With 4 point guards on our roster I think Luther has no task or role to do it. He is a shooter,and very underpaid and that's a good thing for Rockets,can fit in the team and I think he would score more ppg if he was on some other team.
no luther cannot even bring the ball up the court, much less make an interior pass to yao. he plays with no confidence when he's at the 1 and is...dare i say it...a lot worse than rafer
Good discussion. Let's face it, at the NBA level, Luther doesn't have what it takes to attack the rim and finish at the basket. That's why he doesn't do it much. He can't take people off the dribble, he doesn't have great hops, he is smallish and doesn't have the instincts at the basket. I couldn't care less what he did in college. At the NBA level, once Luther starts dribbling he is 95% neutralized. At the NBA level, Luther is little more than a spot up shooter who must be wide-open. When his jumpers are contested they almost never go in. Also, he successfully cut without the ball a lot last year, benefiting from passes from Yao. He is NOT doing that more this year. Do you watch the games last year? If it sounds like I'm down on Luther, I confess. I've been down on him since his jittery regular season game last year against the Mavs, which he repeated against the Jazz in the playoffs. Luther has topped out. Let's stop trying to make him into something he cannot be. I'm ready to give on a player with no upside and try something else with his 10 mins/game. A small step that could pay off big later on.
Well, golly gee Texanskan..thanks for your contribution, this is a Rockets board you know, a chance to digitally discuss options for the Rockets team. DD
He's shooting 70% from inside the arc this year. 7-10 I wouldn't say they never go in. He's not on the court with Yao as much. Most of the time he's on the court its with either Scola or Deke in the middle. Which that particular play doesn't work with. I did watch the games last year and that was the only times Luther cut to the basket. No I take that back. He had a couple of back door plays last year where Tmac hit him from the top of the key. I think, like most of these other players, he's still trying to get used to playing with this new system. Being down on him is one thing, but giving up after 8 games isn't really the way to go. He has has the skill set to be affective in this offense. I'd like to see him have that chance. He shot 44% from the 3pt line last year and is only at 10% from this year. That's not going to continue forever. He hasn't reached his peak yet, he's only just starting his third year. His size is a factor defensively when they try to break him down in the post but offensively he is a good option for the team. The growing pains with the new coach and new system will eventually stop.
The simlilarities with Love Smith and Rick Adleman are uncanny. Think about it. Bears basically ground to a halt offensively with Grossman. Defensively, they win the games last year anyway. They win despite what Grossman their field general "Quarterback" does. Rockets offense runs ok with Rafer but he bricks everything he puts up. Rockets win anyways but not because of anything the floor general "PG" Rafer Alston does. Lovie Smith starts Grossman stubbornly until the big losing streak this year and finally puts in Griese. Griese a former All Star with the Broncos has the Bears offense running on all cylinders again until an injury pulls him down. Now Grossman is back in the lineup. Can Stevie Franchise be far behind?
he has improved his dribbling which makes him a better scoring option, he can do a little more creating for himself. but he just isn't a good passer outside of making easy passes within the offense. at the end of a game like last night, you need a playmaker. rafer and mike just have to play better in those terms if ra is going to stick with it
If the Rockets need a playmaker, they only have one on the Roster at the PG spot and that is Aaron Brooks.... Maybe the Scola for V-Span trade is not so good after all. DD
I dunno why they are trying to develop him. He has had 2 years knowing we needed a point guard, and knowing he is pg sized. He played 80 games in these 2 years. I was hopeful just like you but developing players is not our plan this year. Our plan should be winning. Now ITS TIME!!!
If Luther doesn't fit, then hopefully the team will package him in a trade to get some value....he is far too undersized to play the SG position on a regular basis, and if he can not handle spot PG duty, then he is fairly worthless on the roster. Why keep him? DD
I would rather play T-Mac/James at point if Alston and Francis are not options hell I would rather start a rookie in Brooks and have James come off the bench than Luther seeing any time at point. Luther "one trick pony" Head needs to not be put in spots where his terrible decision making can hurt us and when someone passes the ball to him he needs to hit his shot. I see your point you want to look at all options I just dont think Luther is an option. We are not making any trades and until we play 20-25 games I am not willing to mess with the rotation other than giving Steve a chance to get Head's minutes. I think James when it's all said and done will be a beast off the bench and I'm not handing the keys over to either Brooks, Francis and certainly not Luther until I see two months of 20% three point shooting from skip.
