When things are right, he can create and can play literally all 5 positions. Guy is 235 which is great for a 6'8.. Gives him the girth to defend in the paint at times.
He is the missing link to resting our wings, and taking minutes away from Prigs or even Terry is also a good thing. Would love to have him back before postseason.
I want him back as well, and everyone plays a part in winning a championship BUT he's not going to determine if we win the title this year! Harden, Howard are our lead horses followed by Ariza, Brewer, Dmo/Jones and Smith! Everyone else are interchangeable parts! We do have other options in Johnson and Daniels, I think they can help limit the minutes to Prigs/Terry as well, but McHale is very stubborn against giving minutes to rookies! Once again if he's healthy he is a valuable asset and my preference to take the load off of our wings as well, but he's not essential for us winning the championship! ....... ....... .......
The short version is, Brewer made him obsolete. I actually like Kostas a lot, he's a great injection of creativity and unselfishness into an offense where 85% of both seem to come only from Harden. But he's probably too mistake-prone and too bad a scorer to really be a more useful weapon than Brewer or Smith off the bench, so he'll stay buried.
Think he is referring to KJ McDaniels. And I would love to see McHale give him and Nick some minutes (spelling wings, Terry & Prigs) but you know, I know, everyone knows, that McHale only has certain players he trusts - vets or guys who play like vets. Kostas just happens to be one of those guys. KJ and Nick, not so much.
Rubio was out 3 months because of an ankle sprain, and then he came back for a week and sprained it again.
Honestly I doubt he sees the floor again for us this season, he wasn't in the rotation anyway when he sprained the ankle.
I believe sometime last week Kevin McHale said he wanted to bring him back into the mix, but Kostas was still nursing his injury. We'll see what happens. Competition for PT always helps the team.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Papanikolau another week to 10 days away, McHale said.</p>— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Feigen/status/581581238449762304">March 27, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
http://fantasynews.cbssports.com/fantasybasketball/update/25125847/rockets-forward-kostas-papaniklolaou-still-7-to-10-days-from-return Rockets forward Kostas Papaniklolaou still 7-to-10 days from return by Brandon Wise | CBSSports.com Fri, 27 Mar 2015 7:03 PM ET Rockets forward Kostas Papanikolaou is still bothered by ankle ankle injury and is expected to need another 7-to-10 days to recover, coach Kevin McHale said according to to the team. Papanikolaou, who is averaging 4.4 points and 2.8 rebounds per game, has missed the last 16 games while dealing with the ankle injury.
Sad Papa really needs more time. I don't expect him back next year. I hope some time gives him a shot. He has nice role player potential.
