We mostly know about our players, but Hollinger has some nice tidbits and stats in there worth reading. Starters:
Thanks for sharing it is much appreciated. And I knew CBud had improved on D, but giving up a 12.7per against other SFs? That is really good. DD
Far out! Kudos for finding us something to read that is not only about NBA basketball, but actually about players on the Rockets. I agreed with a lot of what Hollinger said. Not everything, by any means, but a lot of it.
What I personally like about Hollinger is that regardless of whether I agree with him, I do feel he's not a talking head who never saw a non-TNT/ESPN Rockets game. Very interesting about Patterson. I think Patterson's lack of an inside game was more a product of the system. Hopefully, McHale will change that and make him into a complete PF.
No problem. I didn’t agree with everything either, such as how he assumes Kyle and Chuck are going to fall back down to earth, rather than crediting them with genuine improvement. But I thought there were a lot of other good points and little stats I didn’t know.
Yeah, lol. Lowry's shot is definitely better. He was only 24 last season, and shot is one of those things that can be fixed.
He's not assuming. It is more likely that abnormally high growth in any area tend to revert to the norm. While continual improvement is generally rare. So yes, Lowry and Hayes could both have been genuinely improving. But if I were a betting man, I'd also bet against Lowry's 3pt% and Hayes' shooting% maintaining at the same rate. Sure, the homer in me thinks players will just improve. But I've watched enough young Rockets flame out to outright dismiss pessimistic outlooks.
Good info. Never thought of the Toni Kukoc comparison for Donatas. Offensive skillset and build seem to be dead on. He does seem to have good range, but Hollinger is right about his release being so flat. With one of two summers and training camps, I think they could fix the hitch in his shot.
Hollinger doesn’t have a stat for badassery, which Kyle and Chuck have in abundance and make me think they’ve really improved. :grin: Kyle, especially -- I think his 3 point shot will stay really respectable and hopefully he can improve on that mid-range game. Also, Hollinger added the report on Hill in case anyone wanted to see it:
Actually, even though that Hill report wasn't there yesterday, it sounds like it was from last year's season preview. He didn't update Hill's projected stats either, so it probably is old. My bad.
I like Hollinger's write-ups. He does put in the time. If I disagree with him, it's when he relies too much on his " +/- " stuff to explain things. Such as, "And don't tell me Boston fell apart because they traded Kendrick Perkins, who had barely played any minutes and whose +/- was therefore" etc etc. I would point out that the trade took some of the heart out of the Celtics, blindsided them; the locker room was reportedly like a mausoleum right after the trade. Which is to say, as a statistician, he might miss the human element. But that hasn't prevented me from reading his articles.
