No matter how good he is on D, his O is likely going to be marginal role player level. Is an Offense reliant coach such as Silas going to give him heavy minutes?
LOL He has not played. Let's not overreact. He's not the typical rookie. He's probably thinking, "WTH Im doing here, from a top Euroleague team, being a key piece, to one of the worse teams where I can't smell the court and any scrub tells me what I have to do." He's coming from a super professional culture, with high discipline, where everybody has a winning mentality and competitiveness. He looks demoralized and unmotivated. That's on him, no no matter the circumstances he shouldn't. But he's a 19 boy at the end of the day. Plays at a tough position for us this year. Our best players are there: Wood, Tate, Sengun, the veteran Theis... If he was a wing he would be getting minutes like many non NBA players are getting them. Bad luck. I understand that people dont know him, but be patient. He will be fine once we rebuild the roster and gets comfort, minutes, confidence.
I think he looked okay in the first quarter, his D was good enough and the Hornet did not pull away early. The whole team looked worse once the game went on.
Garuba only looks like a miss because the rest of our rookies have been rather exceptional. Give him time. Players of his style (Tucker/THICC Muh Boute/T. Allen/Bev etc) often take quite a while to reach their peaks.
Lol, if he developed an "I'm in the key piece" attitude after playing 16 minutes a night and averaging 4 points 4 rebounds in a much worse league says as much about his own unrealistic expectations as any of ours.
I believe the Rockets want Usman Garuba to play a Dennis Rodman role off the bench. I hope he Usman can almost be like Dennis as a player. Shot Block, Rebound Bring energy when he plays, get blocks, take a charge, Rebound. KJ Martin is not quick at lateral defense. Usman is quick at Lateral Defense and can guard quicker Guards. American style basketball is very different than International style. He needs to play pickup games in the offseason against other top players.
That is just a narrative, Sam. No excuses, he is not ready yet but the team is not going anywhere so give him PT anyway! Hopeful to see statlines like 8 pts 10+ rebounds 3 steals 1 blk. He got to own the glass.
Euroleague teams have a less hierarchical organization. Even the top players of the team don't average 30 minutes per game. They normally play different competitions (Euroleague, local league, Supercup, King's cup) and coaches use to do a lot of rotations (is more like the USA team plays). Having said that, Usman was an important piece for them, he came to be decisive in several moments, playoff games (even finals),because he was the only big guy of the team with that athletic/quick profile. I do not intend to excuse him, just try to get in his head and figure what he may be thinking right now... It is a big change of everything: culture, language.... is the first time he lives alone (he was living with his parents in Spain), and then also the basketball part: different terminology, role, expectations, even different rules , spacing... different teammates (all his teammates in Madrid were veterans, they may not have NBA talent, but they are experienced and savvy)... And after all, he looks older but he is a 19 year old kid. Is not weird to struggle in that scenario.
We will be hearing lots of "He is a 19 yr old kid", next year "He is a 20 yr old kid." That's life now.
We should talk about this more. This man goes from being the top youngster in the Real Madrid system to a Fertita Organization. Let's not pretend that change is nothing. This man is also the 3rd guy in a big man rotation with arguably a top5 National Team in the Olympics. Again, not your typical rookie. I´m most concerned about having someone close to him as these changes settle in his head. He is going to get through this if he wants to make it in the NBA, but as some of you mentioned, he could go back to Spain and be a European Star in a month. These choices are not so obvious for a teenager. We need to give him structure and a serious rotation. And the chance to play when we actually try to play, he has played mostly garbage minutes. Having said that, OP is right as for expectations. Draft previews had him as one of the top defensive prospects ever on some aspects (pick and roll, Hollinger) and he has not shown that. And his offense is raw as most of you already saw and mentioned.
Yes because every good team needs catch and shoot guys who can make open 3's. That's all Garuba needs to learn, he knows how to bully weaker players.
I said it in a different thread (and then Green came back with a vengeance), but anyone trying to project a player's career less than half a season in is an idiot of the highest degree.
He looks like a professional football player thrown out there as some sort of test to see how different athletes perform in different sports. Clueless. Still pulling for him.
I’m more curious about how Garuba’s mindset is right now. He talked a pretty big game coming into the NBA and now he’s getting his head dunked in an ice bath. He can definitely become a Prince Luc type role player but he has a ton to work on.
Could Real Madrid or Spain even beat the full strength Vipers in a series? I have my doubts. I mean, sure that Rudy Fernandez looks great....if it's 2005.
