http://draftexpress.com/myscouting.php?page=view&id=75 I think this is a nice perspective on the offseason:
No mention of Chuck Hayes. I do agree with him on the need for a long, athletic, and versatile player that can fill in at SG. In particular, Ronnie Brewer can play 3 (maybe even 4 in a small lineup) positions on the court. There's incredible value in that kind of versatility. Yeah, it would be nice if had a great shooter, but let's not underestimate the value of acquiring a SG, a backup PG, and a backup SF all with one pick. Not to mention a player who can't be abused on the other end as easily as our currnet undersized guards and backup SFs.
I totally disagree with the author. If you want to see another year of the opponent having every defender in the paint and our perimeter players heaving wide open bricks, then by all means, draft Brewer. If instead you recognize that even with old man Wesley starting at the 2 our defense was more than good enough, then you would know that what we need is a dead-eye shooter, and that one of the best shooters ever is likely to be available at our pick. Instead of getting a guy who seems an awful lot like Keith Bogans (or whose scounting report reads exactly like Terence Morris's if you prefer), let's get the guy that was the college player of the year.
Why do you like Reddick? Do you really think hes worth picking up, with Head and Rafer and possibly Mike James on the team? I say draft Carney or Sheldon Williams to add some quality depth. Reddick is more of what we have. Undersized non athletic 2 gaurds in a pg body. Is Reddicks jumper really that sweet?
I'm tired of posters distorting things for the convenience of their favorite draft pick. Prove it. I want numbers, e.g., fg% showing me that Brewer is a horrible offensive player like you are suggesting...the kind that will have "heaving wide open bricks..."
Brewer shot .338 from the college 3pt line. Players don't tend to shoot better when you move them further from the basket. He also only managed to score 18 ppg. If you want to challenge people on Brewer, you might want to challenge those who are saying he could play PG for us, because the 3 assists per game he was averaging don't inspire tons of confidence. Rafer is a 2 in a pg body? That's weird, since his only strengths are ball-handling and passing? Do you even watch the Rockets? Redick is a much better shooter than anyone we have on the team. Of course I would rather have one of the purest shooters in years than Mike James. If we had so many sharpshooters on the team then I can't comprehend how we were so close to the bottom of the league in nearly every shooting category.
He shoot .396 from the three the previous season so I see no reason why he isn't capable of improving last season's percentage. Why are you holding his ppg avg against him? ... this makes no sense ...he isn't toted to be a franchise player but rather a good player with promise like every other draftee vying for a lottery pick. His fg% for his time at Arkansas was .465 so there is no reasonable reason to think that he is a horrible offensive player like you insinuated. As for him playing the PG ... he is a swingman who can handle the ball ... nobody expects him to average 8 assists. But to help with the ball handling duties if the opportunity arose.
brewer is athletic, (he and carney are like the same in shooting percentage from the last 2 years), hes not undersized, hes a better deffender than reddick. what else do u want? shoot? well he shot 19 out of 20 something... oh ya, i do remember boki, but boki could only shoot... just like reddick... was boki any help for us? i already seen a 2 in a pg body, and i say no... i dont want anyone more. plus, it seems reddick is not interested in us, by the comments he made. i do understand y u want reddick because rafer can't shoot and neither can brewer ( in your opinion) but look at it defensivly...reddick and rafer lets their oppoment inside the paint, and gets yao in foul trouble. there goes our 1 option.... because of our 3 option.... 1=best 3= 3rd best so 1>3
The year before that he shot .266. His career average was just under 34%. Unless you think we should draft based only on people's best seasons, then his numbers indicate he won't be much of a shooter in the NBA. His shooting in college was very similar to Terence Morris, who people here said the same things about that you are saying about Brewer. I said he would be a bust and wouldn't be able to hit the three in the NBA. In three seasons TMo managed 0.196 from downtown. I see no reason to expect much better from Brewer, especially since TMo didn't have an injury that screwed up his form. Because dominating in college is a good indicator of being a solid player in the NBA. Being mediocre in college doesn't preclude you from being a stand out NBA player, but it doesn't help your case. If Brewer puts up 18/4/3 in college, it doesn't give me much to get excited about. TMo's FG% at Maryland was .500. Brewer isn't going to be getting layups and dunks at the next level, and certainly not on this team. He will be getting the kinds of shots that Bogans, Head, Wesley, Alston, etc. were getting, and that is open jumpshots. As we previously discussed, his shooting from even the college 3pt line left a lot to be desired. Redick would be no worse a defender than the guys we had last year, and they didn't get Yao in foul trouble. Do you honestly think Redick is slower than Wesley?
No moniker, Im talkin about the players who play the same position as Reddick would, Luther, Wesley, Mike James. Rafer is just part of that small backcourt and I agree hes a great ball handler/distributer. But where exactly would you see Reddick fitting on this team. Lets say we let Wesley leave and resign Mike James. Thats a backcourt rotation of Head, James, Rafer, Reddick. Thats about at small as it gets, doesnt that worry you even alil bit?
Not in the slightest. I saw us put out worse defensive backcourts last season that still managed to be a good defensive team because the Rockets are big on team defense, and not so much on individual defenders. I think JJ could certainly defend as well as Wesley who's what 104 years old now. Also, JJ measured only half an inch shorter than Carney, who you are apparently okay with drafting. The point is, as long as we have JVG coaching the team, the defense is going to be fine, especially with Yao and TMac out there. Our problems come at the other end of the court where we can't make people pay for double teams. The best solution to that problme is Redick.
The way I see it is we were above average defensively top 10 but we could be even better if we were bigger on the perimiter. There would be less emphasis on crowding the paint and when we do we can recover alot quicker with Carney out there(we were one of the worst teams at defending the 3pt shot). Sure hes only an inch or more taller but hes much quicker and alot longer. And Wesley for bein as old as he is, he was a smart defender and alot stronger than Reddick. But your right about our offense so basically the question is would Reddick improve our offense more than either Sheldon or Carney would improve our Defense. With Yao and JVG defensive philosophy I see no reason why we cant be a top 4-5 defensive team. But we'll see if the drunk ends up in Houston.
The unusual hype on a tall athletic player that has no shot is well, unusual. I guess there is a deep dwelling hope to get the equivalent of Josh Howard in the draft. But I don't think it'll happen. How many Josh howard is there in the NBA? I acutally see Redick as a better player now and has more potential than Brewer. I think Redick is not only a better shooter but also more polished scorer than Brewer. Provided with some system help, Redick can be a Rip Hamilton type of scorer coming off screens. Brewer will have a hard time driving in the NBA, since the defender will give him space to test his shot. If Brewer shoots 39% long jumpers like he did in the college, the opponents will like it. By all means take Redick over Brewer, a pure shooter is harder to come by than an athlete, and the Rockets need shooters more than athletes, although they can use both.
