Patrick Patterson - I'm beginning to wonder how often it is that 14th picks can hardly find playing time in their rookie season. I guess Earl Clark from last year, but it seems to be a relatively rare occurrence. Now the problem is that we have too many flawed bigs on our roster. Scola is the most well-rounded, and Yao takes up time, but now we are facing the problems of having several extra serviceable bigs to the tune of Hill, Miller, Hayes, and soon to be Dampier. This is not even including Pat-Pat. We need to find a way to balance out our roster a bit. While it will be unpopular to think this way, and I personally even cringe at the thought of it, I can't help but wonder if it might be right to trade Scola. He is a total warrior on the court, and the last guy I would trade, yet I wonder if the drop-off from Scola to Hill/Pat Pat/Hayes would be that drastic as I watch Hill change the game on the defensive end today. While it sounds ridiculous, a trade of Brooks and Scola could net some serious talent in return. Could it also balance out our roster a bit on the defensive end and allow us to use our depth?
Why the hell did we even draft this guy if he's was just going to be a bench warmer? Didn't the Rockets FO go crazy when they found out they were gonna draft him? They could have drafted Larry Sanders, Eric Bledsoe, Avery Bradley, etc. Any of them could have made more impact than Patterson is going to make this season.
The more I think about it, if those two could be the centerpiece in a trade for Iguodala or Carmelo, I think I would do it. Strangely enough, I think it would help our defensive issues, and we wouldn't miss them too much since we have so much firepower and other options. We'd still be 2 deep at every position (PG with Lowry and Ish Smith might be a stretch).
I think Rick should put JJ inactive for a game and throw Patterson out there and see how he responds. I think he will do good IMO I also think he should do this for Jermaine but that won't happen
I think Patterson would match-up well against bigger forwards in the league. He is strong and quick on his feet for his size. Give him 5-7 mins. against the Spurs then more mins. Sunday against the Wolves since Yao will be out.
The team is deep and all but I've begun to think that maybe a few minutes for PP here or there might not hurt. If the current guys can't or won't play some defense then put someone in there that might.
starting to think it was a mistake to force new york to throw in jordan hill. i think morey had the option of either getting wilson chandler, toney douglas, or hill, and he wanted hill. chandler and douglas are turning out to be solid players. i hope the assets rotting on the bench will be used, or traded sometime soon.
Sanders would be the best defensive big on our team right now. He outplayed Hill in the summer league by light years. (Yeah I know it's just summer league but his play against the same competition was so much better) My point is if Hill is getting minutes then certainly Sanders could have taken those. Anyway after watching Patterson play in preseason I like what I see. I am no longer of the opinion he was the wrong choice. The problem is Hayes has improved ever so slightly on offense and he is currently a better defender thna patterson. But PP is the better all around player and eventually should find a role on this team. If we keep losing I think you have to give him a try. He brings exactly what this needs, athleticism.
You don't give mid round rookies a lot of minutes unless you are depleted in that position. The Rockets are over stocked in the PF and C positions.
