Azubuike is an uptempo player, sucked big time in our camp and pre season games. He went to the nbadl and played well, right at the top of the league in scoring. The Warriors and Nelson signed him and he is playing in a system where would appear to "fit". His stats so far - 9 games, 23 mpg, 11.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.1 apg. fg% .423% 3p's .519% wow He really looked hangdog during pre season games, like a whipped dog. It is my impression during the last couple of years that this seems to happen regularly to some new hires at Toyota Center. Will this last? He was a very good Kentucky player who probably came out too soon due to his family circumstances. He might be developing and he might have landed in the right place. Good for him. Is our system and our atmosphere at Toyota Center not conducive to developing uptempo players for some reason? Perhaps sending Vspan to the Toros might help his current development to speed up?
He's also been on a golden state team that's lost 7 out of 10, and his team efficiency level drops down to -10.5 when he's on the floor. It's not hard to score lots of fast break points in the NBA, and "develop up tempo players" - if you don't mind giving up a lot of up tempo baskets in the process.
what i find interesting is in the 5 games, where he put up double figures in scoring, those games were losses for the warriors where both teams scored 100+. in the other 4 games, of which the warriors won 3, he's been unable to score more than 5pts.
Some players are better suited to different systems. It is why Kenny Smith was not all that great until he got to Houston, sam for Vernon Maxwell. Could you imagine Nash playing with Yao? That would probably not work out so well. I am happy for Azzu.....he would have been buried at the end of the bench here..... We don't need more swingmen...we need a PG in the worst way. DD
DD, I am proud of you. I was surely expecting to see you post about JVG not developing Azubuike and being a bum coach, but you resisted. You also made a good point he doesnt fit here, nor would any purely up tempo type player. The system does determine the type of player a team needs. Yao would not be nearly as effective playing on the Suns, nor would Amare playing on the Rox.
rockets are terrible at evaluating talent period. (eddie griffin,roderick rhodes, matt malony, eldrige recasner, mirsuad tirkan, thomas hamilton, serge zwikker.) i was the only person on clutchfans that wanted to keep azubuike. everyone else felt that he was gonna get dropped anyway. now he is playing decent, and van gundy, and other are looking like idiots.
Calculate his averages for games they've won. Please post your results. Please include average minutes played in those wins. Then compare those averages to the averages he gets in losses. Blow me away...
Hey guy, let's see who the idiot really is: The Warriors are sizzling 3-6 in their last 9 games: Code: 1/2 @Nor [COLOR=Red]W[/COLOR] 97-89 17 2-4 [COLOR=Red]4[/COLOR] 1/3 @Mem L 144-135 24 5-14 15 1/6 Sea [COLOR=Red]W[/COLOR] 108-104 11 1-2 [COLOR=Red]5[/COLOR] 1/7 @Pho L 128-105 31 4-9 16 1/10 Orl L 91-76 27 4-11 11 1/12 Mia L 118-96 33 4-7 17 1/15 Lac [COLOR=Red]W[/COLOR] 108-93 10 1-4 [COLOR=Red]5[/COLOR] 1/17 @Lac L 115-109 48 8-17 28 1/20 Cle L 106-104 10 1-3 4 See a pattern here? Only an "idiot" would miss it. (Too bad they didn't pull out the Cavs game). There's a reason Tubby Smith said Azubuike "looks like Tarzan, play like Jane." You know something is up when a player's college coach says that publicly. Sorry Dr of Dunk, couldn't wait. When someone sticks their jaw out like that, it's hard not to swing.
My good Doctor, he has been with them 9 games. He is not yet an all-star. But let's look at the facts - 3 wins, minutes 16, 11 and 10. stats pts/rbs/assists 4/3/2, then 5/3/0 then 5/1/0. Losses mpg, pts, rbs, assists 24 15/5/2 31 16/4/1 27 11/6/1 33 17/2/3 48 28/7/0 vs the Clippers - not exactly chopped liver 10 4/1/1 Not bad for an nbadl rookie. He is not yet Baron Davis but he is making a strong contribution and would seem to fit in a Nelson led uptempo team. His EFF on the nba players page is 11.22 which is higher than Luther Head's, Chucks, and slightly lower than Juwan's. Snyder's is 4.93. I'm not going to check any more. The point is he is contributing in a positive way. Nelson doesn't play him 30 mpg in every game already and several you choose to go nuts over the guy being a so called Jane??? Talk about not giving a guy a chance to jell with his teammates and asking him to produce all-star numbers just out of the nbadl. So some see the glass half full and some half empty. Rudy Gay is probably lucky he did not come here - he would probably be toast on this BBS by now if JVG did play him. Remember the diff between the current Luther and his EFF of 11.01 and last year when many dissed him? Azubuike did not fit here in this system. It would have squelched him. Ugly ball continues.
Nuh uh... I wanted to keep Azubuike! But then again, I knew what he could do because I watched him play in college.
I don't think he's a star player, but he can play. Not that I doubt your information, cause I know my memory is not the best, but I can't remember Tubby saying that. Was it during his freshman season? I wish that he had stayed in school... but of course other circumstances made him leave early.
