The thing is though that Joe Johnson is a lot quicker with the ball and Josh Howard is a superior rebounder off the backboard particularly on D, and Howard is a far better shot blocker. I still believe that if you want to know what Brewer really is, look at Marquis Daniels. He's a slightly bigger, stronger, slightly more athletic, worse shooting, with less range Marquis Daniels. That's not a bad thing in way shape or form. But he's just not the type of player people are assuming he is.
Well, the good thing is that we'll see eventually. I've never followed a draft anywhere near as closely as I've followed this one, so I really can't wait to keep an eye on what all these guys do in the league. So if we draft Brewer, let's hope he's everything I believe he can be. If we don't, let's hope you're right.
Who said anything about a T-Mac vs. Marion argument now? T-Mac's 3-pt shooting percentages have been up & down his whole career. IMO, its because of his release and how he rarely, if ever, jumps straight up in the air when shooting three's. The majority of his 3-pt attempts usually involve him taking a dribble then firing up an off-balance shot with his ridiculously high release point. We've all seen it before, next time you're shooting around in your driveway or playing pick-up with your friends try to shoot three's the way he does---its not easy yet he makes appear like it is. If you're claiming a guy can't shoot and i'm claiming he can, what better argument to use than a player's shooting percentages? Now, I agree its not a good idea to base EVERYTHING off of stats like some are suggesting Morey will do, but in some cases it tells you all you need to know. .....and just because Marion plays with Steve Nash that doesn't mean everyone automatically gets these wide open and uncontested shots you're suggesting.
ClutchCity, You make some very good points about Ronnie's versatility. And it sure would be nice to have a player like that on our roster that could do so many different things from one roster spot. I really like him. I'd like to dream that he would be the Scottie Pippen to McGrady's Jordan. Just one question: What is the greatest weakness on our team that needs the biggest improvement?
Thanks for the compliments. Now, I wasn't born yesterday so I can see what you're getting at with your question. Yes, shooting is important. Yet I think people overreact in thinking that "shooting" automatically means 3 point shooting. We need guys that can put the ball in the basket at a high rate, and in my opinion, Brewer does that whether it's from the 3 point line or not. His jumpshot is flawed in form, but not in function. His release is timely, and he gets good lift, arc, and rotation. Certainly his ability to hit from deep pales in comparison to Redick, but his shooting in general does not concern me at all. The Rockets are also starved for what are normally referred to as "easy" baskets. I feel that Brewer's athleticism and perimeter defense would create more opportunities to get those kinds of points. I especially like that he's a rebounding guard who can handle the ball. What that means to me is that he can come down with a rebound and be off to the races without having to wait on anybody. Again, easy baskets. So I guess to answer your question more basically... 1. Shooting 2. Perimeter size/athleticism/versatility 3a. Three point shooting. 3b. Guys that can create their own shot (we have TMac and...nobody) Again, it's just my opinion. I just feel that Brewer helps us in more ways than other prospects in this draft, given our needs and our position. Take it for what it's worth but I don't want to argue with people that want another player. That's all most of us have been doing lately, especially in this thread, and I don't feel like it's done anything but divide the board and create hostility. From now on I'm just here to speculate, state my opinions, and politely disagree when needed.
