Wells will rock for us,whether it's off the bench or in a starter's role by the end of the season.Besides,it's who finishes games that's important.
Where are all the people now that said "without lucking into Bonzi, the offseason would have been a failure"? I give Wells the benefit of the doubt that the personal issue is legitimate and needs to be attended to immediately. However, it seems that whatever issue he deals with may well not allow him to join the team until a few games into the season. So, if Bonzi isn't around for a while, do you think the team will suck without him? If any issue turns into a long-term deal, do you consider the offseason a failure? To me, Bonzi always seemed like gravy in this offseason rather than a main target. Battier and Snyder are more important acquisitions. We'll see if it works out that way.
agree. And WHO CARES. You know what, Bonzi could join after the all-star break and the Rockets still made a coup. When the playoffs roll around, just have Bonzi ready, that's all.
The man fell into our laps. We've had some eye-opening play from some youngsters in pre-season, but it's just pre-season. Wells deserves all the excitement aquiring him initially generated. He is an absolute steal. He's (cough, cough) working for a big contract next year, hopefully with us, if he works out. He's going to want to feed his family. Bigger, Better, Wellsier.
I don't know about his family, but he seems to have fed himself quite well over the summer. Anyhow, I like the way the currently active players have played as a unit, but yeah, it's preseason and it may not work all 82 games+playoffs due to injuries and what not. That's where Bonzi comes in, an extra option to go bang around in the post and an insurance for injuries. But otherwise, I think the team will be fine even without Bonzi for a while. My question, though, is if Snyder and Head continue to impress in Bonzi's absence, is it gonna get hard to find the man some minutes? He may not mind not starting, but he really is too good not to play at least 25 or 30 minutes a game, if not more. Wonder if everyone will be better off if Bonzi gets traded to a SG hungry team.
Uhhh, right here. Kudos to you if a few preseason wins helps get you off but I'm looking at something bigger ie: going through the brutal western conference playoffs... ?? I don't think anyone said the team would suck before the Wells signing. Are you Battier's agent or something? The point here has always been that the team as composed (pre-Wells) would not have enough options/weapons/insurance to go deep in the playoffs. They would have undoubtedly won 50 games, so no they wouldn't "suck", but the goal should be more than 50 wins - it should be a championship. As much as you want to make yourself and others believe it, a team with Shane Battier as its clear cut 3rd option is not a championship team - especially one with two injury prone first 2 options, a first option prone to foul trouble or being nullified by an uptempo game, and a highly unproven, inexperienced supporting cast. If he's your 4th best player, you are in business and are looking at 60 wins because he can focus on what makes him a great player and not try to do what you keep insisting he is capable of doing. Bonzi Wells gives us an offensive matchup nightmare for opposing guards which instantly makes us contenders. He magnifies Battier's worth. It would appear that way considering you are Battier's agent, but I personally am not in the business of shunning off someone who averaged 23ppg in the playoffs against a team we will have to go through.
1. Wells is a good player, but if he isn't likely going to be the difference between 50 wins and championship. If he is that kind of difference maker, he would have made that difference on his previous teams already. For all his stats vs. the Spurs, they still lost the series. 2. This whole "3rd option" thing is rather ridiculous. Just run the offense and take the shots you can make and the offense will run fine however they line up the options. It's not like you can just give the ball to Bonzi and trust him to score on an efficient rate or create for teammates anyway. McGrady can do that, Yao can do that, but Bonzi really hasn't done that for a few years except for the 5 games in the playoffs. He doesn't shoot a high TS% (similar to Juwan Howard's), doesn't create too many assists, and turns the ball over a fair amount relative to the points he scores. He helps the offense not really by being an "option" but with his rebounds and garbage points. Bonzi is useful living off garbage points and offensive rebounds, if you want to make him an "option" as in throw the ball to him and tell him to go to work, he has sucked at it during recent years unless he gets a clear mismatch. He is no more a 3rd option than Juwan Howard was last year. He's just better at that other things-- offensive boards, getting steals, etc. 3. Who is insisting Battier is capable of doing what? I've always maintained that Battier is capable of averaging a good amount of points-- more than he did he Memphis-- off open shots and easy finishes (including offensive boards). I never said just throw the ball to him and tell him to iso like Steve Francis. The coaching staff thinks he can shoot more, too, within the offense as evidenced by recent comments. BTW, comments about me or anyone else being "Battier's agent" simply because I said he (AND Snyder) appear to be more important acquisitions than Wells contributes nothing to the discussion. It's completely irrelevant to the issue at hand even if I were Battier's agent.
