I think we can all agree that Head is a better player/asset than Cook by himself, but the potential of trading picks with the Lakers is what is really making people interested. No one should be fooled by Cook's talent. The man can shoot, but is very streaky. He lit us up last year for 27 or so points. We couldnt find an answer for this 3's. But the next time we played them, they man was a ghost. He could improve since he is still raw, but I think the only reason the Rockets are interested is to obtain a higher pick, and also get something for Head while he has value. Next year if he ends up played only 15-20 minutes, the following year his value will naturally drop.
Cook was drafted with the 24th pick in 2003, out of the University of Illinois. Head was drafted with the 24th pick in 2005, out of the University of Illinois. Cook's assistant is named Ryan Head. Head's assistant is named Bryan Cook.
Battier played zero minutes at SG. He did play about 20% at PF. Tmac is naturally a SF who had to play a lot at SG. We also had a shooting challenged starting PG (who happened to be the #2 3 shooter after Head--showing how bad our guards shoot) and no even 3rd string NBA-level back-up PG. These are why Head played 27.6 minutes. It wasn't so much what JVG wanted, he even talked about wanting a bigger 2 prior to last season, it was because Head was the only servicable alternative who he had even 50% confidence it. More an indictment of Head's competition (VS, JL3, Snyder, Wells) and JVG total lack of faith in all of them. Even if Mike James and Rafer Alston just split the PG minutes--and nobody would play Head at PG over either player, his minutes would have already fallen to about 20MPG. Then you consider James or Wells might very well take some SG minutes too, then Head is really looking in the Cook type range of minutes, maybe a little more, but not drastically more. (Unless Head offers more than just 3 shooting in an undersized SG body by developing some new winkles in his game like a fake and midrange J or better ball handling this offseason). Of course you need context and want to be carefull extrapolating from performance per 48. At the same time you seem to ignore how woefull our backcourt was at back-up 1 and 2, and ignore the depth of Lakers competiting for PF minutes. I'd guess teams spend no more time planning for Luther Head than they do with Brian Cook. In planning for the Rockets you plan to contain Yao and Tmac--a harder job than just planning for Kobe Bryant. And when we played better teams, and when the playoffs began where teams did pay attention to all players they easily took out both Head and Battier with their one trick pony offense. But at least Battier was still the best defense player we could offer, so even if not scoring he has a role. Cook actually did a lot more positive for his team the last two years in the playoffs than Head did for the Rockets--not that Cook was great but at least he nailed some 3s, as a 6'9" PF against a good defense it is some easier for him to get that shot off (and at worst you bring the other teams big out of position to block or rebound). I would hope this wouldn't be our last move. I'd see it for trading an undersized SG who is going to get 20MPG for us for a guy to back up the 4 and 5 and give us about the same minutes. Further, Brian Cook is like Juwan Howard soft. Howard rebounds a tad more per minute but Cook blocks more shots, per minute or outright (Cook is a moderate shot blocking presence more than Hayes and Howard put together despite Cook getting less minutes than either). Let's stop pretending he is Novak/Padgett soft, unathletic and/or weak. Further, I doubt Howard would have played any more minutes as Cook did if on the Lakers yet I for one was glad to have Howard on our roster (to provide back-up PF and spot C duty, just like we would ask Cook) and would take him back with the aim for an 8th or 9th man role if he were younger and cheaper. The Lakers had a lot bigger problems that Cook the last few years. Their chief problem has been PG. Second, their only starting quality PF or C is Odom. But they have a lot of decent bench quality PFs and Cs who are competiting for minutes and all things being equal (and their effectiveness is pretty comparable) they would rather try to develop Turiaf, Bynum and Brown. They also had Vlad Rad and even Walton at times taking PF minutes. Interestingly 2 of the 3 best Lakers lineups last year had Cook in it. The #1 lineup was Parker-Bryant-Odom-Cook-Bynum, and their #3 was Parker-Bryant-Walton-Cook-Brown. The year before Cook also was in their best performing 5 man lineup as well. Again, Cooks minutes don't reflect his performance as much a a squeeze on minutes at his position and the Lakers trying to focus on younger upside players even if they are not performing as well as Cook. He wouldn't have that problem at Houston.
Cook being as "soft" as Juwan Howard is not a compliment LOL. Howard was one of the worst PFs in the league last year, and to praise Cook by comparing his defense to Howards doesn't bolster the case.
