I have no problem with him tagging T Jones as undersized; it seems that Jones is not as big as advertised when it comes to man to man defense against true power forwards.
Fair points for sure, but Dorsey playing "center" does not really make him a center (as Jalen Rose loves to point out, positions are simply descriptors for people who don't watch much basketball). And Jones is not always undersized, but he certainly was last year in the playoffs against LMA. That said, he is oversized for someone who has the handle that he has, so again we run into the problem of what exactly is a power forward, or a center, or a Harden.
Watkins is akin to The Rocket Guy in that he is an unholy alliance of Rockets and Mavericks fan, and kinda full of ***t. But at very least ESPN recognized the need for a semi-homer Houston beat writer, as Stein is for Dallas and Wallace for Miami.
They should have grabbed Fran Blinbury from NBA.com. He was the other Houston beat writer for like 20 years.
Blinebury was slow to get back on the Houston wagon this past offseason and early season, but lately he seems to be giving them a bit more attention again. Suspect that he was (rightfully so) still a bit butt hurt about Harden dissing him last playoffs during an interview. Not Beard's most graceful moment.
Calvin Watkins has been around Dallas for quite awhile and has covered the Cowboys a lot. He's reputable but his knowledge of who the Rockets are and what they are capable of will not be as good as most posters on this board. That's not to say he is not going to be exposed to info not available us as he continues traveling with the team. But posters on this board have been passionately following the Rockets for years while Calvin was following Dallas teams.
In my honest opinion, he would be smart to follow this board if he is going to be ESPNs Rocket expert.
As long as he doesn't show that Mark Stein bias, I'm cool. I'm good with reporters showing bias towards their own favorite teams. But not dripping hate of other teams. Stein has that "even in compliment I need to say something bad" for every report he has on the Rockets. If Watkins isn't like that, having a devoted ESPN hack can't hurt.
Last week he also reported on the great off season signing of Corey Brewer. I will try to find the link.
Of 481 players who have had a FG attempted against them within 5 feet of the hoop, Jones ranks 46th best (and some players rank better because they have had 3 shots attempted against them on the season, and 2 have missed) The only PFs ahead of him are: Tim Duncan David West Draymond Green Jason Maxiell He is hardly struggling defensively this season... He has been fairly HUGE this season defensively, giving up just 40.9% from the field to all comers (noted defensive juggernaught Draymond Green sets the PF standard with 38.9% against)
Watkins knows squat about the Rockets. More OP ed than real journalism to go along with his smug arse writing style.
