Aaron Craft fans can catch him on ESPN on August 1 playing in The Basketball Tournament. He apparently just signed with a French team in early July, so I doubt he has NBA plans this season. https://www.thetournament.com/bracket
Bobby Brown is really a scoring/shooting guard. He's not the guy you want running the point and distributing if one of the superstars goes down. He's essentially a smaller Gordon. He's always been a shoot first guard. And Taylor could be gone in a trade. Additionally, Jackson is a project. He's very unlikely to earn a regular contract and move into that third point guard role this season. In my opinion, the third point guard/distributor role on this team is still up for grabs. I'm still not sold on Taylor. I'll have to see more of him in camp to determine in my mind whether he's good enough defensively to be a positive contributor if needed and called upon in the regular season/playoffs. My preference in a third point guard is a guy that distributes well and locks down defensively. Those guys (Aaron Craft) fly below the radar because they're not spectacular scorers/shooters. But their possible contribution to a championship team roster that usually has plenty of scorers/shooters is a lot more important than another guy that can score the ball but can't really distribute efficiently. A championship team needs three guys that can run the point and distribute the basketball. It has to have two guys in the top of the rotation that can and do run the point and effectively share playmaking responsibilities. And it needs that third distributor that can be plugged in if one of the two main distributors goes down.
Morey says to sign more Team USA guys, Deron Williams is the answer. I avoid Jason Terry, he is going to be a head coach somewhere in the NBA and he is going to steal D'Antoni's blue print on offense.
@basketballholic I was partly joking. But I'm also looking at the Hard Cap. I'm a big fan of no new salary until we see how Melo pans out. I don't want any added complexities that new salary eating into the Hard Cap could play. Nor doing trades or salary matching cuts of NG Bros independent of a Melo trade, in an attempt to make a new contact cap neutral. You can do those the same day, or as part of a large Melo deal, or at trade deadline should Melo not ever happen. Or, worst case, you may not be able to do them at all, because a Melo deal might need to take current salary right up to the hardcap, and that new salary could ****-block it. So bottom line, talk of another PG (or any new salary) is premature to me. Hence, the Jackson signing having zero impact on the hardcap right now.
We have the best two point guards in the game. MDA already said one will always be on the court. Eric Gordon will be the other guard. If we have garbage time they will just let bobby eat the minutes. An injury would just mean more playing time for Gordon and maybe the Taylor gets some burn. We don't need anyone else. And definitely not DWill. He is way past his prime, and he doesn't have the heart for basketball anymore. He is ring chasing and paycheck chasing at this point.
D'Antoni in an interview flat out said we need another PG. CP3/Harden/EG will get injured or rest for quite a bit over the regular season. Whoever our 3rd PG is he'll play a decent chunk of the regular season.
Rather have another wing for depth. Tony Allen or Afflalo would be a perfect add once the Melo deal goes down.
Love this kid, as a player and as a person. Craft was a helluva football player too before committing to OSU. He is not just a tough physical defender but so smart with his ability to keep the ball in play. Has the Clutch gene too. GSW is so underrated with their ability to find these kind of players.
Someday, maybe not too far in the future, I'm going to write a piece on point differential between a defensive player like Craft who is not a great shooter and who has even been a poor shooter versus a guy that is a great shooter but a mediocre to poor non-difference making defender. I have an analytic method I use to level players out by possessions on both ends of the court that also encompasses how their shooting/lack of shooting and turnovers affects the team versus their defense/lack of defense and turnovers created affects their team. I feel like this helps me determine whether a player will be a net plus or minus to a team when they are great in one skill and poor in another skill. I feel like I can prove that in some cases (Craft is definitely one of those) the outstanding defender that is a poor shooter is a greater net positive them the great shooter than turns the ball over and plays poor defense. Great shooters can be adj turnover prove and so bad defensively that they are actually a net negative on the team. The spacing they give the team didn't make up for how bad they are defensively and in turnovers and offensive rebounds. A players ability to create defensive turnovers at a high rate, combined with the ability to get offensive rebounds while keeping his own turnovers siren created a lot of net points for his team that offsets him missing a few shots, especially if he is a distributor and Durant take a lot of shots. Compound ask that with a high free throw rate and you've got a glue guy that is a positive contributor despite his shooting percentages sucking. Marcus Smart is a classic example of such a player. Just a nasty, nasty rugged defender that creates havoc for opponents on the defensive end. His defensive turnovers and offensive rebounds more than offset his poor shooting percentages and make him a better player a lot of sharpshooters (like Ryan Anderson for example) that simply don't create defensive turnovers nor offensive rebounds while allowing opponents to about high percentages against them. I've studied this in depth for a long time. I'm convinced, of course, that it gives me a leg up in talent evaluation. Aaron Craft falls into this category. In my calculated opinion (extensive observation plus data crunching) he more than makes up for poor shooting with his defensive turnovers and his ability to distribute the basketball while keeping his turnovers very low.
Wait? Are you talking about the "can never have too many PGs" comment? That's just his reply to the question about how Paul and JH will mesh. What did he say exactly? And when did he say it? Certainly if he said anything like that prior to using the BAE (ie, prior to July 16), then use of the BAE on Luc kinda sheds light on his priorities. We now cannot pay a PG more than minimum without trade. And we need to reserve all those NG Bro assets for Melo, and watch out for the Hard Cap, which is only $5.5m away. We are hard capped at only $5.5m more additional salary for the rest of the year...so I wouldn't count on more salary or burning NG Bro assets on anther player, until after Melo pans out...or the deadline in the event Melo doesn't pan out.
No not talking about that. On a podcast (I think it was with Howard Beck) he said the Rockets needed backup big and backup pg as the things they need to still take care off in the offseason. He couldn't talk about Melo of course but he specifically mentioned those two positions as ones the Rockets need to add players.
I have no special analytic method but even I can see this kid can flat out play. On a team loaded with shooters, his skill set is a great fit as the 3rd PG. And his intangibles are just off the charts. If Morey liked Bev, Craft could be similar or better player.
Craft a better playmaker then Bev..by far. Don't see him ever becoming as good a shooter as Bev made himself into. Bev sure did an excellent job of honing his spot up shooting into a weapon.
