least i know jj is trying hard, ra seems to just dissappear in games...if he isn`t having a great game...i agree as well that he will pobably be a small 2...but then again when houston had the hakeem offense, kinny smith just brought the ball up and shot 3`s, i could envision a role where we have a 2 that could handle a bit tracy as point forward and reddick spreading the defense...Reddick isn`t that slow...look how he runs aroundall those pics now...he has lost weight...gained quickness....quickness is overated...magic/bird were never quick....and how fast is heinrich....jj can dribble better than wesley who has played some point, and he can`t shoot anywhere near jj...just look at free-throws for a cue as to true shooting ability!
Quickness is at a premium in today's game. You can't just ride hips and bully people about anymore. If you let your man beat you the dribble penetration just destroys the defense no matter how much help the bigs provide. Good ball movement after penetration forces people to rotate and it all goes to hell from there. Hinrich is very athletic, he has nothing at all in common with JJ, especially not the same level of shooting touch. Questioning how fast Hinrich is makes me wonder if you've seen him play. He's not Tony Parker or Earl Boykins quick, but he's damn close and definitely top tier. And even with his great footspeed, Hinrich still gets beat sometimes. Imagine what'll happen to JJ. Don't get me wrong, I like JJ and would like him on the rockets, but downplaying a weakness as major as footspeed is a major mistake. Seriously, name an upper tier team that you would classify as slow. Being fast doesn't make you good, but being slow definitely makes you bad with the exception of memphis (and they ain't even that slow).
it is obvious watching 4 guys surrounding yao ming tonight....it is conclusive in my mind we need jj reddick more than any other player...probably more than t-mac...this is yao`s team now...and we need to build the hakeem offense...tracy is a 33% shooter from outside the past 2 year give or take a few points....his athleticism is deteriorating....we need role players around yao that compliments his game....i think we need an automatic and 3 very good shooters to properly let yao have enough space to work....watching tonight in my mind seals it, les needs to make this call....the supid coach still emphasizing defense after the game....maybe if you hit some shots you will be more rested to actually play better defense....but we should have chose m. dunleavy, he has a better resume...an has one in 4 differentplaces right now!!! We don`t have the egg-heads that need discipline like francis and m taylor...so the jvg style is only hurting us...and if he has his way we will draft a pure defensive guy who throws up brick after brick and the other team can take yao out of the game. The new rules go both ways....they also make it easier to play zone around your star...which means shooters are even more valuable for the rockets now, compare to how the rules were when hakeem played!
Magic and Bird were QUICK. Bird had the quickest first step in the business my friend. There's a difference between quickness and speed. Bird was not fast, but he was most definitely quick. And Magic was both quick and fast. Once again, I think J.J. would do tremendous here from an offensive standpoint. He wouldn't even have to have all those screens and run off them all the time to get his shot off here. He'd just have to stand there and fire it or worst case scenario, pump fake, one dribble and fire. His offense wouldn't be the problem. It is his lack of defensive ability that would be the big problem.
