JVG failed miserably for trying to make Luther into a PG. Now Adelman is doing it all over again. WTF..
Luther Head down the stretch.... 1. Makes a horrible attempted pass to Yao. Even before he let go of the ball, I could see that it was going to be a turnover. I think in the whole game, he attempted two entry passes and both were turnovers. 2. Didn't establish inside position versus Ray Allen so that he got the rebound. Head was literally standing out of bound when Allen stepped in and got the rebound. Doh! The only thing Head can do is shoot the three. He has no handle. He is a horrible decision maker. He is too short to play good D. He also doesn't box out.
You know, I just scoured the tape (DVR recording) and realized a couple of things about that play. It wasn't a handoff, it wasn't a reverse layup, and Garnett didn't even leave the ground. That just further supports my argument that Luther pissed himself unnecessarily, as he often does. He's serviceable, for a lottery team.
I'm not a big fan of Luther Head. He can't dribble. He usually gets abused by taller guards on defense because of his height. He has trouble making simple entry passes to the low post. He can't finish well either when he drives to the basket. He either needs to play less, be traded, or become mainly a 3 point specialist.
Since neither Rafer nor Head can play defense or make a steal Brooks should have been given more time at the end of the game to disrupt Rondo and the Celtics offense. I would like to see Brooks take time from both Rafer and Head. Play combos of Brooks and Rafer and then Brooks and Head. I think Brooks can even help Head by speeding him up - he used to contribute on a fast Illinois team. Standing around just makes him think too much which he can't do. Even Rafer can benefit from working with Brooks and having some pressure on him to react and move faster. Our guards can only be helped by being less predictable and moving away from Gundy ball. Maybe it will take a trade to change the chemistry of this team to sync up better with Brooks. We still seem to be a bunch of Gundy disciples trying to pass themselves off as converted ball movement masters. Catholics trying to be Hare Krishnas or something.
I can't stand him neither. He plays hard but he's just a testament to mediocrity. He's a borderline braindead player that contributes next to nothing whenever his ugly unconventional jumper isn't falling.
the one person that i think could have helped the team is kyle korver ,he is the shooter that we need but that utah have now.
you know what, you won't believe for how long I've been saying this.. everyone is so amazed and anesthetized by his shooting that they overlook ALL his negative effects (which definitely outweigh his only bright spot, shooting).. I can't believe that people regard him as a good cutter/slasher/finisher to the basket, that's just complete B.S... the "luther-yao cuts" work because they are usually unexpected and because the coaches (JVG and RA now) draw these plays only for Luther, and they're so easy when the defense is unprepared that even Moochie Norris would've made those layups.. I just don't want to see Luther on the court anymore.. whether we need to trade him, bench him, waive him, I don't know, all I know is, James, Francis, Novak, Brooks, and Snyder deserve to be on the court more than this no-head chicken..
They should have stuck with Rafer and Brooks. Head shouldn't have been giving Yao the entry pass in the first place.
I don't have a problem with Luther Head bashing, because he deserves it sometimes. But how he gets hammered and Bonzi skates free without a scar is beyond me. Luther has a TS% of .540 and commits far fewer turnovers than Bonzi. Bonzi's TS% is .470, and while that's serviceable, the only kinds of players that keep getting big minutes with those kind of numbers are defensive specialists and ball-handling point guards. (As a comparison, Rafer has a TS% of .486.) His defense is at least as bad as Head's, if not worse, and the only other thing that he brings to the table is good offensive rebounding. Personally, I'd keep using both of them in limited roles, but seeing these Luther-bashing threads and nothing but love for Bonzi confuses me.
Luther is great at moving without the ball, but he is not a good slasher. He can provide a valuable role on the team, but the ideal spot for him is on the weak side spotting up for a 3. Head does struggle with entry passes, but he is averaging less than one turnover a game. I agree that the turn overs he has are often extremely poor decisions rather than great defensive plays by the opponent though. Still, both Francis and James average slightly more turnovers per game in about the same amount of time played, and Brooks is averaging 1 TO per game in only 11 minutes played. Based on those numbers subbing any of them isn't the clear cut upgrade in decision making that some of you seem to imply, even if they might be much better at the post entry pass.
The difference between Bonzi and Luther, and the explanation of Bonzi's lower TS%, is simply this, Luther's TS% is due to his limited skillset while Bonzi's TS% is due to him trying to do too much on the court to help us make up deficits. Bonzi goes in and attacks against the double team too often, mostly because he's looking around at nonshotmakers/playmakers. He doesn't trust his teammates yet, enough. Luther's TS% is due to his inability to finish and dribble/create for himself. When Bonzi plays within himself, as he did last night, there is no comparison that can be made between them.
