I don't know, but maybe i missed the boat on Damon S. McGrady says he would like to have him because he remember his early days with Toronto, but he didn't give the same verbal backing as he did with Swift. Now everyone on the board seems to think this is the guy for all the Rox backcourt problems. When did he become this Stockton type of pg? He shot 39%fg,36.9% 3ptfg, and on top of that he shot 14times a game with 6 3pt att per. Whats so great or how does that help us out. If you factor in NVE who avg 10 and 4.5, the backcourt everyone on the this brd is trying to get rid of, James/Sura was 23ppg 8asst and a much higher fg%. What people saw in the playoffs against the Mavs was more of a dominoe effect of McGrady having to play Dirk and Howard not playing than Terry torching our backcourt. If the Rox had a Patterson,Miles,Wallace type of 2/3 would the Rox have to double Stackhouse when he had Wesley or Barry on him while McGrady was holding Dirk? Now that we have Swift and Howard and McGrady can now hold the Stackhouse,whom he shut down,Finley,who he shut down, will a terry type guy get those open looks? I think the combination of Sura who's tough as nails, rebounds great and runs the Rox very good, backed up with James who is the game changer off the bench that the Rox fans were complaining about is a good enough combo. Posters on this board screams at James when he waved T-Mac off one time in the game, but no one seems to remember the 22pts he put up in game 6 and the 17 he put up in game 5. If I remember correctly game 5 is when McGrady had the rebound off the ft and lost it out of bounds. i love McGrady and the way he plays, but anyone who blames game 5 on James is crazy. I'm all for upgrading the Rox for a championship run, not just playoff run. When you look at the teams, look at the series competitors in the east and the west. In my mind its SA,Phoe,Dall,Den,Det,Mia,Indy,Nj are the Rox targets although i t kinow we're ahead of Den in the West. Even with this current team makeup, the Rox are there, with smart additions, the Rox can really push SA for the spot. Phoe will be better even without Johnson even if their record dont reflect it. Getting a guy like Patterson,Wallace, or Demarr johnson would benefit the Rox against anyone or everyone because of the size of them to replace wesley. Everyone wants to hate on the Rox because terry avg 18ppg, but he put up 16ppg against the Suns and shot 50% also. Not to mention for the season he shot 50%fg and 42% from 3 land. One thing Terry has always been able to do is shoot.
Becasue there are no many realistic choices for Rox at PG position. I do not like Mike James. His pass is even worse than Sura's. His basket ball IQ is low. He does not know exactly his role in this team.
So Damon S., the weed head who has been having max money for the last 7 yrs but all of a sudden as hes a free agent is straight and this so called leader? Why not a clean cut guy like Brevin Knight if you want a small pg to run the show.
well said. however, i think stoudamire fits the bill perfectly. the biggest knock i'm hearing about him is his lack of size, but then again, he can use that to his advantage too. i think JVG likes his quickness and ability to basically do it all. he can drive to the basket, create his own shot, dish it out, hit the open 3, and lead the fast break. his fg% for the past year definitely isn't impressive, but think again to the other players on the blazers. no one really commanded a double team to get him open shots, so he had to create for himself. playing with the rockets, he will get open shots all day as teams double either tmac or yao.
Zach Randolph doesn't command a double team? What about 14 shots per with 6 being 3's. Like i said, if you want to get a "legit pg", why not brevin knight? he cant shoot the 3, but neither can Tony parker but no one complains about that. If the case is we have to, why not wait for Van Excel to be released. He took less shots and shot at equal % without the off court issues. We know he can take the big shot and is very clutch.
