Why show patience and "permit" mistakes by others, but as soon as Stro did something it was pinetime? I don't get it. They all made mistakes. they all made good plays. Unless there was something going on behind the scenes, Swift simply didn't get the playing time to realistically decide whether or not he could fit on this team. As someone said, I don't think you are supposed to expect 20/10 from the guy. But some production behind the superstars. No one excelled when Yao and Tracy were out. So you can't put that on Stro. We didn't bring him in to be a 1st option...so why expect that of him? We brought him in to aid numbers 1 and 11. He didn't even get a chance to prove or disprove that he could do that.
He was a servicable power forward at the backup spot. While I think a lot of people overestimated his impact when we first signed him and treated him like the next Otis Thorpe, he did decent enough when he actually got minutes on the floor. I don't think he got enough time to shine since McGrady was injured for so long. I think at the very least he would have been as servicable as Cato what with all the alley oops he could have gotten. Was he the best PF in the game? No, but atleast he was servicable and at a fairly reasonable price.
Well put me in the "Yes" column. Stro's faults are entirely too exaggerated on this board, and his strengths are pretty much brushed aside as flashy dunking and nothing more. On the Defensive end, there are two really good things that Stro brought to the table. He was strong on pick and roll defense, and he could deny the ball with some excellent 3/4th fronting. Against the pick and roll, Stro was our only big man quick enough to "show" on the dribbler, and duck smoothly over the top of our defender coming up from under the screen. This was important because we have a lot of guys that don't fight over the top of screen, and instead go under them (Rafer in particular) so a big man that can show and the quickly get back to his man is invaluable. Stro was very underrated in this capacity. And when he tried, Swift was very good at fronting and denying the ball. He had more than a couple of steals and strong denials when he went to this tactic. I'm not really sure why he didn't do it more often. Either it was a question of effort and motivation on Stro's part, or JVG preferred not to use that too much because it make the defense vulnerable to backcuts. I'm not going to point fingers, but let's say that Stro was pretty effective when he used this technique. Granted Stro had his faults. Obviously the big one is that he didn't help and rotates as well as he should have. He had the speed, quickness and length to be the fiercest help defender on the team, but that wasn't something that was even close to happening. But I will say that he would surely have gotten better. There's no doubt in my mind that Stro would have improved his defensive awareness with another year in the system, through sheer habit and familiarity if nothing else. The only defensive shortcoming that I truly felt that Stro was hopeless at was defensive rebounding. That is one area, I can't defend him at. He was always out of position, and hardly ever attacked the glass with vigor. Some people just have it, and Stro wasn't one of them. As for offense, I always felt that Swift had the tools, and moves to score, but not the awareness and recognition of how to do it in the flow of the offense. If you gave him the ball and let him operate, he wasn't so bad. He could face a guy up and take it off the dribble and get to the rim. But if he got the ball in the flow of the offense and had to create, he would more likely than not, dribble the ball into a crowd or drop a pass in the heat of the moment. And you could tell right off the bat that Stro played better if he got his number called. Give him a post up or two and his energy level skyrockets. We didn't do enough of that on the team. There was a lot of times when he was working hard in the post, hustling for position, only to get bypassed. And then his energy level suffered on the other end. You want more professionalism out of the guy, but he is what he is. And for all the talk about Stro failing on all these coaches (Hubie Brown, Fratello, JVG), they're all the same. Intense taskmasters with a disciplinarian streak and the tendancy to get on his players. Stro would be better served with a guy like Dunleavy. I mean he was able to handle a guy with ADD and a learning disability, in Kaman, by demonstrating visually what he wanted Kaman to do. Under those circumstances, does anyone think Kaman would have been anything but bench fodder under JVG? Instead, he's popping double doubles like crazy and forming a formidable frontcourt combo with Brand. And lastly, I need to point out that even with all of Stromile's faults and downsides, he's still making absolute chump change where big men are concerned. He can backup the PF and C position and he's on the hook for about 5.5-6 million over the next 2-3 years (depending on his player option). Compare that with what Nene got, and Wilcox is angling for, and it's an absolute steal. Hell, even Etan Thomas got the full-MLE a couple of years ago. I seriously don't believe that we just dropped Stro off as trade filler. Stro at his worst is still worth more than that.
