Maybe Jordan isn't coming back next year? Hughes is only 23, so it's a safe bet that he has another 3 years to prove himself. At this point, Dixon is going to play PG cuz I don't think they want to keep sending Lue out there. Rip is more talented, but he's missed significant time with injuries and Hughes is probably insurance incase he gets hurt.
Maybe Jordan will come back and how can you blame Hughes for wanting to play with MJ. Tyronne Lue did it even though he knew he could've won another ring this year.
It is a free agent signing, right? Not much risk there, possible payoff, it was a good move by Wash. especially considering Hamilton is there only long term fixture in the backcourt. (mid-late first round picks like Dixon are not sure things--Bryce Drew folks, you just hope they work out). You have to look at their alternatives in the FA market before syaing it was a bad move.
Hey, during the first two months of the season -- when the Warriors actually played decently (a 12-17 record just before year's end), despite Jamison getting off to a horrible start under Cowens & Richardson still learning which way was up -- Hughes was the best player on the team. Through the end of December, Hughes was shooting 45% from the field and 32% from 3-point range. After that, though, his jump shot went to hell ... followed by the rest of his game, as it became impossible to drive or pass effectively with opponents sagging so far off of him. I've said all along that his biggest problem was a lack of body strength, and I think last year proved it again. Of course, it's not a sure thing that he will get past that problem -- for example, Joe Smith will be 27 next week and has never really filled out. And for all I know, maybe he wears down not because of metabolism but because he leads an Iverson-like lifestyle. But if you ask me to bet one way or another, I'll bet that he will get strong enough over the next few years to keep his game for an entire season. And when that happens, he'll prove to be a bargain for the Wizards.
People keep telling us to give Hughes a chance. It was said in Philly, then GS, and now it will be said in DC. Yet he always disappoints. He's always selfish. He never shoots that well. And he never plays defense. And he never shows the willingness to mend his ways. How many chances does he get before people recognize that he'sa a waste of talent?
Larry Hughes is 23. How could anyone say he is a bust? That is ridiculous. From the ESPN story about the trade... "During the 2000-01 season, Hughes averaged career highs in points (16.5), rebounds (5.5), assists (4.5) and steals (1.5) _ joining Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Jason Kidd, Steve Francis and Antoine Walker as the only players to average at least 16 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.5 steals that season." That's terrible company he's keeping. His only real big negative is his FG%, but that is hardly abnormal for most NBA shooting guards, especially when they are this young. He may not be a long term solution at PG but he certainly is better than 100% of the backup PGs in the league, has more potential to improve than any backup SG in the league, and can give Washington and extra scorer if they need it, whether off the bench or starting. Great move by Washington.
Know something common about all those other players? They have all been dominant players on good teams. Hughes was the 2nd best player on a terrible team. Think he would have averaged those #'s on LA? No. Orlando? Nope. New Jersey? Probably not. Houston? No. Celtics? No. Not much of a comparison, when if you put him on any of those teams he'd have been a back-up. Except his FG % isn't just bad for a SG... it's unacceptable. And what makes it worse is that he doesn't take 3pt shots... because he can't hit them. His career 3pt % is a scalding 20%. And it's been LOWER THAN THAT the last two years. I think the bottom line is, what type of team depends heavily on a player that flirts with 40% shooting, is 6'5 but can't shoot the 3, has shown very, very little improvement after 4 years in the league, and is viewed as almost uncoachable. I wouldn't touch Hughes with a 10 foot pole. He's not worth more than the low exception, at best. Personally, I think he should be in the NBDL until he gets his head screws on straight. Great move by Washington.
Yeah, but he was only getting what, 14.5 points a game? If Larry still didn't reach his full scoring potential despite those good percentages, I don't know if he ever will...
Actually, Astro, you just disproved haven's point about Hughes being selfish. Although as PG he was handling the ball on every play, he only took 12 shots per game (down from 16 per game the year before, and more than 20 per game during his first half-season with the Warriors). And that his FG% went up sharply at the same time suggests that maybe his shot selection wasn't as awful as it's stereotypically described, either.
