I think I'll wait and see how Gaines develops. He apparently has the tools and college pedigree to become a solid contributor. Whether that contribution is during game time or as a vital practice player remains to be seen. It takes some players a year or two to get their pro game together. I think his potential, based on his original draft status, gives the kid a mulligan on his rookie season with a brokedown Magic team. I hope he has a great season.
Nobody can say with any certainty how good (or bad) he is until they see him. My inclination (and this could be easily swayed by live action) is he's a bust. The fact Orlando left him off the protected list is scary. A terrible team like Orlando was dying for a playmaker last year. I'm a little wary why he couldnt crack even an ounce of playing time on a terrible team. That raises major red flags. Of course like everyone said, he could be a late bloomer blah blah blah.. This is all true. Van Gundy should play him (and Nachbar) a lot during the preseason games. Most Rockets fans here are optimists. They hope Nachbar will be good. They believe Eddie Griffin will be the next Jermaine O' Neal and Dan Langhi is better than Eduardo Najera. Malick Badienne, anyone? Dave Jamerson, oh where art thou.
CD and JVG knew Gaines was left unprotected, they must've had seen something in this kid to ask for him in the trade. CD isn't a great talent finder, on the other hand, he isn't an incompetent fool the others make him out to be.
Being left unprotected should not be scary. Orlando and the Rockets may have had a wink-wink deal for some minor quid pro quo with Charlotte that we don't know about. Orlando also left ZaZa Pachulia unprotected -- that may have been part of the quid pro quo because 20-year-old bigs with range are always marketable. Look at Okur -- and look at the fact that Milwaukee very quickly snapped Pachulia up in a trade with Charlotte.
HillBoy: "I'm going on what T-Mac HIMSELF said when he forced the trade out of Orlando - that he wanted to win NOW. He did not say that he wanted to go to a team and wait around while it worked to get it's act together." TMac asked to come to Houston because of Yao. TMac and Yao will make a great team regardless of the supporting cast, and while the supporting cast now (Jackson, Taylor, Lue, etc.) is OK, it definitely needs improvement. Hence the team's pursuit of Brent Barry and a reserve center. Remember that TMac has made Houston an attractive target for FAs and has offered to help recruit them. I fully expect TMac to sign an extension before the season starts. "Do not assume that playoffs are a given with this team as presently constructed because they are not. This team needs a significant upgrade at the 1 & 4 as well as backup 5 MINIMUM just to remain competative." Nothing is a given. But I just don't see how this team could fail to make the playoffs as presently constructed, and we're not done constructing it. "They can encourage Gaines all they want but once the season starts, they'll need a PG who can play NOW." Hence the offer to Barry. "You may have the luxury of waiting for Gaines or even Griffin to show up but JVG does not. It's his a$$ on the line here. Should this team fail to make the playoffs, this BBS will be ready to have a JVG bonfire with JVG as the fuel source. (BTW, there is no 2nd rookie year.)" Do you really think JVG and CD are worried about getting roasted on a BBS??? They are worried about exactly two things: putting together a winner, and getting fans in seats. If the team is winning, fans will come. Ergo, they want a winner. They will use the MLE on a starting point guard and may use the TE or engineer a trade to fill other needs. Then, once the team is assembled, they will decide if Gaines is good enough to stay on the team. JVG's job is not on the line this year. Next year it will be if a healthy Yao and TMac don't make the playoffs. BTW I said second year of his rookie contract, not second rookie year. But now that you mention it, this will be like Gaines' second rookie year, or maybe his real rookie year. If he has shown no improvement next spring, I'll jump on your little bandwagon to get rid of him. But I draw the line at burning him alive.
What has that to do with anything? This is the same line of reasoning that people use when they say Eddie Griffin is young and is therefore the next Jermaine O'Neal. For every person that doesnt play and becomes productive, there are 100 others who were actually busts. The odds are in my favor. He could be good or he could be bad. Carlos Arroyo's success has no bearing on whether Reece Gaines is good or bad.
I’m saying at this point, Boki and Gaines are young players with potential. Just like Arroyo was his first two seasons. They are not bust and they are not for sure destined for stardom. They’re simply two players that haven’t gotten the chance to prove themselves yet. Your view seems to be a player is a bust the second they enter the NBA until they prove otherwise. That’s like saying a person is guilty until proven innocent. If the Jazz had your level of patience, they would have ditched Arroyo after his first season.
That would have been hard for them to do since he wasn't on their team his first season. Arroyo averaged 3 and 2 in 10 minutes during his rookie year...not horrible. Better than Gaines. Personally, I think they should try Gaines at the 2 first. If he can show he can play, then the Rockets can experiment with him at the 1 in two or three years.
