108 replies to this topic

[Losthief]

 

a little more than a random euro dude:

Pro career[edit]

• Greek Youth All-Star Game: MVP: (2009)
• 2x Greek League Best Young Player: (2009, 2012)
• 2x Greek Cup Champion: (2010, 2011)
• 2x Euroleague Champion: (2012, 2013)
• Greek League Champion: (2012)
• 2x Greek League Best Five Team: (2012, 2013)
• Greek League All-Star: (2013)
• Euroleague Rising Star: (2013)
• Spanish League Champion: (2014)

 

 

i personally don't think he'll be as good as parsons (at least at first) cause lets be real, parsons was a player of the year (of the sec) at Florida, I mean the guy could really play...now that said, Kostas is a improvement over our lack of backup at the 3 compared to last year. Ariza and Kostas= a improvement over Parsons and his backup imho.

 

yet, if kostas is going to be something special in this league I think it could come at pf instead of sf where his athleticism will be a advantage rather than a disadvantage or wash. Before you scoff, he's 6'8/6'9 225 lbs which for reference tobias harris is 6'8 226, ersan ilyasova/jeff green is 6'9 235, etc etc. So as a stretch 4 possibility especially if he gains a bit more muscle he could be deadly. I personally like him in the ilyasova mold, but we'll see.

 

p.s. rashard lewis (who played some sf w/ dwight in orlando) was 6'10 215, and anderson is 6'10 240. So....it's not that hard to see.

Edited by Losthief, 29 September 2014 - 09:27 PM.

[Willk]

i personally don't think he'll be as good as parsons (at least at first) cause lets be real, parsons was a player of the year (of the sec) at Florida, I mean the guy could really play...now that said, Kostas is a improvement over our lack of backup at the 3 compared to last year. Ariza and Kostas= a improvement over Parsons and his backup imho.

 

yet, if kostas is going to be something special in this league I think it could come at pf instead of sf where his athleticism will be a advantage rather than a disadvantage or wash. Before you scoff, he's 6'8/6'9 225 lbs which for reference tobias harris is 6'8 226, ersan ilyasova/jeff green is 6'9 235, etc etc. So as a stretch 4 possibility especially if he gains a bit more muscle he could be deadly. I personally like him in the ilyasova mold, but we'll see.

 

p.s. rashard lewis (who played some sf w/ dwight in orlando) was 6'10 215, and anderson is 6'10 240. So....it's not that hard to see.

It is possible that air papa may not be good at all and it is possible he will be great.

Yes, Parsons was the SEC player of the year but that does not necessarily mean he is better. Adam Morrison was the NCAA player of the year and Parsons already has had a better career than Morrison.

Papa has been playing pro ball since he was a teen for two of the possibly best 8 European teams. I would say the European teams Papa was playing against were better than what Parsons was playing against in college.

I do think that it will take Papa at least half a season to get use to the speed of play in the NBA along with the travel. I think having Joey Dorsey on the team will help. I stand by my prediction that Air Papa will be a better player by playoff time than Parsons.

Having Papa and Ariza on the team is going allow for a lot of flexibility in the line-ups. For example, against the Lakers, if the Lakers play Kobe at PG, Nick young at SG, & Wesley Johnson at SF, you can match-up with Harden/Ariza/Papa. If the Lakers have a front court of Johnson at SF, Carlos Boozer & Ryan Kelly, you can play Ariza at SF, Papa & Howard. It is exciting to think of the possibilities.

[thejohnnygold]

All this Parsons stuff reminds me of a classic moment in politics.  This is Lloyd Bentsen completely erasing everything Dan Quayle said in 5 words...

 

 

The point?  "Chandler, you're no Carmelo Anthony."  Chandler and Fegan can build him up as high as they want.  It doesn't matter.  Chandler is a high caliber role player for sure, but to paint him as difficult to replace is a fallacy in my opinion.  I'm 99% sure we just upgraded that position by signing Ariza alone--apparently all anyone can remember is that we didn't fare well with him leading our team.  That was a different scenario entirely and Parsons would have failed (likely worse) in that same scenario.

