For some reason this comment made me laugh. It made me think of that movie "The Hebrew Hammer." It was funny but it made me sad seeing how he missed out on Christmas every year as a kid.
Way to go clutchfans. It's great to have some laughs after the debacle that we just witnessed. Humor in this board has always been the best.
Don't forget that he also belongs to the great Rockets' tradition of getting 09ers in the roster. His name will forever be added to the illustrious list of greats in his class like TWill, Thabeet, Hill, and Flynn. Championship here we come.
Got to see a bunch of Dionte Christmas in Philly during the Big 5 games, from what I remember, he was a phenomenal outside shooter; very comfortable pulling the trigger from NBA range, which made him nigh unguardable at the college ranks considering his length. Was also a pretty decent defender based on his length, but probably below average at the NBA level. He reminds me of Joe Johnson, and not in a good way. JJ, as well as Kobe recently, and T-Mac back in the day, is a tough-shot maker; he's not great at getting space and creating traditionally good looks, such as blow-by layups and clean-step backs. But he's so damn talented, he doesn't need the space, and what might lead to a normal player shooting 25%, he can get into the low 40s. Guys like this can be very valuable, even if you're getting 25 points on 8-20 nights, because there's many, many times where a play cannot be run to get a good shot, and there's always a chance of them getting scorching hot and putting away the game. Dionte Christmas is not that talented, however. He strikes me as the classic college sniper who takes advantage of the short 3 point line not by being automatic from 20'9", but from being comfortable 3' further, and simply shooting from a distance from beyond where defenders are used to picking up their man. This doesn't work in the NBA, because guys are longer, have better scouting reports, and no-one is comfortable shooting from 28'. You saw it with Jimmer this year, and JJ Redick when he was adjusting to being a role player. Andrew Goudelock in LA is also going through a bit of this after some early season success. So he's a ball-hog who puts up a ton of shots, but isn't super efficient. I don't think he'll be anything more than training camp fodder, but heck, I also didn't think that Jeremy Lin's "old-man game" would translate for more than a couple explosions, and that his outside shooting was a flash in the pan, so what do I know? Great name though, and if he ever managed to make it big, the headlines ESPN could run with would finally put Linsanity to bed...
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http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterockets/2012/04/lees-free-agent-destiny-is-in-teams-hands/ All these no-name players are signed to non-guaranteed contracts, so we actually don't lose any cap space at all. We do however get a free look at them and in case you want to make a trade and need another $1M-$1.5M to make the salaries work, you simply throw in one or two of these guys.
Precisely. These moves are the very definition of "no risk". There's probably little reward (a player pans out or the trade filler is needed), but the reward far outweighs the (non-existent) risk. Also, I find it funny that some of the people who complain about these signings are the same people criticizing the Rockets for not taking a longer, harder look at Jeremy Lin.
Christmas was signed as a possible low-cost budget replacement for Courtney Lee just in case some team gets silly and offers him a big contract.
