http://www.nba.com/nbdl/games/20050320/FAYROA/boxscore.html We should buyout Weatherspoon's or Baker's Contract or release Padgett and sign this kid. He obviously hustles and play decent offense. Braggs may help but is this gut better? He had a game earlier for the Blazers when he had 15 rebounds in 28 minutes. Thats some great numbers. He also looks like healthy after that back injury last year at Texas.
I would like to see what Braggs can do first, but obviously at this point a guy like Thomas would be more effective than Baker. If we could buy out Baker's contract and sign Thomas, I would be happy. I don't care if it leaves us with an abundance of undersized PF's.
The level of competition between the NBA and the NBDL is just too far away. I bet even Boki can put up Jordan-likes numbers in NBDL.
We should have picked up Thomas. Hopefully Braggs can help us out, but I think Thomas would have been a better choice. I watched him at UT for a while and he does exactly what we need. He rebounds extremely well, plays decent defense, and is just a ton of energy and hustle. True, but he is basically the best PF in the NBDL right now, and he is a rookie!!
NBDL has produced some decent players like Chris Andersen, Jason Hart, Anthony Johnson, Devin Brown, so they do have some talent down there.
thomas is listed at 6'8 235 ben wallace is listed at 6'9 240 anyone know if those are actually right? is thomas smaller in real life?
Getting James Thomas a try out for next year is a great idea. But Spoon and Padget know the plays and won't freak out b/c the NBA is a new experience. Even Braggs and Baker are farther along in knowing what to do, which is why we picked up Braggs. Give Thomas a chance this offseasoon to play in the Rocky Mountain revue or whatever we got now allow him a chance to earn a roster spot on the Houston Rocket after a full, fair evaluation. Just not enough time to try to integrate a completely new, unexperienced player, both from the Rockets end and James Thomas's end. Spoon, Padgett, Braggs, Baker will just have to hold down the fort until JH gets back.
The guy is completely dominating the D-league, do you really think we are the only ones noticing that? Every team that needs a good rebounding PF is going to see this guy and picture the next Reggie Evans or Udonis Haslem. I'm going to have to disagree with your point that its more of a time issue with bringing a completely new player. JVG has brought in Oakley, Strickland, Brandin Knight, Alton Ford, Mark Jackson and now Braggs all for different and brief stints. I don't think its an issue of trying to integrate a new player into a new system at all. Any "experience" Braggs has over James Thomas is completely irrelevant considering this is an entirely different team than the one he briefly played on last year. Thomas played on an NBA team this year, Braggs hasn't. I just don't see it being a matter of experience at all and just more about JVG brining back a player he is familiar with.
i just have a major problem with weatherspoon starting even with the players we have. he is ineffective offensively, ineffective defensively because of size, has no athetic ability, and a very slow player because of his weight problem. baker in my opinion should get a chance to start at worst he will be better than weatherspoon.
Actually Vin Baker at worst will be ALOT worse than Spoon at the 4. Not that iam saying Spoon has been good or anything but Baker (from what i have seen) has nothing left in the tank and seems really out of shape.
Didn't he have a cup of coffee earlier this season with some team? How big -- tall/bulky etc, how quick...what kind of game does he have?
After watching quite a bit of Thomas at UT ,I thought he would be a decent NBA palyer if put in the right situation. That situation being like Rodman on the Bulls (or really any team Rodman was on), nwhere you need him to focus strictly on rebounding and pushing people around in the paint. I had even inquired on this board about his availability a couple of days before he was mentioned by Bill, but it was ignored, leading me to believe his career was over. Perhaps someone can refresh my memory, but wasn't he injured at some point? Anyway, signing someone who is working hard in an inferior league would serve the team much better than letting someone who takes for granted the fact that they are one of the chosen few who gets to play in the NBA, but is fine getting paid millions to sit on the bench... Vin Baker, I'm looking in your direction. Perhaps Thomas should sign a 10-day contract with the Knicks, thus opening the door for him to become a Rocket shortly thereafter.
vin baker's contract expires after next season. he's trade bait as far as i am concerned, not someone we cut just for a quick fix (even though i obviously like thomas since he went to UT). as for waiving padgett, are you crazy? the guy has the best plus/minus on the team except for james (who hasn't been here long enough to really know if that will stay the same) and there's a reason. he's a perfect fit. you put him in the game when the other team has a 4 who can't score. then padgett can't get killed on D and yet his 3 point ability and ability to stretch the D help the offense tremendously. a limited role, but a 12-15 mpg role and one that has helped the team a lot.
He's got long arms, and he's very strong. He's not a great athlete, but he's built like a tank and willing to use it, especially in the shoulders. He'll grab a bunch of rebounds for us, since it seems he's recovered from his back injury. Of course, I'm biased b/c I'm a Texas fan.
I hope they can sign him eventually. Oddly enough, him and Royal were the only two guys I talked to when I lived on 4th floor Jester last year, and they were by far the most down to Earth and coolest guys on that floor. He got shafted his senior year. I'd take him over Jason Klutz any day. He's got the makings of a solid NBA journeyman. My biased self thinks he'll be a Royal-like sleeper.
Thomas reminds me of a Chris Wilcox type player. Doesn't have great size, but rebounds the ball extremely well. He hustles like crazy and never seems to run out of energy, has quite a nice build on him as well. He was hurt most of his senior year and never got back to 100% during the season. I don't see any harm in bringing him in for a 10-day contract. I think the Spurs signed him to a 10-day contract earlier in the season.
