The only thing, IMO, not to like about Stoudamire is his defense against bigger guards. Damon can run the break, he can get the ball past halfcourt very quickly, and get us into our sets smoothly and effectively. He can hit a spot up three pointer, shoot off the dribble, or drive into the lane for either a layup, a drive and dish, or a drive and kick. He just knows how to run an offense. Even with Yao and T-Mac as our two main weapons offensively, bringing in an experieced, multi-dimensional PG like Damon would do a world of good for our offense. In addition to all of that, he would bring a legitimate third scoring threat, which is something we still desperately need. I've never heard of Mighty Mouse ever being a lockerroom or chemistry problem. I always thought it was unfair how the Portland fans turned on him; he did a lot of really great things for the community.
It will only be a problem if they post him up. However, most of the big point guards reside in the East (Jason Kidd, Billups). There really isn't a point guard with a better pedigree than Stoudamire given our personnel needs (quickness, defense, passing, ballhandling) and financial situation.
I you're a weed head, thats isn't my fault. I'm just stating the facts and a opinion. Anyone who has seen me post on this board will generally consider me logical or non biased. I'm just throwing the facts and minus about getting a guy like Damon S. I agree he's a good player, but is he the kind of player the Rox need. Many will point out he's a pure pg, but he is just like NVE and if i had the choice considering the big shots NVE have made, i'll take NVE. If you want a penetrator/creator, how can you not like Brevin Knight? Many people just look at Dallas and say we could keep the guards out of the lane, but mostly it was a guy like Josh Howard or even Stack posting up the smaller Wesley causing doubles which gave terry open looks. Dont discount Terry because he's been on a losing team like aTL his entire career b4 Dallas. Terry is one of the quicker pg is the league and even against phoenix he was blowing by Nash also. Parker is quick and Nash was blowing by him all series. What people tend to forgot is that its team defense and the fundemental break down was in order when McGrady had to guard Dirk. I'm just here to point out that the Rox are a good team that just got better from Swift. If you look i thought SAR would be better than SWift, but i support the move. If the Rox get Damon, i'll support it, but i think the 2 guard is a bigger concern than the 1. James says he'll opt out which is cool, that doesn't mean the Rox doesn't want to keep him. As for as Payton being a malcontent, nothing was said about Payton and he still had a solid yr on a young team. They say Payton could keep Parker out of the lane, but who can?
When Tracy started getting time,Damon was already gone. If he can shoot and we know he shoots 14 times per, why is he at 39%? On paper, Portland has had as much talent as any team in the league, yet they have been in the lotto 2 yrs in a row with damon running the show.
Antonio Daniels and Payton shoot the same percentage and they get wide open shots. Damon had to CREATE his own shots. T-Mac shot 43%. Does that mean he's a bad shooter? No, because he took a lot of shots to save the team right before the shot clock expired and he was doubleteamed and contested most of the time. Also the shot selection was not the best, because he was learning a new system. Same thing happened with Damon. Dude scored 53 in one of the games though. His wide are going ot be wide open and he's going to be deadly if left open. Same thing can't be said about Payton, Daniels or Sura.
And how did Payton get wide open shots? So you mean to tell me that last yr when Zach was 20 and 10 that he wasn't doubled? Tracy shot selection should be alot better. I'm not about to sugarcoat anything. Tracy Mcgrady should never shoot less than 45%, never! Especially playing with Ming, but Tracy bails teams out by shooting jumpers. If Tracy goes to the rack more, his fg% would be much higher. That is my only complaint of him. Damon is a poor shooter and has a poor shot selection. He had NVE and SAR in the lineup. He didn't have a reason to shoot 39% and shoot 14times per. Have you ever heard of setting people up? yes he scored 53pts in a game, but so did Willy Burton and Jamal Crawford.
I'll be the first to admit that Damon Stoudamire is undersized, and will probably be a defensive liability when matched up with bigger point guards. However, I don't really think we should question his offensive ability. His shooting percentage has never been great, but the vast majority of the shots he takes are outside shots. He's no Iverson...the man's just too small to effectively drive to the basket every time. Of course his shooting percentage is going to be lower. Granted, I haven't seen THAT many of his games, but from what I've seen he's definitely a better shooter than Sura, and arguably better than James. Fact of the matter is, Stoudamire may not have always picked the best shots to take last season simply because he had to create for himself. He played 2-guard on offense in Portland's system. If you're the 2-guard, you're SUPPOSED to shoot! When he's left wide open though, Stoudamire has proven time and time again that he's deadly. Despite his supposedly errant shooting, he's never had a reputation as a "ball-hog." Furthermore, his assist to turnover ratio is close to 3:1, leading me to believe that he plays under control most of the time. I'm confident that Stoudamire would be more than willing to accept the pass-first playmaker role if he decides to come here. I'm sure JVG won't have too many problems getting him to play within that role.
His defender always left him to double on Pierce or Davis Yet he couldn't make his threes The complaint on T-Mac is valid. But like you said, it's the ONLY complaint. Every other single thing he does is magical
NVE has the best asst/to ratio in the history of the nba, but no one is beating his door down. I have nothing personal against Damon, i just think because Terry was getting in the paint off a double team or pnr, people are overreacting and blaming Sura and james, but when you really look at it, Who can keep Terry,Nash,Parker and guys like that out of the paint.
