Gray Implications

So does that mean you think we should go after a MLE? Even if there aren’t many of those players left.

I hear the FO has been inquiring about Marquis Daniels also

Hornets usually go into the year with 14. We’re at 13 now.

He’s a decent signing. He’s still considered to be one fot he 7 footers with potential. He’s a high energy player.

Frankly, I was a bit puzzled with his usage after we acquired him. we needed rebounding and defense last season, but we barely played him after we got him. that really made me wonder what was the issue.

However, I do recall one game where he put the lock on Dwight Howard helping us to win that game with Orlando. Anyone who can do that, has soem potential, no doubt.

and just to put it out there, i’m not out headhunting gray or trying to kill the vibe in here, I just watched him plenty in Chicago and he was TERRIBLE. Literally Michael Sweetney’s twin. I posted below so I won’t beat a dead horse, my thoughts are there, but that’s my opinion & reasoning as of right now. i’m not a statistician so if you or someone who disagrees can stretch Gray’s rebounding/defensive stats. out to respectable, realistic projections over stretches of more minutes, i’d gladly like to see how and why i’m wrong.

He’s so unathletic, that his size really doesn’t matter because he runs, picks-&-rolls, makes cuts, & pivots like a Ford Excursion powered by the Flintstones. Basically, it doesn’t matter how tall you are if you’re inordinately unathletic. To back that point up, he’s fat, has lost weight (about 20 lbs.) in the past but then almost immediately gained it back (about 15 lbs.). It just seems credulous that he could lose weight with some permanency now, learn to become a more athletic player, and ultimately pull it all together during this one offseason.

I’d like to clarify my point about the help he could offer by ‘rebounding’. I’ll address it in two categories:

1) He could help us rebound against teams as marginally tall/realistically speaking, small, as us.
2) He could help us rebound better against teams with true bigs across the spectrum from the likes of Howard, Bogut, Bynum, Jefferson, & the Gasols to Kaman, Lopez, Biedrins, Haywood, & Nene.

I think if i had to choose which seemed more likely to occur, i’d say #1 because Gray’s so unathletic, & there’s no indication in the past, present, or even murmurs that that’s suddenly going to change in an epiphany. But even if he could help re #1), i think it’s negligible at best. His best rebounding per game #‘s are…. 3.9. Which was fearsome glass-crasher Peja’s avg. rebounding # last year.

I’m not a statistician so if you can develop that point & show me how i’m wrong i’m definitely listening, but it seems to me he plainly sucks and won’t markedly improve our rebounding against equally small teams by an amount significant to justify signing him considering when he takes the floor we’re also taking his across the board offensive deficiencies. By that I mean he has not developed a jumper or diversified his offensive tools at all, & if he hasn’t after 3 years in the league and has had plenty of practice & down-time to render his game more versatile, i don’t know what to rely on other than pure faith that he’s going to compensate what i think are his sub-par rebounding #’s against players of average height as well as players of equal height with even scant offensive production.

With regards to #2, i’m literally bracing for laughter when he tries to face up with other bigs offensively and defensively. I watched him a-plenty when he played in Chicago, and he positions around the glass like he has no idea what is going on, and despite his weight gets pushed around by the upper 50% of taller players like he’s made out of paper mache.

To me, he is most like his former Bulls team-mate Michael Sweetney, with lighter skin, relatively same height (2’ diff), & the same deficiencies: Height that could enable him to rebound is basically mooted by a horrible lack of athleticism, weight problems, no offense to speak of.

that PHX’s medical staff (regarded as the best in the NBA) didn’t sign off on Amare for the max amount + years. However, it definitely doesn’t explain why PHX didn’t attempt to re-sign quality instead of quantity say like D. Lee.

Yeah Turk at the 4 is a joke for defensive and rebounding (although Amare wasn’t all that good). Offensively I agree that he’s sort of the ball stopper. Too many times in watching Orlando, he got used to having the ball swing to him, take his time then decide to dribble or shoot.