Whoever Morey gets this offseason through trade whether it's Love, Melo, Milsap or Rondo, I hope he spends a chunk of the Mid-Level on a wing defender like Thabo Sefolosha. Could play the 3 for us and cover for a lot of Harden's deficiencies on the defensive end. I wish Thabo was a better 3 point shooter, but his overall defensive mindset and experience would be a nice addition to the team. He will be a unrestricted free agent and don't know if OKC wants to pay him more than 5mil a year. We need him more than they do because of how weak our perimeter defenders are (exception to Beverly) He works for them, but Reggie Jackson is getting more and more of his minutes due to the fact that crazy Russell can guard 1's and 2's allowing them to have more weapons on the floor at the same time. It's going to be an interesting offseason for our Rockets.
What's going on with Thabo Sefolosha? -- In a contract year, Sefolosha’s shooting percentages have fallen, and his typically reliable defense hasn’t been the same.
Don't know Jr....I do know Reggie is getting a lot of his minutes now. Maybe he's unhappy...don't know, but if OKC loses in the WCF he probably will not get an offer more than the 3.9 mil he is making now. He's 30 and Morey can probably make a 2-3yr deal offer (3rd being team of course) and see if we can snake him away. Hey, maybe it's not Sefolosha...maybe Morey has his eye on another one ball defender, but I know we need an on ball wing defender worse than a hog needs slop.
Unless OKC wins the series against the Spurs with Thabo turning the series around, I don't see him returning to the Thunder. He is someone that the Rockets have had interest in, in the past and a name I have floated as a possible MLE candidate.
I remember watching him back when he was on the bulls and he was a much more versatile player back then. It's like he went to the Battier school of one way players since joining the thunder. I don't know if it's a function of the highly specialized role they ask him to play there or a simple lack of development on his end, but I think the spurs have shown the importance of having players who can have an impact on both ends of the floor. I don't think you can really win with one trick ponies being key contributors on your team, unless they are truly elite at that trick. Unless Thabo is able to expand his offense (which I only see happening if the sole reason he was so limited in OKC is because of system and coaching and not his own inabilities) I don't see him helping this team that much. Sure he might be able to cover up on defense, but who's going to hit the wide open 3s when teams ignore him to double up on harden?
Dude, this ain't 2k. Even if he's unhappy he should still be able to ball, especially in a contract year.
I've been saying we need to target him since before the trade deadline. He's always had good defense and always been a reliable open 3pt shooter. His defense seems to have slipped and his shot has disappeared, but this could just be a bad year that he can bounce back from. Depends though if he's willing to accept a bench role it if he wants to go somewhere to play starter minutes. If he is our second biggest acquisition this off season,i will be happy.
What? I don't play video games. If you read all that I wrote you would have noticed, we were talking about how and why he had a down year....my response was playing time because of Reggie Jackson, being unhappy or don't know....speculations. I wasn't making accuses for him because I don't know why his production fell off, but I do think he fits what we are trying to build. We need a wing defender who can guard 3s, 2s and some 1s......he can be an option.
Even when he was hitting 3 pointers at a decent clip he was doing that on like 2 attempts per game. Pass.
I've watched Thabo closely ever since he went to OKC. Rockets shouldn't touch him with a 10-foot pole. His D this year isn't nearly as good as in the past. What most people don't realize is even when his 3-point percentage is decent, it's because he is completely uncontested (like shooting practice). The two big problems are his release is EXTREMELY slow and any sort of contest (which is made easier by his slow motion release) means he will brick the shot or get it blocked. I'm exaggerating, but sometimes it seemed like a 5 year-old could stand in front of Thabo, wave his hands and cause him to severely brick a 3-pointer. There no reason to think unhappiness is affecting his performance. That idea is being pulled from thin air. He's averaging the same minutes as always. Coach Bonehead has pet players and Thabo is one of them. No way he should have gotten 26 mins/game this season. Ridiculous! Pass, unless he takes something very close to the vet minimum. On a team that needs spacing, Thabo cannot provide that. On a team that needs defense, he just isn't that good now. Approaching 30 hasn't been kind to him.
So many tend to underrate the talent of defensive-minded players that have gone through injuries. Thabo is a talent. Ask the players on the Thunder. They'll tell you the same thing. He allows their offensive players go to work because he takes care of other team's best player. Someone suggested that he "fell off." Really? What does that mean? A guy who has a gift of playing defense "falls off" because of an average year? If you follow the league and don't have Rockets' tunnel-vision, you would realize that Thabo is considered one of the best on-the-ball defenders in the league. The shots he makes are only because they're wide open? Um, good ball movement allows for wide-open shots. That's a given. We had plenty of guys that couldn't hit jumpers when they were wide open, and if I recall correctly, there were numerous times where a wide open shot was airballed during crunchtime. So, let's not criticize Thabo for hitting a wide open shot when many of our "guards" couldn't finish layups, defend, hold on to the ball or hit an easy jumper. We haven't had that type of player since Shane/Ron. Chandler and Patrick are the closest thing we have to a defensively-gifted player (on the perimeter. Dwight is great down low.) Thabo is going to get paid, and he deserves it. Any contender that signs will get a whole lot better. OKC doesn't utilize him in the sense that he can do much more than he is permitted to do.
