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Too bad you can't combine Rasho's defense and Mohammad's offense and rebounding.
I definately agree that nazr atm is much better for this team than rasho, he always had much more potencial and he is finaly starting to use it.
As for the boards, rasho almost always boxes people out, so others can grab an easy D rebound and he normaly tips O rebounds to parker or ginobili, so again its not realy fair to look at his stats and talk crap. And like it or not, he is big factor for parkers and ginobilis layups on offense.
What i still dont like about rasho is his inconsistancy and his at ude. I remember a couple of huge dunks when he played in italy and how he played for our national team, he just isn't showing that anymore...
Too bad you can't combine Rasho's defense and Mohammad's offense and rebounding.
We allready did. Just not in the same person.
That he was.
Basketball is a game of match-ups. Against the Suns Radoslav is useless. Now with teams that play at a slower pace like Houston its a different story. We should all feel fortunate to have both players. Especially since likely next year we wont have that luxury.
my opinion is that you americans are all in to stats. But basketball isn't statistic, this is one of the many reasons why US "dream team" is losing against european teams. Every player in US team is trying to improve his stats, but not his game.
see you in japan...
If you remember, after Yao started the game with a great deal of success, Pop put Rasho on him, and Yao could not get the ball because Rasho is so good at denying the ball to the post with his fronting, and Yao's effectiveness was almost gone.
my opinion is that you americans are all in to stats. But basketball isn't statistic, this is one of the many reasons why US "dream team" is losing against european teams. Every player in US team is trying to improve his stats, but not his game.
see you in japan...
Great! A clueless Euro talking trash after a single olympic le to the American's consistant thrashings for years. You do have a small point about team hoops, but are clueless or simply ignore much of the reason why.
Most teams of the World play with their best players TOGETHER as TEAMS for years. The Americans throw together one or two of thier top players with a few average stars and train for about three weeks. In the past this has been more than enough to slap the rest of the World. This year the Americans have set up a system where they will train for a couple more weeks. That will be more than enough to take care of the lightweights and the small level of improvement they have shown.
Without getting into the politics of international basketball, there is a point in saying that basketball effectiveness cannot be measured entirely by statistics.
Rasho didn't rebound the ball well last night (or ever, really, for that matter), but if you watched the game as it was played, you had to see that Rasho was fantastic as a defender on Yao. Yao managed only 14 shots -- which itself is an amazing number, given the iden ies of the other men occupying Rockets uniforms at the moment -- but that was because he was denied the ball on many possessions, by Rasho.
I think it's curious that when someone says "Rasho plays good defense," those who dispute that turn to statistics (like rebounds) but if someone were to say "Bowen is an overrated defender because he doesn't have numbers," the same chorus lambasting Rasho would come back with arguments about statistics being irrelevant. Rasho should rebound more for a guy of his size; but the fact that he doesn't rebound as much as he should doesn't mean he isn't a good pre-shot defender in the Spurs defensive scheme.
With all of that said, I suspect that Rasho will be a non-factor come playoff time, largely because the Spurs likely playoff matchups either don't create a need for what Rasho does well or make Rasho a huge liability. Particularly, with matchups against Dallas and (if everything goes well for the Spurs) perhaps Phoenix, Rasho has no place in those sorts of games. Against Dampier and Diop, the Spurs don't really need a positional defender, because neither will get the ball on the block to initiate the offense. Against Phoenix, Nazr's relative athleticism and his ability to grab offensive rebounds is a much greater asset than anything that Rasho brings. And, I think we saw on Christmas Day that should a matchup with Detroit occur, Rasho is completely outclassed by the Pistons' bigs.
Well put, some my question being--if Rasho is useless come playoff time what is he? A regular season rent a player?
He's a guy who is probably an above-average backup center. But he's also a guy who is quite useful against teams that have centers who can score.
If the Spurs were to somehow play the Rockets in the playoffs, Rasho would be crucial. In the last game the Spurs played against Miami, Rasho finally found some juevos and went toe-to-toe with Shaq. In situations like those, Rasho is immensely helpful, I think.
For what it's worth, the Spurs were +17 with Rasho on the floor last night and -11 with Nazr on the floor.
