What's wrong with Weatherspoon?

Spoon has actually had a couple of suprising blocks the last few games. Which is weird, considering that he cant seem to get up high enough to dunk the ball.

 

He's pretty much below average acorss the board. He doesn't have many glaring weaknesses, but if he's your 4, you're gonna lose that matchup most nights. Unlike, a Cato, there's not really much more he can do to get better. He is what he is, a below average NBA talent.

 

I think if the Rockets had a more traditional sm. forward (i.e. someone who was taller) - then they could afford to have a shorter PF. But right now it is two centers and three shooting guards in the line up - just to keep some balance

 

Don't you remember 'Spoon's vicious baseline dunk on (not over) Yao at the Garden last year?

As for the "albatross" thing ... he's no more an albatross than Jim Jackson, another player who's been shuttled among many teams. At 6'6", Spoon is undersized but has always been recognized as a hard worker. This guy averaged over 18 points in the early 90's with Philly.

 

Spoon has always been a favorite of mine going back to Philly.

He is the perfect role player coming off the bench imho...minimal mistakes, blue collar guy (as Rudy would call it) and just plays within himself.....

I like Cato when he stays within himself and tries not to create.....maybe Cato could take a lesson or 2 from Spoon in this area...memo to Cato: quick taking jumpshots, fallaways and hook shots. He 80% when dunking, 45% when tipping in or layins and 5% with the jumpshot and sweeping hook....last night: 3 jump shots, 1 sweeping hook and one feeble drive....

 

i like weatherspoon when he played with miami. but i remember him shooting the final shot a couple of years back when he played with NY against the heat in a first round matchup. and he missed. he should have never taken that shot. he was the worst scorer on the court. and he forced a bad shot. the knicks lost because of that mis. other then that shot. i like the guy of the bench

 

So Weatherspoon's missed shot was the reason the Knicks lost the game? The way they played prior to that missed shot had no bearing on the outcome?

 

He's short, fat, old, and overpaid.

But he's still better than Mooch.

 

Spoon is everything you said. He is avg and he is undersized.
Like someone else mentioned, he can't seem to jump hi enough to dunk even when he is alone under the basket. Yesterday against Cleve was the first dunk for him as a Rocket if I am not mistaken.

Yet, I like him and the energy he brings. He defends, rebounds and gets his points within the system. It's tough for him to guard a tall PF (6'-10+) but he does well against smaller ones. He can even guard a 3.

It would have been OK to give Mooch away for free. To get Spoon back is a big plus for us.

 

For a backup-to-the-backup PF, I don't think he's that awful. Makes a lot of money to be a third stringer though.

 

Anybody is better than Mooch..... (inculing his old hair style)

 

You've got the teams mixed up. 'Spoon was on the Heat when he took that shot against the Knicks at the end of Game 7 in their 2nd round series in 2000. The Heat ended up losing, 83-82. 'Spoon shouldn't have taken the shot, but if you remember the play, Mourning passed out of the post and Mashburn was hiding from the ball. I remember thinking back then that none of the Miami players had the balls to take the last shot. It's not Spoon's fault that they left him hanging like that.

 

He had his best game of the season last night against Cleveland. Yeah, he's progressed throughout the season, but I just don't think you'll get those kind of results out of the Spoonman night-in & night-out.

But hey, he was hot last night! As long as he's hustling like that, you're right, we should keep him on the floor.

 

last night against the cavs was the first time i saw him. he seemed like a type of guy jvg would want for third string... very gritty... he's cool. and i'd rather have him than moochie...

 

What 'Spoon is doing right now only clarifies a need for this team which is an "off the bench, hustle role player, that can bring energy and get rebounds."

In the offseason this team needs to address this and a nice bench player that brings those intangibles needs to be added, a player that is better than Spoon.

 

I think his contract has been flying under the radar a bit among Rockets fans. We know it is bad. But how bad is it? This year, he makes $5.4 million. That's what Cuttino Mobley makes. It's fourth highest on the team behind Francis, Taylor, and Cato. And, he'll make $5.9 million next season and $6.4 million the year after that. By comparison, Moochie makes only 3.5 million this season. And, Moochie's contract ends at 4.6 million, which is almost a million less than what Spoon makes right now. The silver lining is only that the contract is a year sooner so that we'll have a ton of cap room in the summer of 2006. So, he definitely is an albatross, considering the minutes he plays. Fortunately, he can give us something and we're probably capped out during his tenure anyway because of our other cap albatrosses.

 

we got rid of aka "manboobs" salery to. So add that in.

 

God forbid that somebody on the team actually wants to win.

 

You're right we also shed Amaechi's contract. I didn't mention it because I wasn't evaluating the trade. I was just trying to get a sense of the relationship between salary paid and impact on the court. Spoon has given us more this season than Norris did, for whatever reason. But, he also takes up more space on the payroll. That's the point I was trying to make. That and the fact that he's paid better than 3 starters (Yao, Mobley and Jackson) despite being a 10th man on the team.

Btw, though we did get rid of Amaechi's contract, it was the shortest of the 3 and for the smallest amount. So, in the trade, we got out of an extra year of paying Moochie, but tacked on an extra year of paying Amaechi -- both embodied in the salary of Spoon. That probably helps us more than it hurts since it looks like Summer '06 is a targeted offseason. But, we did give something up in the shorter contract.