Lots of great stuff in that piece .....Thanks jopatmc. I agree. CD SHOULD be in the HOF. Look out. Omer wants it, has the talent/size, and is being tutored by the best.
I laughed, but I honestly am a little surprised that he's not working with McHale. Not that it matters, CD knows what he's doing, but McHale is going to have his hands full with the youngsters in training camp, so it would be nice for him to get some one-on-one time with Asik.
I don't think there is any reason for him to train with dream on his offense when he still doesn't have the basics down.
I was hoping McHale had already been working with the rookies over the off-season. That's just wishful thinking, though.
Outside of Marcin Gortat, I don't see many defensive specialist centers developing well offensively. I hope he becomes as good at catching and finishing as Tyson Chandler. I don't think Chandler took a single shot outside of the paint last year and he still had good chemistry with Lin. If Asik remains a huge liability, he'll never be able to play enough minutes to earn that contract, so here's hoping.
encouraged news. I know he works hard in D, hope Asik will pair well in pick-n-roll with Lin as well.
That's what I'm hoping for too. The thing with Asik is that he doesn't need to become an offensive threat, he just needs to get the point where he's not a liability. As long as he sets great screens, can hit point blank shots off offensive rebounds, and catch and finish when rolling to the basket, we're good. His biggest problem from what I can tell, outside of his complete lack of a jumper, is his difficulty in catching the damn ball when it's passed to him. From what I've see, he's Kwame Brown-bad in that regard. I'm not sure if that's something that can be fixed, but let's keep our fingers crossed. I've also noticed that he tends to bring the ball down way, way too low, but that's definitely something that can be fixed. Maybe he should spend an hour a day with a JUGS machine.
at nba.com everything sounds encouraging. 'When the next attempt rattles in and out, however, more wind sprints beckon. Omer Asik is determined to be a better free throw shooter this year. In related news, he’ll also be in the best shape of his life.' contrast that with the reported 70% FT shooting. i'm guessing he might get to 50% in actual games.
I was just about to type something similar. What else is CD going to say? "I've tried working with this guy but he's helpless. He makes Ben Wallace look like Mark Price. It's going to be a long season for Rockets fans."?
I went back and watched the Houston/Chicago game. Asik was great on the defensive end, tho that was mostly against the Houston's second team. If he can do that and grab boards for 30+ minutes a game and pick up modest skills on offense, I'll be very pleased. The guy started playing bball quite late in his life; while that fact can be read in both ways, I take it to mean that he can acquire improve and acquire more offensive skills, but just hasn't had all the opportunities to do so. Asik is much criticized for having bad hands in not catching passes well unless they are perfectly fed to him. But I don't look at him and think he's clumsy, so I'm hopeful... I'll say this though, as much as Tyson Chandler has been praised for his work in the PnR last season, he wasn't always like that; he grew into it, and I still don't think Chandler doesn't have greet hands. Part of it is not expecting passes and he also just fumbles some outright. I'm looking forward to seeing Asik develop.
This is the key. We don't need him to have a big post game, we just need him to make the buckets Lin and co. set up for him, and do his thing on defense.
