I was wondering what posters thought about him as a small forward. He's very tough, above avg athelete, has a pretty good mid range shot, willing to defend and pretty strong. From what I saw of him on the league pass, he defended 3's pretty good. We have amid level exception and it seems Dallas got the better of us on the Langhi/Najera trade. Its not about making amends, but I think he is a hustle guy with a high skill level that could relly help this team. Of course Dallas might offer him some crazy money, but with the 4.5 mid level exception, if we offer say a 3yr deal, then if itdoesn't work out, he can get his hat and coat and ride out. Of course with the draft pick if someone is on the board at the 3 that is good, I'm all for that, but I think Najera would be a good player on this team. Please chime in and let me know what you think.
leebigez, I agree Najera would be a great pick up. But think of the principle of the matter. We traded Najera to Dallas for Langhi and a future pick. Just another of those BONE-HEAD draft day decisions the Rockets have made in the last several years (outside of Griffin). They have a history of shocking the scouting/media world on draft day.
I know the Rockets mde a bad decsion, but its nothing we can do about it now. All I'm saying is Najera is a hard nosed player with a high sill level, which is rare. You see some guys like Outlaw that are hustle guys, but have no skills. Najera is different in that he plays every gme like his last, but he's a good mid range shooter, a tough and strong rebounder, and a above avg athelete. He's one of those guys ha can really push the other Rockets to match his intensity on the floor. I know people will look and talk about his limited contributions to the Mavs, but that team never played the same after he broke his thumb and wasn't as effective as he was against T'Wolves.
Living in Austin and being a UT fan, I was glad when the Rockets passed on Najera. That said, I think his level of hustle and intensity is something that the Rockets could use. Especially if KT is traded. Two questions immediately come into my mind: 1) Would Eduardo forgive the Rockets for passing on him in the draft? 2) How much money would it take to get him? All the Rockets would have is a portion of the MCE. Najera currently makes less than $500k but Cuban has some form of Bird rights and probably isn't concerned about the size of the contract.
I'd say he's an average NBA athelete. He has above average speed/quickness for a PF, but has below average strength for a PF. The opposite is true for the SF position. I haven't seen him enough this past season....but I doubt his athletism has changed drastically. No comment on skills as I haven't seen him enough.
I was at a lot of Mavs games the last two seasons, so I've seen him play quite a bit. He's really a player that makes me scratch my head quite a bit when trying to analyze his skill and potential to grow. He has definitely grown quite a bit already, he is a great energy guy and a huge fan favorite and about the only guy on the Mavs who is willing to work for rebounds. On the down side, he gambles a lot on defense which means for every big play there's at least one time that he gets burned. Nelson loves the guy, but has to totally stay in his face and on his case. Personally, I think he would not do well in Rudy's system. Rudy is too hands off. I think Najera has a home in Dallas and would be silly to leave, unless there was just a ton of money on the line. One reason he excells now is that he has the right kind of talent around him. Although, I guess he would make a nice addition for a team that is already good (I'm thinking San Antonio), he would probably get lost on a team that is still trying to find itself. --Drof
Is this a joke? The only reason they even "drafted" the guy is because they were picking for Dallas. They asked Dallas to draft Langhi and then said "who do you want"? They wanted Najera. I doubt Najera could even make the current Rocket team. Is he better than Mo? No. Is he better than KT? No. Is he better than Griffin? Right now, maybe, but who cares. So where would he play? He wouldn't. He's a scrub that we shouldn't be dedicating threads to.
Assuming we still have Mo, Taylor and Griffin when the season starts? Most folks don't seem to believe that around here (that we will have all three). If we had a legit #1 power forward, Najera would be the type of guy people would be looking to add to our team. I don't think he is that guy (for the previously stated reasons), but the Rockets certainly will need somebody to step up to the the 6th man or 7th man roles and play on the front line. It's just so hard to say about the Rockets because we didn't even have a set starting 5 last season, so how can you figure out who would be good off the bench in that case? I'm glad I'm not Rudy or CD right now. I don't know how to fix this mess. --Drof
Could we use Najera? ABSOLUTELY. Every team would love this kind of player. But, IMHO, Nelson/Cuban are not about to let him go. In addition to his hustle and guts, he is turning into a pretty good defensive 3/4 stopper, something the Mavs sorely need. And his offensive skills are underrated- a perfect garbage man. Don Nelson loves this guy and he's not going anywhere. Yeah, we really screwed up in the Langhi/Najera deal...and I'm a Vandy alum admitting it Dallas Rocket
I think he's more of a 3 than a four. He just had to defend the fours or the toughest frontcourt matchup because dirk is weak on the defensive end. Is he better than Thomas or Taylor? As a small forward most defenitely. Thomas will probably be gone to open up time for Griffin. If we move Thomas and that pick to move up to get a 3, I'm all for it, I was just saying from a small forward perspective, he's probably better than anything we have and wouldn't cost that much. I've watched him for 2 yrs and I thnk he has a pretty good skill level to play the 3 stop on this team. Will he score 20pts per night? Probably not, but he could be one of those 13pt 7rebs tough defensive 3's similar to Mario Elie plus he'll soot around 50%. With Steve,Cat,Ming and maybe Giffin all trying to get their hands on the ball, its important to have a guy who's effecient with his shots and wouldn't complain orstop playing hard if he only got 10-12 shots. Jus my thoughts.
I don't think people get it, the Rockets DID NOT trade Najera, they traded the pick, but before they traded the picks the Mavs wanted them to draft somebody for them with it. At the time the Reds had KT and signed Mo, and had Hakeem. They didn't need Najera. Najera isn't a SF. Najera's role isn't any different then KT. He would be a nice addition, but no big loss.
