Luther needs to shoot more. It''s ok for him to pass on open looks to get Yao or Tracy the ball, but there is no reason for him to sacrifice his shot for Battier, Hayes, Howard, and especially Alston.
Right now , he is a Steve Kerr with size and defence. He has to improve his dribbing ability and ball handle skills. After that , he can be modeled to a player like Ben Goden or 0 Arenas. He is a hard working guy, gym rat. We should all have faith on him.
"not that often" ? hell, imo, NBA guards should rarely if ever get stripped by their man. They should be accomplished enough dribblers where the defender doesn't even attempt to take the ball from them when manned up. I can tolerate the blind side steal from help defense, and I can tolerate the occassional steal while driving through traffic in the lane, provided you score in there much more than lose the ball. But man, guards shouldn't be getting stripped enough for all of us to take notice, nor should they stop their dribble or jump and make a bad pass because their dribble got them into trouble. Nor should the defenses have them pegged as a bad dribbler to trap them at half court.
I agree. Gordon also has a remarkable all floor and off balance adjustment ability like Hornecek (maybe Jason Terry too) I don't see that kind of instictive scoring ability from anyhwere in Head. Head should be able to stick as a valuable tweener guard for a long time. Primarily a back-up SG with a heavy dose of back up PG with someone to help him out. Brings excellent shooting without terrible flaws but some areas lacking for a starter as a 1 or 2. I'd say Head at the optimum could be like Hersey Hawkins, Wesley Person or Craig Hodges--probably Hawkins the most. Now if we could find a 6'4" lock down defense PG like Payton, Head would be just fine as a starting SG.
I think you underrate Steve Kerr's handles and shooting. Kerr was arguably the best and most consistent pure shooter ever (#1 in 3% at 45.4%), Head is an oustanding shooter but not that kind of league. But Kerr couldn't guard anybody--much less so than Head--so he did have to find the right team/role.
Barbosa's a freak of nature. He's one of the fastest, if not the fastest, players in the league. Some guys have a quick first step... he has a quick first, second, third and fourth step.
Well, I can't say he never gets it stolen, and I don't feel like he gets it stolen often, so how else would I phrase it?? And what you describe is decision making. Picking up yor dribble, getting stuck with it, making a bad pass, etc. Maybe I've just missed it, I honestly don't see him get stripped that often at all. Perhaps my perception is clouded b/c what I DO see is poor decisions.
People saying he doesn't have the potential to be a Barbosa type of player (not in terms of game, but in stats). He's only in his second year. Barbosa is in, what his 4th? Head has already had a ton of starting experience, you've obviously seen flashes of his potential every so often. I think in the next two years he could probably average the same stats Barbosa does. About 16, 4 and 4. Its probably a bit optimistic, but he's already at a solid 10 a game.
i just don't see luther ever being a pg in this league. he can work hard at improving his handles, yes, but court vision and decision making skills just aren't something you can teach. i think he can make it as a back up sg, 6th man of the yr type would def be his ceiling, but on the right team that fits his skills, that could be all they need (a la steve kerr). it's too bad luther doesn't have the length or defensive ability of cuttino, but that's where i see his maximum potential, poor man's cuttino or broke ass bankrupt man's ben gordon.
As others have said Barbosa is just a different caliber of athlete. Head is a good athlete, Barbosa has phenom athleticism even for the NBA. He has good handles and can blow by anybody in addition to having the 3 ball like Head does. Also, Barbosa is younger (by 2 days) and with less years of American basketball in his belt--don't expect for Head to surpass him. Barbosa can top out like Agent 0 (with maybe a better shot selection)--Head just doesn't have that kind of phenom ability.
Let's not get into a semantic argument. What I and others are saying is his dribble gets him into trouble a lot. It doesn't take getting stripped too many times by average defenders before scouts take notice. Defenses pressure him, because the scouts tell them to. He makes "bad decisions" off the dribble because he can't handle the pressure; he can't see the court, because he has to focus too much on his dribble. Plus, the dude really can't drive.
I've seen more flashes of brilliance for Luther as a great point gaurd who can shoot/score from anywhere than I have for him as a great 2guard. I do believe his defense is very underrated. He gets lit up if a bigger guy posts him up all day, or if they have their turnaround/fadeaway working, but the man seems to work as hard as he can, and it often pays off. BTW, I disagree that the problem for him at PG is quickness/speed or ahtleticism. He's at LEAST as fast as the average starting PG. The problem is with his handles and his passing ability. His handles need a LOT of work (maybe Skip can make himself useful this summer, heh), but he's not a bad passer... sometimes. Besides, as a PG for the Rockets, you don't have to be able to do a whole hell of a lot more than Head can do. If you were to read his strengths on paper, he would ALMOST sound like the prototypical point guard a team like ours needs: can run, can hit wide open jumpers from anywhere anytime, and can defend opposing PGs. His struggles under full court pressure are his biggest weakness to us.
Cuttino, in his 2nd-5th years with us, averaged as many assists per game in 40 minutes of play as Luther already does in 27. IMO, Lu is ahead of the curve and will only get better.
You know when I read what you write and who comes to mind is Kenny Smith. But the truth is even in the Rockets more simple and noncreative system there is more to it (In fact Alston is the only one on the whole team has shown he is an NBA PG at all). For some reason Head just struggles a lot more with traditional PG duties such as protecting the ball and organizing offense--something Smith was good enough at--except facing Derrick Harper when they allowed hand checking . There are mental and physical elements to being a PG that goes beyond a basic skill set. Think about how much Francis and Mobley struggle with elements to being a point guard--and they have a lot better handles and finishing ability than Head. Head would not be the 1st undersized SG/ tweener in the NBA, and that doesn't mean he won't be a contributing rotation player. His +/- is also a lot better as an SG.
I remember the Kings trying to trap him the other day. Luther split the double team with the dribble, drew the D, then kicked it out to Rafer for the wide open 3 (Which he actually made for once) The kid's got real potential. Give him some time. He hasn't even had two full seasons in the league yet.
He's only in his 2nd year. Give him some time. Remember Boki? We're just now seeing his true potential years later, and he's not even a starter yet. Luther will get better. Besides, if we don't keep him, I will not be a happy camper.
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Cmon... Barbosa is good, but he's not going to be averaging 30 points a game, creating his own shots like Arenas does. And I'm not comparing games, I'm comparing stats. I'm basically saying Head in a couple of years could easily average about 16, 4 and 4 in a Stackhouse like role off the bench, or as a starter (highly unlikely though considering Battier and Tmac have those spots locked up for the next couple of years). We've seen this guy create his own shot countless times during the season, although not consistently. All he needs is more experience.
Did you see who was "defending" Luther on that? Like I said, I'd rather have Luther as full-time PG than Smush.
Well, if anything, it's because our offensive system is so simple and noncreative (meaning broken) that we need more playmaking skills at the guard positions. That's where McGrady comes in... he is THE guy who makes our offense work, and is the best point guard we have (not that that's a bad option to have, heh). But, thanks to having a McGrady, we don't really need a "true" PG at point... other than for some depth that we sorely miss when McGrady is out. We just need someone who can get the ball down the floor under pressure, and put it in McGrady's hands or make a post-entry pass. Aside from that, they need to be able to move without the ball well, make an open shot (or in Luther's case, make any cold-blooded shot even with a hand or two in his face), and run the floor (mainly because we don't have enough people who can do that). The ability to penetrate would be a great bonus, though, along with the ability to create any offense... But it's not like Rafer is much better at either. So I think Head fits that description well, minus the ability to dribble/bring the ball up under pressure, like I mentioned before.
