I'm not too worried about it. He's good enough to sit at the end of the bench and only play in blow outs. Cheaper than Roberts, so that's a plus.
Jeez. Why bother. Couldn't we have just picked up another D-Leaguer and saved Paul a couple of bucks?
Impressed so far. I haven't followed his NBA career but I did watch him in college and he was a big game player. Maybe the freedom to be aggressive that Stotts gives players is all he needed. Could he break into the rotation? I don't see why not. CJ/Dame not having to play as many minutes can't be a bad thing.
He basically carried that UCONN team to the title game as 9 seed or something and won the title with them. One of the great tourney runs ever.
Hope he gets a good chunk of playing time in the preseason. It will be sweet if pulled a fast one on Miami.
I wished we had kept Roberts, but Napier looked good in the 1st pre-season game...a lot better than he did in summer league. It's important to have a 3rd stringer that can score to protect your blow wins. Remember when the bench was so bad that they blew a 20 point lead in like 4 minutes?
Remember when the Spurs would take our reheated leftovers and turn them into solid rotation players seemingly overnight? I wonder if Orlando Magic fans are getting a taste of that feeling.
Yeah, they just gave up Harkless for nothing. I liked him immediately and didn't understand why Stotts would take him out of the rotation periodically. And Harkless' 3pt shot has been looking pretty good lately too.
Small sample size, but I watched him in person first preseason game, and I was so impressed, I could see him possibly becoming our solid backup point guard allowing CJ to be strictly shooting guard. Im still not the biggest fan of him playing PG with Dame out. I don't think CJ has enough options on the court when he is ball handling and Dame is out. I know ET is supposed to subsidize this, but I was not impressed by his PG plays, tossing balls into the back court. I know there is an adjustment period, but both guys are new to the roster and Napier outplayed ET big time. Is that possibly because ET has much heavier weights on his shoulders based on his salary? Napier was quick and steady in traffic and has a really nice looking shot. I see him having an impact from the bench this season and becoming a regular rotation....if he can maintain that play.
I think it was an NO nudging honestly. I think NO really sees something or saw something in Vonleh and kept telling Stotts to give the time to Vonleh. Not agreeing or disagreeing, it was clear last season, they both needed a bit of grooming from thier early season stints, but it sure looks like Hark has moved much further along in the same amount of time.
I think getting Napier as our 3rd (or 4th) string PG was a calculated move by Neil and Terry to help Dame improve his defense. Dame needs someone to challenge him in practice. Roberts was too passive and Frazier was too buddy buddy with Dame to go at him hard in practice. Napier may not have starter level talent, but he has starter level confidence. He doesn't seem like the type to back down from anyone. If he forces Dame to work harder on defense in practice, hopefully that will carry forward into the games. Dame has said improving his defense has been a focus. Now he has someone to push him in practice to see what works and what he still needs to improve. Lets' face it, with Dame, C.J. and Turner all getting big minutes and capable of playing the point, we really didn't need another PG for game situations. Napier is a practice player and anything he gives us in the games will be gravy. BNM
Great points... except, based on what I saw in the first preseason game, we are better off with the ball in his hands than ET.
