Ill say it, Drew was ridiculous tonight. He was everywhere. He played insprired D against one of the best PG's in the league (Kidd) and never seemed to tire in the extended minutes he got. His shot will come around and when it does look out this kid is going to be good. It took Drew one start to get 10 assists. One start. Shandon enjoys playing with Drew because Drew is so unselfish and lets Shandon touch the ball everytime down court. Shandon is the type of player that needs to be in the flow of the game at all times. He cannot be reduced to a spot up three point shooter. I just wanted to take this time to congragulate Drew on a great effort.
FinalFantasy, Again, we disagree. My recollection is that the biggest question at the start of last season (and many others) was the point, not backing-up the 3. Cat was an unknown at point (he's a 2). Price was still recovering (always, poor guy) and may have lost a step. Maloney had gone cold. But you would rather have added depth behind Pippen/Bullard. Ok.
Is it as absurd to bash Drew for a year and a half (basically) of bad shooting, and bad overall play, then it is to tout someone to be the next Payton or Stockton over 2 decent games. Wait a minute, I love the 10 assists and all, but my complaints about Drew remain the same. 1. His shooting percentage stinks. 2. His D is not good. 3. He turns the ball over alot 4. He shoots too much given the opp. 5. He doesn't get enough assists. so in retro spect to his wonder game 1. 5-16 2. 0 steals, for a point guard, who played 42 minutes, and a suns team that turned the ball over 20 times, thats a sin. 3. 3 TO's. Not as bad, but still isn't anything to garner praise over 4. 16 shots? Does anyone else realize that he took more shots than anyone on the team? He took just as many as Anderson, made as many 3's as Anderson but only tallied half Anderson's points. 5. In this game there is not a complaint. A career high is nothing to bash a person over. If this and the Clippers game are what some of you guys are going to use as Drew's emergence in the NBA, I hate to see what you'd say if he actually had a great all around game. The Next Magic??
Lets see if Drew can keep this up. I know Kenny Thomas is something. This guy has moves inside and can shoot better than Drew and Williams. His form is so nice that you can tell once he lets it go its going in. He works really hard, RUDY YOU PICKED SOMETHING PRETTY GOOD!
francis3...kenny thomas is good but is NOT a better shooter than drew or williams(as soon as he breaks this awful slump, that is) he has a good shot for a big guy though...but it's not better than drew or williams
my problem i've had with hinmm is i really haven't seen this great shot he has too often. until the last few weeks he missed everything but everyone thought his shot was so great
i would still rather have price then drew. price didnt' get a chance after he recoverd but is a vertern type playr who can handle the ball in the crunch time better than drew
i'm sorry about the tripple post but come on guys drew was teh 16th pick. dickerson was drafted 14th? and mobley far after that. drew was drafted around the same area as dickerson, and the guys in orlando but has shown nothing compared to them. a 16th pick should be good we shouldnt' be jumping up in down cause he actually had one good game
I know.. We could of got SOMETHING WAYYYY BETTER at 16th pick then Bryce Drew. Drew finally does good and ppl are all loving him. Im happy for him and I hope he can do this more and more, because if he doesnt do this and gets back to the old Drew then everything he did will be all forgotten. But I would rather have a veteran to backup Francis.
RocketFan, Don't use the and mobley far after that logic. Mobes was an unknown for everyone, and the Rocks were sharp enough to select him anywhere in the draft. Hindsight always makes us look brilliant. Agree with you that Price was underrated, but only when healthy (yeah, those 3 games ). [This message has been edited by Cohen (edited December 05, 1999).]
