wait a sec...did you say that it was too close to call b/t scola and garnett... watch the bost...game at the end of the streak where we lost by 19 pts..mutombo did better against garnett than scola...that is not too close to calll....
You're right, KG isn't clutch, and he certainly isn't close to an in-his-prime Hakeem. From a comparable era I'd rate KG just above Sean Kemp and a full step below David Robinson, both of whom were clearly inferior to Hakeem. Still, it's very difficult to acquire top-tier talent in this league, at any price, which is why the trade for KG was good. The KG trade is turning out to be essentially KG for Al Jefferson. Al Jefferson is promising, but has a long way to go to become the offense/defense presence that KG is, and it's certainly not clear that Jefferson can be the foundation for a championship-level team.
Budinger and Hudson - not entering draft. From DraftExpress -Lester Hudson will be returning to school, according to his friend Ruben Webber. Webber said that teams told Hudson he would be drafted anywhere from 35-50, but that he preferred not to roll the dice and instead opted to return and get his degree. In Hudson's mind, the worst-case scenario is he goes in the same range next year, and there is always the upside of being able to crack the first round of a weaker draft with his degree in hand. Tennessee-Martin will be playing stronger competition next season than they did this year, including games against Southern Cal and Tennessee. -Chase Budinger has withdrawn his name from the draft, according to an NBA executive with knowledge of the situation. Budinger conducted the process strangely from what we could gather, opting to work out for numerous teams who were well ahead of his draft range, such as the Knicks (#6), Clippers (#7) and Kings (#15)—and thus likely did not have the type of information he needed to make an informed decision. He will be returning to a situation in Arizona where he will have no chance but step up and have a great year, which puts a lot of pressure on him, but also will tell us a great deal about the kind of player he is. He will likely start off the year as a projected lottery pick and preseason All-American.
I am inclined to agree that you have him placed in the right slot which is near Kemp. Perhaps like Dirk with much more Defense and a bit less Offense. Neither are Clutch players that are strong enough to lead a good team to greatness. Over the years, there have been threads in this Forum by fans wishing that the Rockets would acquire KG when he was still with the Timberwolves. After seeing his performances in the Finals, I am unable to visualize how Yao + KG or McGrady + KG would be enough to catapult the Rockets to the top of the NBA.
Like one poster stated the rox are close, yet far away. So who do the rox get that competes and plays hard, yet have the talent to be that 3rd guy? That's the difference from being a pretender or contender. Do the Rox package scola and jackson for Artest? Do they go for Al Harrington or Mike Miller? What's the plan?
Trust me, it will automatically be addressed when Yao and TMac are both over 30, just like Boston's big 3.
Sorry, man. When I talk about the Rox in the finals, only two players come to my mind. Sam and Posey, no more.
That the Rockets are right there, all they need is health and some tweaking. Their defense is already elite, now they need a bit better offense to win it all. DD
This series has made Tmac look better to me and realize we need him here and we need the team to be healthy. EVEN Kobe can be stopped and their team can be beat. Lay off me Tmac... and Stevie!
That's the key - Pierce is murdering the Fakers with the PNR. Dude scored 20 straight points on layups or free throws. Tmac would have taken 20 jump shots instead of trying to finish at the Rim. However, I do think Magette has the potential to be the 3rd allstar and give us something everynight. The dude that goes to the bucket non stop like pierce. Don't give Landry 30 mln save for Magette and give it to him and put Shane on the bench.
tmac is better than pierce. seeing what pierce can do (and he has struggled mightily for some parts of this playoffs) tells you what tmac can do.
Ive always been a Pierce fan and I've stated he's really the only guy i would trade tracy for, but he's not better than tracy. Someone mentioned the 20 straight pts, but how many games in the post season has pierce sucked at, yet they won? I mean u think Tracy could score 10 pts in a playoff game and the Rox win or even be in contention? Hell, he almost avg a triple double and people complained about not doing enough.
tmac put up 20, 10, 9 through 3 quarters of game 2 and WE WERE TRAILING AT HOME. and we all admit tmac should have done more. that's the expectations we have of tmac. pierce put up 6 pts through game 3 of the FINALS and the celts had a chance to win. and yet nobody really mentioned pierce's bad game b/c of their overall balance. c'mon guys, let's be realistic. pierce is def. a superstar level type of player, but he has been too inconsistent this entire playoffs. HOWEVER, if you MUST trade tracy, i wouldn't mind having pierce. at least he's both a playmaker and scorer, unlike the rip hamiltons of the world.
lol, just because paul pierce had 2 good games in the playoffs this year, hes better then t-mac. PP is a good player but tmac is and always will be past his level.
Is Allen a max player? Anyways, Lakers big 3 are almost there too, plus Kobe is the best of them all.
