Maybyner "Nene" Hilario: "He has the arm span of China's 7-foot-5 Yao Ming."

Huh? Really? For some reason I was thinking he would be able to jump out of the gym. He's got a slender, athletic build and is apparently very quick on his feet, it really surprises me that they say he's not a superior leaper. These pictures don't really prove anything, but he looks to have pretty good leaping ability.

 

Lack of offensive skills is a concern. There is no guarantee he can develop NBA O skills. This more than anything else should drop Nene into a late lottery pick at best. In particular, I don't see Rudy drafting a player with no O skills with the 15th pick in this draft.

 

I don't know. Let's say we make the Lamar Odom deal and get the #8, #12, to go along with #15. Precluding some other deals, you wouldn't take Nené Hilario with one of those picks? (I don't think he'll be around at #15, to tell the truth.)

We have scorers. Rebounds, blocked shots, and offensive put-backs would be nice.

The only reason I might shy away is his potential contract problem, but they're working to resolve that now.

I read about his NY workout in the Times and they wrote that his leaping ability is astounding. So I'm not sure wherein lies the truth; one source might be incorrect.

 

Sounds like Cato II. He could be a better player than Cato, but without offensive skills he will not the long term solution for the Rockets' at the 5.

Of course, the team that drafts Nene with a lotto pick are betting that he will develop those skills.

I hold more faith in teaching NBA rookies defense versus offense.

 

it's not cato because he's got intensity

intensity could make a cato into a rodman or ben wallace

nene wants it... wants to get up there for the board, the block etc

 

I think the only way to get Cato to rebound is to tape $1,000 bills to the backboard. Or, he should have a contract clause that pays him per rebound. At this point, I am pretty sure that he is costing us a lot more than $1000 per rebound.

I'd like to see the stats on that. Gater - you seem to have all the contract info for the Rockets. How much are we paying Cato per rebound and per block?

Remember Vinson Hamilton (two sandwiches)? We should have put food on the rim for him.

Separately, I originally thought that "Nene" was somebody's funny attempt to say that Halirio looked like that Martin Lawrence character "Sha-ne-ne" in his old show (that was horrible).