You must be joking. Wanna know another power forward who didn't have much of a jumper at all coming into the league? KARL MALONE. I think his jumper may have improved throughout his career a little bit, don't you? Name me a non-superstar power forward (that just means no Dirk, Brand, Garnett, etc.) in this league who's a significantly better mid-range shooter than Haslem. I don't think you can.
And Haslem can? Hustle player or not, He is way too small to effectively guard the giants of the west ,especially during the playoffs (Except maybe Derek, but the guy is a sissy so who cares). Also, Yao is injury prone, and I think, a bigger PF like foster might be a better insurance... I don't like the idea of a new midget front-court.I think we need more length and defense , not scoring.
Yao shoots .596 inside, and as well all know, he's double-teamed constantly. Yes, I admit, it's a bit of a speculation on my part, but it doesn't change the fact that teams are just going let Haslem take open jumpers that have a .399 chance of going in. Think of last year with Howard, who shoots .439 on jumpers. When he was with Yao on the floor, did teams suddenly stop double-teaming Yao? No, they still dared Juwan to shoot the 15 footer, although as good as Juwan Howard is on those jumpers, .439 is still not as good Yao's inside scoring. Like I said, 3 point shooters stretch the defense because 1. Physically, it's farther away, 2. It's worth one more point so it's worth it to guard a 3 point shooter, not 15 ft shooters.
Dirk(I called him Derek, sorry ,bad translation) has a serious problem with small and athletic defenders ala Tmac 3 years ago. He is not the prototype of the Western PF. Boozer , Duncan , Camby and even Amare are much tougher and also, they are taller than Haslem. Haslem got the size of an average small forward while some of those players can play at the center position.
Mark Blount is one off the top of my head. So, I have named you one. Moving on, the more critical issue is Haslem's size. He is a good rebounder but Foster is much better and would be more useful to Houston, especially on the offensive end where he could give us plenty of 2nd and 3rd scoring chances. That would be a nice skill in Adelman's system.
I'm looking at his chart at nba.com/hotzones, and I'm not seeing that Blount is all that far ahead of Haslem.
About Haslem... 1) We just need Haslem as a backup, so Haslem won't play more than 20-25 minutes a game Do we really want to pay $6+ Mil for a 20 minutes backup? Also, please shrink Haslem's stat to the 20 minutes lvl when we compare Hayes and Haslem, since that will be how many minutes he plays 2) Hayes is undersized no doubt, but so is Haslem.. Since many think Landry's 6'9" is undersize, Haslem's 6'8" (with just average vertical) would be even worse. IMO, from the recent acquisitions of Brooks, Landry, and trying to resign Hayes, Morey doesn't seem like he is too concern with those 2-3 inches.. 3) We need a PF to cover Yao's back on defense, another word, we just need a PF to compliment Yao. can Haslem do it? I don't know.. History said (in the last 5 years), the best type of PF around Yao are Cato and Hayes Rockets need a PF to rebound, take charges, hussle, do the dirty work, able to guard the best PF in the west, shooting is the last thing we need on this list.. But I don't mind having both Hayes and Haslem as the backup PF, this would make our roster more versatile 4) We shouldn't overpay Miami, because they are desperate for a starting PG, but we are just looking for a backup PF, we have the upper hand. In the business world, this is the perfect time to underpay, so Alston + Snyder + Reed is good enough for Haslem, if we giveup both Alston + Head + filter, then we are overpaying..
Here are some more 2nd tier PFs or below with good mid-range shots: Drew Gooden, Troy Murphy, Charlie Villanueva, Walter Hermann, David West, Kurt Thomas, Al Harrington, Marc Jackson, Darius Songalia... The bottom line is that you are correct, there is not a plethora of capable PFs with good mid-range shooting skills but there definitely are some. The bigger issue with Haslem though is his size. He is a good rebounder but Foster is a great rebounder. I think we should explore more options before pulling the trigger to get Haslem.
I don't care what shot chart you are looking at, Blount is far and away a better shooter than Haslem. It isn't even close.
And, again, I am not saying Haslem would be a terrible choice. I just feel that the Rockets have some real trade commodities now and that there may be a more useful addition that we could get instead of Haslem.
I would rather give up Head than Snyder. Head is as one-dimensional as they come and a liability in almost every other category. Snyder is bigger, more athletic, can get to the hole, rebound and defend a couple different positions. Head has as a high of a value as he ever will and I think it is a perfect time to trade him.
Blount is a better shooter than Haslem but while Haslem is at least an average rebounder, Blount is a HORRIBLE rebounder. Blount makes even less sense than Haslem.
Dirk lit Haslem up for 31 pts in this last game. Dirk is a known playoff choker. He struggled against midget Stephen Jackson and the zone, this year. Play him during the regular season, and he will light Haslem and Hayes.
Agreed, I kind of feeling the same way. I think Haslem is not bad and I don't mind having him onboard, but I do think we should explore more first, maybe Morey can find a even nicer players with a lower price tag. Oh well, season won't start until another 3 months, we can wait..
kevC, you didn't read enough of this particular discussion. We weren't discussing acquiring Blount. I made the point that Blount is one of several decent PFs with better mid-range shooting skills. You should read the whole discussion before commenting.
Sorry, I actually didn't read your lengthy post I just saw his name being thrown around. Great arguments by the way, I agree 100%, it's exactly what I've been saying.