I agree with most of what you said. People underestimate the personnel that we have right now. You have to remember that Howard and Sura were injured during the playoffs. SURA--- He's not a good ball handler in order to play PG and he's not quick enough to keep opposing players out of the lane. He's not a good shooter to play SG. While we all admire his tenacity and effort, he would be great coming off the bench to provide toughness and energy. 15-20 min/game JAMES--He's a great spark plug off the bench, but he's not a distributing point guard, which is what we need for the first unit (T-Mac and Yao). He's in a contract year and he will be looking to score even more. If he's not happy coming off the bench, trade him. Stoudemire--While he's had problems in the past he's the best scorer and ball handler of the bunch. Tracy knows him and Stoudemire is all about winning right now. If he's acquired, he'll adapt his role as a distributer first and a scorer second. Nobody will dare to leave him open. While his shooting percentage wasn't great last year, it's not because of his shooting skills. He's a very good shooter, but he was THE GUY for Portland last year, so he had to create his own shot. He'll get wide open shots with the Rockets. His shooting percentage would be much better with the Rox. That's what happened with Wesley and Barry last year. While he's smaller is stature, he provides quickness at the PG position both defensively (which was the source of the guard penetration problem last year) and in fast breaks situations (alley oops to T-Mac and Swift). He's an underrated passer and he's so much better suited to start than Sura and James.
I agree with some of what you say, but Damon wasn't the man. He played with Nick and SAR who despite playing out of position still had a very good season. Stoudimire has never been known as a guy to keep people out of the lane. I dont care about ally oops and fast breaks because when the Spurs played the Pistons, how much of that did you see? Exactly. Championship basketball is still defensive and there are chance at times, for the most point its a half court execution game. The faults of James and Sura is exactly why they are a good combo. If the Rox want to upgarde that spot, i would rather see Payton with James behind him. He can run a team and despite his age still avg 10 and 6 and shot 46% fg. I know that if addition of swift with Howard against a team like Dallas, if we upgrade our 2, some of those open shots terry got wouldn't happen.
Payton is a malcontent wherever he goes. He couldn't keep Parker off the lane. He has lost his speed. No, thanks Stoudemire was THE GUY. Anderson, SAR and Randolph either played for part of the season or they came off the bench. Stoudemire was their T-Mac especially during the second part of the season when Randolph and Anderson didn't play. Damon scored 53 last year which tells you a little bit about his scoring ability. As far as Stoudemire keeping guards of the lane, he WILL do it if he's a Rocket. You have to if you play for JVG. How motivated would you be to play defense for one of the worst teams in the league? Same thing happened with T-Mac in 03-04, but he was one of the best defenders in the league last year, even though he didn't get any recognition, because of his prior reputation. You are saying that Sura/James are good because what one doesn't have, the other provides. Sura provides toughness and James provides ballhandling and scoring. I don't like that logic, because they don't play at the same time so the team is always lacking something at the PG position. Sura is a good rebounder, but he gambled often times to get those rebounds. And if the point guard is going for the offensive rebound, he's the last line of defense and it's an easy 2 for the other team. Typically rebounding is the last priority for point guards. Their first priority is bringing the ball up, distributing, pressure on the ball and scoring. Stoudemire does those better than both Sura and James. Sura is an awful ballhandler for a starting PG. Also, not a good passer. James is not a starting PG, for the simple fact that he's too triggerhappy. We don't need that from our starting PG. He would be great off the bench.
Tracy McGrady didn't convince me of anything, I've wanted the Rockets to go after Stoudamire for the last 2 or 3 years. He is a pure PG who can also score and break down defenses. I don't care if he is weak on defense, he's going to get everyone the ball where they need it. And the Rockets with a competent player running the offense along with the powerful defense can be a force.
You can go after the "clean cut" guy all you want, I want the guy who gives us the best chance of winning. Stoudamire can keep guys out of the lane, I have no doubt about that. His size isn't an issue, looking at guys like Nash and Parker. The guy was the man on Portland last year no doubt, and he did all that he could. I couldn't care less about the "weed head" cracks people want to drop because it's obvious that 90% of the league smokes the stuff. Heck, who knows, Brevin Knight might be a "weed head". I don't want a small PG I want a PG who is going to help us win, and Stoudamire can do that, and hopefully the Rockets can get him. People will never be happy and look for something to complain about so I don't care if there are people who don't want Stoudamire. Lets just get him in the fold and win a championship!