My response was for the "don" that calls everyone else idiots. Amazing how many other teams didn't give a flip about him, but we're the idiots. I never said Azubuike won't be a good player, but if he's telling me after a handful of games, we blew it, then I can tell him Azubuike only plays in losses and has done squat when they win. Yes, let's switch to Don Nelson's "pretty ball" because you know how successful that has been. Oh but wait - that will help us keep "potential" stars like Azubuike. At least wait until the guy contributes something on a winning team. This is like all the posters that said "I told you so" about Eddie Griffin and Boki after a couple of good games upon leaving here. Yeah, we really blew it with those two. Give me a break.
So I'm struggling to understand this - Nelson knows when they are going to win and doesn't play him? Or Nelson knows he is going to tank against a certain team and doesn't play him so they can win? So does Nelson know they are going to lose if he plays Az but plays him anyway? This seems like circular logic based on a very small sample of a rookies first few games..... There are some players I would like to have from some losing teams. If Azubuike keeps this up he might be one of them. As far as playing pretty ball on offense - why is that necessarily not compatible with lockdown defense? JVG says he would like to run - yet we don't seem to have the athletic players due to a lot of diff reasons. It sure seems like everyone is required to learn "the system" first then they are allowed to run twice a game. I've heard Luther is allowed to dunk twice a season. The next one is scheduled for the April Portland game - JVG had him write it in on his calendar and tell his relatives and friends to watch the game on league pass.
Nellie must really think the world of him because he didn't even score tonight and played only 3 minutes. richirich, what's hard to understand? It seems the Warriors do better the less he plays. The only circular logic is blasting the Rockets after 9 games and then, after examining the details, saying 9 games isn't a big enough sample size. Nobody has anything against the guy. Maybe he turns out to be a decent NBA player, maybe not. Let's just wait and see; there is still 1/2 a season left to play under Nellie's sacred system.
I'll spell it out for you. Many of the games he's getting minutes to play it's only because the Warriors have been short-handed due to trades and injuries. They have no one else to go to. In other words..... don't just look at the numbers - look at why he's getting the numbers and specifically the minutes. Or maybe a Don Nelson quote in reference to Azubuike will help you guys understand it better : When you have a guy from the (NBA) Developmental League as one of your best players, something is haywire. (he goes on to add that Azubuike is "pretty darn good" and "predictable"... whatever the hell that means. Further proof that it may be because the Warriors are in dire straits with injuries and trades that he gets playing time or does well? : http://www.82games.com/0607/0607GSW1.HTM Why are you willing to accept a concept like Don Nelson's which rarely relies on defense and has never been proven to win and not consider it "ugly ball"? Instead you guys prop it up as allowing "potential boy du jour" to shine. When is Don Nelson expected to take the Warriors to a championship game with Azubuike being a major contributor? Can you check the calendar? Keep in mind GS has a lot of very good players on that team (albeit injury-ridden this season), while JVG has had 1 superstar and some role players for most of the season. Go ahead, sip that haterade while you read the following : The best teams in the league seem to have the best point differential as well. Proof? As of today the teams with the best point differential : Phoenix, San Antonio, Dallas, Chicago, Houston, Detroit, Utah, Denver, Cleveland, Lakers, Washington, and Orlando. Look at that list and you'll have a list of the best teams in the league. What wins games is you outscoring your opponent, not how many dunks you get or how many fast breaks you have. I still remember how everyone said the Rockets played "ugly ball" during their championship run because the offense was so basic and simplistic. Throw it in to Hakeem, find a cutter, or find an open man. It won a ring. Nobody gives a flip about who was fast breaking and who was dunking that season. Why? Because they ain't got no damn rangs. Oh yeah, and fire JVG because he held Kelenna Azubuike back and Az is what the Rockets are missing. LOL. Keep reaching guys... keep reaching...
If we're going to turn this into a GS discussion my question is just what exactly is going on with Matt Barnes? He's a phenomenal shooter and a surprisingly solid rebounder that's been on an absolute tear since Nellie upped his minutes yet tonight he gets a "DNP - Coach's Decision". Did he get hurt or something?
the REAL question is are you Rich Lord? Your grammer is good, your posts are intellegent, and I've heard you been referred to as richie rich on air. Let us know if we have a journalist on board!! As far the as the Kentucky player we had in preseason goes (who I wont attempt to write his name out of respect).... what is our record again? yeah, I dont think he had a place on the team, would not garner minutes, and..... I am happy that he is having success with another team. That's all I have. Shot out to Matt J. I called you Gene Peterson at the JD bar in Toyota Center at an after game show to see how you would react. LOL. Sorry if I was being an ass. BUT....again..... are you Rich Lord? a yes or no anwser would be highly apprcieated. If you are....I love your show. Real talk.
Matt Barnes' production relies on injuries to other players. when Monta Ellis was gone, Barnes went on a tear (with that 36 point performance) but when he came back, he couldn't hit the wide side of a barn. Along wiht Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington taking away shots from Barnes, his production will be minimal from now on. Any chance of getting him for Vspan?
