i feel like most of this strickland bashing is either: a. just to b**** about something else or b. a group of people who don't really watch the games but do a marvelous job of reading box-scores. rod hasn't lit up any baskets and he looks and plays a little old but he's smart, takes care of the ball, and runs the offense. basically he does his job without embarrasing himself and is capable of flashing back 5 or 6 years every now and then. since sura plays heavy minutes anyways this is all we really need from his backup. i liked barret when he first started playing but rod runs the offense 20 times better.
It's possible (although unknown to me) that Strickland was brought in to help Barrett learn the PG position, esp. during practices. They play a similar style game.
Old Knick Retirement Program, established by JVG and funded by Les Alexander. Eventually all old Knicks will be on this program.
Please shut up with stupid crap like that. It's getting really old. Strickland, if anything, is a former Blazer and/or Bullet. Saying he's an ex-Knick for purposes of defining him is like saying Vernon is a former Spur.
Strick is the best passing guard and our best penetrator on the team and I think he should be in front of AB on the depth chart right now, he is a better player than AB. Now the only question is, is he just out of shape from that long lay off or has lost his game because he is 38 yrs old. Give it month, by then he should be in game shape, if he still has trouble finishing his drives and is still shooting 20% then I would worry.
The only gripe I have about Strickland (aside from horrible shooting which really can't be controlled) is his lack of hustle on defense. He just seems lazy in that regard.
Remember Sedale Threatt's glorious Rockets career? When he was signed he was about 40 lbs overweight. He didn't play for the first couple of games and when he did it was much worse to watch than Strickland. It looked like Rerun from What's Happening had been signed to play the point. Slowly but surely he did get in better shape and was playing better by the time the playoffs came around. And in the playoffs? Ok he still wasn't that good, but he wasn't noticibly horrible. He was still a bit fat and had trouble on "D" but he could play backup minutes and he'd been around long enough to not "act like a rookie" in the playoffs. Assuming the team makes the playoffs and assuming he does improve at least as well as Threat did, there is some value in having a guy who knows they're the backup, but has been there before and you can count on them to have a feel for subtle point guard concerns like managing the game tempo, and to not freak out because it's their first time in the playoffs, or even change their game within acceptable limits, like speeding everything up This is specifically true at the PG position. Think about the NCAA tournament. There's always a couple of games that are painful to watch because one team that was able to play well in the regular season gets freaked out. That problem always starts with the point guard.
What does everyone have against Strickland? I actually think he's pretty good. Every time I see him on the court, he's penetrating and making something happen. Keeping in mind that Sura himself is a playoff virgin, you can never have enough veteran point guards in the postseason. I will never forgive Rudy Tomjanovich for not signing Kevin Johnson in '97 and allowing Matt Maloney to have his lunch eaten by John Stockton in the 4th quarter of Game 6.
from the games ive seen (all of them) strickland is far less mistake prone than barrett....jvg likes veterans, esp. in the playoffs...
Stickland is better than Barret. He has 33 assists to Barrets 36 assist in a 124 less minutes played. Though I would like to see Jon Barry handle the ball more than he has been of late when Rod is on the court. But again, Rod's better than Barret. Anyways, if, or when, the Rockets get Anderson we'll probably see less of Strickland and Bowen. And as stable as Strickland has been, thats not a bad thing. Because D. Anderson is better than Strickland.
I agree with both of these.He can still get inside the defense, but he has to shoot alil better then what he is doing.I just think if we really wanted to we could find some one that could do the same thing and shoot alil better .He's even has had problems getting passed halfcourt a few times.
He finds Yao better than the rest of the rockets can. That's gotta count for something. And, his passing in general is great. I don't know if anyone noticed this but during the 2nd quarter, when there were about 3 wizards directly underneath the basket, Strickland threaded a pass through all three of them to an open Padget who got fouled on the play during a shot, I believe. If anything, Barret can learn something from him and the less old Rockets guards can learn a thing or two also.
