You can say one game and all that. The thing is he can't put on 30 pounds. He's not going to get magically bigger playing 82 games this season. The odds are he's going to get lighter and he's already light. You have to be able to recognize even a mediocre big man with any sort of discernible offensive post game is going to tie him in knots. And while he can get up and down the floor, you have to be able to see that he is not as fast as Landry or Hayes at getting down the floor, so there is no advantage there. What David Andersen equates to is a much lighter, much less experienced Juwan Howard with even less defensive ability and no rebounding ability. He is about as athletic and strong as Steve Novak without the quick release, range, and consistency of Novak's jump shot. Those things aren't going to change. He may be able to figure out where he needs to be on the court. He may be able to open his eyes on defense and quit running right into the offensive player and creating a foul. But even if he figures out where he's supposed to be defensively, he is going to be attacked and the opponent is going to be licking their chops to bring the game to him. And offensively, his jumper is another Juwan Howard jumper. If it goes, it goes. When it doesn't, which will be over 50% of the time, it will bounce out and create the fastbreak going the other way against us and he'll be struggling to get back against quicker faster opponents. He will either get bludgeoned in the post by the bruisers or he will get buried on the outside if the opponent doesn't have a big post presence. The opponent will simply go smaller and quicker against him, contest his jumper, and then they will run out the other way with the quickness/speed advantage on him on the break. David Andersen is trade bait. We should figure out how to run him and Jermaine Taylor out there against Memphis and let them run up 20 a piece then trade them in a package ASAP for a legit NBA player that can contribute.
Of course he is! Hes played in this league for like 7 seasons, andersen has only 1 game under his belt! C'mon man, rookie, has to adjust to the nba and everything that comes with it, use to the international game, AND no one ever said he was a ruff n tuff strong rebounder type player. He'll come along ONE GAME!!
I agree with everything except the part about Andersen putting up 20 against Memphis. Gasol or Randolph would own him. I know he wouldn't be covering Randolph but switches happen all the time. Andersen will be in foul trouble before he can put up 5 points. I think even guys like Haddadi, Thabeet and Hunter would make Andersen look ad.
Could have. Would you? At the time of the draft, TMac's status was up in the air, so we needed some SG to fill the void. Hayes, Dorsey, Landry was enough to NOT get Blair, as we would have been logjammed at the 4 spot. People need to stop whining about how we could have gotten Blair, or some other player instead of Taylor, or Andersen. What's done is done. I mean, you don't HAVE to watch the Rockets play with their current roster.
This. You ever hear of pre-game jitters? Well, try pre-league-on-the-other-side-of-the-world jitters. Just saying.
I don't run in the circle but I got friends who swear by them on the Hamptons scene. Even the over 40's.
He didn't look that great, but he has potential. Personally, I think saying he played up to his potential would be an insult to him, because he looked absolutely frantic on defense, his shot was WAY off, and he committed several dumb fouls that are typical of Euroleague players coming to the NBA. Thus, I'd say a lot of him is still potential, not displayed yet. If what we got last night is really his best, I don't think he's long for this league.
Plus he's new to NBA workouts, and the Rockets hid it hard this week, so I'm sure his legs were quite tired.
Please someone dig up a thread of the scola bashing that occurred during the pre season and beginning of the 2007-2008 season
Wow, u guys are ridiculous. Give him some damnn time before labeling him. This goes to all the Budinger comments too. You guys are overly hyped up about Chase (dont get me wrong, i love the guy) and very pessimistic on Andersen. Wait a few weeks, months before writing someone off. I guess all this talk is happening because it's been the first dayy from a longgggg offseason.
I remember people denouncing Scola as a scrub when he first came along. It took him 2 months to take the starting job from Chuck, and nobody is expecting Andersen to be better than Luis. Chill.
Reminds me of when Cuttino called Manu garbage after his first preseason game. Not saying that Andersen will be an allstar but history shows us that there is an adjustment period..sorry about beating a dead horse!
I think Andersen played prety well, de defensive aspect of the game is what takes longer for Euro players to adapt cause is where NBA and Fiba are most different. I think he might be starting withing a couple of month, his defense is much better than it was shown tonight. Plus, you cannot play Hayes at C all season, and playing Scola at C will make him less efective, and we cannot afford to make one of our very few scorers uncomfortable on court.
I did not denounce Scola. In fact, I felt like he should be starting early. It was obvious to me that he was going to be able to ball. I am not denouncing Andersen now. He's a $2.5 million backup NBA player. I'm just saying if you think Andersen is going to be a big part of the equation here this season, it's not going to happen. If he is playing major minutes, you can bet we are losing. He is an 11-12th man on an NBA roster. That's why I'm saying, make him look as good as possible and include him in a trade package for a legit big man that can run the floor and do something.
I just watched the second half on DVR. He looked much better in the second half to me. He looks very, very comfortable in the high post passing or shooting that jumper. From everything I've heard plus the way he he shot those 16-18 footers with no hesitation it appears that once he settles down that jumper will be automatic. I can't see him ever being a respectable post defender or rebounder but I do see his skill set be very valuable offensively. The team still needs a true big man for those nights when the opposition has real 7 footers who like to score down low.
