Defense average at best. Strictly a long range shooter. A poor man's Steve Kerr. Not a bad pick up for the price.
Have you ever heard of the term "screen door on a submarine"? Useless D. I've seen street crossing guards be more aggressive. Love his shooting though.
Pike is a very good pick up for the price. I think he might even be better than Kerr. On offense, his FG% is almost at good as Kerr's and he played for the Clippers who are not famous for passing the ball. He can also drive to the basket some time too. I expect him to shoot even better for us and our assist number will go up too. On defense, he is much bigger than Kerr and plays better defense. He is no defensive stopper but he is no slouch either. He will play mostly the 2 but he can backup the 3 for a few minutes too.
I have NBALP and watched a lot of Clipps games. It's hard to get an exact read on Piatkowki's D because the Clippers are very poor at team D. And they had a lot of injuries forcing Pike to either start or play heavy minutes out of position at the 3. This shouldn't happen in Houston. I would say he's a (much) shorter Bullard with noticeably quicker feet and much quicker hands than Bull. From what I saw on the Clipps, he appears willing and able to rotate in the team D concept (you could tell he knew how and when to rotate even if the other Clippers did not). Just my opinion, but I don't think JVG would have approved the signing if he regarded Pike as a terrible defender. Did Van Gundy's Knicks have any terrible defenders...did Glen Rice play for JVG?
He's easily as good a defender as Rice and he's not strictly a shooter. He's actually a pretty decent all round offensive player.
That's how I see it. These are the dominoes to Pike starting... The Rox don't make a last minute vet SF signing, Rice is injured, Boki proves he has no game, Hawkins totally forgets how to shoot.
NOW THERE IS ARINGING ENDORSEMENT just joking I think he will be fine esp on the floor With Mind and Griff or cato Rocket River
I've never paid attention to him either. But I get the distinct impression from what I've read that it's wrong to use "good" and "defense" in the title when referring to Piatkowski.
Career: Kerr - 18 min, 48% fg, 45% 3fg, 86% ft, 1.2 rpg, 1.8 apg, 6 ppg Pike - 22 min, 47%fg, 40% 3fg, 83% ft, 2.5 rpg, 1.1 apg, 9.7 ppg
i'm a rox fan living in LA.....i had season tix to clips the last 2 years and i can tell you that he definitely is a sharp shooter. quick release....and he'll provide better and consistent 3 pt shooting than sorry arse glen rice. i can guarantee you that. his defense is suspect but then again , he's not really paid to play D......under van gundy he should at least improve some
Any player not named 'Glen Rice' should not hurt the Rockets' team defense too much. When you have bigs like Yao and Cato clogging the paint, your 1-3 positions do not have to be above average defenders. Piatkowski is extremely underrated, and will fit very well in the Rockets' scheme.
For fantasy bball reasons I watched several Clip games last year on NBA league pass... What I saw is that he's more athletic than he looks... Surprising. As far as white guys go, he's far from being a Brent Barry or Rex Chapman, but he holds up alright. I've seen him move his feet well on defense. His height helps him. He's fundamentally sound. I don't care if it is the Clips... 9 years in the league mostly as a starter means that he can play. On offense, the Bullard comparisons are a little off... Bullard was strickly a stuck to the floor spot up shooter. Did he even know how to to dribble? Piat is more versatile, able to use his opponent's fear of his shooting ability to free himself up for a midrange shot or a drive to the hoop for a layup. I'm really happy the Rockets will be able to plug him in for 20 minutes a game. Anyone notice that he looks like one of the guys from Siegfried and Roy?
