Tierre Brown added 18 points and Tony Bobbitt 13 for the Lakers, who played without Vlade Divac, Devean George, Slava Medvedenko and Luke Walton. Last night, I caught the 2nd half of the Lakers/Clippers. It was actually my first time seeing Rudy T in action w/ the Lakers, and it was definitely heartbreaking to watch. He even had Mr. Mean, Boylen, and the crew with him. Lakers looked pretty decent (even though they were playing most of their no-namers and they were also playing against the Clippers) Brian Cook had a pretty good game; it was the first time I saw any signs of life from him. But, who really impressed me last night was Tierre Brown. I know we haven't heard from him inawhile and its only a preseason game... but that boy was on fire last night. 18 pts (7-8 fg) w/ 3 reb and 5 ast... he had the LA crowd oohing and aahing and the analysts talking about him. They said he was looking very confident during the whole preseason, and Rudy had a lot of faith in him since he coached him a few years back. Not really trying to go anywhere with this, just wanted to point out that with the point guard situation in Lakerland right now, he could very well be back up point guard this season. I had always thought Tierre Brown was a nice player; always thought he was a little better than Mike Wilks and would've been nice if we had let him develop w/ us.
Tierre Brown looks like a starter with the Lakers. The guy can move and create better than Atkins. I don't know about his 3 point shot, but it's not like Atkins can kill it from outside. On a related note, I think the Lamar Odom experiment at power forward is going to work out well. The guy seems to have built himself out muscle-wise. He's definitely tall enough. He's got more quicks than most power forwards in the NBA. Jermaine Jones looks very good. He was making 3 pointers, and he looked really slick on the court. If he has that kind of range, it means the Lakers did better not getting Marcus Banks who is a younger version of Chucky Atkins. Jones could be the starter at SF since Caron Butler got injured last night. Rudy T is doing a nice job with the Lakers.
Tierre had a good preseason game so he should expect a monster contract coming up soon. Seriously, I'm happy for him, but he was playing against either scrubs or rookies. The Lakers look like they should make the playoffs, but not with home-court advantage. Barkley and Kenny both mentioned they thought Rudy was a great veterans coach but a very poor coach for younger players.
Tierre had a good game and with the Lakers PG situation I'd be very surprised if he didn't get a roster spot (since they are now going to the 15 man format). I honestly hope that he has a chance to shine, not just against the scrubs. He can coexist with Kobe and Lamar since he will accept the role of just being a passer and not necessarily scorer/playmaker. What has amazed me is his low TO numbers in the preseason, as well as his high assist numbers in limited numbers. We'll see what happens though... Speaking of the LAL vs LAC game...Lamar looked rusty as hell out there getting blocked 3 times on drives/dunk attempts. Terrence Morris got a pretty monster block off of him, as did Mikki Moore and Q Ross. I don't think the Lamar Odom PF experiment will work out that well. He's very much a SF in the West.
When the triumvirate of Terrence Morris, Mikki Moore and Q Ross is throwing back your s***, then you know you're having a bad day. Seriously, who the heck is Q Ross?
It's hard to say which spot is weakest on the Rockets- Point or PF?? I think the Point guard is our weakest. Wish we had Tierre or Mark Jax. We have no competitve talent at Point......
Lue maybe but no way Ward, best thing to say about Ward is that he is servicable. Lue is okay but he's as good as he's going to get and Ward is on the decline. I'd much rather have an up and comer in the form of Brown who has served his time in the NBDL to work on his game. I don't buy that Ward or Lue are that much of a better shooter than Tierre. But the most telling sign will be this season.
Tierre has performed everywhere he has been, sometimes it is a matter of getting the right fit. He is lightning quick and a good passer....I hope he makes a big impact on the Lakers, he deserves it, he certainly has paid his dues. Lue and Ward ...LOL, they are just holding down the fort until we can sign a real one..... DD
If Tierre could hit a 3, he would have been signed last season rather than Mark Jackson who couldn't hit anything from outside. It's not the duty of the Rocket point guard to create shots and be the playmaker. The primary duty of the Rocket point guard is to shoot 3 with decent proficiency. The secondary duty is to defend well. Bringing up the ball up the court can be done by all 3 backcourt players. In other words, the Rocket point guard needs to be a smaller version of JJ. Ward and Lue are better at what the Rockets need. Tierre's skills do not fit as well. Matt Maloney is his rookie year hit 40% of his 3 pointers. He did his job well.
You guys can't be serious. In 3 years in and out of the NBA, he has played a total of 58 games, starting a total of 1 with, of course, our Rockets. His game was so good last year, he got to play in the actual NBA 3 times. I like Tierre - he is definitely a hard worker and that showed with his performance in the NBDL, but Charlie Ward and Tyronne Lue are NBA quality PG's - Brown is getting there, but will never be anything more than an average backup at best, imo.
Jay, Sometimes it is a matter of being in the right place at the right time.... I think Tierre is that type of player. DD
Brown looked impressive even though he was playing with scrubs but he's actually been good in other games against quality players. I think he'll finally get to stay in the nba for an entire year. If Ward and Lue weren't on the rockets, I would say that they're absolute trash. But since they are, I'll just call them horrible. I'm not saying Brown is better than them, but if he's actually worse than these 2, it ain't by much.
