Wasn't that the case with Ryan Bowen too. I don't think we really have a choice though. He isn't really all that young for a 3rd year guy, he isn't atheletic, and he doesn't rebound. He can shoot but no one knows because he doesn't get off the pine. We can't trade him, we're stuck, so we might as well develop him.
I'm equating trying to question that Shane is a better athlete than Novak with insanity. But yeah - if there's a guy who you can say "well we can put him on Kobe and probably be allright" - let's call him player "SB" for the sake of this hypo...... ......and there's another guy, who you can say "boy, if we try to put him on Gordon Giricek, he's going to get scarred for life and we're going to be investigated by the War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague" - let's call him player "SN"..... It's a FAIRLY SAFE ASSUMPTION that player SB just might, just just might....be a better athlete than player SN And yes - guys who are good defenders and rebounders do tend to be good athletes. Dennis Rodman was a fantastic athlete. He could jump, come down, and jump again in the time it takes for Yao to jump once. Wes Unseld, Ben Wallace - those guys were stronger than a team of oxen. Michael Cooper - great athlete.....etc. Hell even Chuck Hayes is pretty strong for his size. I could go on but I don't feel the need too. Anyway - I are you saying that it's an open question that Battier and Novak have a comparable level of athleticism - whatever that means? Cause I sure don't think it's comparable at all. And do you think that Novak has a prayer in hell of establishing himself as a defensive player on the level of Battier - were he to "be developed", again whatever that means - cause if so - I'm gladly going to take the under from you - name your price.
I have been a strong advocate for Novak all season. A great, consistent shooter of his caliber doesn't come around to often. I'll echo the sentiment, he could definitely use some practice on the defensive end. I hope Matt Bullard can take him under his wing this summer and teach him some defense. Great shooter, but dude has slow feet. I'm sure he'd give Michael Flatley nightmares. I agree though, we definitely need to develop this guy. He is too great of a shooter to let go. He has one of the quickest releases I've seen.
I'm not talking about adding 1.5 inches to his vertical or taking 1/10 second off his 40 yard dash (I know that is more football but still a great way to measure speed). You can't take a healthy, professional athlete who is in his early 20s and do anything that will improve his athleticism much at all if he has been training for a few years. I'm sure the guy is doing all he can and he looks the same as he did at the beginning of last season. I'm pretty familiar with weight training and cross training for sports. If you have been working out for several years already (sport specific training) and you are in your early to mid 20s you have pretty much hit your peak. Some small improvements can be made with Novak but nothing that is going to change who he is as an athlete. Adding muscle mass and strength is about all he can do at this point but that isn't going to help him with getting beat off the dribble or looking like a moron defensively. And he needs so much muscle if he is to deal with NBA PF then it would more than likely affect his shot. 20-25lb of muscle is a lot more than people think. Even on a 6'10" dude.
dave78 - Its core stregnth that improves ur atheletic ability. Go look at Bynum his yrs prior to this. He started playing above the rim as opposed to below it. He started getting off the floor quicker because ur core also entails the power from ur ab area and upper body. Getting stronger allows greater stamina also. I'm not saying novak will be a great athelete, but he can get quicker, stronger, faster. If u don't think cutting ur 40 time down doesn't equate to being quicker and more explosive, then I don't know what to tell u. From personal experience While training with charles austin who was the world high jump champ at the time, increased all my physical attributes on the court. When I got to college, we did a lot of track work. From 40's to 200 and 400 meter runs. My wife used to train a lot of basketball players eventhough she was a collegiate sprinter. I remember the summer before leaving toronto, tracy attended chris carters F.A.S.T. camp on recommendation of butch, chris brother. We knew even then he was a great athelete, but going to that camp, he became a better athelete. He dropped his 40 from 4.6 to 4.4. His short shuttle and hundred meter also improved. That yr, tracy had a breakout season. The next yr in orlando was regarded as the best wing in hoops. Bottomline, if a player has a strong base, he can transfer the power to his legs, which equates to the player becoming more explosive. U ever notice every running back or db has like a 35 in vertical. U will also notice those are the 4.3 guys. That's power being transferred from the upper body, to the abs, thru the quads to the ground. Novak needs to get stronger.
Not to quibble with you but Carl Landry added 4 inches to an already impressive vertical AFTER he joined the Rockets. That's in much less than a year. So it is POSSIBLE for kids in their 20's to improve athletically. Whether or not it's possible for Novak is a different question. I think a shooter like that needs to be on the court for the Rockets specifically because the Rockets go through stretches, horribly long stretches where no one on the court can hit the broad side of a barn.
