Hi im new here but I just wanted to bring up this guy. I live in Syracuse and I watched hak for years. Last year in his rookie season I told a bunch of people on the forum i used to post ([red]Link Removed[/red]) on that he would be a great player someday. Everyone said he was tweener and couldn't amount to anything in the NBA. Now i wish I could brag on that forum( we had some pretty heated arguements). This tweener leads the Grizzlies in scoring and rebounding as a second year player, who barely played in his first year. IN his last game he had 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assits. What do you guys think? Is this a fluke? Will Warrick slow down or get even better? Will the Grizzlies give him significant minutes when Gasol returns.
The kid is a beast with tons of talent. He just needs to take all the athleticism and turn it into point consistently.
<div class="quote_poster">Stolen Vibe Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Hi im new here but I just wanted to bring up this guy. I live in Syracuse and I watched hak for years. Last year in his rookie season I told a bunch of people on the forum i used to post ([red]Link Removed[/red]) on that he would be a great player someday. Everyone said he was tweener and couldn't amount to anything in the NBA. Now i wish I could brag on that forum( we had some pretty heated arguements). This tweener leads the Grizzlies in scoring and rebounding as a second year player, who barely played in his first year. IN his last game he had 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assits. What do you guys think? Is this a fluke? Will Warrick slow down or get even better? Will the Grizzlies give him significant minutes when Gasol returns.</div> I love you. I was pretty bummed when the raps passed on Hak and picked Joey. I couldn't believe he fell that low. As for this season, look at the sig. Pau's injury imo could easily be a blessing in disguise. It'll give him a chance to actually play. And once he proves himself, it's going to be pretty much impossible not to give him mins . Even with Pau back.
<div class="quote_poster">rafy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I love you. I was pretty bummed when the raps passed on Hak and picked Joey. I couldn't believe he fell that low. As for this season, look at the sig. Pau's injury imo could easily be a blessing in disguise. It'll give him a chance to actually play. And once he proves himself, it's going to be pretty much impossible not to give him mins . Even with Pau back.</div> Joey Graham can posturize Warrick anyday.
<div class="quote_poster">hustler Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Joey Graham can posturize Warrick anyday.</div> shucks oh boy, i wish. If only he'd stop getting those pesky offensive fouls.
The Helicopter owns. I have to admit, I didn't think he would amount to much in the NBA, but he's showing me otherwise this year. In the new age of the NBA, Gay-Warrick-Gasol should matchup very well with other teams embracing the small lineups.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Hi im new here but I just wanted to bring up this guy. I live in Syracuse and I watched hak for years. Last year in his rookie season I told a bunch of people on the forum i used to post (Link Removed) on that he would be a great player someday. Everyone said he was tweener and couldn't amount to anything in the NBA. Now i wish I could brag on that forum( we had some pretty heated arguements). This tweener leads the Grizzlies in scoring and rebounding as a second year player, who barely played in his first year. IN his last game he had 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assits. What do you guys think? Is this a fluke? Will Warrick slow down or get even better? Will the Grizzlies give him significant minutes when Gasol returns.</div> First of all, welcome to JBB. I hope you stick around! As for Warrick, I wouldn't call his early play a "fluke," yet I wouldn't be getting ready to call the kid an All-Star any time soon. You have to take a lot of factors into consideration when discussing his early success. Most importantly, the Grizzlies are just a shell of the team they were last season. The team got rid of Shane Battier and Lorenzen Wright expecting to still be able to run their offense through Gasol in the post, so they didn't sign any free agent big men. That meant that when Gasol did actually go down, they had no roster space for signing any other big men and were pretty much forced to play Warrick serious minutes. A lot of people know that's the case, but what most people don't realize is that Fratello never changed his playbook from last season, so most of the Grizzlies' plays still run through the four spot: the side screen and roll, high screen and roll, the elbow screen with a four-option, the turn four fist punch, the turn four, the turn out to post play, and lastly, the vplay. I could describe all of those plays in detail, but basically, the end result in all of those plays is a shot by the team's four, which would usually be Gasol but this season is Warrick. So while you have more talented players on the wing like Mike Miller, Eddie Jones, and even Rudy Gay, they're not going to get as many good looks as Hakim Warrick. Now, a lot of you might point out that Mike Miller has actually gotten more shot attempts than Warrick this season, but that's actually a product of the offense being run through Warrick, because in all of those plays, the direction the offense takes is essentially left up to him. It becomes his choice whether to pass to Jones on the wing, give the ball to Atkins on the cut, or take his defender one on one. In this system, pretty much any four will put up great stats, but that doesn't mean they're succeeding. That is rather measured by wins and losses, and right now the Grizzlies are only 1-2 running their offense through Warrick, with their only win coming against the Charlotte Bobcats. So with that said, I expect Warrick's statistics to remain about the same as they are now in regards to points and assists until Gasol comes back, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's as talented as Gasol unless he starts helping them win ball games like Gasol did. Also, as far as statistics go, I don't expect his rebounding numbers to stay as high as they are. He's been able to average eight rebounds per game up to this point just because of being on the floor for nearly forty minutes every game. Ultimately, his lack of size is going to catch up with him on the boards.
