To me Landry's a special player and you guys truly undermine the guy's effort and grit. He wasn't even explosive in the combine but worked out to make it better, he didn't have a jump shot at first either, but later his mid-range became automatic. Granted, Hill's a very nice player, and I do somewhat like his mid-range game, though it's not as effective as Landry's, but I think that they are vastly different players. Landry will never have the defensive instincts that Jordan Hill seems to have and Jordan Hill probably also won't have the offensive instincts that Landry has.
like you said.. landry didnt have all those things when he first came to the league, so what makes you think that Hill cant develop them?
The one thing you're missing; the one thing that truly made Carl a special player, was his ability to score in the 4th quarter. There just are not many guys that can do it night in and night out.
Yeah, and he stopped being able to do that when teams figured out and put double-teams on him. There's nothing magical about the last 12 minutes of the game. Guys like Lebron are on this list because their team knows they're the best player so the get them the ball more in the final quarter. Guys like Landry are on it because they're consistent and dependable and they were underestimated by the other teams.
Well as other people already pointed out Hill's performance is more impressive than Landry when you take into account these factors: 1. Landry was two years older in his rookie year 2. Landry had the MacMing benefit 3. Landry was able to go to summer camp and had been receiving coaching since before the season began. Hill oth was labeled as a "bad rookie". You think he got coaching and development from D'Antoni? Ha! With each and every passing game I think we got a legitimate lottery talent in Hill, someone who can be at least Scola-level in the future. Add that to our lottery pick this season and we actually came away with two lottery picks+Martin+Knicks picks for this season. Not too shabby DM, not to shabby at all...
Well my only beef with Landry is despite being "tough" and "gritty" he sucks at rebounds and defense...two things which ironically enough depend on toughness and grit.
His FG% went up to .538 with his 5-7 tonight. If he makes Landry like strides, he will be an all star because of his height, athleticism and quickness. DD
Compare him to Jermaine O'neal. He's going to be better than Jermaine! <table cellpadding=5 cellspacing=0 border=1><tr><td> </td><td>G</td><td>GS</td><td>MPG</td><td>FG%</td><td>3P%</td><td>FT%</td><td>OFF</td><td>DEF</td><td>RPG</td><td>APG</td><td>SPG</td><td>BPG</td><td>TO</td><td>PF</td><td>PPG</td></tr><tr><td>O'Neal 96-97 </td><td>45</td><td>0</td><td>10.2</td><td>0.451</td><td>0.000</td><td>0.603</td><td>0.9</td><td>1.9</td><td>2.8</td><td>0.2</td><td>0.0</td><td>0.6</td><td>0.60</td><td>1.02</td><td>4.1</td></tr><tr><td>Hill 09-10 HOU</td><td>17</td><td>0</td><td>17.8</td><td>0.536</td><td>0.000</td><td>0.683</td><td>1.9</td><td>3.1</td><td>5.0</td><td>0.6</td><td>0.2</td><td>0.5</td><td>0.76</td><td>2.59</td><td>6.9</td></tr></table>
All in all, the only conclusion that can reliably be drawn is no conclusion. These last 20-something games are just not a reliable judge of Jordan Hill or any other player. IMO, the first 5 games of next season will be more meaningful than all the games he played this season in judging his future potential.
Landry's first 2 years offensive efficiency is something we might not see again for a while. Landry shot almost .600 FG% his first 2 years, very tough act to follow. If Landry qualified he'da been in the top 4 in the LEAGUE his first 2 years. Can't ask for much better than .536 FG% from Hill. It can stay the same if he adds a dependable move so he can adapt and not get shut down by defenses. IF he qualified for the league leaders and did that all season, Hill would be #12 in the league...behind, Carl Landry at #11! (Luis Scola at #20, .514) Landry's rebounding got WORSE every year. I expect Jordan Hill's rebounding to get BETTER. Pencil in that advantage for Hill already. Hill can be a solid Brian Grant type and better.
You realize there's a reason why he didn't qualify right? It's because he didn't play enough for the statistics you are getting excited about TO ACTUALLY MEAN ANYTHING. Why bring up meaningless statistics, that are recognized to be unreliable? If I played a single game and only took 1 shot and luckily made it, would you rave about my 100% efficiency?
in no way is Hill's rookie performance more impressive than Landry. first of all their games were completely different. Landry dunked everything and was a much more explosive player. He also contributed substantively to that 22 game streak picking up much of the slack for Yao. He made an all-rookie team. Hill is a better defensive player with size but he plays laterally and with contact more like Scola than explosive like Landry. I wonder if you even watched Landry his rookie season because other than looking at the stats their games are no way similar. Hill may end up being a better player than Landry because of his superior length and excellent speed and court vision but they're not similar players
NY definitely made a mistake. And if the second max level player they sign due to the cap space created by Jeffries/Hill is Rudy Gay, then it will be a gigantic failure.