 

As was noted above by LosThief, I also believe that Ariza and Papa combined is a no-brainer improvement over Parsons and the seven dwarfs we trotted out last year.

 

Before we kneel in awe before the shrine of SEC player of the year, let's take a look at who else has won it.  LINK

 

Take out John Wall and Anthony Davis and that list gets thin fast.  The next significant player to be SEC POY is either Jamal Mashburn in '92 or Shaq in '91.....unless Big Baby Davis does it for you.

 

Parsons has been surrounded by solid guard play his entire NBA career--which can not be under-estimated.  Lowry, Dragic, Harden, and Lin all made his life easier.  Again, I'm not saying, "Chandler Sucks!"--just saying he's no "Jack Kennedy".

 

As far as Papa goes, I'll admit I'm excited.  Is it unfounded?  Yes.  Who cares?  I want to be excited for him and if he winds up falling short of that then so be it.  Our championship hopes are not pinned on him, but they can be improved by him.  Let's not forget, we can also plug Garcia, Harden, and apparently Jeff Adrien (which I need to see to believe) into that slot.

 

Kostas will bring plenty to the table.  My favorite?  His understanding of Euro basketball.  Everyone wants to ooohh and ahhhh over the Spurs system....guess what....they didn't teach them that nor did they invent it.  That's how everyone plays in Europe.  Good cuts and good passing.  Every player can shoot, pass, dribble, rebound, and defend (at least as a team concept).

 

I've seen comparisons that liken him to Carlos Delfino, but I think he is going to be closer to Hedo Turkoglu in his style and skill set.  In case anyone forgot, Hedo thrived playing next to Dwight in Orlando.  So yeah, I'm excited.  It might also help that I don't think we are missing out not having Parsons.  I suppose if I was still hurt about that I wouldn't like any of his replacements either.

 

I don't really think anyone is saying Papa is going to come in and make 2nd team all NBA at SF his first season.  He isn't going to come in and and start dominating games, making clutch, game-winning shots, and shutting down every opposing SF in the league.  Can he come in, give us energy off the bench, play hard, play tough, get the crowd excited, knock down some threes and throw down surprisingly athletic break-away dunks?  YES!  That's what we need.

 

I don't think it is coincidence that we signed players he is comfortable with--that looks like wooing to me.  Heck, that's LeBron treatment there.  Seriously, Morey went out, signed his buddy Dorsey plus he knows Josh Powell, and Pat Beverley.  I guarantee someone went to Pat and asked his opinion on bringing him over.  What better way to scout a player then to ask one who knows what it is to play with him?  Pat wants to win--he's not going to lie to do his buddy a solid.

 

This isn't your usual Euro signing.  I've got high hopes for this kid.  I could be wrong, but my gut tells me this team is going to be waaaaaay better than people think.  Everyone is focused on the names that went out the door and are missing all the good names walking in.  Plus we just signed another player, Akil Mitchell, who is supposed to be another young defensive stud.  Don't know much about him.  Rockets' training camp is going to be brutal--we currently have 20 guys signed to contracts (4 are team options).

[thejohnnygold]

Well, as soon as I declare our team got better Zach Lowe comes out and says, "Not so fast!"

 

He starts off mainly dissecting Howard/Harden, mentions the bench, and then meanders off into musings about NBA free agency issues only to come back at the end for a very quick wrap-up.

 

In short, he seems to think Dwight's window is small, Harden is good, Beverley is good, Ariza is good, we have lots of trade chips, McHale sucks, and he is unsure about our defensive assistants.  Ultimately, he doesn't seem to answer his own question about our title window other than to point out that Dwight technically becomes an expiring contract circus again after this season and that if we don't do really well he will want to leave.  If he decides to stay, Lowe implies that he will likely not be very good and we will be saddled with a bad 5 yr. max contract.  What a jerk! 

[thejohnnygold]

...aaaaaaaaaaaaand here is a video of Kostas looking very good in shooting drills.  Also, a fun look behind the scenes at what the Rockets' practices look like.