I really wasn't trying to prove of disprove anyone's points. IMO the kid has enormous untapped scoring potential.
Which would mean, what... that he's simply a tremendously bad shot, regardless of how well he chooses his looks? Either he has poor mental ability for determining when to shoot, or he just can't do it anyway. Judging from his 3pt %, it must be at least partly that. Half the people on this board could probably shoot that well from the 3pt line.
Why are so many people enamored w/ Hughes? He's not a good player and he's an even worse person. He was beat out by Gilbert Arenas at pg! Gilberet Arenas, a rookie SG out of Arizona! And after he was benched, it told the team he would not try anymore until he was given the starters job back. He didn't say anything about earning it back or anything, just give me my job back or I quit! Jordan is gonna have to punch this kid in tha face at some point during this season I bet. Hughes can't shoot thats why he isn't a good SG and he doesn't have handles so he isn't a good PG. This move makes no sense to me. PS: How many PG & SG's do the Wiz have now 6-7?
Hughes was a good PG at St Louis so he can run the spot. But unless Jordan plays for another 5 or 10 years he fits in perfectly with Washington. They can build the team around Hughes, Dixon and Hamilton. Hughes isn't a bust, he just needs the perfect team to groom him. He will be a player in the league. <b>Why are so many people enamored w/ Hughes? He's not a good player and he's an even worse person. </b> Do you know the guy personally? How can you say he's a worse person, what has he done? And the guy is a pretty good player, how cna someone put up 13 ppg, 4 rpg and 3 apg in limited minutes be a bad player!?
Not all SG's shoot a lot of threes, so why is that a big knock on Hughes? How many 3's did KOBE make last year? Consider that Antoine Walker shot 645 3s, and Hughes shot 93, I think it shows he won't keep launching shots he doesn't hit consistently, unlike other shooters in the league. I think that Hughes willingness to shoot less when moved to PG shows he is not selfish. That he was willing to move to point guard says something about him. He has shown that as a top offensive option he can put the biscuit in the basket (look at his stats when he first got to GS). He is a legit 20 ppg scorer and those just don't grow on trees, sorry. Yes, his shot selection is poor, but that is not unusual for someone who had ONE year of college, and who has had the greenlight to shoot his whole basketball career. Shot selection is often the bane of the young. Add to that both Philly and GS were poor fits (Philly couldn't have both him and AI - reports were it was AI's bad vibes and inevitable move to the 2 got him shipped out; and GS is a TERRIBLE organization - many coaches, no philosophy, too many players at the same positions). Those of you who say he's got a bad attitude/uncoachable, I seriously haven't read that and I'm not in the Bay Area or Philly so I might just not have seen it. If you've got a link, put it up. And really, how many young players, especially shooters, that have been reluctant to restrain themselves early on in their careers. Kobe, McGrady, VC, AI, Walker, and lots of others have all been accused of shooting too much, not listening to coaches, and worrying more about their own stats than the team.
Arenas didn't exactly beat Hughes out, Stylez. In six games off the bench before being handed the starting job, Arenas shot 35%(12 for 34, including 0 for 7 on 3-pointers), with a total of 13 assists and 8 turnovers. Not exactly my-god-we've-got-to-hand-this-kid-the-ball stuff, I think you'll agree. Here's what happened: In January, with Hughes's jump shot going AWOL and staying there, Warriors management looked ahead to his being a free agent in the summer and said, "You know, there's no way we can commit to giving him the big cornerstone-player contract he expects. Not when we don't know if he can hit jump shots for a whole season." So in February (and this part was publicly acknowledged by St. Jean after the trading deadline), they talked to Hughes's agent and agreed to look into trading Larry, but couldn't find a deal that satisfied everyone. After the trading deadline, GS decided to play the guys who were going to be there next year -- which meant Arenas instead of Hughes. There was probably also a large element of tanking in this strategy, since Arenas was even less of a halfcourt PG than Hughes, and worse defensively as well. The complaint you're talking about didn't happen until after a five-game stretch where Hughes averaged fewer than 10 minutes per game -- and he didn't demand the starting job back (there was zero chance of that happening). What he said was, if you're only going to play me eight minutes a game, I'd rather not play at all. Obviously, that's not a team-first thing to say, but look at it from Hughes's perspective: Management had already told him he wouldn't be back. All he had to look forward to was his value as a free agent in the summer, and these 8-minute stints where he barely touched the ball (his role was to spot up at the 3-point line while Bob Sura dribbled the entire possession -- I'm serious) were killing his per-game averages. I know this is the cue for a lot of people to start puffing out their chest and saying, "Oh, he should have done this or that," but let me ask -- if you've ever been let go or given your notice at a job, how hard and selflessly did you work those last couple of weeks? Winters responded by benching Hughes entirely for the next two games, but had to give in when the Warriors were blown out by 20 points at home by the Clippers, with the crowd chanting, "Larry! Larry!" in the closing minutes. But even then, Hughes would play well in games only to get DNP-CDs in the next one. That's because "earning his minutes" was an irrelevant consideration -- he was a dead man (or, more accurately, free agent) walking, and only played when Arenas and/or the team was in hopelessly over their heads. It's not commendable that Hughes began looking out primarily for himself in that situation, but it's not surprising, either.
