How many teams have Billups been on? What about Larry hughes? Jim Jackson? Joe Johnson was traded by the same Rick Pitino who traded Billups in his rookie season. How many teams did Avery Johnson play for b4 playing and starting on the championship spurs? What was his 3pt %. What shot did he make to win the title? You youngsters kill me.
In response to my post about Stoudamire's ratio being close to 3:1. It's funny how the moment someone disagrees with you, he/she's "obviously" a youngster. Wow...I'm a whole year younger than you, leebigez. I guess that means I don't know what I'm talking about.
What was said that asst/to ratio is important, if thats the case then why not tricky nick when he gets cut. He lives in houston is one of the most clutch guys in the whole nba and for his faults have been on more winners than damon. If thats the kind of guy you want , might as well get nVE.
With Bob Sura, the mid-season acquisition of Mike James, I agree that there is no urgent need to acquire Damon Stoudamire. Sura and James are just starting to blend with the team, plus the Rockets already signed rookie Luther Head. The more urgent needs are to bring Malick Badiane's level of play to NBA standards, and really address the frontcourt/rebounding needs of the Rockets.
I don't think Brevin Knight's the answer... He's missed more games over the past five years (127) than Bob Sura and Damon Stoudamire combined (114). His shooting percentages aren't any better than Damon's (whose FG% isn't particularely pretty anyway), and he totally lacks 3pt range. Even teams that don't habitually double team will sag off of him to cover T-Mac and Yao. He's quick, a good passer, a pesky defender, and a solid citizen, but I just can't see him as the starting PG on a championship team.
I have to admit, I've never seen Damon Stoudamire play; don't get to watch too many blazers games. So instead of making comments trying to make myself look like an expert I've got some questions instead. -No one thinks he plays much defense, but will he be able to keep someone in front of him? -He's got a rep as a shoot first pg. So he's more like Mike James than Brevin Knight. But will he be a major improvement over James? Cause Sura's not a playmaker either but has almost as many assists. DS has some people to dish to, too. -Is he a streaky shooter? -Think we'll be able to run a pick and roll with him like Nash does with Amare? I personally don't think lack of size makes a pg a huge defensive liability. He's just got to stay in front of his man and contest shots. Only three large pg's that I know of can effectively post up smaller guards: Billups, Payton (maybe not anymore?), and Baron Davis. Others might be tall, but they're not comfotable posting up like the previous three.
He can keep someone in front of him better than Sura (not saying much). He is definitely an improvement over Mike James. DS knows how to pass the ball and set up other players. He is a playmaker. Most of Sura's assists last year were perimeter to perimeter passes. He rarely fed the post down low, hit cutters or pentrated & dished. DS brings these abilities. Understand, nobody is saying DS is Stockton or Nash, but he does these things better than Sura and way better than James. Yes, DS can be streaky, not as streaky as James. He will feast on open jumpshots and be a legit 3rd option in the 1/2 court. DS can run the PnR. Like Nash & Amare? Don't think so, but we would have 4 PnR options: T-Mac with Yao/Swift & DS with Yao/Swift. Question: Can we assume Sura will be healthy all year? If not, who else out there can we get that is better than DS? Let's leave Brevin Knight (who was 3-20 from 3pt all of last year) out of this. There is a reason the team hasn't invited him to town. Even Keyon Dooling got 3yrs/$10MM from somebody while Knight is waiting for whatever table scraps are left.
What is Damon waiting on? Damon took more shots and had his best season since his 1st in Portland in what? Yes a contract yr. For everyone to say if you have a couple of players that require a double team that the pg must have 3pt range. I'll submit to you Avery Johnson. Who won a ring,never shot 3's but was deadeye from 15ft and also hit the game winner in finals for the Spurs. Not Steve Kerr, not any of these 3pt guys everyone is talking about. Avery ran the show from top to bottom and got Robinson,Duncan, and Elliot easy shots with his penetration. When it was time to shoot, he did it effectively.
