orecchio14 wrote:Once again, all I've seen out of Hump is a guy who works his tail off everyday and stays in phenomenal shape year after year. He is not just a "muscular rebounder."
I appreciate his work ethic but for many people it doesn't matter how hard you try, you'll never be as good as others. You don't need to be in phenomenal shape to be a good basketball player.
What we saw last year was an ELITE LEVEL rebounder based on every advanced metric. He was also a very good help defender and did a solid job on the ball. He was our MVP last year, period (that doesn't say much about the state of the team, but it is what it is.)
Hump was not the MVP last year. He was not most "valuable" to our team. How many more games would we have lost if we didn't have Deron for the short time that he was with us? What about if we didn't have Lopez? You're acting as if Hump wasn't there, we would have lost 10 more games.
I think we forget that this is a guy who in Toronto was stuck behind Bosh and in Utah was stuck behind Boozer and Milsap. When on the floor he has ALWAYS played hard and ALWAYS rebounded at a high level. He is a top notch role player in this league and even though the one year sample size is small, I'd venture a guess that this was no contract year fluke.
No one is forgetting anything. Stuck behind? Are you kidding me? He wasn't stuck behind Chris Bosh or Boozer or Millsap. He was properly put in his place because he's nowhere near as good as those guys. He's got no midrange game and no post game like the other aforementioned players.
And yes, one year sample size is the same thing as a "contract year" sample size. And I think Grahamslam's post just put's in to perspective. Reggie Evans is a very good rebounder but guess what, he's a bench player. You don't get into the HOF just by being a good rebounder. All of the great rebounders in the HOF did other things very well.
Just look at Kevin Love. Statistically, he was the best rebounder in the game but how many believe that he's a great PF to have a on your championship team. He's not a 1st or 2nd option on offense. His defense is absolutely horrendous. But you know what he can rebound like crazy. So what....he was such a great rebounder and yet his team did not benefit from it. They still sucked.
If Hump played excellent defense or had some level of offense to speak of, the story would be different but there's no way that we should be sitting here debating whether a good rebounder should get a 7-8 mil per season. You don't pay a hustle man that much money.
That being said, IMO ideally he would be a high energy 6th man on a contender and at 7-8 Mil per (pretty much the going rate or slightly discounted for most 6th men in this league) there simply is no reason to think he cannot perform in that role and perform well. He is a capable starter at worst or an extremely high level bench player at best. And at 26 there is room for growth. He slowly improved his jumper towards the end of last season and was servicable in the pick and pop with Deron. Get more consistant in that area and thats another facet added to his game and the Net offense.
Dude, you're acting all of the LBJ supporters who say if LBJ adds a post game and more of a mid-range game this summer, he'll be the GOAT. It's not that easy especially since Humphries made it to the NBA not based on skill, but only athletic ability. If you're looking for Hump to develop into a shooter, it will never happen. Look how many years he's been in the league and how many offseasons he's had to add to his game and yet he's a far cry from being any sort of dependable shooter. It's not about how old he is, it's about how many years he's played.
