http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/1625841 From what he said, he considers himself "instant defense" not instant offense. If his mindset is concentrated on defense, then the 13 points he scored is even more amazing!
Waive him. It's a minimum contract and he's a second round pick, we'd lose nothing (except his rights...) I'd like to give Maddox another game though...
I believe his contract is only partially guaranteed, and Gater makes an excellent point in another thread regarding the small cost of his contract not threatening the LT.
EG Yao Ming Rice Cat Steve MT (suspended) Boki Cato Hawkins Torres Brown Mickeal IR KT Mooch TMo We lost a lot of depth at PF for the first 5 games. EG will really get some minutes. Cato may have to try a little PF.
No knock on Hawkins but he will be a victim of poor timing. First OT has to be knocked out of his spot and that has not happened. Fellas remember he would not be the first talented player who we pass on this year. Willis, Walt, Langhi, Lewis, Odom, Clark, Russell are all players who were available to us and we really were not interested, simply because we are stacked. We did the right thing to bring in these guys and it is good that they responded but TB and OT have done what they had to do to keep their spots. Tito is for the future.
Is Torres signed to a guaranteed contract? I think if Torres isn't guaranteed, then we keep hawkins, cut Maddox (no risk of Luxury Tax), and re-sign Tierre to a minimum MINIMUM contract. Our backcourt would be superb if Hawkins is a good defensive player: Cato/Ming/Collier Griffin/MoT Rice/Nachbar/TMo Mobley/Hawkins Francis/Mooch/Tierre IR: I don't care. As long as we have all those players on our active roster, we are one of the deepest and most talented teams in the league. Our 2nd unit would compete for the 2nd unit Championships: Cato or Ming MoT or Griffin TMo Hawkins Moochie If Cato and Griffin are the 4 and 5, then that 2nd unit has INCREDIBLE potential to bring SERIOUS defense off the bench, don't you think?
I know Ming was the big story yesterday, but I'm glad to see this thread this morning. Hawkins was very impressive, and was so active. I was very impressed with his headiness (understandable given his age and experience). If I were Rudy, I would see how Hawkins responds in the SA game. If he has another nice game, 'Sorry, Maddox, but I have 2 Gs (Brown & Hawkins) who can help me more than you right now.' Learn from the effort to find a backup for Dream over the years (thereby passing on some players that could have solidified other positions), don't keep Maddox's 'potential' over Hawkins' 'readiness.'
I missed the game. . but is he just the latest greatest? I mean we have a habit of going with what is new I remember when folx were this high on Maddox Mickeal. . T. brown Torres . . . . I think he needs a couple of more games before we annoint him [not unlike some have annointed Boki] Rocket River Good to have this dilima though
Yea River, pretty much. He was impressive last nite, but I want to see him do it some more before annoiting him stud-status. and Boki also showed more good play last nite,,he is coming around . I have never been high on Tito, he is wasy to TO-prone for my liking..T Brown looks great..we havent missed Mooch at all.. I agree with you, they all need some more games to see what they really have.
Is it just me, Tito just doesn't look smooth to me. last nite he was terrible. He was getting trapped all the time. I'm sure he can play in this league, but he needs more time to develop. I really like Tierre. He's very quick and can make some plays happen...maybe even be a spark plug off the bench. As for Joaquin, he looks great after just one game, but I'll have to see more games before I put him past Oscar.
Guys, you cannot tell how good a player is after one game. If that was the case, then we should cut Nachbar after his first game! But we all know Nachbar will get better and he has. As for Hawkins, he sure did look good last night. However, he needs to keep it up for the last 2 pre-season games before he can knock off Oscar T. And did you see Mickeal the game before? Looked pretty good too. But there is only room for 15 (3 on non-active roster). Also, I think the Rockets want someone that has major defensive upside. If that was the criteria, I thnk Mickeal is better then Hawkins. And Maddux is a "future" development pick that you KNOW the Rockets will keep. He was out of basketball for a year so he will have lots of rust. But did you notice that the man can pass? T. Brown looks good for now but if Maddux gets better in a year, then next year, there will be major competition for 3rd string pg. Maddux is a sleeper pickup that may or maynot pan out. It's a gamble but they will look for at least 1 year. So while Hawkins looked good for this game, unless he "max out" again and Oscar tanks, it doesn't look good for Hawkins making the cut.
