Rockets have made a trade, pending league approval (UPDATE: Padgett for Tsakalidis)

As somebody pointed out he has dual citizenship.

The reason why he has dual citizenshp is because I read that his mother is an ethnic Greek from Georgia, which means she is probably of Pontic Greek descent. Pontic Greeks are descendants of ancient (I'm talking like 800 BC ancient) greek colonists in the southern black sea region and founded the kingdom of Pontus in central turkey, and also intermixed heavily with the Hellenic civilization of Alexander the Great when he rolled through.

Kind of interesting.

 

I like it. I didn't at first, thinking he was a scrub, but scrub or not, we needed another big and he's certainly that. An expiring contract, to boot, so we lost little, if anything when we picked him up for Padgett and the TE. Who knows... he may thrive here, when he didn't elsewhere. The league is full of examples of that happening. A player is traded into just the right situation, with just the right coach and system to make use of the talents he has. I called this fellow a scrub, but would be delighted to be proven wrong. In any event, he's 6 fouls in the middle.

For those upset about this use of the TE, I would reply that we may not be through dealing. That we may indeed still get a point before the deadline. I hope so!

 

The Great Jeff in preach mode....

Let me dust off that soap box for you..

All i can say is this.
a) Big Body
b) Potential Rebounder and Shot Blocker
c) Big Man to set a pick
d) 5 Fouls
6) Padget = Vacuum Cleaner... Just sucking up minutes

T_Man

 

He would be Georgian like Skita if you go by birth country. Jake does not have Russian citizenship, just Georgian and Greek dual citizenship.

 

Well, hopefully he'll contribute...

 

One thing folks have overlooked about this trade: Tsakalidis can post up. That means we can run sets designed for Yao while he's out and keep everyone familiar with them -- feeding the post, etc. That should help ease the transition back to a Yao dominated team in a month.

Like many of the rest of you, I'd love to see another trade before the deadline, hopefully for a solid PG. Travis Diener, e.g. But I wouldn't break up the rotation to do it. We're in pretty good shape right now.

 

aaaand therefore....

...... he's made of wood!

A Witch!

BURN! BURN!! BURN!!

 

Sounds good to me. Anxious to see how he can contribute!

 

Makes it hard to love the Turks, doesn't it. Fascinating stuff.

 

LOL, maybe I spoke too soon, somebody apparently thinks he's a fraudulent, pretend Pontic Greek, check the user ID



(note: I am changing jobs so I have time to kill all day on this crap)

 

It's a good trade. Padgett wasn't even contributing and Novak is a similar player to Padgett, only younger and more inexperienced. Jake is another big body to fill in at center when Yao is out, and he is a good rebounder.

 

That is too freakin' strange.

 

Well this same guy has posted this on a bunch of message boards, but he trips up a bit on at least one thing, on this board he says the following:

http://www.basketballforum.com/showthread.php?p=204104#post204104

But "Tsakalidis" does appear to be a pretty common Georgian Pontic Greek name (apparently Kostikas Tsakalidis was a famous Georgian Pontic Greek musician), so this guy may just be an ethnic supremacist ******* with a bone to pick for some reason.

 

Anybody who has wathced the Rockets play the last two months without Yao have to relieved to have this 7'2" Russian/Georgian/Grecian player on the team. He can certainly play well enough for the relief we need at backup center the next month or so, and he gives us an added advantage for the playoffs when it becomes a half-court hack-the-closest-terrible free throw shooter to gain an advantage in the game.

Plus there is no long term commitment if we don't want to keep him next year.

Man ya'll are hard to please sometimes.

 

Ok, now I have no idea what he is.

He is just the "foreign white boy" now.

I have no idea why Russia would want to infiltrate the Greek National Team. Jake is a Russian spy? How does Vassilis know all this about Jake? He is a Greek spy?

Hmm, we have 2 spies on our team.

 

The general view is that this is good insurance if Deke should go down for some reason. Let's not forget that Yao has been out extended periods the last two years. It is insurance for that, too. Between his toe problem and his recent leg injury, if something goes awry in his return, Mutombo will have a big backup for the playoffs in case the team wants to stay "big" on the court instead of bringing Hayes in and going "smaller". They didn't have that option before this trade. Also, if he can rebound aggresively, he probably has as good or better chance as Hayes (at least here recently) at making a put-back layup.

The PG situation is troublesome. I don't know if anything substantial can or should be done. But Alston frustrates many of us when driving the basket. His "pitch" at the basket is a "rainbow" if it goes in and a "teardrop" if it doesn't.

 

So, if Jake ends up on the playoff roster, who doesn't?

(this should get a reaction!)

 

Sura + VSpan or Novak.

 

Anybody think Jake can help us keep Dallas from going small? Dallas kills us on the boards everytime Deke goes out. The longer we keep Dallas' real centers in the game, the better. Plus, sad as it is, Dampier manhandled Deke last game. Maybe our new 7'2" center can make him work a little harder.

 

can I ask a dumb question??

okay thanks.

What the heck difference does it make where he's from? I don't give a rats patootie if he's from the outer rings of Saturn if he can play basketball.

It's just good to have someone in the wings who is tall and can take up space in the paint should heaven forbid another of our "big" men go down.

Now if we want to chase the pipedream of another point guard the Rockets have a more level roster to work deals around.

I will miss seeing Scott cheering on the sideline and hopefully he can get some playing time as a vet at Memphis.