He'll likely never amount to anything, but it'll be fun watching him give it a go. Hopefully he beats the odds.
He definitely has an uphill battle playing for Truman State. Curious how or why he didn't transfer to a bigger school? He has obvious freakish talent but I wonder if he was a late bloomer or just liked being the man at a small school.
Jeff Green averaged 1.7 assists with Rockets and 1.6 for his career. Aaron Gordon averaged 3.7 last 2 seasons with Magic and 2.4 for career. Take the L.
I saw an interview he did where he said it was out of loyalty to the program. Apparently he had a growth spurt that made him a MUCH better prospect after he was already there for a while.
Well........ look at each players separately and you will see why they are not high draft picks. Tate is 6'4" with a 6'9" wingspan at the end of the day. He is trying to transition from being a 4l5 into a 3/4. He is a good but not great athlete. Until this past year he was a really bad long range shooter, and he is a terrible free throw shooter AND he played in Australia last year. There are a LOT of strikes against him. There were other teams that wanted him, but no one was beating down the door to get him. Martin is a 19 year old that did not dominate in high school, and didn't dominate as a post graduate either. Why didn't he go to college for a year, what are they hiding? Is he good enough to play SG and SF? He played a lot of small 5 in high school and there are questions about his handle and court vision. Also is he a good enough shooter? He was taken late in the second round because he is a very good athlete, but that doesn't mean he is going to pan out. Thomas played at a very small school, against bad competition. Yes he is 6'5" with a 6'11" wing span, but so what? He didn't shoot well until he was a senior. He is considered a really competitive guy and a tough defender - but that is against inferior competition, and Thomas was older than the players he was playing against as well. So how good is he REALLY? These are all guys that the Rockets are looking at and are projecting best case scenario versus the risk. The risk for all of them is low. The Rockets will be ecstatic if even one of the 3 become an NBA rotation player in time. Sometimes these types of risks pay off (Draymond Green, Patrick Beverly) but most of the times they do not.
They don't all do the same thing...... and you are lucky if any of them really make it. Also a lot of these guys are ideal for a switching defense. Nwaba is going to guard 1's and 2's primarily and he has a wingspan of 7'0".... he is strong enough to guard 4's and even some 5's on switches. Tate is going to be guarding 3's - 5's primarily and he can put the ball on the floor. Other than none of them being over 6'8", they all are quite different............. the Rockets would like to have a 6'8" wing with a 7'0" wingspan to develop but those guys are hard to get.... they did add Wood who is 7'0" with a 7'3" wingspan.... and DeMarcus Cousins is 6'11" with a massive 7'6" wingspan.
I'm not expecting much from Nwaba given that he's coming off a torn Achilles, he was a guy that was mostly athleticism, hard to see him able to do much going forward.
Yeah, I'm not sure how one could even make the argument that Green has ever been the better playmaker. In fact, his short stint in Houston last year (18 regular season game), he posted the highest AST% of his career for any stretch of a season he's ever had with a team (11.5%). Prior to that, he's only ever topped double digits in AST% for a full season once in his career ever (10.0% exactly in 15-16). Gordon, meanwhile, has averaged 10%+ in AST% the last five seasons, including 16.6% and 17.4% the last two seasons, which is phenomenal for a big. And Gordon's doing this despite boasting a lower career TO% (10.4%) to Green (11.0%). For context, Gordon's AST-TO ratio for his career is 1.71, which is actually higher than Blake Griffin (arguably the best passing big man in the league). Green's is basically 1-1.
Kevin Martin with a better looking shot! i don’t care what level you play on a shooter is a shooter.... and a maker!!
There is always a risk with a torn Achilies. However, there have been a number of players that have returned from ruptured Achillies and have played very well. Further, Nwaba is only 27 years old and has been practicing on his repaired Achillies already for a few months without issue. Because of COVID, he will have had nearly an entire year to recover by the time the season starts. I know the Rockets expect him to be a key piece for them next year.
It strikes me that all these recent signings are competition for Eric Gordon and his minutes. When healthy, Gordon is capable of carrying an offense for short stretches. But last season was another down year for him that he couldn't get his body right. So Gordon will have to hit training camp running, and if he does, that will be a bonus. I'm not really sure why the combination of Westbrook and Gordon doesn't work, but they didn't fit well together on either of the court. And I am not a fan of Harden as a forward with Gordon and Westbrook at the guards (or Gordon attempting to play the 3). That's the dual nightmare of giving up height and straight-line drives to the rim. The team defense with those three is atrocious too. If Gordon can show something in the preseason, and if any of these recently signed players show promise, my guess is that Gordon will be on the move to another team. Of course, they might move on from Westbrook, but he'll need to show that he's healthy as well.
That poster just likes being a contrarian, he could have googled it first before sticking his foot in his mouth.
Gordon was hurt last year and then came back without really training camp at the bubble. He physically looked a lot better in the bubble. His knees were impacting his shot. I am not the biggest Gordon fan but I expect him to be a lot better next year being healthy and finally not being under MDA who really didn’t fit Gordon well. I am fine with Harden defending 80% of the small forwards in the league. He is overall one of the Rockets better defenders and is better defensively than the majority of defenders. Gordon is a good fit with Westbrook if his shot has improved post surgery. House is also an adequate defender as a SF and switches well against PF. Nwaba and Brown also will see plenty of time at SF as well.
Classic! Yeah, flops that obvious should be techs. Those flops are embarrassing. Not even an attempt at subtlety. What a shameful exhibition. Almost as shameful as the ref calling a charge on Omer.
That's why I don't like hype around these kids. Most of them wouldn't be rotational in Eastern Europe basketball leagues, let alone nba.... Just as I thought we basically signing some kids who are athletic and maybe one of them breaks through