The Dream Shake - a Houston Rockets blog: Whatchoo talkin bout Willis?

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Whatchoo talkin bout Willis?

I have listened to a decent amount of talk radio this morning and read a decent amount of message boards, and here's the overriding feeling I keep seeing: "I can't believe we traded such a great player for nothing, he's been fantastic this year". To which I have the following to say:

What the fuck are you talking about? Bonzi was alright this year, far from anything special. Far from a good chemistry guy. I wish I knew somewhere that tracked missed lay-ups and ole defense, because I can just about guarantee that he leads the league in both. I can remember all 9 times he played defense, because I made a point to say to whoever I was watching the game with that "Holy crap, Bonzi just played defense". He is averaging 9.2 PPG and 5.1 rebounds, most of which were garnered while Tracy was out. And I know Tracy could go down any minute, but face facts, we are screwed either way if he does, so keeping Bonzi doesn't help us at all. Are you really telling me that Scola and Landry can't make up for his minutes and split up his stats 4.6 PPG each and 2.525 rebounds each per game? I'm betting they can, and so is Daryl Morey.

In his last 20 games he's had one that was great, and 2 that were good, the rest were easily replaceable. And I think the 3 that weren't easily replaceable were still able to be replaced. His "great" game came against Cleveland last week at 13 points and 10 rebounds. That was a game that 3 of his 9 good defensive plays came in. I'd personally rather have Landry and Scola, hell even Head in the game in his place giving more every night than an occasional good night from Bonzi.

I like every single part of this trade. I even like that New Orleans has Bonzi and that we can now take advantage of it. This trade is about now, and Bobby Jackson might be able to help us now, and it he can't, the trade can be about tomorrow as well. Can you imagine having to pay Mike James for two more years? That's insane.

So to recap: It's good because 1. Bobby Jackson might be able to help with instant offense 2. Bonzi can no longer miss lay-ups or not play defense or jack up 30 foot 3 point shots for us or make a costly turnover because he's lazy 3. He will be doing all of that for the number one team in the West 4. Scola and Landry will be our crunch time guys no longer allowing Adelman to live in the past with Bonzi and 5. We are out from under Mike James' contract 6. Bonzi is not a chemistry guy, I truly believe the team tunes him out. They probably like him as he seems like a fun guy, but he's not going to be missed. Especially by Scola or Landry.

It is bad because: 1. It's not at all, even a little bit 2. See number 1

Plus maybe Bobby will get under McGrady's skin and make him drive to the basket more:


Next up, go quickly and sign Nick Fazekas

6 comments:

Jeffrey Hardy Quah said...

I guess its because of games like his Cleveland performance that made a lot of us disheartened about the trade, at least initially. With performances like that it's easy to forget how often he disappeared. I still like the idea of putting Wells on, say, Manu Ginobili, but you're right; he's too inconsistent to be dependable considering he's on a contract year, and our bench should make up for his absence.

And even if Jackson doesn't work out, at least we got rid of Mike James's contract. That was a pretty slick move by Daryl Morey.

Unknown said...

I can't believe we hadn't mentioned Nick Fazekas yet. That would be an awesome pickup.

Anonymous said...

I agree with you for the most part, but I think you're being too hard on Bonzi. In the right place, he could be a valuable bench contributor, and have you looked at the New Orleans roster lately. They have absolutely no bench. RYAN BOWEN IS GETTING MINUTES FOR THEM (sorry for the Stephen A. relapse, but I'm completely flabbergasted that he's still in the league). Bonzi is a huge upgrade for their bench and I think it could come back to hurt us.

Another thing to think about is that Chris Paul is going to elevate Bonzi's game. In our offense, no one was able to deliver the ball to a cutting Bonzi, and I think the Hornets with CP3 will be better able to do that.

Rockets get a marginal improvement at the back up PG spot (BJ is shooting 36% from three this season), but the Hornets are getting a huge lift to a bench that is just terrible. RYAN BOWEN IS GETTING MINUTES FOR THEM!!!!!!!

Unknown said...

Whoa...

Fo' is like SAS and Bill Walton rolled into one commentator. Awesome!

Fortunately, this trade doesn't threaten Western Civilization.

Ben Q. Rock said...

Thanks for posting the Jackson/McGrady clip. That was an awesome fight.

UofTOrange said...

I will admit that this has potential to help the Hornets, I just got tired of reading the sky is falling for the Rockets. It really doesn't hurt them at all. Even with Bonzi the matchup is pretty good for the Rockets vs the Hornets, though I guess we get to see with our own eyes tomorrow night. And I don't hate Bonzi, I just hate that for all his talent he is a bonehead on the court. That guy could have been a star, not a superstar, but a guy that little kids would actually want a basketball card of