I mentioned this before. What is the status of Raul Lopez. Arroyo was the starter last year with Lopez getting some playing time. Lopez is Utah's PG of the future and has more upside than Arroyo. Im not sure what price point Utah would just say adios.
Do you think they still think Lopez will be the better player after last year? Arroyo is bigger, shot better, and there is less than 1 year age difference. Arroyo also out performed him in every way outright, and looking at per 48 minutes, Lopez may have a slight edge in steals, that is (though a lot of stats are close). Any thoughts about what Utah is thinking? If there is a 50/50 or better chance the Jazz won't match a 4 year deal for like 15 mil, or 5 year deal for like 20 mil (in either case leaving an MLE starting at 2 mil for another player), that would probably be worth doing. Arroyo provides a fairly well rounded option at the PG and a more physical compliment to Lue.
Best year for Fish's career was 4.4 assists in 35.5 minutes. Best career rebounding year 3.0 in 35.5 minutes. Most career offensive boards .5 in 35.5 minutes. Best career shooting year from the field 43% Mediocre - nuff said! Lakers don't even think he is a starter - why should we?? Career on 23 minutes a game with the Lakers. Incidentally in efficiency rating he could not even beat out the top 20 ROOKIES: http://www.nba.com/statistics/default_rookie_leaders/RookieLeadersEFFQuery.html Please put down that crack pipe.
i want steve francis, but hes gone and i can kiss my dreams of francis mobley yao trifecto goodbye, so i choose rafer alston.
Arroy is good. Trust me. He is not Jerry Solan's favorite but the most stubborn coach had to use him a lot at the end of the season because he is simply better than the much hyped Lopez. First game of last season, he got 18 points and 14 assist. Who is going to miss Stockton in Utah.
Send an e-mail to: fanear@rocketball.com, with the subject header: "Rockets Fan Mail" addressed to Les, CD & JVG, in the body include a polite well written letter on why as a Rox fan you think and want Kirk Hinrich. It may not happen but if there is enough support at least CD might work on it!
Which PG's had the best playoffs? Let's see.....Chauncy Billups, Sam Cassell, Tony Parker, Steve Francis...I see a trend here. And don't say "Oh, Fisher was a bench player" because he logged a lot more minutes in the playoffs than Payton. The "oh, well, um, he was injured!" excuse should be considered when it comes time to sign him. Do you think he will remain healthy for the whole season? It seems like the same people who were preaching "the Rockets won't win next year, we are building for the future, Yao and TMac are young...." are the same people advocating putting decent $$$ into Fisher or Snow. Do you think they will be real players in 2 or 3 or 4 years from now??? I really think DFish is on the slide of his career, he peaked about 2.5-3 years ago. If we can't get Barry, I'd go after someone young, like a Hinrich, Hudson, Arroyo, Alston, etc. I know several of them are RFA's, but I think if we offered to more than one, one of the old teams would probably let them walk.
Derek Fisher is a great fit fof this team- I think Justice's article nailed it on the head this morning. Hes a veteran, but yet only 29 years old. Hes got three championships, and its not like he just tagged along for the ride on them. But a trio of Fisher, Jackson, and Howard to go along with the stars really sounds good to me. You have three tough nosed players who are the perfect JVG guys. Good defenders, professional attitudes, know their roles. I agree, we do need a back up center pretty bad, but if have a chance at Fisher, youve got to grab him.
I realize people want the Rockets to be just like the Lakers, but you have to learn from the Lakers mistakes. Fisher represents what is wrong with the Lakers. They got trounced by the Pistons because they were too old and athletically inferior to the Pistons. Fisher is athletically one of the worse point guards in the league. He cannot keep up with quick guards like Parker. He cannot stay with great perimeter shooters like Cassell and Bibby. He gets killed by athletic guards like Francis and he cannot guard big strong guards like Billups. Adding Fisher to the Rockets makes us one of the most unathletic teams in the league. Yao, at 23, is still not athletic as a 32 year old Shaq. Howard and Taylor are both unathletic big men. JJ is not a spring chicken anymore. And this is supposed to be a young team. If the Rockets sign Fisher, just be prepared for many nights where Fisher gets 5 points and the opposing guard gets 25 points. And at this point, neither Yao or Mcgrady have proven they can pick up all that slack like Shaq and Kobe did.
with the Suns signing Steve Nash, i'd be intrigued by Leander Barbossa. Quick, long & athletic PG (very young). This kid's got a bright future (IMO).
