The thing I like about Kostas is even when it seems like he's playing like total crap (which it did last night to me), he still usually manages to cause things to happen. It's a rare game that he doesn't pick up a really respectable assists-steals-blocks line, which is pretty rare for a forward to get all three at a respectable rate. He still needs to settle into being an NBA shooter and I'm starting to doubt it happens this year - but I think he's still an immensely valuable bench guy.
No way with 35 percent shooting. I love him, but that stat is just too bad to win rookie of the year. Now if he raises it to 42 percent by the end of the season, he could.
Pap's shooting numbers are already starting to climb. He's still not hitting the 3 ball with regularity, only 31%, but over the the last 8 games his overall FG% is a much more respectable 44%. A big reason is that he isn't simply settling for the jumper, he's actually slashing to the rim when a lane presents itself. His assist to turnover ratio is also better over that same stretch, 1.9 now versus 1.4 before. He's getting comfortable, the adjustment to NBA athletes is a tough one to make.
Papanikolaou was great last night, I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe his stat line doesn't show it, but he was a huge contributor.
Papa is a big reason we are winning as a team. He looks more relaxed and confident and is always ready to play when called to do so. I expected him to need more time to make an adjustment.
I like Papa's defensive awareness and effort a lot. I hope he will become a better shooter as well. That will make a big difference.
lol His shooting should come along. I like that he attacks the basket if his shot is not falling and scoring. It is his defense that is so startling to me. He should need at least another year to play at the level he is doing defensively now. His playmaking is a great addition to this team.
Kostas is clearly better every day. It appears that rockets training team do good job with him. He does things that did not do in europe , for example putting the ball in the floor . But he is careless with his finishes. Also the days and the weeks pass and he still can not find his shot. And that makes me very nervous about his fututre inthe team Some times i dont understand the American basket ball. Yesterday , for 2-3 minutes, kostas (2,03 m) had to defend kosta koufo (2,14m and much heavier) . I could not believe that memphis did not even try to take advantage of this HUGE miss match.
Yeah, I saw that mismatch, but that's an improvement that the team has made this year. We gave a hard time to the Grizzlies of trying to get the ball in the post. We clogged and disrupted passing lanes. Often times Marc would be out on the shoulder because everything was so clogged up. Our guys do a great job of rotating and really closing off areas where the ball is supposed to go. That's why we can get away with Papa and Harden guarding bigger guys. But DMo, Black, and Dorsey really stepped up in areas that don't show up on the stat sheet. They were aggressive in the paint defensively..
Hi to all, This is my first post to the forum and I am here because of mr. Papanikolaou. I have watched him from the time he was in Olympiakos until today in Rockets. In my opinion Pap will slowly change the whole game of Rockets to a better one. In NBA they are a lot of teams with stars, Rockets have Harden,Lakers have Kobe, Cavaliers have Lebron etc ... however they are not necessarily the stars that win titles, they may win games but you need players who feel champions to get titles. MJ was the greatest from day 1 scoring from first season more than 25 ppg, huge talent,however it took him 6 years to take the ring, to transform himself from a great talent, from a star to a champion. Pap is not a star, he probably never gonna score big but if he continues his game in the NBA regardless of the team he will find a way to take the ring. He is a champion and it may take time for ppl to realize what he does in the game but he affects the game in so many ways and mostly he affects everyone around him in a positive way. I had read in the forum the posts and i realize that a lot of ppl are complaining about his shooting. Even though i saw most of the games of Rockets and i saw him from time to time to through bricks on the rim and sometimes not even close to the rim i say give him a break ... This guy come from the other side of the planet, only from cultural point of view he must had a shock, he must adapt to the number of games per week, the pace of the game, he has no friends there, he does not know the language well, he must change his Europe style of game and attack more to the rim instead of getting into the rim only for throwing the ball out for 3 point shot,he must change his position from sf to pf(i still wonder why mchale change his position, in national team adekotoumpo is a substitute for papanikolaou in sf position and in the us giannis is consider from some ppl as better than pap because he dunks and creates highlights, where the other simply knows the game, this is so much more important), on top of all of that he must adapt to the new 3 point line. in NBA is 7.24 m where in Europe 6.75 that is why sometimes he come short from the 3 point line. It is just the force of habit. I think no one can judge him and ppl must give him some time and faith. We sometimes buy a pair of shoes and it take as a month to feel good with in our new shoes. this guy makes so many changes give him a break. Beverly when played in olympiakos had 2.7 ppg and pap has 6 ppg in the nba and his number rises ... Even Harden in his first year in the NBA he had 9.9 ppg. This means Harden had one more successful 3 point shot than pap ... does that figure make harden a lousy shooter ? of course no. we must see the whole picture and do not rely only on numbers but also on facts. facts say that in every team pap went the team won a big title. guess what that means for rockets facts say that in crucial matches pap comes in strong he delivers crucial shots, blocks or steals. see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xnxoRGOUlc the eurileague final that olympiakos come back to life from -19 in last quarter facts say that papanikolaou has a 3 point shoot see statistics from wikipedia who show him with .5% on 3p. facts say that from all the rookies in nba (see http://www.basketball-reference.com/) pap has the 2nd highest number in delivering assist to teammates from the position of PF!!! can you realize that ??? do you believe that tarik black would have been so psychologically up if pap did not gave assists to him ? ... pap is a huge asset for rockets
game over man, game over. At the very least Kostas looks like he's in much better shape from the start of the season. Love his progression so far. Fitting in nicely with our Rockets.
No one could guard the opposing 1. It would be bad. Yes, we have Garcia run the point at times, but Jet is on the floor, and he's best played off the ball.
When everyone gets healthy, this bench would be sick. Canaan/NJ Jet/Daniels Pap/Garcia DMo/Dorsey Black/Capela we gotta address the front court depth, but if everyone is on their game and consistent...thats an awesome bench