I appreciated having Howard off the bench. I like having Mike James more, but I'd take Howard back if he were younger and cheaper. You are not going to get a starting caliber PF for Luther Head. Not going to happen. Not even paired with the #26 pick. Time to get realistic about options because we don't have any PFs at the moment (though I am sure we will resign Hayes).
We are talking about shooting percentage, not per minute stats. Big difference. Unless you believe that playing more minutes makes you shoot worse. You know teams actually prepare for Luther? I do question whether Cook is the right PF for us. But we are talking about Head vs Cook. Again, what does Head do that is better than Cook other than a slightly higher 3pt %? Are you serious? Battier is not a SG and Head is not a SF. How is Battier in front of Head? I already mentioned about it. Head played so much because Snyder was hurt most of the season and he had to play backup PG because nobody else could. You don't like him? fine. Not my problem. See above for why Head played more than Cook. JVG's trust of Luther was a combination of his willingness to play his role and not making a lot of mistakes, plus no better alternatives. The Lakers have better alternatives at the 4 position. It is true that Cook has his deficiency. But so is Head. He is an undersized SG with very limited PG skills. He is not a good defender. You know, I actually like Head and wish he could stick. But if we can land a better value, why not? Head wouldn't be playing that much on an elite team with depth at the guard positions. We didn't have much depth there. Now we are better. And we now have zero depth at the 4 position. The Lakers did. Yes, I still believe that we can't rely on Wells. But he will almost certainly eat into some of Head's minutes for the coming season. James is another story. If we don't trade Alston away, Head won't play a minute of PG. So he is going to be exclusively T-Mac's backup, which doesn't give him a whole lot of PT.
do it. Get Cook Draft Sean Williams Sign a shooter to replace Head When James, TMac, and Yao are on the floor, use Williams When one of them is sitting, use Cook That way, you dont have double teams everywhere due to Williams' lack of offense. Cook would be the ying to Williams' yang. Contrasting games/styles to fill the PF spot.
Well that's true, you can't get a starting quality PF for Luther Head. But why give him up for trash? I really think we can get a quality player with Head and maybe Battier in a package. If we can't, keep Head as backup Bonzi insurance. I see no point in trading for him for a liability at the PF position. We have Battier, a 1st round pick, and the entire MLE to use. I think we can get a better PF than Cook.
I do think it's a 19, Cook for Luther, 26 deal but I think it's dependent upon a possible other trade. I think the Rockets could possibly end out with both Glen Davis and Sean Williams. People say this leaves us with just Cook at PF, but fail to realize that the 19th pick could land us McRoberts, Williams, Davis too. Cook's just another spot up shooter, I doubt he will receive a bulk of playing time and most importantly a primary defensive assigment like KG, Duncan. Cook can receive 10 minutes of time, the rookie can receive 10 minutes of time, Shane can see 10 minutes of time and Hayes can see about 20 minutes of time. I'm not a real fan of this committee work, but the market is available for a suitable rotational PF to go along with Chuck and a Rookie PF--PJ Brown could be an option. PJ/Chuck/Sean or Big Baby is a solid PF rotation.
I think I would break down crying if the Rockets actually traded Luther for Brian Cook. Talk about the most useless power forward EVER. I can't believe some people actually accuse Luther of being a "one trick pony" as a defense for Cook. At least Luther can handle the rock even if he falls short of being a good PG, he actually has speed and athleticism, and can come off screens. I've seen Luther personally carry our offense when no one else was around to do so (like the day we nearly rallied from a 26 point deficit in the 4th). Brian Cook defines one-trick. He can do one thing: shoot from outside. That's it. He's absolutely useless on everything else -- rebounding, defense, offensive spacing, passing, setting screens, you name it. On a pathetic Laker squad, you should see how the team goes to crap whenever he's playing. Geez. I'd rather have Steve Novak start at 4 with Padgett backing him up. Puke. Please keep that cancer off my Rockets, thank you.
Exactly what I'm trying to say. People fail to realize that the 19th pick is also going to be amount to a player-- and most likely a PF.
