I think you guys are crazy and way off beat with Novac!! Novac is a limited time player, he is a scoring specialist and could be one of the all time great three point shooters. He should be brought in only when points are needed and the other four players on the floor can cover for him on defense. It takes a great Coach to know how to use such talents in an effective way. Do not think of Novac as a defensive player he is a pure scorer role player. Most of the players on our team have deficiencies- for example Rafer who is used to bring the ball up the court and shoot three pointers and two point floaters, he is poor on defence and has little ability in the role of floor general or playmaker, yet he is used by the Coach as a starter in a role which uses his best attributes
I feel you've applied a stereotype here. I could be wrong. But IMO Novak is the worst team defender I've ever seen in my life. He is purely a one-trick pony. When asked to monitor his man and the rest of the team he gets lost. When asked to shoot and rebound, he gets lost. He can't seem to concentrate on more than one task at a time - and that's getting open to shoot. I think we need to be realistic about this guy and use his strengths. He's not going to get much faster or stronger, so why risk him losing his shooting touch by adding mass or changing his physique? (Yes, it does happen) We need 3pt shooters on the bench at all positions and Novak is a great shooter at 6'10 - not easy to find.
Just because he isn't that physically gifted doesn't mean he can't work on it. 3-4 hard months of weight training, speed drills, and plyometrics (along with the right diet) and he'd see some serious results. His NBA career may depend on it.
i dont see how last night showed us anything we didn't already know about novak. he can make threes. sometimes, he can make threes from anywhere. it's not like novak got better between now and earlier in the year regular season when he got minutes and was less consistent. novak on an average day is a great 3pt shooting whose defensive liabilities and lack of passing/rebounding SHOULD prevent him from getting minutes on a good team. on a great day, he's worth it. but a coach has no way of knowing until he gets out there and takes a few shots. by then he has blown his assignment and missed a few rebounds. send him to milwuakee or miami where they could use anyone that shoots.
he is the real answer to the consistent shooter we've been looking for... when raf and t can't shoot... only if he was defensive minded... thank god for the offseason!!
This is going to be a big offseason for Novak. If he can't improve his defense and rebounding from this year to the beginning of next season, he may never be able to do it. Like someone said earlier, his NBA career depends on it.
Wow DD have you gone off the deepend? Really, Novak is our silver lining? No thank you, although I appreciate the joke I'm hoping Brandon Rush/Joe Alexander/Chase Budinger can fall on our lap. Rush and Budinger are athletic shooters and Joe Alexander has an excellent mid-range game and is also extremely athletic as well. Tough player. Now thats my silver lining.
He can at least get to Matt Bullard's status..... Anyone who can shoot like that can find a spot on an NBA team...whether he gets a ROTATION spot is what is important. I would like to see the Rockets use him and run a bit of zone to protect him for a spell.... Because lord knows....we need shooters.......DESPERATLY. DD
Agree, he shot incredible when the game already had been decided. I see the rockets using him in some sort of trade package this summer. The rockets need athletic size in the frontcourt badly and Novak may help get them that piece when he's included in a trade.
If he isn't scoring a point a minute he does more harm than good IMO. Sure, some nights he is on fire but for every one of those there are three nights where a Kyle Korver-type is lighting him up because he can't handle a simple close out on a shooter. Time for Novak to go.
The problem is that he is really cheap, and shooters like him are rare, and he has shown significant improvement from year 1 to 2...and the 3rd year is the most important. I think we keep him. DD
Well, if he isn't going to be packaged to bring in a real NBA player then I'm cool with giving him another year but I think if he is getting minutes next season it more than likely means that this team is still undertalented and heading out in the first round. I don't believe he is ever going to "get it" defensively and as a few have already mentioned he sure strokes it when the game is out of reach.
If Novak can develop some skills defensively and model his game after Jason Kapono, then he can find some more minutes with the Rockets.
Novak can be good for this team, he just needs to work more on the other aspects of his game. When TMac was getting the double teamed, he did the right thing and dished it out to the open man on the perimeter, but the problem is that man usually missed the shot. Novak can hit the shot.
Too one dimensional. Adelman is limited to certain matchups and situations to use him otherwise he's a DNP-CD. We've got too many one dimensional players. This is basically our downfall on offense and why we struggle at times when Yao or Tmac is out. We gotta upgrade from Novak, Hayes, and Head.
If Novak can play the 3, he has a future here. If not, he is stuck behind three PFs in Scola, Landry, and Hayes. I don't see him playing ahead of these guys other than in situations where we need a 3pt shooter. He's a tweener. He's not strong enough to play the 4 and not fast enough to play the 3. So he needs to either work on his strength and be a better interior defender, rebounder, or work on his speed and be able to keep up with the 3s in the league. It's not about being one-dimensional. Lots of one-dimensional guys make a living in the NBA. It's about not being able to fit in a particular spot. The proverbial "tweener" syndrome. The same thing is true for Luther Head between the 1 and the 2.
It doesn't really matter to me. We need to upgrade the PG position and find another consistent play-maker (whether at PG or swingman) outside of Rafer-Tmac. I dont think Novak is a big issue at this point. At least our PF situation finally looks good with Scolandry.
He is not a good defender just because he can't hold his place or he is not quick enough. I believe his soft touch is from his magical hands, if he only muscle up his legs and belly, his touch won't be affected much, but he can become a much better defender.
I don't know. He hasn't improved his defense to a high enough level. If he could just be an AVERAGE defender, he could crack the rotation easily. I
