Until Boki learns to at least get in the way of the guy he's covering, he'll never play significant minutes in JVG's tenure
if you are being sarcastic it is good to ad or alse somebody can misunderstand you. because some people say the stupidest things.
boki should definately be getting some time rather than adrian griffin, that guy has shown me nothing from what I saw with his hustle plays in dallas, sure the injury time off may be a cause for this, but we need the return of the white guy, ball movement team of pike, pagett and boki in at the same time.
I'm sorry but you are dead wrong on most of this. 1. His defense is actually rather nice. He is awsome coming from the weakside because he is quick and long. He discrupts things. Underrated, IMO. 3. Lost quickness? Compared to what? I dont know what you mean. He's shown he can get to the backet (but he doesn't finish ) 4. Rebounding? He's a 2-3. Rebounding isn't exactly the prerequisite. 5. Size? The guy is 6'9"!!! 6. He's plenty quick. not the issue. Now back to point #2. If you can't hit open shots, your useless... esp w/ Yao on the team. Boki's downfall is his inability to knock down shots.
Get off the pills - it could make objects slower that they really are. He has not lost his first step - his bane is his ONLY shooting (consistency wise). This is essentially his rookie year and some players take more time to develope than others (see Manu Ginobili). Watch some games at or at least pay some attention. Boki is a good rebound - in fact that is one of his strengths. He is an "activity" guy with above average vertical. Per 48 minutes he is a better defensive rebound than Steve Francis, Cutino Mobley, Pike and Mark Jackson. Per 48 minutes, he is also the Rockets 3rd shot blocker only behind Cato and Yao. He is freaking small forward - a 6-9 221 lbs. small forward.
You need to simmer down there Fegwu. First off, anyone who actually KNOWS basketball will tell you that Boki is not an "A" player in this league. He's not even a "B" player. And unfortunately, he is not being developed by the Rox either. All you need to do is ask yourself one question: "If Boki is so great, why is he (1) not in JVG's regular rotation -and- (2) so far down the bench?" It's not like JVG doesn't give players a chance to shine. Boki's opportunity to shine was in pre-season and early-regular season and, in both instances, he flat out blew it on all six counts that I listed earlier. Moreover, all those stats you bring out is garbage. Sure he looks productive on paper - but credit that to how JVG's been using him in limited minutes. Think about it, if you get pulled after two minutes and get that one uncontested open rebound, your stats will already be biased upward. Compound that with the fact that Boki gets minutes during GARBAGE TIME to help pad those stats. Over more substantive minutes, stats will normalize and I'm willing to bet that Boki's rebounding efficiency numbers will be lower than what you see now. The flip side is that I also think Boki is a better shooter than you see now. But among all our forwards - Cato, Spoon, heck, even MoT - are all better rebounders than Boki. Spoon, in particular, is physically shorter than Boki but heavier in weight and plays bigger in size. Boki doesn't have the size to bang with the big guys and that's what JVG wants to see. Any Joe Schmo with height can pluck down a long rebound. But the great rebounders PLAY WITH SIZE and have great positioning to rip those rebounds down. Meanwhile, Pike is supposedly a better shooter and with Spoon getting more minutes in the rotation, what's a Boki to do? Ans: Sit idly at the end of the bench ----------------------------------- FYI, Fegwu, I actually got to see not only many of the early season games where Boki got some substantive minutes but also many pre-season games LIVE. So pls don't question my credibility about not watching the games. If you have beef with my opinion, that's one thing, but if you have beef with me, then I may just have to put you on my personal troll list. fumingSAGE
OK, krosyah, here's my response. You seem to be more diplomatic poster than Fegwu over here. ----------------------------------- 1. I agree that Boki is good on the weak side, esp. with the help defense down low against opposing posters. Unfortunately, he's often the one who needs "help." And I don't mean that in jest. Boki is often caught flat-flooted against opposing forwards who aren't necessarily that much quicker in foot-speed but have that quick first step. Boki concedes a lot when he defends these sort of players by giving them distance (1.5, sometimes even 2 feet) and that's a big "no no" in my book (which probably drives JVG nuts too.) My hunch is that somewhere in his transition from Europe to America, he's still figuring out how to play the faster NBA game. He's probably never seen a league of so many big and speedy players like he has here. However, I feel like all bets are off as to whether he can adjust to this new environment before long. 3. I actually had the privilege of seeing some Boki action BEFORE he got hit by the herniated disk. And, call it the blessings of youth, but he was much more the explosive, and quicker player than he's shown to date. I do think the injury last year did some major damage to him (perhaps even psychologically of what he can and can't do) and, for anyone who has to come back from that kind of injury, they know it's not easy to do. Not finishing at the hoop is really an issue of "concentration" - i.e. a mental thing. But getting to the hoop and dunking - which is what I think RudyT saw in him pre-draft is what Boki has yet to demonstrate on a consistent basis. Again - I think this is also partially due to the elevated competition he sees in this league. 4. Rebounding - feel free to read my exposition on rebounding in my Fegwu fume post. Boki has the height - but that's about it. I'm sure you know of some people who are blessed with height but who were average rebounders relative to their size. JVG likes the "workhorse" rebounder who isn't afraid to bang. Boki isn't that kind of player (maybe he'll evolve into one, who knows?) but there's no artificial line drawn that says a 2 is a bounder and a 3 is a shooter. ALL forwards are expected to be solid rebounders and I think that's what JVG expects out of his players. 5. Size - 6'9" but not enough beef. Plenty of guys in the league are 6'9". If he were a guard, maybe he'd have an advantage, but his footspeed would be a limitation. The key is having an unfair advantage in the "natural" position that you play and if Boki's natural position is small forward (or any forward for that matter), I'm not sure what his advantage is - but size would not be it. 6. Quickness - again, read above. And, yes, I do think it's an issue. Striders with long legs can get to the hole, but that means nothing about backpeddling and playing good D. Football defensive backs vs. wide receivers is a classic example of this. Not all receivers can play defensive backs and vice versa. But between the two, great footspeed is a much more rare commodity. Thus, great defensive backs are often in shorter supply than great receivers. theSAGE
When Boki has gotten significant minutes, he produces well. Remember that game against the Bulls where he got 20 some minutes and went 4-4 from beyond the arc for 12 points along with 2 assists and a block. Or how about the first game of the season where he played 20 minutes, took two shots (one of them a 3) and made both to go along with a couple boards. Or against the Jazz, scoring 5 grabbing a couple boards, getting a steal and getting a block. That seems pretty productive to me. I really want to see Boki consistently get a lot of minutes...I think he can shine.
I was thinking more of Sacramento will take Boki. But if we could ditch Grffin and keep Boki, I will settle for that.
I think we should develop him, and be patient. He's got a lot of talent, that is worth waiting until he gains confidence, which I think is his bigger problem. Lets not trade him, unless we get proper value. Phoenix would be a good place, though, if we were to trade him. The coach there saw him in the Euro leagues, and would give us appropriate value for him, perhaps.
What would you give up to get Fred Jones away from the Pacers? That is about how much trade value Boki has. Who is Fred Jones?, the guy drafted right before Boki.
I think any team that would give him a chance would see he could develop. I just don't want him to end up like a Stojakavic draining 3's on us in the future. He has the fluid game that Peja Has but a little more raw. He has to be given a chance to get in there and make mistakes and get better.
i bet the rocketst are gonna be dumb and let him go. And he while probably turn out to be a good player to.
By the way, Nachbar got his biggest pub on ESPN in a while, I heard they gave a shout out to Nachbar during the Patriot league championship. He was former roomates with Cresnik who lives just up the road from me.
