Salim Stoudimire

[Rip2137]

Well, I guess its pretty much a given that its over for his days in Atlanta. While watching the game yesterday, I was joking with a friend that his followthrough on his jumper should have had him flipping off Woodson. I also wanted the entire bench to just look over at Mike woodson everytime he hit a open jumper that Bibby missed the whole series.

I know, most of you say Salim isn't a "shooter" but well...he is. I look forward to him making his mark on another team. I personally hope he follows Mike D'Antoni wherever he goes. He gave some great moments with team and i think at this point, he is probably the only guy that you can say won't be with the team next year with no question (might be the end of the solo era too, but who knows).

[evildallas]

Salim is a shooter, but he's always been a defensive liability to go with it. If he was taller or faster then I think he could have made his mark here, but as is he was never given much of a chance. I noticed in game 6 with the rest of bench leaning forward attentively he was leaned back. It was like he was certain he wasn't getting into the game. Even with a coaching thing I agree that his days are probably over here.

[Rip2137]

I think you would be hard pressed to knock salim on his defense this season.

I have always said, he plays tough on the man defense, but you throw a screen at him and he will get caught. this year, he worked on that obviously (now some one needs to pull Chill to the side and give him the same talk) and he was downright tough as a on the ball defender this year.

Plus...Mike Bibby and Tyronne Lue got alot of minutes for us this season. He is by far the better defender of all of those guys.

[Skyhawk1]

I'm just glad he's gone. I hope he doesn't ever put a Hawks jersey again.

[HoopsGuru25]

I would not be suprised if Salim didn't have a guaranteed contract going into training camp next year.

[smabie]

I would not be surprised if Salim won Most Improved in the next two seasons.

[Rip2137]

I definately think he is going to be a MIP candidate pretty soon. With consistant minutes he is a 11-12 point per game guy off the bench for alot of teams.

[JoshB914]

Salim needs to be on a better team to produce. He is a shooter and nothing more, he needs to be in a situation where that is all he is asked to do (a la Eddie House).

He should have gotten more PT this season, but Woody gave him a chance throughout his career and he just didn't produce. Last year he played him every night for about 20 games and he was just terrible.

He's a hard worker and has a nice stroke, I hope he's able to hang around and make a decent career for himself. But I don't see it happening here.

[Rip2137]

Which SHOULD have been his situation here in Atlanta where we needed a shooter. But he wasn't used as such.

He has decent point guard skills but he is much more useful as a outlet to playmakers. We happen to have playmakers at the SG, PF and sometimes C positions.

I said it all last offseasn and I say it again, prototypical point guard is not what this team needs. Decent defense, ability to hit the open shot and ability to push the break is what we need in a point. Salim offered all of that. Too bad Woody couldn't see it.

In bibby, he came in for us and hit the shot, played no D, and did push the break, but the biggest thing he was able to do when he got here was find Joe with in rhythm 3 pointers on the break. it drove up our scoring average some (some of it was the other team scoring easier, thus more possessions), but I think thats a skill that could be picked up(find Joe in transistion).

[JoshB914]

I didn't see much defense out of Salim. He was downright awful on D during that West Coast trip. He did look much better towards the end of the season and I thought he deserved a little more PT in the playoffs. I do like that he works hard on D, there is definetely a chance he can improve in that area.

Salim also struggled with court vision. When he gets into the lane he is not deceptive and is easy to cover.

If we were good enough (and had a better coach), I think he would have played the Eddie House role. But with our PG situation we needed him to log minutes there.

[Rip2137]

Josh, I don't know what memories you are using to say he was bad defensively on the west coast trip, but its simply not true. I think people are still thinking of the time Ronnie Price had a good game in Utah and scored some points against Salim, but thats about all that you can point at. he played good to sometimes great D when he came in and was very disruptive on the defensive end when he came in.

As to struggling with court vision, I am just going to disagree. Salim can run the break just as well as any other point we have, can finish at the rim, and runs the pick and roll better than every other point we have(I was down right shocked at how bad Bibby has become giving up the ball of the pick and roll).

He isn't a great ball handler and isn't going to be much of a drive and kick guy unless he is getting guys off balance with a pump fake, but while driving to the lane he made good/decent decisions.

I am not claiming we was a good point guard, I am just saying he was alot better than people gave him credit for. He was proably average at playmaking all around. But how much of that to you chalk up to lack of consistant PT? Guess we will find out next season.

[td00]

I don't know why everyone thinks he is a PG. His focus is shoot first, ask questions later.
While he may at times get on a roll, like he did against Phoenix at Philips this year, they are far and few between.
If Woody returns, I don't see Salim returning. There are times when he comes in the game, his agenda is to get up as many shots as possible. That doesn't work for Woody.

It might in Phoenix though where defense is not the emphasis.

[JoshB914]

It's not so much 1-on-1 D as it is his off the ball defense, he can't get through screens and it throws our whole defense off.

Also, if you watch him get into the lane then he struggles. He often doesn't find the open man and is forced to try to lay it up with the opposing center in his face. If he can't penetrate effectively, he's not going to cut it at PG ever.

Salim is not a PG, that's all there is to it. I hope he finds a situation where he can do what he does best. I'm definetely pulling for him.

[killbuckner]

Salim's chances of staying in the league were based on him either developing into an adequate PG or shooting 40% from 3. He is a poor passer even as a SG and hasn't come close to being a lights out shooter from the outside. He just flat out isn't good enough.

[conleyorbust]

Salim's chances of staying in the league were based on him either developing into an adequate PG or shooting 40% from 3. He is a poor passer even as a SG and hasn't come close to being a lights out shooter from the outside. He just flat out isn't good enough.

alright, relax on the "40%" tip you are on. House, the guy he's most compared to, has 3 seasons of 40%.

Salim would be fine if he shot 38% which he did in his first season.

[playa_lev]

Which SHOULD have been his situation here in Atlanta where we needed a shooter. But he wasn't used as such.

Decent defense, ability to hit the open shot and ability to push the break is what we need in a point. Salim offered all of that. Too bad Woody couldn't see it.

I totally agree with that. I will miss Salim very much. He is fun to watch, but we couldn

[They Call Me Cash]

Salim > Woodson


I bet if we had a decent Coach this guy wouldv'e been huge for us. Woodson just doesn't know how to utilize his skills. I really hope we get a new HC and decide to keep Salim around for another season to really show what he's capable of.

Atleast he's not scared for his life when he's playing unlike Mike Bimbo. He's actually out there trying to prove something..


Not to mention how the staff is killing the guys confidence.. how does a guy come off the bench and give you 20+ points in the 4th quarter and not see a minute of playing time for what seemed to be forever, aside from the game after that?

..and you wonder why he doesn't seem interested in the games while he's on the bench, this ain't HS ball.

All I'm saying is, atleast give the guy a shot before you write him off ASG.. ya'll gave Woodson 4 years of underachieving.