 

[thejohnnygold]

might as well post this too.  Jason Terry taking questions from the media.  I like his candor, his attitude, and his confidence.  If we can get anything close to 2011 Terry that will be awesome.

 

[thejohnnygold]

I'm on a roll!  This video was hashtagged by Dwight (I sort of know what that means  ).  It is both awesome and corny.  Definitely getting excited about the season starting.

 

LINK

[Dan G]

Damn Johnny you showing how to properly spam the forum with informative Rockets info.  As far as the info is concerned, dude I am right there with you on the Papa train. Ever since we hit the jackpot with Scola, I've always been interested in the EURO guys we bring over. I was a little excited when we got DMO but after seeing his shot, I instantly became worried on how he would make the transition. He still has time don't get me wrong but he has got to fix his shot.

 

However, Papa has me just as thrilled as I was after Scola's rookie campaign. I know he hasn't played a NBA game yet, but he reminds me of Turkoglu as well and not the crappy Clippers version of him. I think Turkoglu in his prime is a better passer, but Papa has a better shot and looks to be better defensively. Both can get to the rim and finish. I'm not saying he is going to be an All-star, but by season's end, he will be our sixth man. You can take that to the bank.

 

I'm also ready to see what Adrien can do. I thought he could be our backup center but I was surprised to see that he is only 6'7". That dude can do some work for being so short, which could be the only thing that hurts his chances at getting quality minutes.

 

We also got Daniels that I'm excited to see in action again. Hell, if y'all haven't noticed, I'm actually more interested in seeing how our bench performs over how our starters do. I know what our starters are capable of, but if Papa, Daniels and Adrien give us quality minutes, we will not lose more games than we did last year and probably will win more.

 

When it's all said and done, we could be yelling:

 

http://youtu.be/t1yzIeBRh5o?t=13s

 

Yeah yeah I know gotta change the "a" to an "e" but you get the drift.

Edited by thejohnnygold, 01 October 2014 - 02:14 PM.

[Dan G]

Sigh, my first old man can't figure out the tech mumbo jumbo question. How do you post memes and youtube clips on this forum and have them already show up instead of someone having to click on a link? I've tried embedding but it doesn't work. I'm missing the magic ingredient somewhere.

[thejohnnygold]

Sigh, my first old man can't figure out the tech mumbo jumbo question. How do you post memes and youtube clips on this forum and have them already show up instead of someone having to click on a link? I've tried embedding but it doesn't work. I'm missing the magic ingredient somewhere.

 

Don't feel bad--you're not the first, nor the last.  Use the text editor that appears when you are typing.  For pictures, use the icon (looks like a polaroid photo) down and left from the smiley face.  For video, use the icon that is third from the top left (light switch, eraser, --> blue/green square).  That will bring up a drop down menu.  Select "media", enter the URL in the appropriate place and you're done.

 

For precautionary reasons, everyone please remember to keep it PG and respectful.  If one must post anything questionable please include a NSFW tag and just a link to the site so people can choose their own levels of degeneracy.

 

Back to Rockets stuff.

 

Watching him shoot in that video made me think about Peja Stojakovic too.  Not sure why it's always a Euro guy--maybe he can be like a young, pre-knee-issue Mike Miller.  That would be cool.

 

Adrien is a workhorse and I agree his size is about all that holds him back.  Don't forget about Dorsey though.

 

 

I think we got ourselves Dwight-Lite in Dorsey.  That video is 3 minutes of Dorsey going strong to the hole time after time after time.  He even reminds me of Dwight with the dancing/goofing around at the end.  The guy knows what he does best and he does it a lot.  Protect the rim on defense and destroy the rim on offense.  The dude knows one shot: dunk.  He's not going up thinking, "Oh, there's a defender...I can spin it off the glass.  That will be cool."  Nope.  He's thinking, "I'm sorry, but I'm gonna break that hand if you put it between me and that rim."

