Before the past two games, DA was quietly having a terrific preseason. Well with his play against the Jazz and Hornets, you can take off that "quietly". Along with Yao, DA has been the most consistent player. Skip started out with a bang, but has tailed off a bit. Swift gives you 3-4 highlight reel plays a game, but he's as inconsistent as advertised (at least so far) on both ends of the court. T-mac's been spectacular for the most part, but he has missed 3 games and was hobbled in another. Luther has shown me a lot, but understandabley he's been up and down. Even Howard who couldn't buy a shot the other night, but couldn't miss last night. DA on the other hand has been pretty solid on defense (I don't recall him getting burned a whole lot) and has been more than solid on offense. He's been shooting very well all preseason, and he's passing really well. It seems like he's really picked up the offensive sets, and has really fit in well. To say that he's a bargain at $1.7 mill is the understatement of the month. I could easily see him being the 3rd best player on the team. Opponents better looks out for The DA. He's bringing his own brand of justice to the court.
Derek Anderson was one of the main deals (along with Swift) that I wanted the Rockets to do because Anderson is still young and he is a jack-of-all-trades. Definitely a terrific pick up!
I've been impressed by the good preseason DA has had so far. I hope he's the starting SG on opening night.
DA is a good player to have because as you just said: he's consistent, and can do it all (play various positions, can shoot the 3, take his man one-on-one, defend, rebound, etc.) It's definitely a great pick-up, I think he will turn out to be our biggest acquisition this season, especially when he has to relieve T-Mac's minutes and possibly even when T-Mac is hobbled by injuries, Wesley is going through his usual shooting slumps, etc. From watching the games so far, the chemistry is clearly still not there, and it will be a slightly rough ride until about the all-star game when this team will have gelled by then. T-MAc's health is the only other factor that can hold this team back.
I had no opinion on DA when we signed him, but he could end up being our most important offseason addition. He brings the whole package to our team: Veteran smarts, passing & penetration ability, outside shooting and no ego. As I said in another thread, he reminds me so much of Jon Barry in that he capitalizes on being left alone by the defense. This is exactly the type of role player we need on our team. If durability were a non-issue, he would easily be our 3rd leading scorer. Offensively (so far), DA is the SG I argued we needed to kill defenses when they focused too much on T-Mac and Yao. With Wesley, Jon Barry and Luther there to keep DA's minutes down, I'm very satisfied at SG. DA also fills the "swingman" role and backs up T-Mac.
