Dennis Lindsey says Vassilis Spanoulis will be ready next year

Sory Zaam. I was referring to Badianne and not Spanoulis. A lot of folks here are hoping (against hope I would maintain) that he can somehow fill the void at the 4. I consider that to be a pipe dream. With things the way they are now in the NBA and the dearth of really good big men, if Badianne was remotely capable of playing NBA caliber basketball, he'd be here already.

As for Spanoulis, he's a longshot also but there may be a spot for him on the team next year. He could even surprise some folks but that would mean that the Rockets got VERY lucky (and believe me, after their last few drafts they desperately need to get lucky).

 

Let's not forget about Jay Williams (Former Duke & Bulls PG drafter after Yao who was in that motorcycle article). I read an article on him in ESPN the magazine and his trainer says he is ready for NBA tryouts. I think he would be willing to play for little $$$ as he needs to reprove himself that he is capable of playing at a high level. He seems like a hungry guy who wants to prove everybody that he can play again. He's definitely a smart player. His quickness is questionable as he suffered major injuries to his knee and he is pretty short but I think he is worth the gamble. He is probably better than Ward and Moochie at this point.

 

He will feel right at home in the hellenic city of Minneapolis, or in English, for you non greek speakers, the city of Minne.

 

Maroussi won game 3 today and advance (2-1 series victory) to the next round of the playoffs.

Vassy scored 25 points with 4 assists (1 TO) and 4 steals in 37 minutes and change. I will call that stepping up.

 

You gotta' remember that when we drafted him Badiane had only played one year of pro ball in Germany. Hell, he had only played five years of basketball in his entire life as he started playing when he was 14.

If he's not on our bench this coming up year he'll be there the following year.

He's rough and raw, but young and gifted.

I can't imagine what he'll be like in another five years or so.

 

Hell yeah! Everything is making it sound like he is a taller version of Tony Parker. Probably not as quick, though, given Parker is super quick.

 

One thing that no one has mentioned so far in this thread (which is somewhat surprising) is the history of the Rockets and developing players. In the past 10 years, Yao is the ONLY player the rockets have really invested time and chance into developing. There have been plenty of guys with potential, but the Rockets were always a Here-and-Now team. Don't get me wrong, I love a team that fights for being great, but sometimes the youngsters can help!!

(Sidenote: I guess I can't blame them, because, considering the size of the town, the quality of the facilities, and the excitement of Steve of old, and T-Mac and Yao of new, the Rockets fans BLOW. I'm saying that as a die-hard Rockets fan, too! The arena is NEVER LOUD, NEVER PACKED at game time, and LOTS of people still leave early. I can't imagine how much better our team would play at home if we were like the fans at Arco Arena--Sacto...Sorry...back to my original point.)

Anyway, one great example is Sam Cassell. My goodness, he's been a solid starter for many years now, and you could tell he would be when he was up-and-coming with the Rockets. But they just had to get rid of him. Ok, I guess Mobley was the exception to my point. But all this to say, I would really like to see Vass be given a chance, and not "even though" this is a championship caliber team, but "even MORE SO" because this is a championship caliber team. Look at SA and Tony Parker/Manu. They gave those guys a chance (though I admit they were a little further along that Vass seems, but I could be wrong), and look what happened. I'd like to see Malik B get a chance as well, but probably not this year. So I'm all about giving youngsters a chance (within reason), and I think that Vassy could learn a lot from the older vets on our team right now, and probably make significant contributions withing 2 years, if not earlier.

As for the PF, I just hope we can fork out the MLE and convince someone like Anderson to come because of our superstars. We really, REALLY need to D in the PF. I like Juwaun Howard, but we proved in the playoffs and last few weeks of the season, that we don't "need" his scoring (though it's nice) to put up lots of points. So think we'd be better off getting a solid defender and shot-blocker to protect Yao. And Deke won't be able to play a whole lot longer (love the guy, he's, what 38, and intense and still very quick).

Man, I had more to say than I thought!