RM & Swopa, you guys both make good points but some of these sound like excuses. Whats the difference betweeen Cato & Hughes. Cato had a triple-double in a preason game, got paid and quit trying. He has potential but he doesn't try hard enough and sulks. Doesn't Hughes do the same thing? That basically means he wasn't good enough for the GS Warriors (which is not a good thing). An I right? RM, I agree that Arenas' numbers wer'nt good but like I said, that means Hughes' slightly better numbers and his lack of ability as far as getting others involve just wern't good enough to cut it. Cato gets blasted here for his attitude and the lack of inprovement in his game but Hughes gets a free pass b/c he was a really good in college and seems to have "potential". He's been in the league for what 3,4,5 years? With 2 temas that could have really benifited from a good PG and they choose Eric Snow & Gilbert Arenas over him. When is the potential gonna kick in?
Bryant is a threat. Hughes is not. Bryant as a lethal mid-range game. Hughes does not. Bryant can post up. Hughes cannot. This is pointless. Walker is the epitomy of lack of self-restraint regarding 3's. If you shoot 20% from the 3pt line, you shouldn't shoot any. If you can't score 20 ppg with the Warriors, yo ucan't with anyone.[ Most of that came from when he was in Philly. Larry Brown *hated* him. He disliked Hughes more than AI, which is saying something. Thought he was lazy, selfish, and had poor work ethic. I trust Brown reasonably well... especially when saying such things only hurt his trade value... so saying such things falsely would have been pointless. Ok, so here's my question: when do you give up on Hughes? How many mediocre years can he put in for bad teams before you say, "gee, guess I was wrong about him, and he's a waste of talent?" he's had 4 years. How many does he get with you? 5? 6? 13?
True, and I'm not saying Hughes is anywhere close to Kobe. BUT my point is that Kobe does not shoot 3's. Not all SGs use the 3 as a large part of their game, so while its a deficiency for Hughes, it doesn't mean he can't play the SG as a result. Walker is the epitomy of lack of self restraint. Yes, yes, yes. Looking at Hughes shots per game and comparing them to a someone without restraint (Walker) and the argument that he is a selfish shooter does not hold water. Yep. You are so correct. When Hughes got the greenlight at GS at SG he scored 20+ ppg. And I might add that it was his only real chance at the full minutes a 2 needs to get going. OK, that fair enough. A couple of things to keep in mind though. Those were his first two years aged 19 and 20. Selfish is a label that does not seem to be justifiable from his time at GS. And Brown is notorious for bagging on his players to try and motivate them, including blasting them in public. And that has been consistent throughout Brown's career. He has had one full season of starting, and his numbers were pretty solid. He has had almost one half of a season as the go to guy (at GS) and lit it up. 'They' say you reach your peak in basketball at 29. Hughes is 23. Considering he didn't get a bombshell of a contract, I think its easy to take a chance on him. At a minimum Hughes can be a spectacular addition to any bench in the league.
