Is Hedo the Best Passer On This Team?

[Esko]

Jameer is this team's most skilled passer, let's get that out of the way.

Hedo may make smarter plays, and be more effective when driving because of his size, but that does not mean he is the most skilled passer on the team.

Just another case where our guards get shoved off as average players, when really they're above average at their position.

[MagicalMan]

I think Hedo is the most effective passer. His size what makes him most effective. Good ball-handling skills + height makes him effective.

[Typhoon20]

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Except that Shard was scoring a good bit (20+) more and in more varied ways over the past 3 or seasons.

That said, they are mutually benefit each other. In turn they benefit Dwight, and the rest of the team.

I'm glad to see Hedo performing as we all had hoped when Puck signed him. His performance this year is certainly better than pretty much anyone expected.

You're right, I didn't express myself well with that sentence. I actually wanted to say that Hedo's presence affects Shard better than Shard's presence affects Hedo. Not to take anything away from Shard, who IMO affects Hedo pretty well too (it's easier to get an assist from setting up Shard then it is from setting up Bogans for example). His offensive threat makes life easier for Hedo. Having a post-up player like Dwight and Hedo who can attack the basket too kind of limited Shards post-up game as it's evident from the numbers. Hedo sets Shard up with the 3, he does that well. Shard is shooting the most 3's in his entire career, by far. Of course the fact that this is a shooting team also has something to do with that. But life is especially easier when you have more then 1 teammate who can demand a double or triple team and who have great ballhandling skills to take advantage of that situation.

Of course the big 3 benefits from eachother, but if I had to make a guess I'd say that Hedo and Shard benefit the most from Dwight's presence, Shard has more space to shoot, as he's shooting the most 3's of his career, Hedo is able to get a great pick&roll and space in the paint. In turn Dwight also benefits from those 2 guys, especially from Hedo's presence, as he's able to demand up to triple teams.But IMO Shard is the one that benefits the most from the big 3.

Hmm about Hedo's performance, I was actually expecting this type of a performance. I watched the Eurobasket 2007 and I was just mesmerized b y Hedo, I thought he'd deliver one of his horrible cliche performances but instead I was shocked seeing him play so well. Right then I knew he was different, his shot improved, his D improved, his all-around game improved. He was just playing so mature. I still don't know exactly what happened I'm just glad it happened. I don't think SVG did anything special, I think he did what other coaches didn't do, make him THE go-to guy during the entire game. At the eurobasket he got a lot of freedom. SVG gave him control, confidence, freedom. And I think that's the difference, SVG just utilized Hedo well. When you look at his stats you see that his shooting percentages slightly improved, not that much. It's just that he's getting more touches.

[richboy]

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That combined with Tony's injury and SVG.

Well I personally think Tony wouldn't have played much. I think he would have played some backup minutes to Rashard at PF and Dwight at C.

[lovehoops01]

I thought they effectively have been using Hedo as a point forward all season. The point guards bring the ball up most of the time (but not all, especially not off rebounds), but once they cross midcourt, they usually give it to Hedo or Dwight (who then gives it to Hedo). Turkoglu is tall enough to deliver the ball to Dwight at a spot in traffic that he can grab it comfortably. Jameer is prety good at that actually, but when the opponents start with the triple teams, it makes it trickier with the angles. They are fronting Dwight and putting someone right behind him, too, and sometimes running a third guy at him to try to strip the ball.

Most of the time I think it works well. I thought at the end of Friday night's game that they stopped moving the ball though. A lot of the players were just, 'Get the ball to Hedo.' And then he took the shot, a lot of which were off-balance jumpers that didn't go in. It's been working most of the season, but down the stretch here, the Magic are getting shut down. Hedo isn't getting himself squared up to take good shots. I don't know if they are too predictable because Hedo always ends up with the ball. You could argue that Hedo is just gassed for this season. I think he has looked exhausted for the past two to three weeks, and his jumpers aren't falling much. Van Gundy might have used him all up for this season. Still, a lot of guys who are relied on fight through that.

[parso15]

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Well I personally think Tony wouldn't have played much. I think he would have played some backup minutes to Rashard at PF and Dwight at C.

I agree...

[jab]

He's also got a lot more turnovers.

But what heDOes so well is to create for others, no other player in the league can do that as well as him besides Lebron.

These are the kinds of statements that cause fans of other teams not give the Orlando team any props which leads to 10 new "Why don't we get any respect" threads on the general board.

Tayshaun Prince can do everything Hedo does to help his team win but when our starters are all healthy he does not have to. When Rip or Chauncey don't play Tay plays the same role that Hedo does.

See you in the second round

[aleZ]

I think he has looked exhausted for the past two to three weeks, and his jumpers aren't falling much. Van Gundy might have used him all up for this season.

Makes you wonder who's gonna play the point forward role in the postseason, since Shard can't create as well and the backcourt's passing skills make Turk look like Magic Johnson. But Hedo's probably going to be just fine...