Agreed. Pops is more of a fouler than a shotblocker. He has a career average of 1.5 fouls and 0.1 blocks in 10 minutes per game. We could say it's because of low minutes and figure out what it would be with starter minutes. Blocks per 32 minutes 0.3 Pops 0.3 Lowry 0.3 Ariza 0.4 Landry 0.9 Tmac 1.0 Battier That's right. Our guards and small forwards average more blocks than Pops. It's a myth that Pops brings better shotblocking to the team.
You seriously think guys like Battier, T-Mac, Lowry, and Ariza are better shot blockers than Pops? Those stats are skewed because all those guys get way more minutes than Pops. Theres a big difference between playing 10 mins a game trying to get blocks as opposed to 20-30 mins a game.
Pops is a shot blocker, I'd love it if he got some really good coaching from Deke and Hakeem, both on offense and defense.
Well he just got 5 blocks this game. So I'm sure he knows a little bit about shot blocking. Just a tad. Has any of those guys you listed got 5 blocks in one game? Preseason or not?
He will not be betting starter minutes during the regular season. He will be playing 10-12 minutes, if he makes the team. Making 0.3 blocks in 10-12 minutes is not evidence that he can bring shot blocking to the Rockets. Amundson and Hibbert make 1.0 and 0.7 blocks respectively in limited minutes. They are considered shot blockers.
I know Battier has done it before (maybe a couple times), and McGrady once had 7 blocks against Houston when he played for Toronto. I'm not sure about the rest.
Here are his stats from the D-League http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/career.jsp?player=pops_mensah-bonsu 2006-07 26 gms 30.5 min 1.3 blocks 2008-09 8 gms 39.6 min 2.5 blocks Career Avg 34 gms 32.9 min 1.6 blocks He'll be lucky go get those averages in the NBA regular season. I can see him getting 0.3-0.4 blocks in 10-12 minutes a game. It makes him a mediocre shot blocker instead of awful.
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/shane_battier/bio.html (Battier) notched a career-high-tying five blocks three times during the season (1/25/06 vs. Minnesota, 2/15/06 vs. Sacramento, 3/26/06 vs. Charlotte).
5 blks? the guy is not a shot blocker? I choose up to this point when we are lacking bigs, i choose pops over conroy for the last spot. Pops seems to be liked by many fans as well.
He certainly is active and works hard on both ends of the court. He fought Bosh and O'Bryant hard down on the block any time they tried to post him. He let them set up to close to the rim but you have to like his aggressiveness. Offensively, he seems pretty aware of his limitations and when he makes a move he goes all out without hesitating. He's certainly ahead of Dorsey for a roster spot. How tall is this guy really? I heard Bull and Bill say he was 6'10" but that's a joke. He looks about 6'7" to me.