 

I know he won't be dominating people over here, but I think he can hang with the big men of the NBA now and be a useful player for us.  If he can do his best Ben Wallace impression for 10-15 minutes a game then I think we'll all be happy.

 

I also agree that I am more excited about the young guys than Harden/Howard.  I think Bev will be better.  I know what Ariza brings for us (watched a lot of Washington games last year).  Jones is going to come out strong and defend way better.  D-Mo.....ugh, that's a bet I'm not willing to make....we'll see.  Canaan and Daniels have a chance to be an explosive combo off the bench; although, it appears Terry is here to play--not just mentor.  That's interesting.

 

We know it's going to be Bev, Harden, Ariza, Jones, and Howard......so who gets the back-up minutes?  Smith or Canaan?  Daniels or Terry?  Papanikoloau or Garcia?  Adrien or D-Mo?  Dorsey or D-Mo?

[Willk]

 

Back to Rockets stuff.

 

Watching him shoot in that video made me think about Peja Stojakovic too.  Not sure why it's always a Euro guy--maybe he can be like a young, pre-knee-issue Mike Miller.  That would be cool.

 

Adrien is a workhorse and I agree his size is about all that holds him back.  Don't forget about Dorsey though.

 

 

I think we got ourselves Dwight-Lite in Dorsey.  That video is 3 minutes of Dorsey going strong to the hole time after time after time.  He even reminds me of Dwight with the dancing/goofing around at the end.  The guy knows what he does best and he does it a lot.  Protect the rim on defense and destroy the rim on offense.  The dude knows one shot: dunk.  He's not going up thinking, "Oh, there's a defender...I can spin it off the glass.  That will be cool."  Nope.  He's thinking, "I'm sorry, but I'm gonna break that hand if you put it between me and that rim."

 

I know he won't be dominating people over here, but I think he can hang with the big men of the NBA now and be a useful player for us.  If he can do his best Ben Wallace impression for 10-15 minutes a game then I think we'll all be happy.

 

I also agree that I am more excited about the young guys than Harden/Howard.  I think Bev will be better.  I know what Ariza brings for us (watched a lot of Washington games last year).  Jones is going to come out strong and defend way better.  D-Mo.....ugh, that's a bet I'm not willing to make....we'll see.  Canaan and Daniels have a chance to be an explosive combo off the bench; although, it appears Terry is here to play--not just mentor.  That's interesting.

 

We know it's going to be Bev, Harden, Ariza, Jones, and Howard......so who gets the back-up minutes?  Smith or Canaan?  Daniels or Terry?  Papanikoloau or Garcia?  Adrien or D-Mo?  Dorsey or D-Mo?

 

 

Yesterday Mark Deeks stated he thought Air Papa is an Omri Casspi type. He did get disagreements stating that Papa is more like Stojakovic. I respect Mark Deeks, but I think the ceiling is higher than Casspi.

This is going to be a fun training camp with so many good players competing for playing time. I can see every starter except for T. Jones playing at least 32 minutes a game. If that holds true, that leaves 32 minutes a game for a back-up PG or SG. Either Canaan, Smith, Daniels, or Terry is going to get the majority or all of that time (at least 27 minutes a game). I think it will be Daniels.

Papa will backup the SF position. Adrien will be the back-up PF. I believe D-Mo will start out as the back-up center, but I think he will not be allowed very many mistakes before his minutes go to Dorsey.

I think there will be a 9 man rotation with a 10 man rotation on occasion.

[Dan G]

Back to Rockets stuff.

 

Watching him shoot in that video made me think about Peja Stojakovic too.  Not sure why it's always a Euro guy--maybe he can be like a young, pre-knee-issue Mike Miller.  That would be cool.

 

Adrien is a workhorse and I agree his size is about all that holds him back.  Don't forget about Dorsey though.

 

I think we got ourselves Dwight-Lite in Dorsey.  That video is 3 minutes of Dorsey going strong to the hole time after time after time.  He even reminds me of Dwight with the dancing/goofing around at the end.  The guy knows what he does best and he does it a lot.  Protect the rim on defense and destroy the rim on offense.  The dude knows one shot: dunk.  He's not going up thinking, "Oh, there's a defender...I can spin it off the glass.  That will be cool."  Nope.  He's thinking, "I'm sorry, but I'm gonna break that hand if you put it between me and that rim."