Why can't you accept what Duncan and Pop and all his teammates see when they defend him? They're professionals and see things a little clearer than even informed amateurs.
Is he the greatest defensive center ever? NO. The best defensive center the Spurs have ever had? NO.
Does the team have confidence in him? YES Have we won with him as the starting center? YES. Can we also accomodate the somewhat streaky play of NAZR? YES
i don't put much stock in those stats, a week ago against houston it was nazr +6 rasho 0. A much more telling stat is that in that game nazr played 26 minutes and did well against Yao while Rasho played just 14 and got 4 fouls in that time. the Slovenians were no where to be found after that game...
needless to say houston will not make the playoffs and unless miami beats detroit rasho well be planted on the bench come playoff time.
I love how haters can never prop a guy for even one obviously good night.
Haha...
We were found if you looked for us.
Coach Pop has a system and player can come and go without seriously damaging the system. Nesterovic was not needed that game with Nazr getting used of starting against a defensive big Yao's team. Rasho did indeed just the rotation.
I do not know who will be the starting center come playoffs. But now they are both capable of starting within the system. We just know Oberto will not be in the starting.
Barring an injury, I think we're pretty certain about who the starting center will be come playoff time -- the same guy who started 23 playoff games last year, and his name is not Rasho.
The point, though, is that there are times and matchups where Rasho's ability to defend, which is greater than might be evidenced by just his numbers, can be handy and might make a difference in terms of who the Spurs end up playing in Round 1.
I find the timing of this thread interesting when in the past 5 games, Pop has had the quick hook on Nazr's poor defense and benched him early and often for Rasho 4 of those games.
Lakers- Mihm was scoring at will- Pop sent Rasho in early in the first quarter to shut him down. Nazr lasted less than 2 minutes into the third quarter before he was on the bench again and Rasho was back in.
Houston- Yao went off with 9 early points and Rasho was in there early.
New Orleans/OKC- Marc JAckson started 4-4 and Rasho was already sitting at the scorer's table 4 minutes into this game. Nazr lasted 20 seconds of the third quarter before Rasho was back in.
Last night- Rasho came in to stop Yao again and Rasho even started the second half.
So- it isn't just about Yao and Shaq. If the Spurs end up the #1 seed- they could play the Lakers, Sacramento, or Houston in the first round. People forget that Rasho was big in Games 3 and 4 in Denver last year in the first round. Even if the Spurs are #4 and draw the Clippers, Nazr struggled big time trying to guard Kaman. Truth is- Nazr is fine if the other center really isn't much of an offensive threat, but if the center is a vital part of their offensive scheme, Nazr can't really defend them very well.
I thought I would add some quotes from Pop and Tim last night, in the interest of educating some of you:
Pop: "Yao's been the best center in the league for whatever period of time, and he had to work for everything he got tonight, mostly because of Rasho fronting him."
Tim: "It was huge for Rasho and for us."
Yeah, I think I will accept what Pop and his teammates think of him, over what some rank amateur thinks. It's pretty obvious that a lot of people tend to only look at points scored and rebounds gotten. People that don't understand the entire basketball concept will never appreciate a Rasho.
The rest of your post is right on also. I think we are indeed fortunate to have both to use in different situations. While neither will ever go to the HOF, they can certainly help us keep bringing those trophies home.
As a center, Rasho has to get rebounds. It's what he's getting paid to do. Play solid post defense and turn around and rebound the ball. Bowen, on the other hand, isn't supposed to really do anything that appears in the boxscore. Getting steals and blocks aren't what his defense is about.
Bowen has a long list of responsibilities defensively, as does Rasho. However, one of Rasho's main areas is rebounding, which he is not doing.
I do agree that Rasho played well against Houston. In the playoffs, there might be a series where he would be useful. If the Pistons get Flipped out of the playoffs, Rasho will be very nice to have against Shaq.
Basically, he's a modern day Will Perdue ... except not as good.
Perdue would rebound.
Exactly.
Rasho's arms are too short
His wingspan is 6 foot 9
i dunno
just tryin to bs more excuses as to why he doesnt rebound hhaha
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