I would be happy with either Snow or Fisher. We need a smart experience PG with D and some fuel left in the tank. I think Gaines will eventually be the guy. He is a high-energy tough defensive guy that got lulled in snorlando.
Some good points and stats, but I always wonder where the evidence is for a statement like "Lakers don't even think he is a starter," particularly when a coach like Phil Jackson (a more accomplished coach than me) apparently thought that Fisher was a starter until this year, in which case he just became the primary 4th quarter point guard ahead of a Hall of Famer. The Lakers fans I know have stood by Fisher far more than we've stood by Francis (I still stand by him and will root for him in Orlando, though I did think McGrady was too good to pass up), so if Fisher's a scrub, then either Francis is a scrub or the Lakers fans are more loyal to their players than we are. I don't think either of those statements is true. If you're going to highlight his career statistics as poor, wouldn't it be fair to at least acknowledge his fine playoff numbers, his ability to make big plays, his reputation for tough defense, and his three championship rings? In my opinion, the most valid argument against him is if he's too expensive in light of age and injury risk. It's important to remember that cost matters, and I think it's quickly become apparent that anyone who thought Barry was realistic was grossly underestimating his market value and affordability for us. I simply think that, for what we can pay, Fisher will be among the best values for the next 3 years, regardless of whether he'll be the best PG. As for the crack pipe, don't knock it until you try it. And, never, never inhale.
(Shhhh!) I'm wearing the sunglasses for a reason. I certainly agree that we should weigh all our options. If someone better comes at a better price, I'm all for it. My early thinking was just that Fisher will likely be the best bang for the buck. Some valid concerns have been raised about his age and injury considerations, but I think he'll be ok.
Exactly. This is what worries me. I mean, ok if he was younger and quicker. But not now. I just look at the the long run: 82 games with Fisher day in and day out. Think about the match-up problems. It's not evident now. But it will be during the long season. That's why I would want a more complete PG; with better passing skills. Guys like Snow (size and strength; passing and D), Arroyo (completeness; passing and shooting), or Jones (all-around good PG). Even Barry (height, passing and shooting). I can actually visualize having these guys START for the WHOLE SEASON with good results. We need to be AWARE of what we are getting in the LONG RUN! Not just "he can hit the 3." Read this post from the lakers forum: Runway8 Star Player Joined: Apr 20, 2003 Posts: 1530 From: San Bernardino Posted: Thu Jul 1, 2004 5:57 PM ___ >Quote: >On Thu Jul 1, 2004 5:46 PM , JBIIRockets wrote: >I just want to say that as a poster on a Lakers fan board, I'd love to see Fisher >in a Rockets uniform. He is a solid back-up. But just you wait! If you guys are going to shell out 7 mil per season for him, you will have your moments. You will have your share of TRADE fish threads, FISH SUCKS thread.... He is a solid citizen, but he has no point guard skills whatsover. He cannot drive and dish. I don't recall ever Fisher driving and dishing once. I'm exaggerating but it seems that way. He is best spot up. Anyways, if we do get Fish. Just be aware of what we are getting. Positive and negative. Who ever it will be, he'll have a big responsibility in running the point. Not just shooting.
