[Chron] Rockets to find out if Steve Novak is good at D-League basketball

Diamantidis

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Why are Rockets fans the ONLY fans of NBA that know absolutely nothing about Euroleague? Look go to the Spurs board and ask them who is better. I need a good laugh.

 

I watched the first video until it showed Batiste shooting a free throw. Who puts free throws in their highlight films?

You may not have heard, but in the NBA there's something called 'defense' that the players use to make it harder for their opponents to score. Judging from these videos, the concept is foreign in Europe.

 

Wow... you actually think this guy's better than Skip? I'm done with you.

 

I guess you didn't watch the Diamantidis video since there is "no defense" in Europe. BTW nice excuxe after you saw how incredibly superior Batiste is to Hayes. Yeah Hayes could be the only person on the court and never hit those shots.

Also when was the last time you saw Rafer Alston make even one single play like that on defense as in the Diamantidis video hmm?

Let me see 6-5 195 pound 7-0 wingspan 42 inch vertical with defense like Bruce Bowen POINT GUARDS just grow on trees in Houston Rockets rosters

 

This never ceases to amaze me how incredibly bad Rockets fans are at knowing anything but Rockets basketball. If you can point out one single athletic play or defensive play that Rafer Alston has ever in his entire life made that is just a sampling of what Diamantidis does at least 2 to 3 times in EVERY single game he plays then please point it out.

If you want highlights of him rejecting 7 footers on dunk attempts above the rim you can get those too. But hey, Rafer Alston is clearly better.

 

Diamantidis blocks against team usa

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Diamantidis schools LeBron

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Diamantidis shows Alex Acker (Detroit Pistons) how it is done when someone tries to dunk on him

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No by all means Rafer Freaking Alston is better.

Here's a just recent game. Winston is the one with the alley oop dunk. As you can see Diamantidis is a POINT GUARD that shuts down the freaking interior. Amazing Mike Batiste still knocking down jump shots, etc.

BTW the little guy is Spanoulis. And the team in red is Olympiacos Piraeus which is the 2nd or 3rd best team not in the NBA so the competition isn't exactly poor, certainly way better than any team "Air Bullard" ever played for in Greece and he was a "gunner" there apparently according to some.

 

Steve will have learn some Spanish, that is part of team rules, since he will be playing down here in the Rio Grande Valley. I get to see a Rocket play live. I am down here in Edinburg which only about 12 miles from Dodge Arena in Hidalgo.

 

APOLLO,
<br>
I love how you use supporting cast players to compare these two GREEK SUPERSTARS to.
<br>
Diamantidis is nothing compared to Kobe, Mac, Lebron, Carmelo, Durant, Redd, Hamilton, Billups, Ben Gordon, Deng, Tony Parker, Pierce, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, Gerald Wallace, Marion, J. Richardson, Granger, Tinsley, Iguodala, Iverson, Steve Nash, Roy, Josh Howard, Ginobli, Ford, Kidd, Jefferson, Vince Carter Wade, Bibby, Baron Davis Kevin Martin, Arenas, Barbosa, Deron Williams, Jamison, Chris Paul, Stojakovic, Marbury, Crawford, Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, etc....
<br>
Batiste is nothing compared to Yao, Brand, Duncan, Okafor, David West, Chandler, Aldridge, Bosh, Kristic, Garnett, Dwight Howard, Jermaine O'neal, Randolph, Curry, Boozer, Amare, Nowitzki, Gasol, Al Jefferson, etc.....
<br>
<br>
European players are getting better and is way more advanced than in previous times, but if you are going to compare the cream of their crop, compare it to the according players over here
<br>
OWNED

 

Any chance RA wants to keep Brooks and Landry for practice considerations? Matchups, etc?

 

Tonight we got a look of Matt Carroll, who is exactly the type of player that I hope Steve Novac can become one day. Carroll is an excellent shooter who is not a liability on defense. A player like him can always stick around in the league. Every team can use a shooter.

We should have sent Novac down last year, but it's not too late to send him down now. I hope that he improves his D enough down in the D league so that he will have an NBA career like Matt Carroll does. He certainly won't do that sitting at the end of the bench.

 

If we can somehow get a top 10 draft pick then we can use that to get Chase Budinger from Arizona. Guy's like an even more athletic version of Brent Barry during his prime except with an even better stroke.