I am pretty sure most people on this board would have been happier if JHo had been involved instead of Stro. I know that would make that trade more palatable to me, but i am not JVG. He didn't like Stro for some reason and for that he was escorted out like others on the Rox when they get in JVG's doghouse. I don't think JVG gave Stro a chance and I hope it doesn't come back to haunt us. I am very worried about going to war ith just Motumbo to back-up and spell Yao. Deke did well 2 years ago, but not too well last year.
Marginal miss Stro. I also would have liked to see him with a healthy Yao and T-Mac and some time to figure out what to do when playing with them. How much I miss Stro will depend on what we could not have on the Rocks if we still had him. Stro and Gay for Battier was a great trade. My first reaction, when I though it was Gay for Battier was, great trade, dumb move by Jerry West. I was a little surprised by the Stro addition, but my observation of Swift after last year was that his head (lack of understanding of the pro game) and heart ( came to play sometimes) were a larger liability than the asset provided by his freakishly wonderful athletic ability. If Yao and T-Mac go down again, I will miss Stro because he was a fun distraction on a lousy losing team. I will not miss him on a championship contending, JVG orchestrating, Yao dominating, Battier defending, T-Mac dazzling, team.
I'm glad you mentioned this because I agree completely. To go after a guy and use your MLE to sign him, only to turn around and dump him back to his original team after just 1 season is something that will haunt the Rockets for years to come...at least until the current management team that is in place is gone.
I don't think he got a fair shake. Last year, Chuck Hayes EARNED his way into at least playing 20 MPG...but JVG didn't give that to him. JLIII EARNED at the very least a roster spot...but JVG didn't give that to him. It wasn't a matter of earning anything, Stro just never got to get comfortable in the offense. On defense, he wasn't quite the worldbeater shotblocker we were all hoping for...but he definitely was a great second line of defense in front of Yao (when healthy). Now that we don't have him, who is our secondary/weakside shotblocker? The reason Stro came over here was to play with TMac...IIRC, TMac recruited him very hard. He was never given that opportunity IMO and we shouldn't have given up on him so easily. Say what you want about "negative trade value", "hasn't met potential", "underachiever", etc; he was an above average PF who could have split time at the 4/5 with Chuck Hayes/Mutombo respectively. Other than that, I think m_cable said it best: for all his faults (which have been blown out of proportion), he had his strengths (which have been brushed aside too easily), came cheap compared to other bigs, and wasn't given a chance to play the garbage PF next to a healthy TMac and Yao.
Exactly and when he did get the opportunity to play with T-Mac and Yao, he played well. In particular, I remember early on during the season when the Rockets went on a tough west coast road trip while everybody was still healthy and they won 5 out of 6. In those games Stro played real well with both Tracy and Yao, especially with Yao and Swift was also closing out games by playing huge minutes in the 4th quarter. What kills me is that he took less money to play here!!! Signing a guy like Stro for the MLE for 3 or 4 years is a bargain. I remember when Houston used to be a destination where a lot of players wanted to come and play, but with moves like this, nobody wants to come to Houston anymore.
I remember when he gave his first interview for rockets.com, he did not say 7 sentences all together, it was a classic... I thought dude was shy or some crap, but then the season started ....
I will definitely not miss Stro. Not even a little bit. He was the second most frustrating Houston Rockets player for me since I began watching them only behind Steve Francis. All that talent and skill yet no strength or heart to go along with it. He is a great YMCA player. Classic example of a player who is all flash and zero substance.
Actually on second thought, I will miss the way he used to stare into the camera all confused looking with his mouth open and eyes glazed over. That used to always make me laugh heartily.
Seen Stro in Shreveport, LA Friday night, but i didn't even bother to create a thread. He is old news. He was walking around the Boardwalk with some chick(she looked pretty good), plus a group of guys. His legs look very skinny (Jeans shorts, with puma's on) Crazy N.E. Way to answer your question, I don't miss him.
Yeah, we will really miss the 0.8 bpg he gave us (I know that is not close to the norm for him I just think it is amazing how his shot blocking skills vanished when he was here). In all fairness, I never really wanted him but he is a decent backup and I think his skills will be missed for reasons already mentioned. The Rockets need to pick up someone who can bring athleticism and quickness to the 4 & 5.