We've seen flashes of Luther be a lot more aggressive offensively, but ultimately when defenses pay attention to Luther(by the means of putting a player on him at all times) he's nothing. Steve Novak is somebody that could never touch a rotation and Padgett is lucky to be on a roster. Brian Cook is one of the more efficient shooters in the league. What Luther provides is identical to what Cook provides thier shortcomings are at their respective position-- rebounding and defense for Cook...creating a shot and handles for Luther. However let's not forget we've added a lot of depth at the 1-2-3 spots and have a lack of depth at the 4-spot. A Chuck/Big Baby or Sean/ Cook rotation isn't bad. It's better than last year as Big Baby/Sean and Cook are better than JHow. Mike, Bonzi from the bench is also great too. It's significant improvements everywhere. We have a 2, 3 player that's an interior presence and we have a 4-player that's a perimeter presence. Mike, Shane, Brian serve as our shooters. Not too shabby at all. Sean/Big Baby and Chuck serve as our PF defenders and Cook's used for 10-15mins in just a spacing idea. I highly doubt it's a problem to put Yao on Duncan, KG, Brand for just 10mpg. There's not a team in the league where the PF/C combo will abuse us if we put Cook on thier weaker player.
So knocking down 44% of his 3-pointers didn’t play a role in Head playing major minutes? I don’t care how crowded/uncrowded at a position a team is or how one dimensional a player is (Kapono, Korver, etc.), if a he can make 44% of his 3-pointers, his coach will find a way to get that player minutes. If Brian Cook were as good a shooter as Head (or Kapono, or Korver), Phil Jackson would be a moron for not giving him at least 20 minutes a game. The fewer minutes Battier played, the more minutes Mcgrady/Wells/Snyder played at the 3, creating more minutes for Head at the 2. If you’re not going to consider Battier as a player that competes for minutes with Head, you might as well not include Turiaf, Bynum, and Kwame Brown (who miss half the season) into the discussion with Cook, since they played all their minutes at the 5 and Cook played his minutes at the 4. In addition Lamar Odom missed half the season and Radmonovic was atrocious. Cook had opportunities to step up and Phil Jackson obviously just didn’t like what the brought to the table. I just don’t see how adding a “power” forward who is even more one dimensional than the one dimensional players we already have (Head can at least rebound well for a guard and get a few steals) helps us. The goal this summer should be to become more athletic, more talented, and less one dimensional. This trade makes us less talented, less athletic, and more one dimensional. Juwan Howard is a horrible fit next to Yao, just as Cook would be. But I’d still consider an over-the-hill Howard significantly better than Brian Cook. Howard at least provides a little leadership and a lot more toughness than Cook. Cook is more of a downgrade from Howard than Mike James is an upgrade to Head. Overall, our roster will be worse or at best, equal to what it was last year. Speaking of cheap, Brian Cook is not cheap. The guy is owed +10 million the next 3 years which could possibly cost us more due to luxury tax implications.
Who’s shooting percentages are you going to take more seriously, a player that plays a significant role for his team, or one that only plays sparingly? If player X makes 40% of his 3-pointers and makes 177 three-pointers And player Y makes 40% of his 3-pointers and makes only 46 three-pointers. Are they equally good shooters based on those numbers? What teams would not prepare for a player that plays nearly 30 minutes for the opposing team and makes an excellent percentage of his 3’s? I don’t know why it’s so hard for you to grasp the notion that just because two players are one dimensional doesn’t mean those two players are equal. Luther Head was a key role player on a 52 win team that is an extremely accurate 3-point shooter, and he showed huge improvement in his shooting (more consistent) in his second year. Brian Cook is an end-of-the-bench player on a mediocre team who hasn’t shown any improvement in 4 years. Read my response to Desert Scar He played more than Cook because he’s just flat out a better player. The excuse that Cook doesn’t get playing time because he can’t outplay mediocre role players like Turiaf, Vladamir Radmonovic, and Kwame Brown is almost as pathetic as the V-Span fans blaming JVG for holding him down. I disagree, Head would thrive on an elite team that has playmakers to create open 3-pointers for him like Phoenix or Dallas. The problem with him on this team is we have so few playmakers and Head is relied on to do more than he’s capable. I only see that problem getting worse if we trade Head for Cook. I also don’t see our depth at the guard positions being all that great. Sorry if the addition of two 31 year old headcases that Luther Head outplayed last season does not excite me. Last offseason, the team added Wells, Snyder, Spanoulis, and Lucas, and everybody thought for sure Luther Head was a goner and look how that turned out. If you’re so scared about our depth at the 4, fine, give the vet minimum to Austin Croshere. At least Croshere can rebound and play a little defense. Why is James another story? Is 7 teams in 5 seasons not enough proof that it’s not such a great idea to be planning your team with the assumption that James is a long term fixture?
Swapping picks is the only way this deal goes down but the Rockets can't do Head striaght up for Cook, contracts don't match so someone has to be added on the Rockets end. Lakers fans believe it would be Bonzi, I don't see that happening but if picks aren't swapped, the deal is one sided in the favour of the Lakers.
