I piled onto him when he let a shooting slump affect every aspect of his game. It was not the missed shots that ticked me off and lose all confidence in him. It was the fact that he lost all confidence in himself, showing a lack of mental fortitude and general softness. However, in the back of my mind there was a birdie that kept asking the same question: why does Adelman keep going to him, even when he was clearly hurting the team? I asked myself this not because I questioned the coaching staff, but rather because I had so much respect and faith in them. There was obviously something they saw that I was missing. Well, as it turns out, it wasn't all that complicated. He showed them what he could do all last year, and they were simply showing faith. Just like they did for Aaron as he struggled. While I still believe he has confidence issues(one of the things that plummeted his draft stock), and the next time his shot isn't falling the rest of his game might suffer again. Or maybe it won't. The mistake I made was completely giving up on a young player who had already shown that he can contribute. Discounting a young player's ability to improve and overcome obstacles. So for that, Chase, I'm sorry. With all that said let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm saying this in part because of the 2 big games that he's had. But let's not forget it was against the Cavs and Nets. Their defenses will tend to make average players look good. However he has actually turned it around for the most of 2 months now, reclaiming his production from last year with slight improvements across the board. I don't expect him to average 30 points a game, or anything close, but there are a few things going for him. 1. Like I said, he is a confidence player. He struggles badly when he loses it, and plays well when he has it. What boosts a player's confidence? Starting. In the 4 games he started last year he averaged 17 points 6 rebounds on 53% FG and 43.5% 3PT. 2. He gets to play with Kyle Lowry more now. And Kyle Lowry makes everyone better, especially shooters. 3. The sophomore slump is well documented. Maybe I didn't discount that enough when I was dogging him. Keep it up Chase, I'll go look up some recipes for crow now.
He was never playing all that different from how he did last season anyway. Yeah, his three point shooting slumped badly, but he improved other areas of his game at the same time and overall was giving us about the same contribution as he did his rookie year. Obviously you'd want him to take a step forward, not just stagnate, but it's not unusual for players to have a sophomore slump, so I'll take holding steady.
Im eating a huge plate of cow right now! Every sense we got Bud i thought he was crap! Never liked him! Always hated him! He has proved me wrong, the guys potential is All-Star level!
Whoa, really, all star? He plays little to no d, till he starts that hes no all star. I like his game, but hes got along way to go.
His defense isn't atrocious. It's below average at worst... What's interesting now is that while his defense is no where near as good as Battier's, his offense is twice as good. I expect more games where the Rockets score more than their average... while also giving up more points.
I agree, he's got a ways to go. Not implying that he is an all-star right now, but he's only in his 2nd year! He's got time improve his D, its already improved some!
I'll have me a helping of that crow as well. I counted him out and he proved me wrong big time. Let's hope that he keeps it up.
Bud is the type who gets down on himself as many have noticed. I bet he's felt this about his defense and has improved some lately. Wouldn't be surprised if that is much less of a problem following this offseason. If this scoring trend continues, I'll begin thinking I hoped for trading for G. Wallace who?