............and you are twisting what I said. Read the post. I did not say SN was a better athlete than Shane. I simply said I don't think Shane is as good an athlete as everybody thinks he is and I don't think SN is as bad an athlete as some here are trying to make him out to be. I am simply saying they are not on different planets athletically. Shane is an average athlete, nothing more. And Steve is below average, but he's a pro athlete, he's got size, length, and he can run up and down the floor. He's a below average NBA athlete, but there's a lot of players in the NBA that are below average. The question is about sheer athleticism. I'm trying to downplay the significance. Athleticism is overrated. Larry Bird and Harold Minor and Gerald Green and Isaiah Rider and John Stockton and Yao Ming and 80% of the 7 footers in the NBA and a host of other players have proven it. SN will never be as good a defender as Shane because it's not the skill set he has developed since he started playing basketball. On the other hand, Shane will NEVER be in the same class with SN shooting the basketball because that is not the skillset that Shane put the greatest emphasis on and it is the skill that Novak has developed. As good as we all think Shane is shooting it, if you forced Shane to put up 20 shots, his percentages would go down drastically, because he has a slow, low release and needs time to set up his shot. You put Shane and Novak against one another in a 3 point shooting contest and SN wipes the floor with him the same way that Shane kills him playing defense. A skillset is different from athleticism. Athleticism is a natural phenomena that you get from your parents, it's in the genes. You can alter it some, increase your athleticism a little bit, but you really can't change how many fast twitch and slow twitch fibers you got. You can only improve your vertical so much, improve your speed so much, etc. But, on the other hand, you can practice a particular skill over and over thousands of times day in and day out over a number of years and develop that skill to a very highly efficient level. You can go from not being able to hit the rim shooting the ball to being able to knock down over 50% of your shots from the 3 point line, if you start young enough, and practice perfectly with a very high number of repitions. This is what Novak has done with his shot and what Shane has done with his defensive ability. 90% of both these guys skillsets is their work ethic and what they spent all that work doing. Only approximately 10% of the success of that skillset can be attributed to their athleticism.
You used defensive and rebounding abilities to prove that Battier is a better athlete than Novak. By the same logic, I can prove that Yao Ming is more athletic than Stromile Swift. As for Novak's potential, I don't think anybody is dreaming for him being able to be a lock down defender. He can shoot. So people are trying see if there's anyway to utilize that skill, which we need plenty. IMO, Novak is physically too limited to be anything more than a situational player, unless he finds a way to improve either his strength or his speed or both.
Well spoken sir, and I am SHCOKED that Sam would take something out of context to make an argument. Nice rebuttel. DD
No - you can use that same logic to prove that Yao is 7 foot 6 which is a pretty obvious outlier. Anyway are you saying that since this logic is fallacious - it's not Novak's slowness and weakness that gets him pushed around, it's simply that he doesn't care or isn't smart enough to do either of the above? A ringing endorsement if so.... Larry Bird John Stockton Steve Novak = definition of a reach. Nobody is questioning his "pure athleticism" - or even knows what it means. You're arguing that he's a great athlete and as good as shane, but not as good as shane, but being a good athlete doesn't matter anyway...etc. Whatever, all i know is that he's a liability doing anything else but shooting the ball cause he appears to be weak and slow.
Yes, and there are ways to take advantage of his unique skill set and mask his deficiencies. I mean honestly would playing Novak be any different than playing Chuck Hayes? Hayes is awesome on D but putrid on O, Novak is the polar opposite. With Chuck you have to make concesions on offense, with Novak it would be on Defense. If Chuck Hayes can play, so can Novak. DD
Lol Shane is atheletic? I don't know if anyone have a video of it. Maybe clutch has it. The home lost against Suns when McGrady was out (or Yao I forgot, I think it was McGrady). Well, basically our last home lost against the Suns, Shane Battier went for a one hand jam. He of course was fouled (luckily), but bill and clyde were laughing their ass off because Battier took off from where McGrady usually takes off, and the basketball was way below the rim.... And he was going for a one hand dunk lol. Anyone remember seeing this?
I agree. This team's defense is fine. Of course I belive Novak can work on his defense this summer but I'd rather have Novak on the court than Hayes. As much as I love Hayes but is he just useless on offense. What's more, we need shooters around McGrady, Yao. It is time for Novak to show he can be in the rotation.
JVG : Steve, muscularity, defend AD: Steve, muscularity....defend... T-MAC: steve, learn me ,so strong,so defending ability
Actually it was JVG who said that Novak's individual defense was better than expected but his team defense was not up to par. So it's his team defense and rotations that needs improvement. That you gotta leave to the Rockets in terms of player development.
jopatmc used a better example in Bird, who was a great rebounder and a good defender with little athleticism. No. Read the rest of my post. I stated that he's physically too limited unless he improved on his speed and strength. But I do believe that decent (not great) defense and rebounding can be learned by a non-athletic player, if he cares enough. It's not a reach. The point is not that Novak is a great player like Bird and Stockton. The point is physically limited players can be good defenders.
I'm sure it's not us who has to develop Novak; Novak has to develop Novak. If you don't crack the rotation, it's because you haven't made yourself good enough. Not because your coaching staff didn't develop you.