Fisher logged more minutes in the playoffs because Jackson thought he did a better job running the team than a future Hall of Famer, especially in the 4th quarter. Not a bad endorsement when you consider it's made by a decent coach (better than me). I'm not one of those "same people" who wants to wait 3 or 4 years from now. I think we can make our run starting next year. I may be deluded, but we are still clutch city, and I am admittedly an optimist in part because my faith was rewarded big time when we won the title a second time as a 6 seed, and when we came back from a 2-0 deficit (losing the 1st 2 at home) and a 3-1 deficit to beat a talented Phoenix team. The odds of us doing that back then were arguably at least as insurmountable as the odds of us getting to the Finals next year. You raise a good point about his health. That's the one thing that makes me a bit nervous about may be right. I'm assuming that he'll be healthy, which may or may not be true particularly since he's older now. Fisher may have peaked, but I still think he's a solid player, and his performance in this year's playoffs (except for the Finals, admittedly) suggests that he's still able to play big in big games. I guess I like Fisher because he's a proven winner who has made a lot of big plays in big games, and he plays smart and hard. With all the complaints we've had about Francis' decision making, I'm a bit surprised to see that nobody appreciates that aspect of Fisher's game, which has always struck me as solid. Look, if we can get a stellar young point guard to grow along with T-Mac and Yao, then I'm all for it. Barring that, I'd rather not just take a lesser young player for the sake of youth, and instead go with a good older player for a couple of years who can play his role well, give us a chance to win now, and teach some things to our young guys about how to win playoff games. Some Spurs fans said some similar things about Elie as being a Rockets discard when he went there. But now they give him lots of credit for helping them with the work ethic, game intensity, and motivation to win. And I'm sure that all of us who followed the Rockets back then will agree that Elie was not a scrub, but rather a big part of our getting both titles -- even though outsiders may think anyone could've done it with Hakeem.
Interesting that he admits that he is exaggerating. I would think that, as a Laker fan, he would realize that the lack of drive and dish from Fisher is partly because of the triangle that the Lakers run. You don't have Fisher drive and dish if you can have Kobe do it. It's really that simple. If we didn't have McGrady and instead had a guy like Brand, I would not be in favor of Fisher at all. I'd want someone like a Troy Hudson or even better, bring back Sam Cassell (with a new back). Fisher won't be our saviour. It's really an issue of affordability. Everyone who is touting Barry might as well be touting LeBron James or Jason Kidd or Chauncy Billups, because we cannot afford Barry so it's really a waste of time saying he's better than guys we CAN afford. Heck, I'm not sure if we can even afford Fisher. And I wouldn't overpay for him either. How about Boki for point forward? Worth a shot in my book. If KG can play the point, so can Boki.
I agree completely. He's got pluses and minuses. Scoring in general will be his last responsibility, but he will need to be able to hit important shots late in the game when they're double and triple teaming Yao and McGrady. This is true for whoever plays the point. And let's forget about Hinrich. What on earth makes anyone think Chicago will give him up?
I don't want the Rockets to be just like the Lakers. I want them to be better, to win more titles than they did recently. Thinking that one player is a good fit with McGrady and Yao is a far cry from wanting to be the Lakers redux. And I don't think it's quite as simple to say that the Lakers got trounced because they were old and unathletic. Didn't they beat some very athletic teams to get to the Finals in the first place? Or is the entire Western Conference unathletic? Let's not forget that (a) Detroit deserves credit for playing well, and (b) Malone got hurt, and the Lakers all year long were much better with him than without. I don't care if we're unathletic. That word doesn't mean much to me. The Celtics are very athletic, especially after this year's draft, but I think they'd trade almost their entire team if they could have Yao, McGrady, and Fisher to build around. I care about great ball players. The Utah Jazz were long considered among the most unathletic teams in the league, but I'd be thrilled to have an unathletic John Stockton in his youthful days. (As much as he used to irritate me when he played against the Rockets.)
It'd be great if Gaines worked out. He's nice and long. I recall him being pretty highly regarded coming out of college, but he looked kind of lost as a rookie. I'm anxious to see if he can do better this year with a fresh start and more time to adjust to the NBA pace, especially now that he's in a setup where his sole responsibility will be to distribute the ball with little pressure to score.
even though they have jamal crawford and ben gordon albeit an unknown they're looking to sign bob sura. it's pure madness.
