We're stuck with him until his contract year and we can move him as an expiring contract to NY for another one of their bloated deals. So, we're probably stuck with him until his contract expires. By that time, they will have to be carrying an extra battery out to the bench so his wheelchair can have a fresh charge at halftime.
I like sheldon wiliams but that is not our most pressing need, we need perimeter shooting, rudy gay didn`t look like thebest player on his team let alone on the court, and he is suppossed to be gone by # 6 I think so it`s hard to tell by these tournament games....brice drew made the nba b/c of one tournament year, and there is no way he should have been a 1st round pick. Some of these players look really good, remember swift at LSU, he looked much better than he has turned out to be in the pro`s! Luther has been playing better, he has more confidence driving to the bucket and finishing...but he was afraid to shoot last night again b/c his shot wasn`t falling. Let`s face it, it is extremely hard to evaluate talent in the nba...let`s just hope are pick isn`t a complete bust like boki,drew, griffin of the rockets, or QUAME BROWN, MICHAEL OLOWAKANDI, SKITISVELLI (SP), DARKO M. ETC OF THE LEAGUE. But i would still like them to take a hard look at jj, as he will be there when we pick i am pretty sure after that game where the whole duke team looked "out-athleted!"
It depends on how you look at it. Sometimes when a player's shots are not falling, he either: 1) shoot himself out of slump; 2)drive more to the basket and draw the contact. So I don't see his approach is wrong. Like Yao said in previous game: driving, shooting or repost to him are all legit options, just make a quick decision.
crap. i really don't want JJ. i still can't see why you guys think he can be effective in the NBA. he's an unathletic 6'3" shooting guard. before he had that horrible game to end his collegiate career, they were saying that many teams felt almost forced to pick JJ early given his success at the college level despite the fact that the scouts saw his lack of speed, height and athleticism to be major negatives at the nba level.
First of all, gm`s are paid and their job is based upon how their picks produce, if they become solid team contributors. I think with the amount of pressure to win, or get fired, they have no problem ignoring what the fans want! I don`t want jj if he can`t play at this level, and be a really solid contributor, i think he can. However, i expect the staff to work him out, put him to the test to see how good he really is, how he does in the draft camps, I can only judge from watching him for 4 years at duke. He is taller than luther head, and he doesn`t have to get his own shot with yao, just matt bullard couldn`t guard power forwards like KG, his offense really helped spread the floor, and open things up for hakeem. This is the role i envision for reddick, we need a dead-eye automatic, if you leave this guy open it`s 3 points. And there are not many of those guys around anymore, Piakowski was suppossed to provide that, but he was inconsistent at best.kyle corver is a soid shooter, but i think he has 2 more years in philly. We need an absolute pure shooter on this team with yao now burgeoning into a low post threat that requires special defenses to handle him on the block. What was our biggest problem all year, we couldn`t put the ball in the basket. we are by far one of the worst shotting teams in the nba, and that`s with a relatively high percentage inside presence like yao. Iverson is a small 2 guard, yeah he is quick and gets some steals per game, but he can easily be posted up against. Hey I have no problem trading our first round pick, and luther head for michael redd! But i think he makes too much money for les to take on that big a contract, i am open to suggestions, but we need some young shooters on this team who will say healthy the entire year!
There you go, Pike is the perfect example. Pike WAS NOT inconsistent until he signed here and ran through training camp with us. His rep around the league was simply that of a great shooter with poor defensive skills. We bring him here and Van Gundy doesn't even get him off the bench most games, save for 2 or 3 minutes at a time. Pike would come in, miss one shot, and back to the bench he went. Pike has all the atheticism and size that J.J. has, and then some. He's actually bigger I think. But he never got anywhere here because Van Gundy is not going to play guys that aren't skilled defensively......save Juwan. Pike never got enough time on the floor here to get his jumper warmed up. That's why I maintain that we need to find our 3rd primary scorer from among the ranks of established swingmen already playing in the NBA. This draft is full of projects, either 4 year men who are 1-dimensional like J.J., or skinny freshman and sophs who have underdeveloped games and bodies. Yeah, some of them will DEVELOP into stars and a few into superstars. But it will take 3 or 4 years for that to happen. And the NBA has plenty of guys in the 24-29 age range who have developed bodies, developed offensive games, and defensive skills that could be honed by JVG. That's why I think we will make a trade for that 3rd scorer. And we will draft the guy that is the most NBA ready to play today, the guy that can walk on the court in the NBA, and give us 20 quality minutes right now, at a position that we desparately need quality minutes. Shelden is the most developed player, body and game, in this draft. No, he may not turn out to be the best player in this draft. We don't need the player that is going to develop into the best player 3 or 4 years from now. We need contributions from our acquisitional players starting in pre-season. Yeah, I'm intrigued by guys like Rudy Gay. You can see they have the physical tools to become great players. But coulda, woulda, shoulda. The draft lottery is full of teams that draft young, unproven talent year after year after year and try to develop them. Take the guy that has proven he can get it done at a high level, competing against the best there is in the college game, at a very tough academic school. We need: 1. A third scorer 2. Better perimeter defense 3. Better PF play, rebounds, blocks, and defense. Trade for the guy that we know will fix the first 2 problems. And draft the most experienced, proven player in the draft.