"1. His shooting percentage stinks." thedreamshake99 -- Drew has shown significant improvement in this area. Drew is hitting 42.7% of his shots from the field (last season 36.7%) and over 40% from three-point territory (last season under 33%), ranking #31 in the NBA for long-range percentage. He's also seeing more time. I know you're blasting him for his 5-16 shooting game, but I don't think you're looking at the big picture. Despite the fact the 4 games previous he hit 60% from he field, the past argument was he did nothing else but shoot. Drew just dished 10 assists and grabbed 6 boards. That's a pretty impressive feat. And how can you rip him for 3 turnovers -- he had 10 assists! A 10-3 assist to turnover ratio would rank him 13th in the NBA. To put this in perspective, Steve Francis is hitting 43.2% of his shots from the field and 32.5% from the three. They've basically hit the same number of threes -- only Francis has taken 31 more. I'm not saying he's better than Francis (by any means) or that he should be our starting point, but some people blasted/blast Drew so much they refuse to see his improvement. He gets ripped so often when he plays poorly he should get some credit when he does well. ------------------ Clutch Out to prove Scottie Pippen will apologize at gunpoint. www.clutchcity.net
I will admit that Bryce Drew has shown remarkable improvement, but he was in no way worthy of being the 16th pick!! That was a completely ridiculous pick by Rudy, and he is lucky it is starting to pay off now. I can't remember who posted it, but someone said the Rockets were drafting for needs for that year, not for future. Well if that is so, why were they drafting Matt Maloney - Brent Price clones? If you remember, what that team needed was young inside players, and they badly needed athletic swing types. They needed a point guard, but why waste a pick on Bryce Drew?!?! He is coming around, but for the time the pick was made, it was just a terrible personnel decision by Rudy.
Freak, All true on the differences between Drew and Matt. To expound, Drew is a pure shooter...floaters and stop-and-pops along with the 3's. I would have jumped out of my shoes if Matt had slashed and hit a floater. I would like to give credit to Matt for saving our butts for a while. I just don't know what happened to his drive after the contract (and injury?)...
I have many times asked that Rudy dump drew as fast as possible.... I'm glad he's learned how to get the ball past mid court without getting trapped on the sidelines. As far as apologizing for wanting a guy to play to his potential...nah. He's had a few good games lately, that's great, it's what he's paid to do. Early on this season, and most of last season, he stunk. Period. maybe he's finally coming into his own, I hope so. Now Cattino, there's a player who has really started to grow. Given that it was a short season last year, do you realize that this is just the end of his first full year of play ? Talk about upside potential from a late draft pick !
I am Bashing Barklet for Dumb Mistakes Mr. Rocketball. Like 3 pointers for no apparent Reason. Silly things like that Rocket River
My assessment of Drew isn't based on two games. You can't tell how good a player is by one season let alone 2 games.
Guys, do you really believe that most #16 picks work out? A good many of them fail. The top 5 generally become good players, but after that... a good allowance for risks must be allowed. Drew is a great 3point shooter who fit in well w/the system they had at the time (postup-3pt offense). He's not any worse than *many* 16th picks... or a certain many picked #2 before Jordan.
Cabbage Man, The Rockets drafted Dickerson, Drew , and the guy from Turkey (forget his name) in that order. The Turkey guy has done nothing and that was probably the wasted pick - not Drew. We were lucky we traded him. Drew was one of the best all time college shooters with one the highest 3 point shooting percentages ever. He is also very athletic and can shoot on the run, off picks, drive the lane, etc. Maloney is a much different player than Drew. Price may have been similar to Drew but I think Rudy had already given up on Price when he drafted Drew. Price was too small and made too many mistakes for a veteran player. In the mid to late rounds, Rudy looks for guys with special skills that can contribute as role players. Drew's skill is his offense especially from 3-point land and shooting off picks. He is also athletic enough to survive in the NBA as long as he shoots well. I don't believe there were any other players available at that time who had any truely special skills. Also, you have to give Drew some time to develop. The NBA is especially tough because it is so athletic. Drew has really improved on defense. He works out very hard and is a very good runner with excellent endurance.
Air Francis: No question, I will give Bryce time. He has definitely started to develop. I just think that at the time the pick was made, a big man or swing man were more pressing needs. The likes of Nazr Muhammad, Al Harrington, and a host of others were available at the time. I don't think the Turkcan pick was wasted, because we will get it back in the near future. I am happy that Drew is starting to come around, though. Looking back, the Drew pick was a pretty good pick for now. But if you want to bring up the argument of, "was it good for then?", then I don't think it was.