Yes, he is more versatile, there is no doubt about that. I guess it comes down to how much more important you feel like shooting is. I think that is what probably divides us on this issue. Most of the Brewer supporters think that shooting is our top priority but maybe by just a little fraction over perimeter defense, versatility, and athleticism. And the Redick supporters see shooting as far and away our greatest need, making all our other needs much less significant. Like I say, I'd love to have both. I happen to have fallen into the camp that believes that shooting is our greatest weakness and needs to be our greatest strength outside of 111. I think our priorities should be to build half court dominance followed by improving our running game. I think because we are playing with Yao as one of our two prime superstars, we have to build around Yao and than means a priority on half court execution. We are not the Jordan Bulls with 2 perimeter superstars, nor are we the Phoenix Suns or the Dallas Mavericks with a perimeter superstar surrounded by other perimter stars. We are a team with one perimeter superstar who is 6'9" and is better served using his size to either shoot over people or post them up and another interior superstar who is 7'6" and is best served playing the low block. That setup is more reminiscent of Hakeem and Clyde, or Shaq and Kobe, then it is of Phoenix or Dallas or any other run and gun team. Another question: When is the last time that an NBA championship was not decided by half court execution? I can't think of any. You might be able to. Some people may claim those Bulls championship teams were not decided by half court execution but I disagree. I don't think Chicago won a championship until they learned how to play the half court game effectively and had the complementary pieces on the floor that best complemented Jordan and Pippen. For that very reason combined with the fact that one of our two bigggest superstars is a center, I think we are predisposed towards the half court game. And for us to be competitive we have to become an efficient executing half court team. That is step #1. At least, in my opinion, it should be step 1. Step #2 is we then have to improve our transition game. But just like Phoenix's transition game helps their half court game, the opposite is true for us. The better we are in half court execution, the better we are going to be in transition. Because the more often that the opponent has to catch the ball coming out of the net, step out of bounds, and throw the ball inbounds, the more time we have to get back into our defense set, and the less time that teams like Phoenix and Dallas get to run up and down the floor. You have to be able to look at our team and 111 specifically and see that we have to build our team different than what Dallas, Phoenix, and teams like that are doing. Add to that the fact that Van Gundy is a defense first coach who already has us at the top of the league defensively, even with all the injuries and sub athletic, non athletic, slow, short players we had on the roster last year. We were still top 10 defensively. We did not lose to Phoenix and Dallas because we weren't good enough defensively. We lost because we were not good enough offensively, especially with either or both of Yao and TMac not on the floor. Your argument is Brewer will help fix that by his outstanding defense and giving us more easy points with the steals, turnovers, and boards he creates and his ability to run up and down the floor. My argument is that while he is doing that, we are taking half of 111 out of the game and we are actually playing into the hands of teams like Phoenix who are built around the run and gun. Your other argument is that Brewer's shooting is adequate. My argument is we don't want adequate shooters. We want great shooters around Yao and TMac. And I don't know how anybody can look at Brewer's jumper and TRUST that it will be adequate on a team that is suffering from a lack of shooters and is more deficient in shooting than any other basketball skill and needs shooting to be their strongest skill surrounding the core of their team. Like I say, I'd like to have Brewer, but only if I can ADD him to a team that has shooting as its strength. I think you'd like to have Redick but only after we get Brewer and have that "lock down" defense we keep talking about. We're looking at the same coin from 2 different sides.
People have been comparing Brewer to Shawn Marion, Josh Howard, and Joe Johnson. I think that is being way too optimistic. As a sort of reality check, consider the minimum that we can reasonably expect from Brewer, and see if we would be happy with that. I compared him to DerMarr Johnson a few posts ago, another long, freakishly athletic guy who can play the 1, 2, or 3 and has a suspect shot. Remember, he was taken #6 in the 2000 draft. Would you be happy if Brewer turned out to be like him?
DerMarr doesnt look nearly as atheltic as Brewer. Doesnt have the handles that Brewer does and isnt as quick or as good defensively. I think the only thing DerMarr has on Brewer is a better shot at this point. DerMarr is kind of 1 dimensional. If his long ball is on then he can contrihute, if not he is useless. That's the problem with 1 dimensional players.
Against the better athletes of the NBA, Brewer could look a lot like DerMarr. Both can play pretty good defence and shoot at a mediocre rate. DerMarr was supposed to have good handles too, but that turned out to be irrelevant in the NBA. Brewer can pass, but that will also be mostly irrelevant on our team because he will not have the ball much. So I repeat, will we be happy with a slightly better DerMarr?
