I think it's getting close to the point where we have to chalk Nochbar up as a bust. Maybe not quite yet, but pretty soon. In the limited time he's had on-court so far, he's done absolutely NOTHING. Can't defend, can't pass, can't even shoot(!) For those of you who say he'd shine if Rudy would give him some PT, I'd argue that if he had any game at all, Rudy'd be glad to get him off the bench -- especially considering our inconsistent play at forward this year. If Boki had serious game, he'd be getting serious minutes, like Yao. Like everyone else, all I knew about Boki before draft day was what I heard on ESPN -- that he was a studly European sharpshooter. To this day, I've never actually seen him play a game. I'm still hoping for the best, but this is really starting to look like a major bust of a 1st-round pick. So far he's been the worst player on the team this year. The only thing that makes me feel any better about us blowing a #15 pick is the fact that nobody picked after Boki has had any impact either.
Dude, you've got to be kidding me. Its way too early to start with this now. Just like you said, you haven't seen him play. Rudy's just bringing him on slowly because he, like almost all young players, needs time to develope. My take is that his game is there, but he needs to work on the athletic ability and the quickness of the NBA. Also, don't forget that he herniated a disk in his back before the season started. I'm not saying he'll be a terrific player, but I'm just saying it is way too early to make judgments on him.
By "bust," I mean that most of us here had pretty high hopes that he'd contribute some scoring punch off the bench this year and hopefully be a starter within 2-3 years. As it stands now, he's probably going to spend the rest of this year keeping Colin Pine company during games. So he's not a complete washout, but still a pretty big disappointment.
It's really hard to be a bust when you've not played any sort of significant minutes. Rudy's not really been known to play young guys with a few notable exceptions. Boki will get his in due time, maybe later in this year or possibly sometime next year. But to call him a bust based on half a year in which he has not played is really jumping the gun.
Disappointment for one season is a far cry from being a bust. Just because Yao Ming adapted so fast to the NBA game doesn't mean other international players should. Nachbar will never be an All-Star (most likely), but he could still be the spark at SF that we need...just give him more time.
From what I've heard from news clippings, Boki has struggled at times in practice. Not scoring, but other nuances of the game, i.e. spacing, defensive assinments, setting picks, taking contact (soft?), and playing man-on-man defense. When I watched his game tapes from Slovenia and Italy I noticed that he played a run-and-gun style. No real set offenses. He was an energy guy like Hedo Turkoglu. Hedo didn't really light things up his rookie season either. Boki is only getting 6 minutes a game, if he even plays. There's no way that you can make a credible judgment on someone that only gets garbage minutes. Rudy has used the 3-spot for speciality shooters for a while now. It's an important position that allows us to break down the zone (Rice/Posey/Griffin/Hawkins). Not sure if he wants to risk that position for Boki at this time. We already have Yao and his teammates learning each other. We'll know if Boki is a bust after his contract is up in 3 years. The only way that Boki's development could get accelerated is if Posey gets hurt (knock on wood!), and we don't want that. By the way, Posey in his rookie season played 25.3 minutes per game, and scored 8.2 ppg. Boki is at 6.4 minutes per game, and scoring at 2.3 ppg.
I agree that he has not seen enough playing time. And when he is in for two minutes, I think he over shoots and tries to hard to make the most of it because he doesn't know when he will play next.
well when i originally posted something about how boki looked horrible when he got time against dallas i was ripped pretty good for it. i think he has been very disappointing this year. he has looked unathletic and slow. and to theguent who said boki needs to work on his athletic ability...well that is something that is hard to do...you are either an athlete or you aren't. i don't know maybe boki will turn into a turkoglu type play in a year, but right now he looks pretty bad.
Well, from what little I have seen of him playing, I am not impressed at all. He looked like a huge liability defensively and mediocre offensively. Still, I don't think he has played enough to come to a conclusion yet.
After Dirk's first year, everyone and their dog was mocking Crazy Nellie for drafting the German 9th. He looked overmatched, couldn't play defense, and couldn't cope athletically. He was a freakin' punch line. Now, he's a Top 5 player. I doubt Boki will ascend to those heighths... but it's a huge mistake to be dismissive of a player who hasn't had remotely enough time to adjust. My opinion on Boki: he's not ready now. That's all I can say, because that's all anyone can say.
damn beat me to it! dirk's talked about how hard it was in his first year, the adjustments he had to make & how he was called a bust by so many on his first years performance. i'd guess all those journos have deleted those pieces from their records... and probably gone in to raid the archive copies too
Boki certainly may NOT be the next Dirk but how can you expect a guy to come off the bench in garbage minutes and shoot lights out?
Nowitzki still can't play D btw. But, that's besides the point. Boki hasn't played. Inconsitent minutes prove nothing. Right now, Jay Williams is more of a bust than Boki, because Jay has been AWFUL while Boki just hasn't been playing. It's ok, it's better this way. He'd need time to adjust anyway, and I don't want to risk losing one game or two on him. Once he gets 20 minutes a game for a lengthy period of time, then we can judge him. Right now, he looks pretty good. I think that once he starts actually playing when the game's at its climax, he'll adjust his speed to the speed of the game, like Yao Ming for example. This speed thing, if you've noticed, is the #1 thing standing in the way of Euro players' transition. Once he adjusts, he'll be ok. In a couple of years, he will probably be the starter, unless T-Mo improves his jumpshot/3pt shot in each of the following 2 years, in which case, he'll be one of the best SF's in the league.
Come on guys, this is probably his 2nd game playing. alot of guys get nervous and play like garbage. Rigudue (don't feel like correcting my spelling), or whatever is supposely a plug and play type player and hes awful. That doesn't mean hes gonna be a bust, hes just getting adjusted. I've seen Boki in practice and he looks pretty good. Just like we gave Ming some time, give Boki some time. Although in Ming's case, his progress was almost super human.
This summer is his time for significant growth. The summer after will finish his maturation. The man will either be gold by then. Or gone. Forget today.
Rudy T has already commented that Boki is essentially next years first round pick that we got this year. In translation: he will not get any significant minutes until next year after he has had a full off-season with out injuries and he will not be judged on his performance until such time. The fact is that with TMo playing well and Possey looking more and more like he is entrenching himself as the long term starter that Boki may have an uphill battle to ever get any significant minutes on this team. Boki may find himself in the same place as Jason Collier; trying to get minutes playing behind to very good players at his position. Maybe if the Rockets do not resign TMo or Possey in the off-season that would open a spot in the rotation for Boki but I think not resigning either of those two would be a mistake.
Actually, in the limited minutes that I've seen Boki play, I've been pleased. As others have mentioned, you are not going to light it up in garbage minutes, but contrary to the practice reports referred to earlier in the thread, I think he has moved the ball well and shown an ability to set teammates up. He's clever around the basket and has shown me a basketball IQ, something that is clearly lacking on this team. Some players are just not as good in practice as they are on game day. I don't know if Boki is one of those guys are not, but the only way we are going to find out is to give him some meaningful minutes. The next time Mobley goes crazy, bench him, slide Posey to the 2, and give Nachbar some playing time. PLEASE.
