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Let's all hear it for Toney Douglas.

A big round of applause.
He has accomplished something that I previously hadn't thought possible; displacing the immortal Melvin Booker as the very worst player I've ever seen consuming space on a Rockets roster.

Toney,
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... lto01.html

THIS is the man who you suck more than:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... eme01.html

A guy named MELVIN (apologies to any Melvin's on the board).

Revel in it. Enjoy your mind-boggling dearth of hardwood pulchritude.

You sir, are .. not um.. very good.
Please do try to get yourself dismissed from the roster by game 15.

For those wondering about my worst of the rest, we have, in roughly chronological order: Bryce Drew, Matt Maloney, Dan Langhi, Eddie Griffin, Reece Gaines, Hilton Armstrong, Hasheem Thabeet, and MISTER Jonny Flynn!

Missed the game, what'd he do this time? Did he throw the game away?

I actually thought he outplayed both Lin & Harden...
He and Cole got the lead down to 5 I think.


How the hell does a guy named Melvin make it to the league!?!

To be fair, Toney plays exceptional defense against faster point guards. He'll throw the ball away, but so will Lin.

He can apparently score too, but he needs to play off the ball on offense.

spolgar wrote:To be fair, Toney plays exceptional defense against faster point guards. He'll throw the ball away, but so will Lin.

He can apparently score too, but he needs to play off the ball on offense.

TOs is not one of Lin's worries this season. passive offence is.

spolgar wrote:To be fair, Toney plays exceptional defense against faster point guards. He'll throw the ball away, but so will Lin.

He can apparently score too, but he needs to play off the ball on offense.

and not shoot layups

I don't know how Lin shed his turnover prone reputation in just 4 games. He was a bit notorious at it last season.

Given the last 4 regular season games, he's averaging at a turnover every 12 minutes. That's 3 per 36. Given that his back court mate scorched the NBA on a scoring streak these last three games, Lin's offensive usage numbers must be low. Given how often he got to hold the ball vis a vis his 3 TOs/36, it's not horrible, but it should still be a bit of a concern.

Toney Douglas does far less with the ball and throws it away even more spectacularly, but he only has a turnover once every 17 minutes.

Statistics aside, granted, sometimes it isn't how often you throw away the ball, but sometimes how badly you do it. Lin's passes were sometimes a bit off and sometimes it was just Morris or Asik not catching the ball. Toney's failures to connect with his team mates seemed to be by and large his only. Still, the numbers are not pretty.

Lin is averaging a fg% in the high 30s yesterday, excluding the outlier that was yesterdays game. With an average of 12 hots per game, It certainly wasn't for a lack of trying. He's the point, he's suppose to run the team's offense and he's suppose to pass first, score second. Given those restrictions, I don't think those are passive numbers. I think Lin is just following Mchale's game plan.

I'd be okay with him if he were our 3rd string PG. The fact is, you need your 2nd stringers to be able to provide offense at times to turn the game. Delfinio, Aldrich, and Morris all have at least chipped in on offense at times to help the team.

Douglas maybe able to defend, but we will never be able to help carry the offense in spurts if Delfino or Morris are cold, so Harden and Lin will usually have shorter rest periods and longer minutes all season. It not only affects our bench, but also our starters being effective with less rest.

I think having Douglas as our second string 2 on offense and 1 on defense would work okay. But then we'll need someone in the second string to run the offense through.

Not really sure why people think Douglas has good defense... he's one of those "effort" defenders where he certainly gives it his all but he's not really all that talented. He plays the very standard "stay in front of your man and fight over picks" type of D, but how the NBA rules are structured nowadays it's impossible to guard good PGs in this fashion. It has to be team defense. That's why I actually prefer the type of defense Lin plays, where he plays one side and tries to funnel PGs to where you want them to go, plays the passing lanes, and rebounds. Steals aren't necessarily a good indicator of good defense if you gamble for them too much but Lin doesn't do that. Lin is also a great rebounder for his position, which I also consider a big part of defense.

The only thing I actually like about Douglas' "pesky" defensive style is when he plays ball denial which delays the opponent from getting into their offensive set as quickly.

edit: and IMO they should let Harden be the de facto PG when Lin goes to the bench. Douglas is in no way shape or form a PG, he's an undersized SG with no offense.

moofs wrote: For those wondering about my worst of the rest, we have, in roughly chronological order: Bryce Drew, Matt Maloney, Dan Langhi, Eddie Griffin, Reece Gaines, Hilton Armstrong, Hasheem Thabeet, and MISTER Jonny Flynn!

http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8562144

Jonny Flynn Debut game for Melbourne Tigers.

If anyone cares - Toney Douglas is not a point guard. He was forced to play point for the Knicks because of injury but he is basically an undersized shooting guard. His rookie year his shot looked good but it left him and hasn't returned. He basically shouldn't be asked to run an offense. IMO is White ever gets it together he is a much better option for running an offense with the second unit - Toney can bring the ball up court - that's about it.

Give him credit, he's been playing good ball as of late. He's not doing anything spectacular with the offense on the second unit except for bringing it up and handing it to Harden, Morris or Chandler, but he's hit big buckets and defended well. I for one am happy for him.

at least our coaches aint stupid and realized douglas is not a playmaking pg and pair him up with harden
can't do anything right playing him with delfino
one can't make play and the other one thinks he's ginobili and turn the ball over

I'm going to be gracious after tonight and upgrade Toney from Melvin Booker's understudy to the second coming of Bryce Drew.

I mean, I'm in that good of a mood right now.

Temporary apology. Great job TD.

Great game by TD, I can't believe I said that He played with focus and high intensity from the start it's just one of those games.

Douglas and Smith beat the Lakers today.

If only Patterson, Parsons and Harden had hit their shots last night, Douglas would have had 10+ assists.

Toney is clearly a PG. He kept the ball moving, the offense flowing, and tried to get his teammates involved with passes.

The starters, Patterson, Parsons, Lin and Harden, just kept missing shots they normally make.

Toney kept the Rockets within striking distance all night. Without his 22 points off the bench, the Rockets would have lost the game for sure.

moofs wrote:I'm going to be gracious after tonight and upgrade Toney from Melvin Booker's understudy to the second coming of Bryce Drew.

I mean, I'm in that good of a mood right now.

No dude is still awful. One good game doesn't change that.