So teams will double pierce and ricky davis, but not Zach randolph or SAR? Speaking of Davis, I would like to have him as the 2.
Zach Randolph didn't play the second half of last year and when he played he played horribly to the point that Portland publicly admitted that he hadn't met their expectations. SAR came of the bench for most of the year. Stoudamire was their MAIN scoring option for most of 04-05
If Van Exel were even just 2 years younger, I'm sure there'd be plenty of teams knocking. To be honest, nobody's really "knocking" on Stoudamire's door either. It's not like any of us are advocating breaking the bank for him. If he's willing to come here for cheap or for an acceptable sign/trade, he'd be an upgrade to our point guard position. It's no knock on Sura or James. They're both great guys that most teams would love to have coming off the bench. What we need at the PG position is level-headedness, ball control, a playmaker mentality, and accurate spot-up shooting. Considering the free agent market right now, Stoudamire is the best guy available. I personally would've preferred Antonio Daniels...but he was way out of our price range.
SAR starterd and played in 50 games and put up good numbers. NVE played in the same backcourt so dont make it seem like he couldn't have done a better job.
The only thing I don't like about him is his age. He is younger than DWesley but still over 30. We need a younger team. But right now he seems to be best choice of our team since we couldn't get White Chocolate. He is fast, he can pass and he can shoot wideopens.
Two concerns with NVE. 1) Does he have anything left? The guy will be 34 soon, and has been injury prone the last half of his career. BTW DS had better stats in every way, including A/48, A/TO, except 39% to 37% for NVE. DS is younger by two years and has always been more durable. 2) Fit. NVE is more of a combo guard himself. With James and Sura, we kind of have that covered. IMO we want more of a pure 1 with quickness, handles and ball control, not really NVE. As Nike pointed out the problem with Knight is his outside shooting. On a team that draws doubles like Yao and Tmac would, the PG must at least be able to keep opponents honest. Payton. He didn't function efficiently playing off Shaq and Kobe 2 years ago, and he has a huge ego, big thanks but no thanks. BTW DS shoots 3s a lot better than Payton, or AD for that matter. With a very few exceptions (e.g., Billips, Davis, Miller) opposing PGs rely a whole lot more on quickness than size and strength. Defensively, I think DS on most PGs would fair just as well if not better than the slower Sura. I agree with leebigez that our backcourt has got way too much hack based on a series where our four mostly able bodies (Sura, Wesley, James and Barry) often had to cover three positions. That should never happen again as Tmac should not have to bang with 4s. Still, I think DS would a great addition. He brings the things Kroydis says--level-headedness, ball control, a playmaker mentality, and accurate spot-up shooting. He also brings explosiveness (he could carry you for a quarter at times if Yao/Tmac were off) and speed/control (with him and Swift our run game and easy basket ability should be much better). If we got him James would be his primary back-up and Sura would get the bulk of his minutes in his natural SG position and giving us more size on the wings. The times DS's size is a problem, James and Sura are very good alternatives. Overall, I think DS is just a little better all-around player than Sura, James, Wesley, and Barry just makes the guard rotation more potent. If DS comes it means one of those 4 are gone (probably James or Wesley if in S&T or Barry if he comes here for the LLE)--but we would be in better shape.
If anyone cares what hoopshype gives about player evaluations, look at what is said about Damon S and Brevin knight
Desert, you understand and you've seen me post on this board for 4+ yrs and understand that its of opinion without bs. I've never had anything against Damon, but I wanted him when the Rox tried yrs ago to get him. Many people will say that Knight isn't a good fit because he cant hit the 3, but a guy like knight stays in the lane and creates much better than Damon. I mean this guy avg 9 asst on the expansion team. He's a good shooter from 18 ft and in and is a ball hawk. Anyone that has seen him know he is a true pg. As for him playing with McGardy and Ming. Many people want Mcgrady to be more of the finisher because of his workload and in the playoffs, he seemed to tire at the end of games. If Knight is runnig the show and Mcgrady is the finisher, doesn't that make sense? Why cant Knight pnr and set everyone up like McGrady coming off a back double screen or Ming rolling to the bacsket? He's going on 30 and is small like Damon. I kinda like the fact that he's a guy that can get to the dots and break the defense down and make a great pass. 9 asst for the bobcats cant be understated especially with Gerald wallace on the floor.
Count me in the no thanks to Damon Stoudamire group. He's a scorer first and a passer second. I don't believe the Rockets need that. I'd rather have a passer first and scorer second point guard. Brevin Knight would definitely be preferred. I don't think DS is a bad player by any means, but I don't think he really helps us. He is still fairly quick and can score, but... he's not much of a defender, doesn't shoot very well and isn't a great facilitator of offense. I just don't see his style of play helping us at all.
If we only had one point guard then I would definately be looking forward someone at that position. And Damon is someone I would be considering. But we already have six point guards (Sura, James, Head, and Wesley getting minutes and Moochie and Ward sitting in purgatory). I think it would be more productive for CD to spend time looking for a starting SG and a backup SF considering we don't have anyone at those positions.
