Like I said, I'm probably the only person who feels that way. Not sure why, probably just that I really liked his play during his time with the Grizz. Looking at some advanced stats though, he really was incredibly good back then. The problem is that he just fell off a cliff production-wise very early. Which is a real shame. The only thing that worries me about Monta is his not-so-great shooting skills. But yes, I agree that he can definitely find a niche on a winning team, similar to how Rip Hamilton performed on the Pistons. The whole "he hasn't led his team to anything" reasoning is overrated. If you take the 5 worst teams in the NBA and devise a starting lineup from that, it would be a championship contender. No one can win by himself... except transcendent players that no team would ever trade in a million years anyway.
IMO when players come to the rockets for some reason they get worse...the only time there are good players on the rockets is when we develop them. players who came to the rockets and we thought we our "missing piece" but whom end up worse or declined (even slightly): tmac, swift, bonzi, pippen, barkley
He had arthitic knees coming into the league, the reason why Thorn didn't sign him to play with Kidd. I guess it just caught up to him.
Pippen and Barkley were already declining before they came to the Rockets. They came over just to ride Hakeem's coattails. Drexler was less productive also and about to retire. He still got a ring. Bonzi was old too. Swift was always crap. We were hoping to develop him. He just stayed crap. I'll give you, T-Mac. He went from Prime Rib to chewed up bone, by the time he left. Most players make their biggest improvements from the 1st to 2nd season and the 2nd to 3rd season. After they get out of their rookie contract, the players that improve signifcantly are much slower. The majority will have slight improvements, stay the same, or slight decline. The Jermaine O'Neal and T-Mac(Orlando) improvements are rare, that's why those guy's names stand out for most improved players.
I don't think they're a good comparison exactly for the reasons you listed. You're right on about the athleticism and size differences. If Bosh does happen, he's the guy that everyone hoped Eddie Griffin (RIP) or Stromile Swift would become next to Yao. Bosh is already there. Man, is Stromile out of the league already? That was a bad draft class. At least he outlasted Jerome Moiso, Chris Mihm, Demarr Johnson, Marcus Fizer and Darius Miles.
He also had a team that could go 8-9 deep AND a damned good coach. Toronto hasn't had either in Bosh's tenure.
All you people with the Bosh blinders on need to look at the Raptor's year by year performance objectively.... Bosh is simply not that good.
People seem to forget that the Raptors were playing pretty good basketball before Bosh got hurt and that was with Hedo and Calderon having pretty down years. The guy is arguably a top ten player in the league and for sure one of the top 10 under 30. I don't see how you can't give this guy a max contract unless you are worried about injury problems. If people think only players that can carry a team on their back deserve max money then there are only about 4-5 players in the league that deserve that kind of money.
How the hell is this only a 1 star thread? This discussion has been one of the more intelectual threads in a while. Everyone posting so far have pretty interesting opinions, and at least everyone is trying to back up their argument with facts and observations. This is at least a 3-4 star thread IMHO!
Yearly Winning Percentage Year SAR CB 1st 17 % 40% 2nd 23 % 40% 3rd 16 % 33% 4th 27 % 57% 5th 28 % 50% 6th 40 % 40% 7th 43 % 49% Player Efficiency Rating Year SAR CB 1st 17.4 15.1 2nd 21.1 17.5 3rd 20.7 23.2 4th 20.2 22.6 5th 19.1 23.8 6th 19.8 22.1 7th 20.0 25.0 Bosh's teams have been consistantly better that SAR's disasters, some of you are holding it against Bosh because we wasn't able to will lousy raptors teams to the playoffs, we don't need a savior, he is just supposed to be a big part of the puzzle.
In SAR's last 2 years in Vancouver he had Mike Bibby and Michael Dickerson (in his brief window of great play). Those two players are as good or better that any of the player's Bosh has played with since Vince Carter. And they still weren't as good as Bosh's teams in their worst years. Who are all of these great players you think Bosh has played with.
I won't address Quitten and Charles, but in the games he played for Houston when we got the second championship, Clyde tied his career best shooting percentage, equaling the 1987-88 season... .506%, and rebounded at a rate that was in the ballpark of his best during his career. His turnovers were within a hair of the lowest of his career. His personal fouls were the lowest of his career. Yes, it was for 35 games with the Rockets, but it was in his 12th season and Clyde knew why he was acquired. To win a championship. Drexler delivered. Say what you like about the other guys, but Clyde should be left out of the conversation.
This is an apt comparison. Let's hope Bosh trends more forward than backwards, if he signs in Houston. If not....let him go the same direction as SAR. DD