Its really amazing on how long this thread is. Its almost at historic proportion and although you read and post, there always seems to have a need to respond again. I'm not saying JJ is Steve Kerr,Ray Allen, or Casey Jacobson, I'm just saying what is the best he can be? Given his tools that he have right now and lets say he really works on his game who would you compare him to? I dont think he'll ever have the ability to run rhe pg spot part time neither do i see him pump faking and exploding to the rim from 24ft out. So lets he's Jeff Hornecek which is who people like to compare him to for fairness. Lets take Brewer and the tools he has right now. He can handle the ball pretty good now,rebounds pretty well and is a long rangy defender. He'll never be a great shooter, but can if he has the work ethic become a good shooter similar to Johnson,Marion or even Ricky Davis. Which guy helps the Rox the most will determine the guy want the Rox to draft. While watching Jeff his entire career, i think he was a fine player because he was a combo guard. He could run the offense like he did in Philly or he could shoot the ball off of picks and curls like he did in Utah and Phoe. I could also say that was the 80's and 90's where there were only a handfull of big guards in the league. I personally like Brewer because I'm pretty tired of the Rox getting guys who satnd and wait on Tracy and Yao to get them a good shot. I think the Rox would benefit from a guy who can attack the creases that are there instead of settling for jumpers. How many games did you watch when Yao and T-mac were playing and the guys were launching long jumper afater long jumper. How many times you were wishing someone could break down the defense and give Yao and Tracy easy buckets. Tracy shoot a poor % from 3pt land because most of it is done contested and off the dribble. If had a couple of 3's a night that are uncontested or produced by another players dribble penetration, it would make it easier on him. Poster have beat up on me because i suggested that the rox also sign a Posey type of player if he was availible. Actualluy Posey is 29 shot 40% from 3 in the nba, not college. No matter what kind of shooter you are in college, you have to adjust from 3 more feet which isn't easy especially when someone runs at you. I just want this team to become deeper with players and not just one trick ponies. Get versitile guys that are all around players and your team has a chance to become successful. P.S. Before Daniels went down with injuries he was playing more and more productive than Howard. If you dont think this team could use a Marquise Daniels then I dont know what game your looking at.
Actually it was a car accident in which they didn't even know if he would walk again. A broken neck isn't anything to play around with. look at Bobby Hurley and Jay Williams who never even played in the nba again.
Just wanted to point out that Jay Williams is coming back this season for sure. In fact, I'd love if the Rockets could get their hands on him somehow.
I know with the injuries and all, but i wonder why the Rox who are built smilar to the heat score 9 less ppg eventhough they only avg 1 less shot per game and basically hitting the same amount of 3pt fg? check this out: RNK TEAM PTS FGM FGA FG% 3PM 3PA 3P% FTM FTA FT% PPS ADJ. 12 Miami 99.9 37.1 77.5 47.821 6.1 17.6 .345 19.7 28.2 69.957 1.29 .517 13 Houston 90.1 33.0 76.2 43.314 5.7 17.2 .332 18.3 24.1 75.859 1.18 .471 iT REALLY DOESN'T ADD UP.
Fair enough. I didn't know about DerMarr's accident. I all remember is that he was hyped as much in 2000 as Brewer is now, and then he basically disappeared.
However, DerMarr didn't do much in his first couple of seasons, when he was healthy. Do we want to wait as long for Brewer to develop, or would it be better to go for Redick's immediate production and obtain the defensive depth we need from free agency?
I thought the knock against DerMarr was his lack of athleticism. He can shoot and he has great size. He's almost the opposite of Brewer whose shot is suspect and has great athleticism.
That is a stupid post you cant compare players ability by how much they r hyped and dermarr played no d horrible comparison their games r not even very similar!
Forget JJ please come to my side and at least look if we draft brewer and sign james and trade for jr our roster is as good as the heat lets compare! Yao>shaq stro=haslem Tmac=wade jr and brewer< but only slightly to A walker James<jwill H towns bench is far superior to that of the heat! If we end up with morrison we would still have the advantage but imo we would have an identical to walker! JJ wouldnt be the worst if we had jr but trying to throw him in their to start would be a death wish!
I think right now, Wade is better than T-Mac. Great players attack the rim relentlessly and T-Mac just doesn't do it anymore. Sometimes he just hangs around the perimeter. BTW, I really don't think we're going to trade with the Hornets. And Haslem is tons better than freaking Stro.
