He's shown too much promise to get traded, at this time. DUDE IS 23!....let him play longer, I am a firm believer that the potential of our starting 5 is championship worthy. What we need more than anything is depth. Also a winning veteran presence wouldn't hurt. But our starting 5, in the future, is VERY scary.
I really like how Patterson has developed. Right now he is showing, that he belongs in this league. The question is what is his ceiling. Can he be an elite scorer that you want to run plays for? Or will he be the one that hits the occasional tough shots but makes his living off of open shots? The one thing he has going for him is his basketball IQ - he knows his limitations and plays well within them. I think his rebounding can improve with the right coaching - he will never be an elite rebounder, but boxing out and getting in position, that can be learnt. His 1on1 defense is already pretty good, he needs to improve his help defense.
Not really, no. "Soft" is used to describe a player who doesn't like to bang for rebounds near the basket, and otherwise shies away from the more physical aspects of the game. This isn't some mysterious, ambiguous adjective people are using here.
Patterson wasn't a bad spot up shooter last season. He was capable of hitting threes last season. He just didn't shoot many.
Lol what? Soft does, and has always had a meaning in basketball. It's when someone dislikes the physical aspects of the game, and avoids it. See Chris Bosh, Patrick Patterson.
I respect that Patterson appears to have upped his offensive game, but the lack of defensive play in the paint and the fact that Ibaka put up 20 on us last night kind of says all that needs to be said. Good player with the potential to be very good, but yeah he is soft.
True, but Ibaka is thought of as a great defensive player and PatPat dropped 27....so I don't know if you can use that as any kind of proof. Both were hitting jumpshots last night, tough to stop.
Ppat just isn't (and likely won't be) the go-to guy we so desperately need at the end of games in the paint. He's a good role player for a contending team like the Thunder or Lakers. Sell him high whenever possible.
Real question: If Patterson is able to keep up the production from the last two games... Would that be enough to justify keeping him long-term? The obvious answer seems to be yes. But I think its clear to all that Patterson didn't "dominate" last night even had the rockets won. His offense is based almost completely on offensive rebounds and his jump shot falling. I do seem to remember one or two little post-moves in there. If he were able to go to his post-game more often I think I'd have much more confidence in him. He did show an ability to get defenders in the air, which is something a starting 4 has to be able to do. On the other hand, so did Asik. Anyway, I'm excited about his increased production, I just want to see if it holds up with any regularity.
Tough 2 say. Morey likes to shed himself of less-than-stellar players before he's forced to pay them.
If we didn't have DMo, Morris and Jones waiting behind him yes but Morey will sell high like we did with Landry.
Pat isn't just a bad rebounder, statistically among starting PF and C's he the 59th out of 60 in rebounds rate, only person worse is the pathetically bad Andrea Bargnani, and at least Bargnani is a true sniper. He is an abysmal rebounder. He's a complete non factor in the paint. It isn't as if he is destroying defenses, he's just hitting open shots, i can find numerous players that can do that, and grab an occasional rebound. He's simply isn't a good enough shooter to justify all of his deficiencies, he has no real post game, only an average finisher, no rim protection and the rebounding.
I haven't posted much lately but privately I've been very critical of Patterson. That said, he's a like-able player that's performed well lately. Still not convinced he's starter caliber, but in the interim the offense needs to come from somewhere other than Harden/Parsons.
We need to be more patient with Patterson. He's 23 years old and has clearly shown improvement. He's scoring 14ppg on 51% shooting and 37% from downtown in less than 30mpg. I've mentioned before that he's younger now than Carl Landry was on the day he was drafted. Landry had poorer defense and similarly weak rebounding, but was a fan favorite. Let Patterson have a chance to win you over too. Also, I don't care if he has a low perceived ceiling. If we eventually get another star, or DMo or Jones surprisingly become that star, Patterson can still be a valuable reserve. He's on his rookie contract until the end of next year. I'm in no hurry to dump him.
I don't know if PPat will ever be able to be a great rebounder. He might be the worst rebounding PF in the NBA
Huh? How many "go-to-guys" do you expect to get under the cap? 5? If we "desperately need" one then we don't have any so, by your train of thought, we should trade everyone. PFs aren't usually go-to guys at the end of the game. They don't have the handles. Maybe Carmelo, but he isn't a true PF.
