This broad had been poisoned by a group of crazies the last 2 season regarding the word " Playmaker". A playmaker is not about making a half court pass, not about how many no look pass you will see in sportscenter, not about doing lob city highlight. A playmaker is to assist your team to make the best shot available for the group on the floor, taking the highest % of shot and reduce the number of TO. Bev will never be CP3, and he just does not have the offensive talent as Harden, nor he will shoot the 3 as well as Krover. If you are looking for those abilities, you failed. But saying he is holding the ball too much and not making good decisions in most cases to help his teammates to take the best shots available, that's just idiotic. He may not pass the ball as well as Harden, but the main reason or advantage that Harden had is his individual ability, don't forget that. Putting guys like Ish in this team? a disaster. Putting Canaan in this team? A nightmare on defense and more bonehead plays than the coaches can tolerate. So, name a guy with less than 5 mils on the market that's available and can contribute the same as Bev right now on both defense and offense?
I'm having a really difficult time thinking of a game this season where Canaan was "a nightmare on defense" or made plays any more bone headed than the next guy. Specific examples?
shhh dont bust his narrative bubble. Cannan has been mostly solid for the minutes hes had this season.
Rox got blown out at the Grizz. McHale mentioned specifically on Charlie's show about this game on Canaan's defense and both decision making errors.
Sooooo -- one game where he came off the bench and the whole roster got outplayed? Versus the 7 or 8 other games he started, played decent defense, and relieved Harden of a lot of the scoring load? Yeah, definitely makes sense to declare him unworthy of rotation minutes on that basis.
I don't know how many you actually listen to McHale's weekly interview on 790, but there are some info he will share every week. On more than one occasion, he was asked why Terry was getting more playtime than Canaan and his answer is something like this : sometime fast is not as important as smart.
Again, if you will pay attention to the weekly interviews of McHale and Morey, they shared about how they will evaluate a player in the Rockets. It sure is not based on one single game. McHale mentioned these criteria : - the performance of this player on the court - the performance of this player in the practice - how he does in the off the court practice activities, just as in the weight room and conditioning. - his progress the last 1-3 years, how much he improved. - his stats against bad teams vs his stats against playoff quality teams So to answer your question, no, Canaan was not benched because of one single game nor just of those 7-8 games he started should earn him the guaranteed minutes. I am pretty sure the above mentioned criteria did not work out very well for him.
On more than one occasion, he has praised how well Canaan played prior to his injury. I'm not declaring him the future of the Rockets, but I don't think anyone who actually watched the stretch of the season when Bev was out would characterize Canaan as a "defensive nightmare" unworthy of rotation minutes. You're actually just about the only poster who seems to think he's too awful to deserve minutes, which says a lot.
My question to you was not why he was benched. My question was what basis you personally had for declaring him a "defensive nightmare" who makes plays so bone headed they cannot be tolerated. Your response was to point me to a single November game he did not start where no one played well.
It seems you have a very short memory. You asked " I'm having a really difficult time thinking of a game this season." I did not just base on one game to declare him bad in defense, but because you asked, I was giving you an example. Judging from what I have seen, his defense is bad OVERALL this year, if you disagree on that, that's fine. But seems McHale and his coaches are not on you side. Its about comparison. Obviously he is not starting or getting minutes in this team over Bev, but the real issue is, his contribution in this team is also less than what Terry can do. And I think most people will agree that Terry is not a very good defender also. So unless you will call McHale and all his coaches are idiots whose failing to evaluate Canaan, which I would like to remind you again they should have much more data than you. It seems obviously to me that Canaan is probably even a worse defender than Terry.
Considering the Rockets need SHOOTING and DRIBBLE PENETRATION PLAYMAKING I am not sure why Canaan hasn't been given more time. And I can't be lack of defense because he is not any worse than Terry from what I can tell. Shved hasn't shown me much in the minutes he has been in there, other than he is just "taller" than Canaan. Maybe he closes out on shooters better because of his length, I don't know. I just feel, if the Rockets aren't able to swing a trade for someone like Dragic, then their next best bet is to see what Canaan can do as a bench rotational player.
