He's in Houston alot in the offseason. Does anyone know if he's a free agent? That would be a good pick up if we trade Francis to Orlando.
NNOOOO!!!! There's already a chance that McGrady's intangibles are heading towards team cancerville, he won't need a guy who has been stuck there since he ruined the most talented Laker team since Magic's teams. Bad Idea, I'd rather take Speedy Claxton. He has a home here and likes playing at the West Side Tennis Club, I don't think he's a free agent anyway...
Neither him or Francis will do, ballhogs, turnover kings, bad shot selections. That's just not very preferrable things found in a PG, especially on such an awesome defensive team. It's their sworn duty to handle some of the best shooters and some of the fastest people in the league if they would play against position. Qualities like that simply wouldn't cut it, they'd either lose the ball or have it taken away even more easily than a mediocre opponent without their handles or offensive abilities. Either way, someone like Barry is who I'd go for.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Magic Johnson:</div><div class="quote_post">Neither him or Francis will do, ballhogs, turnover kings, bad shot selections. That's just not very preferrable things found in a PG, especially on such an awesome defensive team. It's their sworn duty to handle some of the best shooters and some of the fastest people in the league if they would play against position. Qualities like that simply wouldn't cut it, they'd either lose the ball or have it taken away even more easily than a mediocre opponent without their handles or offensive abilities. Either way, someone like Barry is who I'd go for.</div> Ballhog? Turnover king? Bad shot selections? Nick shot only 479 field goals in 39 games, roughly giving him an average of 12 shots per game, which is not very much considering he did average 15.4 points per game out of those. Turnover king? Van Exel commits only 2 turnovers a game, better than Lebron James, Jason Kidd, Stephon Marbury, Sam Cassell, Steve Nash, and Mike Bibby. In fact, he isn't even in the top 50 in turnovers per game. I don't know what you're getting at, but I feel he is a top candidate for our PG position if he's avaliable.
^I agree....I've followed NVE's career and he's always one of the league leaders in assist-to-turnover ratios...far from francis who probably has the worst ratio amoung point guards EDIT: just to demonstrate my point.. Career Van Exel: 7.1 apg, <font color="Red">2.2</font> Tpg Francis: 6.4 apg, <font color="Red">3.7</font> Tpg
I think the Rockets could get him because he has already said that he wants to retire on a Texas team.But I wonder if he still has enough years in him to start as the Rockets pg,I think he would be better off the bench.
If we could get to sign him, we can then trade either Francis or Mobley for a good backup point guard/draft pick and a good power forward.
Please stop all this Brent Barry as the Rocket's starting point guard, who cares if he doesn't turn the ball over as much as Francis, nobody is worried about having to face Barry, there isn't a coach in this league who stays up at night thinking about how they're going to stop Brent Barry and every point guard in the league would be dreaming of a huge game because there hasn't been a Barry in history that plays decent defense. He does his thing, but it isn't anything to brag about and where ever he goes he won't get more than a mid-level exception (over paying mistake anyway) because all he is is an average player, injury prone and old average player to boot. He might hit a couple of open shots, make a couple of nice passes, but the Sonics drafted a point guard for a reason, and they aren't meeting his contract demands for a reason. They tried to make him a full time starting point guard and it didn't work, despite having all the offensive talent a point guard could hope for on that team. Right now I say bring him in, but not as a starting point guard even if Francis is traded, put him at shooting guard where he does his best and we'll be a better offensive team, off the bench of course. Jeff Van Gundy isn't starting anybody who can't play defense no matter how good their offense is, hello Maurice Taylor.