First of all, you’re assuming lack of playing time equates to lack of opportunity. It may be the case and it may not depending on the situation. For example, for long-time Rockets fans we all know that Rudy would play anyone just to experiment with lineups. He’s the CBA king. He would play Tim Breaux, Randy Livingston, Matt Maloney, Moochie Norris, Roderick Rhodes, etc… The fact he didn’t play Nachbar leads me to believe Rudy just didn’t think much of him his first year. Perhaps it was his hernia injury or he wanted to just let him sit and watch. Whatever it was, Rudy didn’t play him and that’s contrary to his style. From that, I would conclude Nachbar was a complete project unworthy of court time. Out goes Rudy, in comes Van Gundy. Van Gundy also did not use Nachbar. That’s a little disturbing considering he acknowledged that Jim Jackson was playing way too many minutes. He could easily have let Nachbar gain some experience. Obviously, he felt Nachbar was lacking, just like Rudy T. What does this mean? It means that under 2 very successful coaches, Nachbar has not earned any significant minutes. In both situations, that was contrary to style or need. Does this mean Nachbar is a bust? Not necessarily. However, if I was a betting man, based on the evidence presented, Id bet he isn’t good. With Reece Gaines, I’m inclined to believe he is a bust. Bad teams do not let talent sit on the bench. Oftentimes, you earn playing time based on how you practice. Just because players don’t get into games, does not necessarily mean they didn’t have an opportunity. Perhaps, it was just a bad fit. I made it clear that we won’t know until we see him play and Van Gundy should play him early and often in pre-season. However, if I was a betting man, like Nachbar, I’d say right now he’s not a major contributor. That could change.
Last year, teams did this with Yao, Steve, and Cat. Teams clamped down on Yao and let Steve and Cat try to win the game for the Rockets. Steve and Cat, sadly, are terrible with the ball when the other defender actually puts a little pressure on them. We lost several games to this travisty, but I do not see the same thing happening to Yao and McGrady. McGrady is a true scorer in every meaning of the word, Steve and Cat are not. Steve said it himself, he didn't always know when to shoot and when to pass. McGrady is a great team player, and will not have the burden of running the offense for the Rockets like Steve did(big plus). Also if we get Barry, we will have JJ, Barry, Lue, and hopefully Nachbar ready to drain threes. A big reason the lakers lost to this type of defense was because they were all out of three point shooters to dish out to on doubles. With Barry, JJ, Nachbar, and Lue; this will not be a problem. There's also the fact that Kobe and Shaq were playing very selfishly throughout the series, both wanting to be the hero. I do not see that with Yao and McGrady as well.
Rudy and Van Gundy were both under the gun to get their teams into the playoffs. Boki has clearly shown that he is not an immediate contributor, but rather a player that needs to be developed. They didn’t have time to develop Boki. They needed to get their teams into the playoffs. The team was already very mistake prone to begin with, that they couldn’t afford to play an inexperienced player in Boki that is bound to make many rookie mistakes. Just like the Jazz did not have time to develop Arroyo until this past season with Malone and Stockton needing players that could immediately contribute. As far as Gaines is concerned, honestly I haven’t watched him play much, but the Orlando Magic has a pretty bad track record for letting talented young players slip away from them. There’s Billups, Wallace, Hudson, Harpring, Miller, Maggette, and if Gooden is traded, I would not be surprised he flourished with his new team as well. With the exception of Mcgrady, they’ve done a crappy job of evaluating talent and developing young players. I'm not saying that Boki and Gaines have deserved playing time in the past. All I'm saying is the circumstances they were put in have slowed their development, and it's way too soon to write them off.
I think Gaines is going to be a great guy for the rockets comming off the bench. He is a guy capable of playing the 1,2, and 3. He could match up against the quickest PG's and the biggest SF's. http://www.**************/players/reece_gaines.htm
you guys know nothign about basketball. It is obvious that Gaines was brought in to be Yao's backup. Look: He can't dribble (most centers cant) has bad hands (so did Cato) and he can't shoot from the floor (Can only dunk)....if that is NOT a back up center, I don't know what else you would call him.... Pesonally, I am glad that we now have a back up center. Now we can go after Motumbo as our back up SF. He will be able to see over anybody and make those entry passes to Gaines.....
At this point. The jury has to be still out on this guy. No way you "include" him in this deal if the Rockets didn't see a small chance he might turn out OK. Besides, you can't teach height and if he can play the point with any decency, then you have your point guard of the future. I wouldn't be surprise if he turned out to be a good addition to this team. If that dose happen, then this was truely a super trade for the Rockets.
In case it didn't click - there's a reason you aren't allowed to post that site on here. And it's not so you can take 2 more posts to attempt to post it.