I am hot and cold on DS. I think he is a better "pure" PG than either Sura/James but in the same breath I dont think DS is nearly as good defensively as Sura/James. So I dont know. Personally, I am much more excited about what we would get with Michael Finley instead of Wesley. I think that would be a significant upgrade at the SG position. I would much rather us pursue Finley first and then look at DS if need be. I think we can get along just fine with Sura/James/Head at PG. But I do feel we need to add more height at SG and someone like 6'6" Finley would be a nice addition. Plus Finley could give you solid minutes backing up McGrady at SF. If I am going to have a true "3rd scoring option" on the team I would rather get it from the SG position than the PG position. It would be "ideal" to have Tmac/Yao/Finley be your top 3 scorers, have Swift be the garbage man with points/rebounds and have Sura/James racking up assists.
The first part of this thread said that McGrady wanted Stoudamire so everyone wanted Stoudamire. My point was, McGrady's comments didn't make up my mind, I always thought the Rocks should get Stoudamire.
I agree with you Deuce. However, Sura and James CAN NOT rack up the assists. As far as Stoudemires defense: Don't confuse ability for effort. T-Mac wasn't deemed as a bad defender for the Magic in 03-04, but it wasn't because of ability. He was unmotivated playing for the worst team in the league. Defense at the point guard position is all about speed and Stoudemire is one the quickest in the league (much quicker tha Sura)
I realize this is off-topic and only has minor relevance, but uh... Damon Stoudamire's name is spelled with an 'a' not an 'e' Anyway, I'm "hot and cold" about Stoudamire as well...but leaning more toward the "hot" side, considering the Rocket's lack of financial resources. Indeed, perimeter defense depends more on foot speed than size. While he's definitely very quick on the court, he's on the wrong side of 30 and he'll only get slower as the years go by. Moreover, he'll be susceptible to post-ups by bigger point guards like Antonio Daniels/Gary Payton. Although they're better at it, neither of our current point guards aren't exactly terrific on defense either. They're great "hustle" guys, but neither of them are particularly good at running an offense. Stoudamire would be a pretty big offensive upgrade, both at playmaking and in shooting. His shot selection may have been considered poor in portland, but with Zach Randolph injured half of the season, it was up to him and SAR to carry the offense. Stoudamire's older now (and hopefully more mature). I believe that with the right coaching and a reasonable price tag, he can be a good floor general. Although he's no Nash/Kidd, he's a far cry from the typical shoot-first point guards that run rampant in the league. I think what he brings to the table offensively will make up for defensive shortcomings.
I don't care what happens with Stoudamire when he's 40 years old. I need him for the next two years. For the next two years he'll be a much better fit for us than James and Sura who are also on the wrong side of 30. I agree with your other assessments. He's the best of what's available in the point guard market. His quickness would improve us. On nights where we're facing a really big point guard you can play Sura/James/Head more.
-Van Exel doesn't have legal issues, but he's always had various locker room issues. Further, he shot 38%. He's also had serious injury issues 2 years running now. Even more, the general expectation is if Stoudamire didn't have to take as many shots, he'd probably take a higher percentage shot. -Tony Parker made a career low 43 3 pointers this year. He's been in the 60s usually and has made as many as 80+. Brevin Knight made 3 triples this year, and 12 for his career. There's guys like Parker (and Sura too) who will reasonably make the 3 every now and then if they're wide open...Knight is on a different level, and not in a good way. Parker's also on another level in his ability to create havoc on offense. That's like saying in general "he doesn't play D...but Barkley never really played D either". They're not analogous. -Zach Randolph is an extremely poor passer. Even if he is double teamed, he still can't capitalize on them.
I shared a lot of same feelings about Damon Stoudamre as leebigez. He is not the only options we have for free agent PG. I guess everyone is so high on him because TMac said he likes Stoudamire here. However, if he can be have for cheap, and we don't need to sign him to a long term deal, I'm all for getting him, but he's not a long term solution.
hey leebigez, being a pothead does not make a person a bad guy. i take offense to that kind of prejudice. if you knew what the hell you were talking about you would know its not any worse than drinking. as for mike james, hes going to play next season like he has nothing to lose. why? because he will no longer be with the rockets after next season. that means throwing up shots any chance he gets trying to raise his stock value. that means even stupider and selfish play. thats not a point guard. there has never been a great me-first point guard.
Because he passes, is quick, can shoot, played with Tracy before, Tracy wants him, and more importantly is at the stage in his career where he wants to just win, he's a vet, and he wants to win.