 

I know he won't be dominating people over here, but I think he can hang with the big men of the NBA now and be a useful player for us.  If he can do his best Ben Wallace impression for 10-15 minutes a game then I think we'll all be happy.

 

I also agree that I am more excited about the young guys than Harden/Howard.  I think Bev will be better.  I know what Ariza brings for us (watched a lot of Washington games last year).  Jones is going to come out strong and defend way better.  D-Mo.....ugh, that's a bet I'm not willing to make....we'll see.  Canaan and Daniels have a chance to be an explosive combo off the bench; although, it appears Terry is here to play--not just mentor.  That's interesting.

 

We know it's going to be Bev, Harden, Ariza, Jones, and Howard......so who gets the back-up minutes?  Smith or Canaan?  Daniels or Terry?  Papanikoloau or Garcia?  Adrien or D-Mo?  Dorsey or D-Mo?

 

I think Papa can shoot, but I'm not ready to put him in the Stojakovic range quite yet until I see him in a Rockets uniform shooting light's out. Stojakovic had a career three point percentage of 40%. I would be absolutely ecstatic if Papa can hit anywhere near that mark in a single season much less his NBA career.

 

The Dorsey clip was nice but I'm not completely sold on him yet. I guess I still look at him as he was when he was a Rocket many moons ago. I hope he has refined his game enough to be a solid NBA contributor, but I think he is like Adrien in that he lacks the size (he's only 6'8") to hang with the bigger centers and PFs in the league. If his defense is as good as people are saying, he would remind me more of Chuck Hayes but with more athleticism and the ability to dunk like Dwight. One thing he has going for him in the size department is most teams do not have 7 foot centers on the bench, so him being undersized may not always be an issue.

 

I agree I'm not willing to bet on D-Mo and I'll have to see more from Canaan before I form an opinion about him. For now, I think Daniels, Terry, Papa, and D-Mo get the backup minutes. If D-Mo fails (more than likely), Adrien and Dorsey will be there to snatch up his minutes. When Terry gets traded, Canaan and Smith will be there to swallow up those minutes.

 

Finally, let's see if I can get this to work:

 

 

(Sweet...that is all I can think about every time I see or hear Adrien's name)

Edited by Dan G, 01 October 2014 - 09:26 PM.

[thejohnnygold]

I think Papa can shoot, but I'm not ready to put him in the Stojakovic range quite yet until I see him in a Rockets uniform shooting light's out. Stojakovic had a career three point percentage of 40%. I would be absolutely ecstatic if Papa can hit anywhere near that mark in a single season much less his NBA career.

 

The Dorsey clip was nice but I'm not completely sold on him yet. I guess I still look at him as he was when he was a Rocket many moons ago. I hope he has refined his game enough to be a solid NBA contributor, but I think he is like Adrien in that he lacks the size (he's only 6'8") to hang with the bigger centers and PFs in the league. If his defense is as good as people are saying, he would remind me more of Chuck Hayes but with more athleticism and the ability to dunk like Dwight. One thing he has going for him in the size department is most teams do not have 7 foot centers on the bench, so him being undersized may not always be an issue.

 

I agree I'm not willing to bet on D-Mo and I'll have to see more from Canaan before I form an opinion about him. For now, I think Daniels, Terry, Papa, and D-Mo get the backup minutes. If D-Mo fails (more than likely), Adrien and Dorsey will be there to snatch up his minutes. When Terry gets traded, Canaan and Smith will be there to swallow up those minutes.

