Oscar Torres = Shandon Anderson With A Jumpshot???

So we have a better Shandon for the minimum, who won't mind being waved off....cool.

That means we get a better Shandon PLUS Rice at a team salary increase of only $4m vs keeping Shandon...right? And Francis doesn't have to fret waving off anyone anymore.

now we're seeing how athletic SGs who can't dribble or shoot are a dime a dozen.

 

b-but their like defensive specialists crispee.

 

Maybe he will make the team. I do think his chances are better if Moochie goes. With Jones and Moochie that leaves little room for Torres. Maybe IR, I hope he works out.

 

How tall is Torres?

 

Never mind. NBA.com/Rockets has him listed at 6-6, 210. I'm going with that unless someone has better info. In terms of the rough, questionably accurate, and relatively superficial factors of height and weight, he is very similar to Shandon Anderson.

 

Had anybody ever heard of this Oscar Torres before the Rockets signed him? Be honest. Me... no, of course not.

 

I'd guess that if Feigen isn't including Shandn's defense then he'd say..."think a poor-man's Clyde Drexler." I mean, he already looks exactly like Clyde.

It is so easy to get excited about every little thing you see from new players. When I first read this, I'm thinking that Feigen witnessed that one fastbreak defensive play the players where talking about and now is explaining visions of Torres doing that all the time, just like I have lasting impressions of Shandn being stripped everytime he moves with the ball, since he fails to protect the ball. To scout effectively, we must be objective enough to look for bad habits as well as good. Witness our wide-eyed amazement over Cato's 12 block game yet early blindness to Cato falling for headfakes. I remember seeing it and saying; "Hey, let's not judge him too quickly." Yet our homey instincts are doing just that when we judge favorably too quickly, as well.

"Let's not judge Shandn too early; afterall, he was a sixth man on Utah. Francis and Rudy just won't play his game." Like that has anything to do with Shandn's bad habit on his vaunted low post move where he turns and shows too much ball, or his inability to change direction on his dribble or go through a small seam in traffic without exposing the ball.

I cannot begin to tell you how many times through the years I've taken the homey perspective on scouting, only to realize later that I was wrong. My fun is trying to improve as a fan/wannabe scout. The fun in saying, "You know, that guy needs more PT," or "this player is better suited for running such and such play call," and also to provide analysis for GM moves...."we should trade such and such, because he doesn't fit." The challenge is trying to see such things correctly before the coach actually implements them. When we look close enough, we can actually see signs of what they are doing in practice. They bring them out into game situations in pieces. Judging the pieces is predicting which ones the coach will stick to and give more PT.

To me, this is as fun as playing RealGM is to others. Aside from just cheering for wins, we want more out of the game to feel apart of it. Fantasy heads want to debate trades and realize them as successful, that our judgement was correct.

In the game of wannabe scout, I've learned it is very hard to be objective about giving equal weight to early positive signs and early bad habits. Homey's like me don't want to see it, to the point that we don't want to give up on potential of the positive signs being more consistent that the bad habits--the positive outweighing the negative. That is the bad habit of a wannabe scout. Bad habits of a fantasy GM are picking college favorites like TMo or backing players because you like their personality and want to see them succeed, like Mr Robinson; or ignoring that coaches don't believe as much as you, and you're left with a player without the touches you want to see.

In this new preseason, we have several new players to look at, as well as the strong homey expectations that Francis and Mobley pick it up a notch, and K9 will start finishing better. It is natural to get really excited about "think Shandn with a shot," but that is both unfair to Shandn who can play quality, focused defense when he wants to, and at the same time overly generous to Shandn if Torres can move with the ball and shoot...if so, the comparison should be made as a "poor-man's Clyde."

Back to reality. What do we know? We know Feigen gets excited in preseason like all fans who tend to express only the best of first impressions; albeit, Feigen shows quality objectivity at not making them lasting impressions if unwarranted. And we also know Torres had one great play where his teammates took notice of his athleticism.

bad habits exists in most players alongside talent...the consistency of the pudding is the proof.

 

Crispee,

Shandn with no "O". Would this be a subliminal message? Sneaky & effective, all at the same time. LOL

 

Hottoddie,

verse gets credit for that spelling. Behad has picked it up, too. So I figure it is official. Shandn's not a Rocket anymore, why not hold back the "o" now, rather than cling to hope. I look forward to all the threads this year that will refer to our losses as due to becoming too one-dimensional and offensive-minded, and we should have kept our one-dimensional defensive shooting guard to balance that. Hey, if you are forced to be one-dimensional as a team, then go to the extreme. Don't build defense around Cato as your center by adding a Shandn...build around the 2 stud guards and give them fire power to get the damn double teams off of them....something Shandn's mere presence on the court only made worse.

btw, anyone read how Sprewell said "I hope he doesn't get frustrated too much with his role." Referring to how Houston and Sprewell demand "high minutes." I wonder if Shandn will ever get used to the realization that the Utah press praised him way too much as Stockton's humble worker bee. And media in general love to play up the quiet types who "do all the things that don't show up in the stats." As if there are no negative things that don't show up in stats. Gotta fit all players into some type of overly-cliche'd stereotype to make your writing easier, I guess.

Now the New York media, just like we did, are still propogating that. They say how Shandn might actually close games since Houston struggles on defense. Setting aside for a moment how that will make double-teaming Sprewell so much easier, but ummmm, Shandn has never been a closer on any team. If Hornachek closes against the Bulls with Jordan and against Houston with Drexler, Allen Houston will close on the Knicks. Shandn still talks about how he did a good job on Jordan, but he didn't get a chance in crunch time to stop him, because they took him out. He recently said it again.

Shandn, the Jordan stopper.

Earth to Shandn!

 

Oscar Torres sounds like his a good player. Sure hope he can do something for this team, unlike Calvin Cato!

Extra quote:
Moochie better take the money before is too late!

 

Yeah, that Calvin Cato, I've never seen him do ANYTHING at all for the Rockets... In fact, I've never even heard of him before!

 

Perhaps you haven't heard of Lisa's T.V. reports....

I almost can't wait to hear her say: Calvin Cato again....ah...GIMME BACK MY ROCKETS!!!!!

 

For all who don't know, some people on the BBS call Cato "Calvin Cato" because Ol' Horseteeth Malosky says it.

 

Lisa Malosky is hot, those horseteeth of hers really turn me on.

 

When did Shandon ever learn to Shoot!!!!