Piatkowki is a SG with a different skill set from Cat and is capable at some SF matches. For example vs LAL - Cat or AGriff on Kobe, Pike on Fox or Russell. JJ is one of the absolute strongest SF's in the league. Height won't be a problem. His post up game and defense are both light years ahead of Boki. AGriff was a SF at DAL sandwiched between Nowitski and Finley. He'll probably play 18-20 mpg against favorable matchups. No problem. I don't see a problem at all....
You people amaze me. I remember people being really excited that not ONLY did we get the huge Chinese guy with the #1 pick last year, but we ALSO picked up our very own Euro sharpshooter, which has suddenly become all the vogue in the league. Maybe everyone has forgotten watching Rockets games where the team simply could not put the ball in the bucket if their lives depended on it. I have not. The very fact that this has been a VERY poor shooting team for the last several years is the reason everyone was ecstatic about snatching Nachbar at #15, when, by all accounts, he would likely have ended up as a top 10 pick the following draft. He was injured, young, relatively inexperienced, going through unimaginable cultural adjustments, he never got to play, and as Rudy himself lamented, there was never any real time for practice once the season started. For God's sake, at least give the kid a chance to play before you, in all your wisdom, declare him to suck and to be a bust. Remember how Ginobili looked totally lost and sucky for a good portion of the year last year, before finally getting his feet on the ground, and then he took off. Don't you WANT your own players to succeed? Wouldn't it be better if he is given a chance, allowed to learn and grow, and become what we all want him to be? I mean seriously, good grief, some of you people are just plain embarassing.
I can see his point. Although I think JJ should be the starter at the beginning of the season, I definitely want Boki to get some significant playing time. I think alot of people have completely given up on him w/o watching him play in a meaningful game.
Bogey, Actually, DrofDunk watched all of his summer league games this year and with the exception of one game, Boki was not impressive. He was also fairly mediocre in his overseas game this year. Its never a good thing when a player is struggling against competition that is not as strong as what he would see in the NBA. IMO, based on the AGriff, Pike and JJ signings, JVG's attendance at the summer league games, where he watched Boki in person, and Rudy's hesitance to give Boki any playing time last year, it appears that Boki is either a) A bust or b) Needs another year or two of seasoning before he is ready to contribute. Remember that Boki is still essentially a rookie who does not play good defense. On a JVG team, this spells almost zero playing time.
Isn't it great to get back to talking actual basketball instead of fabricated trade rumors. Codell, I see what you are saying, but I'd still like to give him some time to develop und JVG. Like I said, I think JJ will be the starter, I just want to see Boki get 'some' playing time.
Not cut. Part of the a trade package, along with the trade exception to get some more playas or first round picks. BTW, I would much raher have TMo than Boki.
Although I still have hope that Boki will have a breakout year, realistically, he may not have that shot. Last year, I felt Rudy T. had no faith in Boki when they went and acquired JPo whereby Boki became the 4th option at SF behind JPo, Rice, and Terrence Morris. This year, new coach JVG goes out and acquires Pike, JJ, and A. Griffin which means that again Boki is the 4th option. How much playing time does a 4th option player get? Not enough to even sweat much less make a difference.
All signs are pointing to Nachbar being a bust as a NBA caliber player. He was not able to get any PT last year and he wasn't able to be a factor in the summer league games. Facts are facts. You keep him on the team for his guaranteed 3 years and hope he can make some strides to improve his play and develop a nice outside shot. But if I was a betting man, my money would be on Boki not being a Rocket in a few years.
Thank you , codell. Boki should earn a starting spot, not just get it because he'll tall. The guy did nothing in practice all last year to show the coaching staff that he deserved any PT. At least that's what we can assume because he barely saw the court the whole year. Then according to DoD, he was less than impressive during the summer league, a time when many (including myself) expected him to shine. Where there's smoke, there's fire. Maybe the guy is just a 'project' at best. I'm not ready to give up on him yet, but start him? I don't think so...
Codell is right. It also tells me that this team intends to contend this year. There is the expectation of doing as much as possible this year and cast away the whole developmental phase crap.
I never understood why we didn't give the #15 pick (which turned into Boki) to Memphis in 2002. At the time, we were still experimenting with the idea of KT or MoT or EG at SF and had one of them to trade if the experiment didn't work (which we did), were already 2 deep with Rice and Terence Morris, and Rudy's played a lot of "small ball" with Cat, Steve and Moochie. Throw in the fact that RT did not like to play rookies and I have to ask...why did we bother? Another related question I have to ask..Did we not give Memphis #15 because managment fully expected playoffs in 02-03? A WC playoff team generally picks @ ~ 17. Hindsight is 20-20, but having #13 this summer would have made this BB a lot more fun than what it was!
the reason is that everyone in the organization was foaming at the mouth over boki- he was supposedly NBA-ready. he is, without doubt, a BUST.
With Les proclaiming the Rockets to be "the greatest team ever assembled", I would say that it's safe to assume management was expecting to make the playoffs.