Larry Hughes has been traded or waived once. Jim Jackson is a locker room lawyer. Other than Billups' rookie stops in Boston and Toronto, he spent at least 2 years in all 3 of his other destinations. Knight spent his early years in Cleveland and 2 years in Memphis. Other than that, he hasn't spent more than a year anywhere else. Avery Johnsons are the exception, not the norm. You find one example of a guy who is perhaps as bad an outside shooter and it's veritable proof? Not quite. Take a deeper look. During his Spurs years, AJ was consistently over 47% FG%, including a 52% and a 49% year in his first 2 years with them. Brevin Knight hasn't shot 44% since his rookie year, and is 42% for his career. He's not Avery Johnson. Billups hit more triples in the conference finals than Knight has hit in his career. Finally, Joe Johnson was traded under Jim O'Brien, not Rick Pitino. Don't let that fact get in your way, though.
To me I just don't think we are better given PG minutes from Sura/James to Knight. A Rocket PG is not going to get a ton of assists, and we don't need them to, with the offense running through Tmac and Yao. Spot up shooting and play defense, those are priorities 1-2 for Rocket guards. Being a disciplined passer/player is 3rd priority, yes it is nice to have, but not if it costs you 1 or 2. In terms of e-jumper % (maker of jumper efficiency wieghting 3 pointers) Knight was 40%, James was 50% and Sura was 45%. It isn't all because Knight was on a bad team, James was at 51% for Milwalkee and Stoudamire was at 47% for Portland. That shows you can really cheat on Knight more than these guys. To me Sura is just barely adequate from the outside to keep opponents honest, I really don't want a PG with any less range or consistency. It just strikes me that Knight can be a decent, high minute, player on a bad team, but he would be less effective as a role player on a good team. Not a bad player to have, but questionable how much he would help the Rockets with his drawbacks (size, shooting).
Larry hughes was in Philly,Mil,GS,Was,and now Clev since 98. Billups was in 5 teams since 97. Averey is the exception maybe, but alot of teams have this so called mold but you need a general even to set people up.
Hughes was never in Milwaukee. He was traded by Philly (remember, the whole "AI can't play with another scorer" debacle, basically identical to what Stackhouse went through) to Golden State. He left for Washington in free agency (not cut, nor traded). Now he leaves for Cleveland in free agency because he got a huge contract. When Knight gets offered $70 mill, let me know.
Believe me , I understand the drawbacks, really I think the Rox are fine with Sura/James combo. The cant lose focus on the prize and thats being flexible enough to go add a piece if they have to. I doubt very seriously that Damon will play for the lle. If he does, I'll be thrilled, but i dont really see it when he can go to Miami,start and get a little more or the same and play in the east with a team that was in the ecf. I think the 2 guard is a bigger need than the James/Sura combo. Lewis is a free agent after this season also. If the Rox only add bit players, they can have 14mil under the cap even after signing Ming to a extension. Thats the big picture.
If we bring in another legit PG than Sura goes to his more natural SG position. I'd like to see DS/James as the PG, Sura/DW/Barry as the SG. I think that would be fine and give us some size and toughness in the 2 (Sura). So I see adding DS strengthening both the 1 and the 2 (and maybe the 3 too, right now Sura is our best back-up SF). Freeing up Sura to not have to play the 1 and focus on the swingmen spots is a secondary, but major, benefit of adding a guy like Stoudamire. We get quicker at the 1, and bigger at the 2. Next year we have a full MLE to consider adding another SG or can make a move before the trade deadline with expiring contracts. Getting DS would give our whole line up much flexibility.
The funny thing is that last week I heard Charlie Pallillo talk about the same thing on his show. He went on to say that they could use that money on Ben Wallace who is a free agent next season. LOL!
We will have 14 mil coming off the cap next year. But with the addition of Swift, Luther, etc the Rockets may be just under the cap by 1-2 mil depanding on what the cap number will actually be.
