durant. But now in Houston, he has a chance to work on his game and develop into a very good back up center.
