Is this Omri Casspi's best season so far?

So far...yes. As far as 15 games though.

Still a whole season to be played (and a post season).

Will have to revisit this later in the year or after this season to really say.

 

Google translate is fun. Aside from apparently being a financial wizard, this season he has been "playing almost exclusively Powerpuff forward".

 

I wonder what Casspi would say. I'm sure he will remember his rookie season as something extraordinary, but he was playing with a loosing team. I guess this season is like the rookie season for him. Only with the difference that now he's coming out from a freezer to sunshine. This time, however, he is playing with a real pro-basketball team that will be a title contender (remember what I said), which must be a new and exciting experience for him.

 

Are you Ben Kenobi?

 

LOL, some of his detractors would call it an accurate description, though.

I think he is happy to be part of a winning organization. He's still working to find his exact role, but as long as he is hustling, scrambling and working hard on D, he can be a contributor off the bench.

 

Are you asking me? I had to go to Wikipedia to find out who Ben Kenobi is.

Anyway, before the season and especially after the Howard signing, the Rockets were considered to have a very strong starting lineup with no bench at all. With the emergence of Casspi all that has changed significantly.

At the beginning of the season I had a different view of how the rotation will look like and you can probably still remember the TT experiment. Now having Lin, Asik, Garcia, Brooks and Casspi coming from the bench with the possibility to mix each them to a number of combinations with the starters, gives the team versatility and flexibility to deal with just about any opponent.

In my opinion that is the key to success. Teams that have a specific signature game, never mind how good, find it difficult to get through the playoffs because there is always that one team that can deal with their style.

 

Underrated trade asset. We might be able to package him with Asik to get something good.

 

I don't think it will happen this season. You would have to find a team that not only wants Asik but also wants Casspi, because Casspi's salary does not change anything. Asik is worth $8 mil in terms of cap and adding Casspi's one more mil still will not bring "something good". If you want something good, you have to combine Asik and Lin.

Asik and Lin for a heavy expiring would give Morey a lot of space to deal around next summer. The greatness of Casspi's and Garcia's contracts is that they dont put any pressure on the cap.

 

I said something good, not "a superstar".

Casspi could be an excellent bench piece for some contending team.

The Rockets need to look to upgrade in a way which sends Parsons to the bench and adds a wing defender to the starting lineup--which would not leave any minutes for Omri anyway. (Parsons would take them all + all of Garcia's and a few of Harden's.)

 

OK. I could see NO looking for the Asik+Casspi pakage for Ryan Anderson or something like that, but that would not move Parsons to the bench. To move Parsons to the bench you would need someone like Shawn Marion in his prime. Who did you think of as Parsons upgrade (I still think Parson is a starter)?

 

No doubt. He was never used in Cleveland nor in Sac.

 

Two things about Casspi I really like.

1 :How well he finishes in the open court.Hreally finishes well and strong

2: He is an underrated passer. He isn't good at post entery passes, but in set plays he does really well at making that one dribble pass to cutters or the bigs.

 

if you watch Casspi's interview after the shootaround yesterday, you can see that from his perspective this is his best season--take a look around 2:00, and then watch his response at 2:40 when asked if this is his favorite NBA team to have played for thus far in his career. He seems generally thrilled to be here.

http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2013/11/26/ZOOM0004MOV-3054724

 

I think we basically need Luo Deng. (or Iguodala who is not possible)

 

Deng or Afflalo would be perfect.

 

hmmm chris finch coached deng on the british national team.

 

i seriously wonder what this rockets locker room is like...

i doubt casspi fits

 

What makes you think he doesn't fit?

 

Thanks for this! A classy interview. Certainly strengthens my opinion about the team and its very high ceiling.