In order to win a championship, you have to learn lessons from past champions. I choose the Rockets back-to-back champions as an example. It has been over 12 years since the greatest days of the organization. What have we learned about the players that brought the city the glory it was craving for? they were CLUTCH. they had CONFIDENCE. they had FIRE. Rudy T, when scouting Sam Cassell, noticed a hustle play where Sam out hustled the opponents for a lose ball. He noticed heart. if RUDY GAY doesnt have HEART and willingness to TAKE OVER A GAME, how can he help us win a championship? how can he hit a 'KISS OF DEATH' shot? how can he pull a MAXWELL and drop 35 pts on the Suns? if he shows lack of confidence, how can he hit a 3pointer in game 3 of the NBA FINALS? this factor was my theory on why we didnt draft him. this is CLUTCH CITY. you need to be CLUTCH or you will not be on this team! http://www.nbadraft.net/admincp/profiles/rudygay.html Weaknesses: Though he's just 19 years of age, his sophomore year was supposed to be his to take over college basketball. When that didn't happen, people began to question his desire and intensity and whether he has it in him to become great ... He floats in and out of games, and tended to defer to teammates in clutch situations ... Is it a lack of fire, or just a lack of maturity and confidence? Time will tell ... Unselfish to a fault, like Vince Carter, he almost takes being the perfect teammate too far. He's a star and should act like one ... He still struggles to create offense for himself off the dribble, getting the majority of his baskets off of rebounds, or passes from tammates ...
^^What do you expect him to say that Gay suck. I know Gay is good and potential all star but tinman is saying that what houston need is fire, hustle and energy. They already have superstars. I think we all agree that Shane fits in our team very well but everyone in here thinks that we just gave up too much.
I agree. I think we should have received another 1st round draft pick. There's no question that Shane's heart, hustle, shooting %(2, 3 & free throw), ability to play 3 positions, bb IQ, fundamentals and decision making fits this team like a glove. But for the Griz to move up from #24 to #8 requires another draft pick, that's just the price of doing business. That's the only reservation I have with the move. The thing that really burns ma ars is all the uproar it created. A week ago most of the posts were dealing with how to get rid of either SS (he doesn't show up half the time) or JH (his numbers aren't enough for his salary), preferably JH since SS can back up Yao. Now it seems we have just traded SS (the greatest 6th man of all time). What a difference a week makes!!
I guess that means West's shrewdness and all around president/GM moves are responsible for all of Memphis' playoff wins. oh wait...
yeah he ain't all that.. who got the raw kobe for divac and shaq from orlando again? the problem is he can't get any superstars to memphis..
Did anyone not watch the 06 NCAA tourney? Gay was starting to take over games, in the last game Gay was scoring clutch shot after clutch shot to keep the game close. Gay is going to be special, but in college he was too much of a team player and deffered his game to his college buddies. He's just 19, I think now that he's getting paid to be great he's going to realize it's about him being the best and start taking over. Take a look at his defense aswell, he's so long and quick it almost looks effortless for him to keep up with his man. West doesn't hype up players unless he truely believes in them, I've never seen him this excited except when he brought in Shaq (as I'm from LA).
Like so many already ahve said- Shane Battier is an outstanding individual, a genuine leader and a good Basketball player. But that does not justify giving away Stro for Free. We got hosed- I know it is time to move on- and worry about what they do in the Free agent market and with J ho. JVG still will play Howard as a starter- he was wrong last year, he will be damn wrong this year. Sign Bonzi, and Bobby Jackson ( Mike james despite all his public statements about money not being important etc will ask for more)
Shane also shot 50% in the playoffs. And his 33% FT shooting is on 2-6, you can't really take that small sample as a reflection of his clutchness. They were blown out in 3 of those 4 games by at least 10 ppg. I don't think those 4 FTs would have won any of those games. But he doesn't have to be clutch in his shooting. He needs to be clutch in his defense, and I've heard more rave review of his defense than Gays (if there are even any). He's a good passer/3PT/High% shooter and that's what we need, not someone whose gets bitter for being passed up by 7 teams ("I'm going to make all those teams who passed me up, pay"(my bad if he didn't really say this, i'm just taking it from another poster)) and if that's his kind of atitude, how will he react when he doesn't get his minutes or when they are getting blown out? To me, revenge is the worst motivation because revenge fogs your mind of clear thinking and that's not good in a "clutch" situation. We need someone who takes the best of what he's given (""The nice, shiny-red fire engine looks better than the old, shabby teddy bear that's been around the block a few times. But I'm going to do everything I can to earn the city of Houston's respect, to earn Rockets fans' respect") and not just "talk" but actually work his ass off to backup what he says. The difference being, Battier has already proven himself that he's improving as a all around player.
I would love to have Bonzi and Bobby Jackson but I don't know how we can get both of them. I can see maybe one or the other. I think I would rather have Bobby Jackson than Mike James cause Jackson knows his role on his teams and he will be a little cheaper. If we got both of these guys I think we would end up looking like the Houston Grizzlies and not the Houston Knicks. I can live with that.
Jan 3rd, 2006. UConn Vs Marquette. Rudy Guy garding Steve Novak. Gay: 8pts, 7 reb. Novak : 41pts, 16 reb. Gay look far more likely to be Griffin/Swift rather than Pippen/Jefferson. Otherwise why would he slip all the way to #8 in such a weak draft?