^ Wow, that seems like such a huge oversight for an NBA head coach. Did he actually believe that Hakim could fill that void or was he just lazy/stupid? And, btw rafy, I doubt Warrick gets MIP. Usually second or third year players don't get it, if they're following a natural progression.
<div class="quote_poster">Chutney Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">^ Wow, that seems like such a huge oversight for an NBA head coach. Did he actually believe that Hakim could fill that void or was he just lazy/stupid? And, btw rafy, I doubt Warrick gets MIP. Usually second or third year players don't get it, if they're following a natural progression.</div> I can't get into coach Fratello's head, but I'd guess that his refusal to change is just stubborness. He's run the same system since he first came to Memphis, regardless of lineup changes. He even ran pretty much the same system back in his days with the Cavaliers, and that's ultimately what led to him getting axed. He's just not that adaptive or creative of a coach.
Yeah I mean on the forum that shutdown I had some pretty heated arguements over Warrick when I said he would turn out ok. Everyone was all high on Joey Graham being the better pick than Warrick and that Warrick could only dunk. Well he is proving the doubters wrong.
Good to see Warrick playing well now that he's getting his chance. With him and Rudy Gay, they've got a couple of real athletic forwards who are going to cause some headaches for defenses.
Is Warrick's ball handling ability and jumper good enough to play the 2 this season? I see Warrick as more of a lanky swingman than a power foward, but I'm glad to see him play well nonetheless.
<div class="quote_poster">asdf Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Is Warrick's ball handling ability and jumper good enough to play the 2 this season? I see Warrick as more of a lanky swingman than a power foward, but I'm glad to see him play well nonetheless.</div> No way. He's a stretch to even play the three. His ballhandling and jumper are his two biggest weaknesses. He is sort of out of a position because his game isn't necessarily based on any skillset but rather raw athleticism, but putting him out on the wing would just leave him vulnerable.
<div class="quote_poster">Chutney Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> And, btw rafy, I doubt Warrick gets MIP. Usually second or third year players don't get it, if they're following a natural progression.</div> I just mean that his stats are going to balloon. Even if he doesn't get the award, I can see him just having a breakout year.
<div class="quote_poster">rafy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I just mean that his stats are going to balloon. Even if he doesn't get the award, I can see him just having a breakout year.</div> Can't disagree with that.
First off, thanks VC for telling us what's going on, next Warrick can't cover more physical, stronger guys like Boozer. Sure he's getting good stats, but he's getting owned on the other end by bigger guys. Didn't David Lee get most of the rebounds on opening night against Warrick? Looking at the boxscores, most of the rebounds are on offensive end from the long misses I bet from the perimeter players. Against Sheed, he only got 6 rebounds while Sheed got 13 on the defensive end, 4 of the 6 were on the offensive end for Warrick. Then Warrick got 3 against Chuck Hayes, Hayes had 1, 6 OFF, 5 DEF. I've noticed that Warrick doesn't get many DEF rebounds, mostly offensive, so he's either jumping really high or getting the long rebounds. Then on the defensive side, he's probably getting pushed around or not boxing out enough. He's going to be an ok player I guess down the road, he just too skinny IMO.