Bye Rafer

 

Hehe, enough of your diatribe. Are you from Europe? I admire your "patriotism". But these are the least impressive highlight reels I have seen for a while. Not much athletisism, no D, PF/C who just shoots 3s all the time.

Sorry, but there's no way they succeed in the NBA. They are the best players in Europe, but at best they are bench srubs here. And it looks like Batiste has much less D than Hayes.

If you don't think so, then my friend, it's you who don't know anything about basketball. Don't be a euro-homer

 

Apollo, the more videos you post, the more you are just showing us that there is absolutely NO defense in Europe. For you to say that MIKE BATISTE is better than Chuck Hayes is just plain ignorant. Batiste couldn't freaking MAKE it in the NBA, that's why he plays in Europe now. Just because he can drain some open jumpers in Greece does not mean he can outrebound, out-defend, and out-hustle Hayes. Stop insulting our board by claiming that we know nothing about basketball. A lot of us have been playing/watching basketball (organized ball, not street) for our entire lives, and we know what it takes to succeed in this league. There is a reason why your guys haven't made it in this league yet....if the Rockets are the only organization that is blind to European basketball, then why have the other 29 teams passed on these guys too? Diamantidis might very well be successful in the NBA, but there is no way I would trust him with bringing the ball up the court with 15 seconds left on the clock like I do Alston. Rafer is deficient in a lot of areas, but turnovers are NOT one of them....and that is one of the main things the Rockets need out of a PG. We've brought in Spanoulis, James, Francis, and Brooks to see if any one of them could take the starting job away from him, and none of them could. There's a reason for that, and even if Diamantidis were to come here and try, he wouldn't take the starting job from Rafer. The end.

 

apollo half of those 'steals' in those videos is a foul in the NBA.

 

I'm sure Spurs fans would concede to
"Matt Bonner, man he can't even hold Diamantidis's JOCK"
like its nothing, cuz they deep down "know"....

There's just gonna be some cases where its good in Euro-bad in NBA/good in NBA/bad in Euro, and case examples that could go either way. Might very well be that Chuck Hayes can't cut it on a highly rated Euroleague team, or Diamantidis on a good NBA team.

There's also many many players that have TALENTS and skill sets that ARE of those of a "role player" regardless of system or team, and you know this. 2 or 1 dimensional players especially. Desagana Diop isnt going to become a 22 points a game scorer just cuz he goes to a Euroleague team, he'll do what he always does - defend and rebound - for whoever signs him.

I will agree part of it is cuz some players just havent gotten any good oppurtunities to show they could fit in the NBA. Anthony Parker and Maceo Baston should have been in the NBA long ago. But the point is, Rafer Alston and Chuck Hayes ARE in the NBA, Rafer being in the NBA for a while now.

And how come these SAME players you refer to on a GOOD Panathinaikos team didnt do so well against the Rockets? With the exception of Mike Batiste, looked like a team of complete chumps. I just might have to take your word on it that they were ordered to not get hurt cuz they looked absolutely horrible. Even if that were the case, that doesnt say anything good either. Instead of you admirably speaking up for them, they should shown it for themselves but they didnt. Why bother scheduling the game even waste their time showing up at the arena.

Where's the pride and the fighting spirit? Why wouldnt Diamantidis want to show he owns Rafer face to face? Also, why wouldnt Diamantidis want to go to the NBA after seeing "what they do over there" like how they treated Spanoulis? Makes me think maybe that's where Spanoulis picked up on that quitting spirit from. Or perhaps their whole team wanted to stay at home with Spanoulis who didnt want to show up against his former team. Other Euro teams went against NBA teams and BEAT them - What's Panathinkaikos and those players excuse?

 

Thank you for stating this. Mike is Akobukie all over again and he's out there waiting for a spot. Why does Novak get so many chances? His D league stats will suck, then what?

 

John Lucas III would be far and away the best point guard in Europe. That is all.

 

Oh, and a question. Why isn't Novak going to Austin? Aren't the Toros affiliated with the Rockets?

 

just to end this conversation one time for all: didnt the rockets won by like 40 points againt panathinaikos in the preseason? and Snyder dominated like shaq under the basket etc etc etc...