 

Finally, let's see if I can get this to work:

 

 

(Sweet...that is all I can think about every time I see or hear Adrien's name)

 

Firstly, this keeps happening so allow me to make something clear.  When I say a player reminds me of someone--especially a player who has not set foot on an NBA court--I am not saying he is already as good as that player was at their best.  I don't know why it seems people make that leap, but since it keeps happening I will make it more clear.  Watching him shoot reminded me of Peja shooting--that's it.  They are also very close in size (Peja was 6' 9" and 220 - Kostas is 6' 8" and 230--that's according to Draftexpress...most listings have him at 6' 9").

 

It's no big deal--just want people to understand I'm not claiming our bench players are already as good as the greats I compare them to.  Perhaps I need to be more clear with my words...

 

As for Dorsey, I don't think his size is going to be an issue.  I do think his maturity, experience, and confidence will vault him right past D-Mo's potential to be awesome.  He knows his job, his role, and how to use his talent to maximize his effect on the game.  D-Mo may draw some match-ups against taller, post-up bigs....but there just aren't many in the league: Jefferson, Robin Lopez, Hibbert, maybe some time against Anthony Davis and Aldridge at PF, Pekovic?.....yup, that's about it.  Outside of that I agree that Dorsey will be great against the back-ups of the league--which is what we need!

 

As for the Casspi comparison--I'm fine with it.  Casspi isn't garbage--he just doesn't seem to be consistent enough.  He works hard on defense, hits the glass, runs the floor, can knock down the 3, and all in all, is a smart ball player.  He was roughly the same size as well: 6' 9" and 225.

[Losthief]

joey dorsey's foul rate is worrisome tho.

[Losthief]

i'll be interested to see how far ahead chandler gets ranked over ariza, batum, igoudala in nba rank. Which i think all 3 are better sf than him at this point (though he'll switch with iggy and likely ariza (age) at some point, and has a chance to outpace batum). He came in 2nd out of those four here:

http://hoopshabit.co...ll-forwards/24/

 

what is interesting is ariza getting the nod at 8 overall (top of the guys i listed).

 

also...hard to argue with the guys in front of ariza, but 8 best at position in the league for 7 million a year is a good deal.

[Steven]

When Bill Simmons comes out with his worst NBA contracts list, Parsons will be #1, assuming Simmons still has a job.

[Willk]

SI's list of top 100 players is out. Harden is #13. I cannot really agree with being behind LMA, Kevin Love, and Steph Curry

[thejohnnygold]

joey dorsey's foul rate is worrisome tho.

 

To say that is to focus acutely on one thing while ignoring everything else including the fact that he's got 6 fouls to use up in roughly 15 minutes of play.  What's more interesting is this article which delves into his strengths and weaknesses equally.  Yes, he fouls (seemingly from playing with too much energy) and he also sucks at free throws (just what we need), but other than that he got a glowing review.  Check it out.

 

Also, it seems he is actually 6' 7" not 6' 8"--same as Adrien.  Although, he has a ridiculous wingspan for his height at nearly 7' 2".

[txtdo1411]

SI's list of top 100 players is out. Harden is #13. I cannot really agree with being behind LMA, Kevin Love, and Steph Curry

 

He currently has a very negative perception about him in the eyes of the media. Personally I agree with you (in my very biased opinion ), but honestly when you get to the top 15-20 players it's really splitting hairs at that point. You have Durant, James, and then everyone else. Although in terms of scoring efficiency you have Durant, James, Harden, and then everyone else. 

[Losthief]

To say that is to focus acutely on one thing while ignoring everything else including the fact that he's got 6 fouls to use up in roughly 15 minutes of play.  What's more interesting is this article which delves into his strengths and weaknesses equally.  Yes, he fouls (seemingly from playing with too much energy) and he also sucks at free throws (just what we need), but other than that he got a glowing review.  Check it out.

 

Also, it seems he is actually 6' 7" not 6' 8"--same as Adrien.  Although, he has a ridiculous wingspan for his height at nearly 7' 2".

 

oh yeah i came off more neg than i meant, i totally agree for 15 min a night im not worried, just more worried if he has to play more cause of dwight foul/injury/etc. As far as the height goes he didn't seem to have a big problem with it last time he was in the league and I'm assuming he's improved, he rebounded at a good rate iirc.