What has been the biggest surprise to you thus far? Chase - he's gone from playing horrible to taking full advantage of being a starter. Kevin - after missing an average of 20 games per year (I didn't include his rookie year, if I did it would be even more), Kevin has played in 70 of 72 games this year. Aaron - after winning MIP, who would have thought he could play as bad as he did? Shane/Aaron - was hard to imagine them anywhere but Houston. Playoffs - after our 0-5 start and the loss of Yao, did you see us on the cusp of the playoffs with 10 games to go? Luis - he's been so durable, if you had told me he was going to miss a game this year, I may have bet you on it. Chuck - we all knew he was a great person and defender, but he has improved his offense this year, and, oh yeah....a triple double! Kyle - most saw him as a PG with a bad shot that couldn't overtake Aaron Brooks, but now he's winning player of the week awards and putting up monster numbers? Patterson - I think everyone believed he had potential, but he's definitely exceeded my expectations, not to mention I didn't expect him to play much with our glut of PF's. I couldn't really choose 1 thing since all of them have been surprises, that's why I was sure to throw in "biggest" surprise. I've always liked Kyle, so although what he's done has definitely surprised me, I don't think it's caught me off guard as much as others. My vote is going to go to Patterson. I didn't expect him to play much, if at all, with it being his rookie season, our coaches love for veterans, and our glut of PF's. Not to mention you don't always expect to get this great a player from the 14th pick in the draft. I never would have thought that I'd actually be ok with trading Luis! Pugs
I would say either Kyle because of how much he developed his 3 point shot, but Patterson is up there. I wouldn't put him ahead of Lowry because I kind of expected him to be this impressive
Probably Aaron Brooks. Didn't expect him to reach All-star caliber but at least improve where he would be in the discussion. I totally did not expect Aaron Brooks season to turn out like this.
For me its Martin. I had him peniciled in for missing 30 games. I am excited that the man of glass has been healthy.
Kyle.......I saw Brooks comin a mile away...I didnt think Kyle could bring that much hustle and energy for 30+ minutes night in and night out (love Drexler)
Chuck has surprised me too. I think having Miller on the team has really helped open Chucks eyes to what is possible from the Center position. What we are seeing from Chuck this year is him putting the ball on the floor and driving the lane for layups. This is the same move that Miller does also, but of course when Miller does it, it is in slow motion. I think Chuck is also passing the ball better also, and I think Miller deserves some credit for that also. I know it is popular to bash Miller on this BBS, but I think he deserves some credit for showing some of the other players how to run that high post offense. I once thought that maybe not many other teams would be interested in Chuck, but I now think some teams would like to have him. I would hate to see Chuck play for another team.
We all knew he was a one trick donkey. Want caught most of us off guard was his attitude. I for one did not see that coming. I voted Brooks.
I just knew that Brooks without his one trick would be useless and cancerous on this team. When he couldn't make his shots he would get frustrated last season. That was a dead give away for me and a sign that he needed to grow up or go somewhere else. Brooks didn't work on anything (except complaining about not getting an extension) this summer why Kyle brought a jumpshot out of nowhere. Funny how some players handle the offseason.
1. Kyle playing like an All-Star lately. Improvement is one thing, but where he's elevated his game recently is amazing. 2. Possible playoffs. Never imagined we could start the season 3-10, get back up to .500, fall 6 games under .500 again, and now be sitting at 38-34. This team never quits. 3. Brooks' bad attitude. It's really not that surprising for a player to play bad coming off an injury. But when you saw his poor attitude, you couldn't help but wonder how much was physical and how much was mental. Very disappointing. 4. C-Bud doing a respectable job as a starter--I thought losing Shane would hurt us a lot more. It does hurt us somewhat like when we didn't have anyone to contain Vince Carter...or when we won't have anyone to guard Lebron on Sunday. But for the most part, having that extra offensive threat in our lineup has worked out well. Hope to see C-Bud back and at it by Sunday. The rest aren't really that surprising to me. I would give an honorable mention to trading for Squid only for him to ride the pine all season. I remember how excited everyone was when we got him...but now it's three months later and he's proved absolutely nothing.
Chase massively, massively exceed my expectations of him as a starter. I felt he wasn't ready and I was wrong. But so far, Lowry gets my vote. I had advocated repeatedly before the trade deadline that we would need a PG better than either Brooks or Lowry in addition to solving our big man problem in order to become a contender. Well, Lowry's proven himself.
Brooks and Patterson. I expected Brooks to become a Steve Francis, a legit number one guy, but instead... well we all know what happened. As for Patterson, I had no idea he'd be this good this fast. I also expected a little bit more out of Brad Miller.
7 6 hang up after 5 games, in his 4th injury-ended season. Well, I guess not so surprising, maybe more disappointed.
