I love Luther, but let's not get carried away talking about him in the same sentence as Stackhouse/Barbosa and Ginobili. Luther is nowhere near as consistent as those guys and that's really the key. Luther is a very good spot shooter, particularly in the 4th. But his defense is questionable and he can be overpowered by larger swingmen. And his handles are bad. And he isn't reliable in terms of creating his own shot whereas Stackhouse/Barbosa/Ginobili can ALL create their own shot relatively easily. I would actually be fine with Luther's limited defense if he was more dynamic at creating his own shot. Someone mentioned Ben Gordon. Ben Gordon can create his own shot in traffic, Luther cannot. If Luther could, then he would be closer to Ben Gordon and that would be a GREAT fit on the Rockets. Luther is a solid shooter, but is rather one dimensional.
the guy is in his second year. He's made huge leaps and bounds with his progress over last year. The fact that a guy in only their second year in the league, is as valuable to this team as Luther is, speaks volumes. Sometimes he makes bad passes, and his size might hurt him when he's playing defense. But his team defense, is great, his 3 pt shooting is a huge help, and the fact that he performs under pressure in the 4th period is great too. I think we've got one hell of a player in Luther, and I look forward to watching him continue to grow.
Wow lets not get ahead of ourselves here.. 1st I would love Head to be better than all those 3 but the reality is A.) Luther Head cannot post up like Stackhouse and power his way to the basket. B.)Is not quick enough like Barbosa and cannot handle the rock ike Barbosa C.)Cannot attack that basket or take the team on his shoulders like Ginobli. Luther Head is great off the bench just because he's a consistent shooter behind the arc.. But man every time that man brings the ball up the court I cringe... He has no ball handling skills.... Rafer hands down is a better ball handler ... Luther on the hand is a better shooter god I wish we could combine the two...
um the only thing luther head gives us great 3 point shooting. stackhouse, barbosa and ginobili are leaps ahead of head. all of them can shoot 3s, handle, penetrate, score, and defend. all head gives us is 3 point shooting and nothing else. you guys are crazy!
You totally left out half of the game. Luther is better on team defense than either of those players, and is better as individual defender than at least two of them, possibly all of them. Luther also is younger, and has a future ahead of him in which his improvement could see him rival those other players in areas besides 3pt shooting and defense.
luther's bloody+chilly trays almost made me speechless,although i know sometime he couldn't find his brain..
bottom line unless luther learns to handle the rock, handle ball pressure, make good decisions with the ball..... if he can't learn to do those things he will always be a supplemental shooter of the bench and nothing more. If he learns those other skills the sky is the limit.
I'd be surprised if Luther suddenly founds some handles...he's so awful with the ball that I'd be shocked if is anything more than an average ball handler at best later in his career... I see him as he is now...clutch shooter. I'm really only wanting him to improve his defense...I think that's definitely doable No way he's close to the guys in the thread title.
All he needs to do, is play like Rip Hamilton, run off screens and then Catch and Shoot. If you haven't noticed, rip isn't exactly And1 material either in terms of handles.
head is a 3pt shooter. that's it. barbosa is a beast. he's like their best off the dribble scorer believe it or not. no one can stay in front of that fool. head is many levels below barbosa. if head can create like him, just give us the championship
Did you watch the Lakers game yesterday? The way Barbosa played was just phenomenol during that second quarter stretch where he scored like 15 straight. I wonder why they even wased money on Banks, when Barbosa was just fine running the show.
Any of those three guys could possibly be a starter in the Rockets. But Luther is amazing. I can already picture him hitting a last second clutch shot in game 6 that eliminates Utah from the playoffs.
true, but when barbosa first got into the nba he was far from impressive however the guy has routinely got better. and i think we've seen similar improvements from head. And everyone is right, head is not a good ball handler and really isnt particularly good off the drible or at finishing at the basket. However, look back at last year and how much luther has improved in his ball handling. Its still not great, but the amount of improvement is definitely something to be optimistic about.
did u see how barbosa cut our D to death . and i can't believe ppl say how nash makes barbosa better. teams are playing barbosa like he's a top tier scorer, putting kobe on him yesterday too
barbosa had pure quickness when he entered the league and had handles. he just couldn't shoot that well like he is now. it's easier to improve shooting moreso than have quickness. barbosa could avg 25 pts for phoenix if he started
barbosa was/is very quick, but his ball handling wasnt that great (better than heads but still not very good). ANd luther is extremely quick, he just isnt good at attacking the basket off the dribble.
Is it completely out of the question to have this line-up? 1- Rafer 2- Luther 3- Tracy 4- Shane 5- Yao ? Yes I realize this means Shane could no longer guard the teams opposing #1 scorer, I'm not advocating it, but is Chuck's hussle more valuable than Luther's scoring ability? FWIW, I'd rather put Luther at 1, seeing as Rafer's shooting < Luther's by an incredible margin, but I'm not sure if Luther has the PG skillset.
In fairness to Luther, he has been in the league less than 2 full seasons. All of the other players mentioned have been in the NBA longer, with Barbosa (4th season) being the relative newcomer of that group. Ginobili is in his 5th season with San Antonio (and he had played professionally in Europe prior to coming to the NBA). Give Luther time. He was a hard worker at Illinois and showed tremendous improvement during his 4 years. While Head can't do anything about his height or his frame (unless he talks to Barry Bonds' "personal trainer" at BALCO), he can continue to work on his ball handling, passing, and defense, and I fully expect he will do so. There are reasons why other teams make inquiries as to his availability. Remember Vinny "The Microwave" Johnson a few years back? Nobody gave a <bleep> about his defense when he came off the bench for the championship Detroit Pistons teams of the late 1980s. Detroit wanted him for his unique instant offense abilities. At this point and given Head's place in the rotation, the Rockets need scoring from Luther more than anything. When McGrady and/or Yao is sitting out, another scoring threat needs to step up. Luther is the best option Houston has to fit that role. Those recent games where Head sat out with the injury were a nice reminder of how much bench scoring he contributes.
