Delfino is the man I really was confused on the signing at first but now i like him alot he's the exact kind of vet we need. He's hip with the young crowd, u can see he has some swag but on the court he's all business and doesn't get rattled at all. I really hope morey picks up his option ( I'm sure he will) and also hope that he finishes his career here. Every contender would love to have him. The rockets are building something very special and delfino is the perfect player to build with around our core he doesn't complain about playing time and does his job better than advertised. One of my fav rockets in a long time.
I admit that when we signed him, I was wrong to doubt the signing. I was worried that he'd take away playing time from our young players and that he wouldn't have any positive impact on the team. I really thought his signing was nothing more than for gaining another asset to help out the next trade around the trade deadline this season. I was truly wrong. He helps in many ways, most of which have already been stated in this thread. And with Lamb being traded and with Royce "The Choice" White choosing not to play for the Rockets, he's really not even taking up playing time from the young guys this season. He really does stabilize this team. He's the reason I'm not having to tell myself "they're a young team" as much as I thought I'd have to. Because he's the guy that comes in and settles us down during the inevitable scoring slumps that our young team has. He also has some great play-making abilities. He doesn't slack off on defense. And he can get smoking hot from the 3-point line, with an occasional short-term slump. But I also agree that his +/- is padded because of the games he missed against some of our toughest opponents. That's not to take away from his importance to the team. But we can't look at him as much more than the perfect veteran stabilizing factor that he is. Like in many cases, +/- does not tell the whole story here.
EDIT: We definitely have a unique type of offense.We're inside-out, but not in the traditional sense. Frequent use of the PnR, but the dribble-drive is always the primary option for both of our play makers. But we are pretty easy to stop if one can manage a zone defense than can trap the ball handler. If any one/two of our guys can hit the 3 ball, the dish-game inside off the iso becomes wide open and the roller/harden/lin can have a big stretch. We're more outside-inside-outside in the half court. Our fast breaks tend to feed too much off our players hitting shots, though. We need to learn how to create more consistently off of defense when our shots aren't falling to stop teams like OKC from manhandling us.
Delfi is a good player... going beyond my expectations... wish he would not take boneheaded shots but somehow he's still efficient. I like his persona as well. I think he's a good pickup who has been under valued... the league was Morey'ed once again. Also I think his eurostyle makes him a good poor man's Manu when it comes to bench spark. Can't wait to see if he ends up late blooming like Scola.
Split G FG% 3P% PTS TRB AST Win 15 .435 .398 9.1 3.5 2.4 Loss 8 .309 .286 8.9 3.8 2.3 I think it's incredibly interesting that his shooting efficiency correlates so heavily on the game's result even though the volume stats don't change. Whether he keys on the team or the team keys on him is a good debate, but yeah, I'd say he's very important.
He fits with the offense, can handle and make plays for others, and he can always get his shot off because he's willing to fire it up from five feet behind the three point line. Vet savvy, and okay on D. Not scared to shoot.
He's been absolutely HUGE to this team, imo. And I'm not even talking about the stats he puts up. I'm talking about the way he carries himself. You can tell that he's really confident and when he steps on the floor he knows he can make a difference. There's no second-guessing going on with him. He's the perfect veteran for these young guys to take after.
He has cut down on his bad shots since his food poisoning and is doing much better passing the ball. Thank you, Manu. :grin:
You've gotta keep this guy if you can. I think players like him and Patterson are the perfect bench guys for a contending team. You just wonder if he'll still be playing at the same level in 3 to 5 years when we're looking to make a run. Either way, the guy is an asset. Yet again, DM finds a hidden gem.
He's been contributing to the team in other ways, making good passes playing some decent defense, great hustle plays and timely steals. He looks to have taken less r****ded shots, but still makes them.