MAGIC WAS QUICK AND FAST BEFORE HIS KNEE INJURY, LARRY BIRD WAS A BETTER ATHLETE THAN PEOPLE THOUGHT, BUT HE IS NOT QUICK RELATIVE TO MY STANDARD. qUICK IS LIKE ANTONIO DANIELS WAS LAST YEAR IN SEATTLE, MO CHEEKS IN HIS DAY, DOMINIQUE WILKINS, I ACTUALLY THINK RYAN BOWN IS QUICKER THAN BIRD, HE JUST HAS NO "SKILLS"..BUT I AGREE THAT THE TEST IS ON DEFENSE, BUT YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO GIVE UP SOMETHING WITH ANY PLAYER (EVEN MICHAEL JORDAN WAS`T A GREAT 3-POINT SHOOTER!). yAO HAS LIMITATIONS, ETC...BUT WHEN YOU ADD UP THE PLUSES HE BRINGS VERSUS, THE MINUSES, it`s very clear that he is at least a smart guy, a decent athlete, who would need help guarding over-physical 2-s, but with yao in the middle he isn`t going to worry as much about driving the lane as league has finally given yao some respect, and he has learned to stop doing those stupid jvg blocks/taking charges (very early 90`s), and he clogs up the middle just do his sure size...So i am more than happy to have catino jacking up 3`s, or magetti, etc...he is a better athlete than wesley right now,,,and i don`t think he is just a very good shooter...he has gotten to the point where even if he is having a bad game...he can get a rythm going at any point in the game...and that`s with defenses totally geared towards him, he has played in the biggest games, against the best talent in the acc, and he is not like dunleavy who was a streak shooter....he can be automatic if they gave him the looks that are bigman are going to give him, did you see how many times yao through it out tonight and clank..clank...reddick could have had 40 if they played tthe whole game like that...remember he already has great nba range....so you have to be right in his grill from far out ...this opens spacing for yao, and other shooters...because they would be forced to adjust...and ten its pick your poison! I could make it work, but i don`t have the credentials to get the job...like a lot of areas....in life...because frankly, i don`t think very many of the pro coached are that good anyway....popovich, saunders, pacrs/coach...and isn`t that part of coaching to fit a team together and strategy to utilize players abilities and cover their liabilities.
i'm amazed that so many of you guys think JJ is gonna be a good nba player. i have major doubts that the kid is gonna be much at the nba level. he's the main option at duke. it's one thing to have lots of screens and finding holes in a zone d, but it's another story when guys that are taller and more athletic than you are guarding you. maybe he could be like michael redd, but i don't think he has the quickness and athleticism needed at shooting guard position in the nba.
Are you guys morons or what....they give our perimeter players 20 feet...yao is even going to get better, and he already has 3 and 4 guys around him...the only problem jj will have is not shooting over guys, but to keep from being distracted by the cheerleaders b/c he is so wide open, and has so much time to shoot!
i GUESS JASON TERRY WILL GET AN AUDITION TONIGHT...HE SEEMS TO ME TO BE TOO ERRATIC...ONE PLAOFF GAME GOOD ONE PLAYOFF GAME NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.....ESPECIALLY WITH HIS 3-POINT SHOT! bUT i WOULD TAKE HIM OVER rafer a. who was 2-8 at one time last night...didn`t se what he finished shooting percentage wise>
Yeah, sorry about the caps...I`ve had very little sleep, trying to cram too much into a 24 hour day. It isn`t even close we don`t need another "scorer" that`s t-mac and most of the nba..we need a reggie miller type....and he never had a great bigman like yao that demanded double and triple teams. No, we don`t need a rebounder, assist man, (robert horry threw it into shaq and hakeem), no we need the best shooter in this year`s draft. And oh by happenstance, this guy may be the best shooter to hit this league in over a decade...they will take jj reddick, or a new coach, les knows this **** is unwatchable...if it wasn`t for yao I would change the channel, shoot the league will demand that the rockets take a shooter b/c they are the epitome of what the nba wants to put behind it "poor ratings, lack of skils, and turnovers due to not wanting to shoot the ball when wide open!"
If we keep JVG, Redick won't get much playing time for his atrocious D, and even if he does, he won't have the green light to shoot. JJ Redick is probably going to go down as one of the highly overrated rookies IMO. He's got a very one dimensional game and that is to shoot. He shoots the ball well, but, that's not all that counts in the NBA. Plus, I would like to see how he fares against NBA defenders. Time will tell. Best shooter to hit the league in over a decade!? Ray Allen was in the '96 draft. Oh, what about Peja Stojakovic? And Ryan Bowen? JJ may be the best shooter coming into the league, but no way in hell will he stay that way. You're really sold on Redick for some reason.
