http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9547629/the-struggles-former-lottery-pick-jonny-flynn Thought this may be of interest to folks here given that Flynn had a brief stint as a Rocket. There isn't much about his time here at all in the article, but some of the descriptions of his shortcomings would be familiar to those of us who watched him even during his brief minutes in Houston, particularly this part:
lol he played for my home town team in Australia last season and easily dominated. That being said our national league sucks. i vs'd him in 1v1 at their practise court when he finished training one day and he whipped me 11-1 (i think it was charity aswell)
Geez, that was a long read and what's more, it seems to be just as much a critique of Kahn (deservedly so) as it was a story about the trials and tribulations of Jonny Flynn. Personally, I don't see him playing in the NBA anytime soon. But there's always some GM that thinks they can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
Cool story bro! For the non-Aussies out there, he played for the Melbourne tigers. FYI, I'm a Sydney boy and watched the first Sydney Kings vs. Melbourne Tigers game since Flynn was signed by the Tigers. While he made some strong drives and hit a few crucial shots, I wasn't overly impressed. While I do think he was the best player in the NBL (aussie league), I don't agree with "Voice of Aus" that he completely dominated. He was very good by our aussie standards, but he wasn't much better than the top American imports in the NBL (granted he was still the best). Voice of Aus - how do you like my Kings' chances of whooping your Tigers' asses this season =p ? We've got AJ Ogilvy now! Ad Ian Crosswhite, and we have ourselves the Aussie Sampson/Olajuwon haha. (Maybe I'm exagurating here).
He shot less than 40% in the Australian league lol. And also only 30% on 3s. He also led that league in turnovers this past year. Although he was 2nd In assists, his A/T ratio was like 1.2:1. I doubt an NBA team brings him on.
like the article says, he's blacklisted. I'll be very surprised if he's back in the league after playing in the NBL.
It seems to me the true issue was simply that he got injured. And he's not the same since. Rubio, triangle, Kahn being Kahn, etc. all seems like excuses. Flynn lost his speed and for a PnR PG that's pretty much career-ending. The Rockets were basically a PnR team when he was traded here, and would've chosen an unknown Lin over him if it weren't for the guaranteed money.
To be fair, everyone in the Aussie league shoots poorly. No one knows how to drive strong to the rim for the easy lay up. They all just settle for 3pointers all game long (including the centers). Flynn should just try to be as successful as he can be in one of the Euro Leagues. The competition is strong enough to make him work hard and become a better player, plus the money would be quite good. He could always stay in Australia long term and be one of the best, but he won't be pushed hard to improve. Just to give you an idea of his likelihood of returning to the NBA: There are only 2 non-Australian players in the entire history of the Aussie league that have become a rotation player, or better, in the NBA.... Stephen Jackson and Drew Barry (arguably Drew Barry was not a rotational player either). If you add Aussie players, there is only one more player to add, and that is Patty Mills. He can't be benchmarked against Flynn because he clearly was too good for the Aussie league, but being Aussie himself, took a concession to play here during the lockout. I seriously doubt an athletic American player can be good enough for the NBA if he has to stoop so low as to accept a contract from an Aussie team. Flynn is no Stephen Jackson and won't defy the odds. And he is an on-ball player, meaning he cannot play a roleplayer role like Drew Barry with spot up 3's.
These Grantland articles about "coulda been a contender" players are really quite interesting. I hope they keep this as a regular part of their output.
We won't make the playoffs at all, kings IMO will be like a top 4ish team. I loved how Flynn ripped on the NBL saying that they don't call fouls, he's kinda true, it would be nice to not see the scores 55-59 Flynn was such a nice guy though, the only weird thing was he shot free throws from the kid free throw line when I watched him, never figured that one out
The Australian NBL in the 90's was on par with some of the best leagues in the world, there could be an argument made that it was, if not the second best, at least one of the top 5 basketball leagues in the world. But like any Australian sport that doesn't have an egg shaped ball, it was mismanaged, media stopped covering games, they changed it form a winter sport and forced teams to play in the Aussie summers. Owners stopped paying players, the 3 peat Sydney Kings were cut from the competition, along with The Brisbane Bullets leaving Austrslia's most populated & 3rd most populous cities with out a team...my beloved Western Sydney Razorbacks folded a few seasons before that, tearing my heart out of my chest along with my love for our NBL. The league went a few seasons with no team able to score 100 points in a game all season, & not because of Defence -no one really pays defence in the NBL, it's because the style of play is a perimeter based pass around until someone is open for the shot. Couple that with constant Zone defences, bad coaching, terrible shot selection and close to no media coverage at all and the league is barely alive & clinging to life support...I truly didn't even know the season was in progress! I remember when the Kings to save money brought in the 8-12 year old cheer squad! Really cute, but uncomfortable to watch if you're a bloke!!! I say all this because the NBL is worse than the summer league, heck the US High school competition would blow away most of our teams, and if Jonny 'Errol' Flynn shot around .400 in this league, that is just pathetic & shameful. His chances of landing an NBA gig after that are buckleys & none at all. At one time our league was looked at as a future feeder league for the NBA, now it's nothing more than a bad joke. In my opinion.
I can't wait for when Morey snags Flynn from the Aussie league for next to nothing a few games just before our 2015 championship run. GMs around the league continue to marvel at the Rockets' ability to manufacture solid backup point guards on the cheap. The next Patrick Beverley...
I honestly think injury destroyed him because of his style of play. Kinda like brooks is never the same after manu ****ed him over.