Harden has to rest. He plays a lot of minutes, but he still has to rest. What happens when he needs a play or two off? The answer is nothing, nothing happens. We need a playmaker, it doesn't matter what position he plays. It makes sense to have a point guard that can play make. We know it can't be the 5, we have Howard. We know it won't be the 2, we have Harden. Are there any 4 playmakers? It comes down to a 1 or 3 in my mind. With such good point guards in the West (Rondo, Paul, Westbrook to name a few), you need to make a decision...do you want your point guard to be able to defend those guys or match those guys....asked a different way....can Beverly shut any of those guys down? I like Bev....but I don't think even his energy and hustle can shut them down. Simply contesting shots could be enough on defense. The benefit would be felt on the offensive side.
As of now, its very clear that Canaan in this team will be playing behind Bev and Terry. In fact, moving forward the future will not be any brighter for him either, in more than one occasion when Bev was out injured, McHale played Nick ahead of him in the 4th to close the game. If Nick will progress normally, he should move ahead of Canaan in this team next year also.
As much as I love Beverly we do need another person who can adequately distribute the ball. This team will not survive the playoffs with just a game plan of dump it to Harden or Howard or Dmo and everyone stands back. We could get away with just a couple 3 and d pg's if we had a big man that was a good passer and be a secondary "playmaker" along Harden but we do not. I love Dwight but he does not posses the court awareness and passing that are required to justify having players just to stretch the floor and hit a three. When the ball is dumped to Howard there is no reason why our guys are also not moving. Everyone should touch the ball and everyone should be rotating to keep their defense honest. We need a pg like Dragic or Bledso or we need to get a pf who can help play point forward along side Howard. Canaan is not going to cut it and I haven't seen too much of the Shved guy to see if he has what it takes. I do feel that Papa had some of that ability and why we haven't played him more baffles me.
Regarding Nick Johnson, exactly! He got the minutes ahead of Canaan. And he is a rookie. That says something. I can only suspect it was for defensive purposes? I am not sure if McHale has a dog house, but if so, Canaan is in it. And he had company too when Troy Daniels was here.
Is it possible that he plays like total ass in practice? Sure. That I would accept. Has he played so poorly when given in-game rotation minutes this season that he should be glued to the bench and supplanted by (more) unknown quantities like Johnson & Shved? Not even remotely close, IMO. You'd be hard pressed to find a game he started this season where the opposing announcers didn't praise his performance. Ackerman and Joel just had a whole discussion on Red Nation Roundtable questioning why he wasn't back in the rotation, considering how well he played prior to his injury. I simply don't buy your theory that he has fallen out of the rotation because he's such a terrible player with nothing to contribute. I don't think many regarded AB in that way -- yet he was last year's Canaan, glued to the bench any time Lin and Bev were both healthy. He certainly seems to be in the doghouse, but I'm not at all sold on his on-court performance being the reason. A couple of weeks ago, a group of people on twitter were discussing his absence from the rotation and someone w/ a connection to the coaching staff said he was not well-liked by the staff because of his "attitude" and suspected that was the reason. I obviously don't know how true that is, but that almost makes more sense to me than anything else.
We've made a number of decent acquisitions this season, plus with DMo and Canaan's development - is there any thought that we're currently protecting assets for a significant trade before the deadline? I'm not convinced about the playmaker argument, but we definitely need someone to lighten the load from Harden. We've improved our depth, but have we improved the quality enough to make it through a playoff 1st round? I just get the feeling the likes of Schved, Papa, Canaan and 1 o 2 others may be trade bait (along with the NOP pick) to bring in another quality playmaker.
Good post. I've definitely noticed the little curl plays the Rockets run for Terry in the paint, where he get's Dwight that alley-hoop. Bev also drives baseline alot and either gets a tear drop or open look for 3. The problem is we're not hitting those 3's. In their defense, I think they really mean a change of pace PG that'll push the tempo and create shots for others (not for themselves). Cannon should be that guy, but he's more of a shooter than a creator. We need a BACKUP PG similar to D.Collison's role last year for the Clippers. A speedy past first PG that'll get guys shots off the dribble. With that said, there are bigger problems other than PG on this team