bonzi right now is a better player than snyder for all we know. you can down play what bonzi has done in recent years, but he's still more proven than snyder. snyder is the gravy. we're hoping that snyder makes it to the next level this season. so far so good in the preseason, but he is still a relatively unknown especially compared to bonzi. if tracy goes down for any significant time, I'm sure most people would rather rely on bonzi at this point than snyder. given the injury situation last season, depth is just as important as having a third scorer.
What we will rely on Bonzi to do is drawing the defense in when he's posting up or working the isur shooters will be tossing in outside shots like layups. Look,Wells has never played for anyone with even close to the talent level on this team.Don't try to compare his stint anywhere else to the Rockets...apples and oranges.He's well motivated and amongst the most talented of friends.The man will know his role...just enjoy the ride.
Care to tell me when ever before he's been on a team with players the caliber of McGrady and Yao to wear that is even possible? His first two years in Portland, they went to the Conference Finals and he played a big role the second year. The Grizzlies won 50 games his first year there, a year after winning only 28. Obviously that was due to a variety of reasons and other players, but he undoubtedly played a huge role on the team after the trade for Wesley Person, coming off the bench and igniting the team as the 6th man. As far as your statement about the Kings losing the series despite his efforts - what is your point? Everyone knew going in to the series that the Spurs were a vastly superior team. The fact that the Kings even made it competitive was the shocker. How is them losing the series at all relevant to this discussion? We came away from that series knowing that the Spurs can't handle him. I don't know why you keep insisting on making this a Battier vs. Wells debate in some incessant attempt to prove Battier's worth to the team or justify the trade. Is your client's contract up soon because this insecurity is troubling. This isn't about Battier vs. Wells. We wouldn't be a contender with only Wells either. The point here is that we needed Wells to justify the Battier trade because as much as you want to make yourself believe it, we still didn't have enough to compete for a title. We wouldn't have had enough with just Wells either. Teams like Dallas, Phoenix, and the Clippers all have 4 or 5 guys they can count on to produce every single night. Coming into this offseason, we only had two. Yao and McGrady are NOT Kobe and Shaq - they cannot win a championship on their own without help. That's ok because the latter are the greatest duo in league history possibly. Adding just one more proven talent in Battier doesn't get us over that hump but it sells away our future in Gay. This is justified with the signing of Wells because you instantly become good enough to compete. As impressive as Novak, Hayes, and VSpan have been, they are unproven and inexperienced.
PS: You downplay Bonzi's body of work and then add in that Snyder was a more important acquisition...huh??
bonzi wells has been to the wcf with a portland team that should have made it to the finals if not for a momumental fourth quarter game 7 collaspe.
Look at that Blazer team and you have guys that were at the end of their careers,you have depth......guys that knew their roles...and still couldn't get it done.The Lakers cranked up the D and it was alll over....Shaq and Kobe = all time great talent. What you don't have there is a franchise player,much less two,one of them a center.The difference between winning multiple titles and coming close to be in the running for one is HUGE.Yao and Tracy = all time great talent. Yao and TMac's talent level is SO far beyond any player on that Blazer team and now they are surrounded by a nice supporting cast. Let me ask you a question.Do you believe the Rockets will win it all if we stay healthy? I don't think you fully realize what Yao is becoming and along with that what a healthy Tracy means.
In the 2003 playoffs, the Mavs couldn't either, even though they still won. Considering the talent on that Blazer team, last year Kings team, and this years Rocket team, theoretically we should have enough to get by them, with the playoff version of Bonzi. Really, that's when we NEED him, playoffs.
Obviously he had a less than desirable, probably very stressful offseason, now the dental stuff/pulled muscle which is painful. Maybe he just needs a vacation?
Yea, forget about the fact that he has abused both the Mavs and Spurs in the playoffs - we don't need him. He's only as good as Juwan Howard and according to Battier's agent is a less significant addition than Snyder. Hilarious.
