we need to play nick johnson more Friday against the spurs

no one thought terry would be an upgrade over Bev though. people wanted an UPGRADE at PG, but no one thought that upgrade was sitting on the Rockets bench. Bev did not play well this year, plain and simple.

 

A handful of posters have said Bev getting hurt was a good thing for this team -- a "blessing in disguise" -- as recently as yesterday.

 

The Spurs starting center played 0 minutes - he's a significant upgrade over Baynes. Spurs are due for a bad game however- Rockets tomorrow. See you guys in the WCF.

 

I meant WCSF

 

i was going to write a post about why i think nick and even KJ would be upgrades in the rotation over the smarter better shooting vets (prigs/terry), but then i realized the whole argument can be summed up in 3 words:

can't be worse.

 

All of the Rockets bench players are diamonds in the rough. Then once they get playing time it's on to the next guy on the bench who is not playing because he obviously is better than what we have out there.

 

This.

 

So, because he isn't getting minutes he's labeled as an "end of bench" guy and should be ignored? The guy brings a lot of defense and athleticism. He needs to be given some minutes for defensive purposes, if anything. Unless you're cool with Parker running all over vs Terry and Prigs.

I know I'm not.

 

Everyone's aware of fans' 'backup syndrome' across all sports ... I always think back to Scott Mitchell of the Lions, whom the Dolphins paid well to prove he's just a backup

But isn't Daryl Morey's track-record for finding good players out of 'nowhere' a huge validation for us, as Rockets fans, to think our 'end of bench' guys really can play?

By my count, of the 15 guys on my list below, DM has found 3 All-Stars, 6 starters, and 6 valuable role players in his 9+years on the job ... or about 1.5 useful players per season
And the best part ... the most valuable asset he spent to acquire any of them was the 14th overall pick he spent on PPat

With his long history of finding really good players who are totally unproven, don't we have a right to expect his latest unknown finds to continue his outstanding track-record of success (Capela, NJohnson, KJ)?


Over and over we've seen a young guy DM acquired with minimal hype turn into a good-great NBA player with an unexpectedly (to most fans) long career:

2006 - Steve Novak drafted in 2ndRD ... 10-yr career as a sharp-shooter Role Player

2006 - Chuck Hayes signs 10-day contract ... 10-yr career as a post-defender RP

2007 - Aaron Brooks drafted end of 1stRD ... 9-yr career as fringe starter and avg 20PPG only season as full-time starter after barely playing first 100 NBA games

2007 - Carl Landry drafted 2ndRD ... 9-yr career as post-scorer RP and topped out as 18+7 starter in 3rd year after trade to SAC

2007 - Luis Scola traded for VSpan+2ndRDpick ... 9-yr career as post-scorer starter topping out at 18+8 in 4th year

2008 - Gerald Green traded for Kirk Snyder ... 7-yr career as instant-offense 6th-man including career-high avg 16PPG last year

2009 - Kyle Lowry traded for Rafer Alston ... 10-yr career as superstar PG and top-20 NBA player after 4 yrs as backup to start

2009 - Chase Budinger drafted in 2ndRD ... 6-yr career as RP avg 20MPG as shooter off bench

2010 - Patrick Patterson drafted mid-1stRD ... 5-yr career as 3&D RP who shot career-high 41% on 3s last year

2010 - Jordan Hill traded for TMac ... 6-yr career as big man RP now avg career-high 12+8 as first-time starter for Lakers this season

2010 - Courtney Lee traded for TAriza ... 6-yr career as 3&D fringe starter has now replaced All-World defender Tony Allen as starting SG for 4th-best team in the league this year

2011 - Chandler Parsons drafted 2ndRD ... 4-yr career as all-around Top50 player who just signed Max deal last offseason to be 3rd 'star' in Dallas

2011 - Goran Dragic traded for ABrooks ... 7-yr career as borderline-star PG who spent first 3 years as backkup but is about to sing Max deal after career-high 21PPG + AllNBA 3rdteam last year

2011 - DeMarre Carroll traded for SBattier ... 5-yr career as fringe starter now key starter avg 13PPG for 2nd-best team in the league this year

2012 - Patrick Beverly signs 10-day contract out of Russia ... 3-yr career as starting PG who has become critical defender and leader of 3rd-best team in NBA this season

 

I say give NJ some minutes to see how he does. I think Terry does better off the bench but if Terry does stay the starter. Have him guard Danny Green, Harden on Kawhi and Ariza on Parker.

 

With Dmo in I thought it could be. I like what Pablo brings to the table and he wasn't getting playing time with Bev healthy.

 

I like what Pablo brings to the table as well. A rotation including Bev+Jet+Pablo would be ideal.