any other place I would withhold judgment but houston....where all we need from him is to space the floor and shoot wide open 3`s, as we have two double team guys in yao and tracy...it is the fit for what he would be asked to do on offense...he doesn`t have to create his own shot, all he has to do is when yao throws it out to luther...insert jj...they were off luther by 15 feet last night...he is the perfect role player whose benefit to our eam exceeds even an average upside of his present skills, we need roles...and that is one role we need more than anything else....he wil shoot better than ray allen....remember he has 3 guys chasing his around pics in the best conference and he is shooting fadeaway 3`s...shoot all he has to do is set, catch,shoot walk back to the other end.... am se his limitations on defense can be covered up by a smart coach, but you can`t teach 7.5, and you can`t teach a guy to shoot . plus freethrows, range, and just a dead-eye shot, he is smart, improved every year, and plays against the best competition in hostile environments...the acc is far superior to the pack 10, and the oppossing teams and fans don`t like him, and he can take the pressue...wiliams from duke played better last year, so he is off my radar, pls he is undersized for the four, too short, and once a guy stopps improving every year its a sign..ie, boozer, he is no longer improving his game. Hey heinrich turned out much better than people thought....peja is a "contest"/pratice shooter...when i`ve watched him in game he is always shaky...and forget about important, meaningful shots, defensive players are a dime a dozen, but players with skills like nash, are rare, and shooters who can hit a jump shot where it is practically a layup for them, are just as rare, and gee we will need that more than ever as yao becomes so dominate that defenses scheme just to stop him!
Did you guys realize that Yao had 0 assists last night....he must have thrown it out to the spot-up shooters about 15 times! What a joke...i do not understand why rick brunson is on this team over john barry...barry could have made atleast 3 3`s last night on a bad night...the way they are playing yao right now.
I'm personally not so worried about JJ's defense. I don't think Head was renowned for his perimeter defense either when we drafted him. But just one season has passed and he is already one of the better perimeter defenders on this team, and manages to be fairly effective despite his height disadvantage. JJ doesn't need to have lightning footspeed to fit on the Rockets. The dude has an incredibly quick release on his shots ... just pair him next to Tracy on the screen and roll, with Yao going down low and you've got instant offensive production. I see him filling a nice role here as a 3 point specialist much like Jon Barry was for us last year. Not heavy minutes, but instant offense off the bench. If there's any team that JJ can thrive on in this league, it's the Rockets.
It really doesn't make a lot of sense does it? We release Barry, a proven offensive threat, who knows the system. And we now bring in 2 players in Brunson and Frahm who are basically pieces parts of what Barry was to this team, except not as good as Barry. Neither of those guys can possibly be better than Barry defensively and Frahm doesn't even know the system enough to be able to contribute anything offensively. The releasing of Barry is making less and less sense to me. I mean, he didn't sign with Denver. You can't say you are releasing the guy to give him a chance to go to a playoff team and get some minutes. He obviously didn't want to go. If he were chomping at the bit so bad to play, he would have signed with Denver. The REAL reason that he was released was because he was chomping at the bit to get some minutes and Van Gundy wanted better defensive players on the floor. Barry wanted to play and he wanted to play here. And Van Gundy wasn't willing to sacrifice any defense for the added offensive punch. Now, we have 2 less than stellar additions to the roster with less talent and less ability to ADD something positive to our team, and Barry is hanging out with his kids. That's the problem with Van Gundy. He thinks he's gotta have 12 defensive dynamos on the active roster at the same time and he has to play the 6 or 7 that scramble the most with no thought given to offensive continuity. I hope he learns his lessons with this season and comes back next season with better perspective of how to win and direct this team to a top 4 seed and not run our veteran players into the ground the first 2 weeks of training camp.
JJ Redick as off the bench offense? I thought we're looking for a starter quality SG not just another benh player....enough with wesley
I agree, i think it was the game against pheonix where they dared the guards to shoot, and they had missed so many, they played hot potato with the ball, knowing barry, he got in coach`s grill, and asked him when would be a good time to play me if it isn`t right now with the defense just daring the guards to shoot! You don` have to have great defensive players at all 5 positions. tHERE ARE MORE WAYS TO WIN IN THIS LEAGUE. The la-lakers were not a great defensive team in magic`s era, or shaq`s!!