I think you’re expecting a bit much if you think the Rockets can find solutions to all of their problems in one offseason, especially with the lack of resources at their disposal. All of the best teams in the NBA did not become great in one offseason. They became great by accumulating many great moves every offseason. Finding young, unproven talent that they can develop and making smart low profile moves. There’s no quick fix that’s going to suddenly make us a championship caliber team next year. The last thing the Rockets need to do is to throw all their eggs in one basket and make any desperation moves this offseason to try and make next season their make or break season. This type of thought process is what has screwed the Rockets the past couple of offseasons. I have no doubt that the Rockets will make a trade or two this offseason, but if you’re waiting for them to make a move for a big name player, I wouldn’t hold my breath. I don’t see any realistic trades out there that’s going to fetch us a proven 3rd scorer for what we have to offer. If this were possible, the Rockets would have made the trade already this past season. Based on the type of moves the Rockets made this past season (trade for Bogans/Fitch/Lampe, Signing Hayes/Frahm), I’m expecting a lot of moves for young unproven players this offseason. The scouting department is going to be really busy.
Totally agree. I don't understand why some people here keep asking for JJ. Hopefully after that stinky game, people will stop asking for him.
interesting, come to think of it, i can not recall a single young player who came into the league and blossomed under jvg. maybe his demands that players play the right way (his way) is stifling to young talent aka larry brown. can someone name any players who developed under jvg?
I don't remember Pike doing much after he left Houston either Perhaps he looked so good on the clippers, because of all the opportunites being on the worse team in the league. How fast and athletic was jeff hornacek? How about Matt Bullard? JJ may not be the answer, but we need somebody who can hit WIDE OPEN shots. LSU game plan was to focus all their attention on JJ (which shows you how worried LSU was about him). If JJ was on the rockets, and the opposing team tried the same thing, then Yao & McGrady would light them up. I don't care who we get (JJ, Brandon Roy, etc..), as long as they can hit WIDE OPEN looks. Last thing we need, are more athletic quick guards, who can not put the ball into the basket. We need a pure shooter on this team. Hell, get me Ryan Appleby. That guy reminds me of Reggie Miller, with those turn around 3's.....
I'd like a versatile do a little bit of everything type of player like Artest or Marion to be a running mate with TMac, but I get the feeling they would be underutilized in our system which emphasizes the half court then uptempo, which is predicated by us having Yao, not because it's JVG's sole "style" of system. Give a coach Yao or Ewing, then he'll build a system around that type of player accordingly. JVG just figured it's easier for TMac to adjust to that type of system then possibly having Yao to alter his whole game. I'd like to think that if JVG had Nash, Marion, and Amare that he'd know what to do to get maximum effectiveness out of them.
Pretty much what i've been stressing. This team needs guys that can get their own shot, defend and keep 2/3 from posting up. I think Woods would be just right. The Rox can get him for about half mle then use 1.1m for a backup to Yao on L.Woods or someone then trade Stro for Magloire and move Howard to backup role.
1. A high first round draft pick, most likely top 15, possibly but not likely a bit of luck into the top 3. 2. MLE 3. $4.2 million trade exception 4. Stro 5. Head 6. rights to Spanoullis 7. probably the first pick of the 2nd round We have plenty of assets to acquire a starting SG and a better quality PF this summer.
Yeah, we're gonna have to take some risk and possibly bring in some players who have some question marks on them. Woods would be one. Another player that would fit that mold but would be an excellent swingman if Van Gundy got his head screwed on right would be..............Darius Miles. Miles' value is in the toilet once again. He could probably had straight up for Swift plus garbage at this point. And there would be no better coach for a high strung, volatile player like Miles than Van Gundy. Van Gundy did it with Spree. He could do it with Miles. Dunleavy is probably going to be moved this summer and he is probably going to L.A. Maggette is already making some noise about getting back his starter's job. If Dunleavy does indeed get moved, then there's another possible deal with the Clips, for either Maggette or Cat. Maggette's not gonna stay there as a backup. This league has a lot of politics in it and if you know anything about the league, you know stuff is going on behind the scenes all the time. The Clips will be sitting on a powder keg if they bring in MD. They will have to move Maggette. And the Knicks are always there. Jamal Crawford, as skinny as he is, would be a major upgrade for us at the SG spot. QRich the same. I don't prefer either one but either one would be a serious upgrade to our defense and shooting at the 2 spot. There are going to be established swingmen available this summer.
You know, I was pushing for him in the chat room one time and got hell for it. It wasn't like I was saying we should blow our whole MLE on him, only split it between him and a backup point, with the backup point getting more money. People were still calling me r****ded. I've never heard of him before this year, so I don't know why there's such hatred of him. From what I've seen he'd be a solid backup for either swingman spot. Having watched the majority of knicks games, he is the most poised member of the knicks despite being young and barely played. He's always under control and rarely takes bad shots. He can finish around the rim well and hit the boards, but doesn't dunk strong for some reason. He should because I think he's athletic enough to do so. He's got good form on his shot and can hit outside shots off the dribble. He's also a pretty decent passer, surprisingly. He's really skilled for a minimum contract guy. He certainly has brought more to the knick's table than bigger name guys like Jalen Rose and Quentin Richardson. Good things happen when he's on the floor. The problem? Why isn't he getting any playing time if he's effective? It's a question I ask myself. Since he does things well enough on the floor I think he might have a bad attitude in the locker room. And if he's got attitude under Larry Brown he'll definitely break under JVG. Also, his defense is adaquete, but he doesn't do anything amazing on that end of the floor. I'm surprised that he has the steal numbers he does. And apparently he's got some baggage that I don't really know about. Bottom line I think he'd make a great energy off the bench guy. His statline as a starter is much better at 13pts/7reb/1ast/1stl on 59% shooting in 33mins, but I don't care about stats; his style is much more suited for the second unit. He's much more talented than Bogans and he has a good shot. Get him here for 2mil/year and that's a solid, not to mention affordable, addition. He'll give us much more than guys like Harpring or Wells.
