Though I read somewhere that if you really want to play in the NBA, you should stick w/the NBDL rather than any of the international leagues.
Eliminate the bold faced word, and you are on the money. The coaches down there need to tie his right arm behind his back and make him use his left exclusively. Maybe then he will learn how to driibble and drive left so he can become a legitimate NBA player.
The weird thing is I thought they drafted (bought) him to be the same player Kevin Martin is already. I.E. not much defense but a great slasher and shooter at the two spot.
He also needs to work on finding the open man and playing less selfishly, and within the bounds of a system. He's talented and athletic, but he dominates the ball too much and relies too much on his athleticism over his brains. On the plus side, his speed, strength, athleticism, and ball handling skills (with his dominant hand) are very good, so he has all the raw tools if he's willing to work hard correcting his weaknesses. In fact if he could become a good passer and focus on creating for his teammates more, I think he would be a great combo guard.
to me the whole d league seems like a waste. It's supposed to be like a minor league but alot of guys just get tossed down there and forgotten about. JT needs more playing time in the nba not in the d league.
Chuck Hayes, yeah, what a dominant player he's become through the NBDL, and Brooks played a game in the NBDL.
With the trade bringing Martin here, what minutes Taylor was getting were going to vanish, in my opinion. Adelman will want to give Martin as much burn as he can, so he can get back up to speed with his system and get used to the players. The other guys need to get used to each other. This way, Taylor gets good minutes in the Valley. Hopefully, we win more games.
I don't get it. There's no WE in this equation. Unless Les Alexander asked you to spot him, then he's the only one who incurred any monetary loss here. It's not as if buying these draft picks counts against the cap. If our purchased picks don't pan out, then it's nothing but Les's bad business decision. Or, if Morey's right (again), then we scored contributors on the cheap. We should all be happy that we have an owner who trusts his GM enough to invest millions like this.
Why are you ready to give up on Taylor already??? Daryl Morey said LAST SUMMER that Taylor would probably need more time than Chase to develop as a player, coming out of a small conference and having a more "raw" overall game based largely on athleticism. And dude makes barely over the league minimum. You're going to complain that a guy making that amount is a "waste" when he's still young and developing and the coaching staff is actually pleased with the progress he's making? I'd love to see what you would have had to say about a guy like Chauncey Billups, who looked like a major bust mid-way through his rookie deal.
and to add on to what Bima said, the D-league team down there is a perfect place for a Rockets player to get up to speed. The Vipers are totally controlled and ran by the Rockets, and they use the same exact system the Rockets use, using the same methodology that the Rockets use. This allows a player like JT who needs development time to get plenty of it instead of being sparingly used by the Rockets. The quality of the competition really has little to do with what the Rockets use it for....player development.
A list of the 32nd picks in the 10 drafts before Taylor: 08 Walter Sharpe 07 Gabe Pruitt 06 Steve Novak 05 Daniel Ewing 04 Jackson Vroman 03 Jason Kapono 02 Roger Mason* 01 Gilbert Arenas* 00 Dan Langhi 99 Rico Hill *Like Taylor, Mason and Arenas are/were undersized SGs. However those two can play PG. They wouldn't be were they are now if they couldn't. It wasn't until Mason's fourth season that he started contributing to his team. Arenas conributed from his rookie season. If the Rockets are preferring Temple now, who's the same age, could the Rockets look to move Taylor this off-season?