bonzi clearly did nothing to help our team last year, but i have a hard time believing that he will even come close to repeating that performance this year. 1st, he has a history of butting heads with "my way or the highway" coaches -- see mike fratello in memphis, and jvg and bonzi clearly were at each other all season. bonzi didn't fit well at all into jvg's yao central offense where yao gets it in the post all day long because he is not a 3pt threat. 2nd, slick rick is likely to use yao in a variety of different ways to maximize his offensive capabilities. sure yao is a beast in the post, but he was predictable enough down low in the utah series to be effectively defended by a euro 3pt specialist with an occasional weak side block from ak. with adelman, yao will not always be in the low block, freeing it up for bonzi to take advantage of his size over opposing 2 guards. yao will probably take many shots like juwan did last year in these situations -- 12-18 ft jumpers well yao doesnt really jump but neither did juwan. yao can be money on these. 3rd, look at our main competition's 2 guards. ginobli, fisher, terry/harris, bell not one of said players has a chance of defending bonzi in the post. 4th, bonzi clearly has a selfish streak, but we can obviously use this to our advantage as it is a contract year. there is simply now other way we can get a player of his caliber for less than 3 mil. who cares if he's a short term rental? all this talk of a long term signing clearly has to wait til next year when he's shown us something because so far he hasn't. I just happen to think there's a very very good possibility that he will be a very effective part of rick's rotation for all of the aforementioned reasons.
I'm not welcoming Bonzi with open arms like some the majority is doing in this thread. Posting stats from a Dallas game isn't going to erase what he sowed from the inception of Preseason. If they want to pretend that last season didn't happen, all power to them. Bonzi Wells wronged this team last year. If he is not traded before the season he will have to earn the trust and respect of his teammates, the organization, and the fans.
bonzi will not be guarded by the 2gs. if novak is on the floor, he will be guarded by the 2's...or mac...bonzi will be played by the 3's most of the time and the 4's at times...
Is this inside info? I think with his "girth" he may be a problem for some SG's, so I can see why they might send 3s and some 4s.
"Between this and the Mike James (acquisition), good things are happening there," said Duffy, who also represents James, Yao Ming and free-agent forward Chuck Hayes. "Bonzi is healthy and Mike is ready to roll. They're going to be interesting right now."[/QUOTE] Id like to know who else this guy represents... because....we seem to have alot of his "guys"
The only reason he got mismatches against teams when he was with Sacramento was because they had the even bigger Ron Artest playing the 3.
He's one of the biggest agents, probably represents 30 or more players total. A few from his website: Fred Jones, Yao Ming, Drew Gooden, Carmelo Anthony, Steve Nash, Marko Jaric, Antonio Davis, Speedy Claxton, Rasho Nesterovic, Zeljko Rebraca, and Terrell Brandon. http://www.bdasports.com/ssp/clients Edit: The entire list: http://www.bdasports.com/ssp/athletes
He's got Adelman's trust. I think players are more effective in certain systems, tbh... everybody was a misfit in last year's system. Even Stromile would look better in a motion offense.
My bad...you're right. They should have just said no thanks and left it at that. Bonzi is a loser and he will prove it this season. The rockets are a p***y organization with little backbone. For csakes's the guy quit last season...give me a break. They should have stood up to him and let him walk or put him in a trade somewhere he wants to go. Either way he is out of uniform.
yeah hardly think that is true there is no way the front office makes a trade for a player who was trying to opt in/out of a contract. probably some guy hearing something from someone who heard something from someone who heard something from their voice inside their head. if that was the case i am sure bonzi would have opted out and gotten paid the same if not a bit larger amount somewhere else to play for a year. he likes adelman and i tihnk he like some of the guys that are on this team. that would be a total rape in talent for the rockets its like giving two quality rotation players for absolute junk
No. It's like trading one quality rotation player and one ****** who used to be good for two rotation players and a draft pick.
I think Bonzi's a chump and a waste of $2.8 million dollars, but I really hope he proves me wrong next season.
word. Bonzi is gonna play good this season cuz he's gonna be looking to get PAID after what happened last season.
It was Bonzi's choice anyway. Still, a good salary for his upside I hope he becomes a valuable scorer off the bench. He won't start because his game is more suited to be with the ball, not playing off the ball. And at worst, if he just doesn't contribute or fit the system, he is an expiring contract and a player someone else might want to try on for size. Not meganews or huge, but this is good news on a number of levels.
You cant argue with 2.8 million for a guy once scored over 50 pts a game and repeatedly shined in the playoffs, especially in a year that matters to his future
the reason bonzi/tmac lineup will work at all is because the opponent will put thier better wing defender on tmac, or keep thier star player from guarding him. bonzi can then go to work on the star player who doesn't want to pick up fouls (see: joe johnson, PP, morrison, melo, rip, wade, redd, etc...). in fact, most teams SG's are thier scorers. those are the guys they don't want picking up fouls on tmac. so they have to play thier SF on tmac.
I'm still not expecting anything from Bonzi, but for the price they are paying it isn't bad. Originally when Bonzi was interviewed after Adelman was hired it sounded like he was going to opt out and offer to resign here for more money which would have been a really bad move on the rockets part. But for the minimal contract I don't have as much of a problem with it (funny how 2 + million is a "minimum contract" huh? Like the rockets are paying him peanuts or something). Hopefully he can do something this year, but I'm not going to be holding my breath.