Nick Van Excel is a horrible point guard, period. Lets not forget the crap he pulled against Utah in the playoffs, 98 or 99 I think, he ruined the Lakers in that series. You guys need to stop looking at stat sheets, some dudes don't win despite wonderful stats, some dudes can't win unless they have great talent around them, some dudes can't lead a fish to water, some dudes kill team morale, none of those things show up on a stat sheet though, so watch the games, pay attention to the final scores. If a point guard is putting up great stats and his team is terrible, there's something wrong with the point guard...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting RocketLaunch:</div><div class="quote_post">Nick Van Excel is a horrible point guard, period. Lets not forget the crap he pulled against Utah in the playoffs, 98 or 99 I think, he ruined the Lakers in that series. You guys need to stop looking at stat sheets, some dudes don't win despite wonderful stats, some dudes can't win unless they have great talent around them, some dudes can't lead a fish to water, some dudes kill team morale, none of those things show up on a stat sheet though, so watch the games, pay attention to the final scores.</div> what the heck are u talking about? NVE has always been a great playoff player...Remember 95 when he took Gary Payton to school...how bout when he hit that running game winner against San Antonio (game 5 i think). Even recently, did u see his performances when he was a Mav...the man would be a great addition for the Rockets...
Ok what about 98 when he took more shots than anybody not named Shaq? That team was probably one of the most talented Laker teams, EVER, he ruined it for them, and he was traded because of that. Now that Maverick run was nice, but he wasn't their point guard... He was supposed to be a great addition to the Warriors to...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting RocketLaunch:</div><div class="quote_post">Ok what about 98 when he took more shots than anybody not named Shaq? That team was probably one of the most talented Laker teams, EVER, he ruined it for them, and he was traded because of that. Now that Maverick run was nice, but he wasn't their point guard... He was supposed to be a great addition to the Warriors to...</div> Do u mean the year where NVE put the team first and offered to give his starting job to D-fish? I thought he was very admirable in doing so. NVE didn't lose them the series...they just got beat by a more savy veteran team...
The guy couldn't get along with his coach, and thought he was bigger than everyone else on that team except for Shaq, he was traded out of there for who? That should tell you something... And I don't think he offered the starting PG spot either, I thought Harris was taking it away for a few games, don't remember it that well though.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting RocketLaunch:</div><div class="quote_post">And I don't think he offered the starting PG spot either, I thought Harris was taking it away for a few games, don't remember it that well though.</div> NVE gave his starting job to Fish...the media unfairly criticized him for that because they said giving your starting job away was a sign of "giving up", which i didn't think was the case...the team was playing well with Fish in the lineup, and NVE didn't want to disrupt anything...he does an admirable thing and gets ripped for it... You can say all u want about him, the fact is that he's a better "point guard" than Francis. The Rockets need someone who can protect the ball (unlike Francis) and if that means moving francis to the 2, then so be it.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting notMuchgame:</div><div class="quote_post">NVE gave his starting job to Fish...the media unfairly criticized him for that because they said giving your starting job away was a sign of "giving up", which i didn't think was the case...the team was playing well with Fish in the lineup, and NVE didn't want to disrupt anything...he does an admirable thing and gets ripped for it... You can say all u want about him, the fact is that he's a better "point guard" than Francis. The Rockets need someone who can protect the ball (unlike Francis) and if that means moving francis to the 2, then so be it.</div> Right, he was traded for a sack of rocks because he would always do the admirable thing and get ripped for it, no, but ok. The Rockets need more talent, they need some fowards that are better than average, they don't need a huge step backwards at point guard from a player who is the best scoring the basketball now a days and will play ZERO defense. He can make you a few baskets, maybe even important baskets, but when's the last time he made an important assist or made an important play? We all know it wasn't in Dallas, because that was Nash's job, his job was to score and that's it. That playoff run he had in Dallas was vastly overrated because the most important player on that team is always Nash not their scores, but it gave the Mavericks Jamison, they did good in ripping off the Warriors. Anyway, in summary, Van Exel's role from now on in any team he goes to will be to score, that's it, his playmaking days are long since passed.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting mikeisme713:</div><div class="quote_post">He's in Houston alot in the offseason. Does anyone know if he's a free agent? That would be a good pick up if we trade Francis to Orlando.</div> no...hes a nice scoring guard but he doesnt ADD anything...i think signing him would actually be a step BACKWARDS, i'd rather Wilks/Nachbar get more PT than for Van Exel to get minutes...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting RocketLaunch:</div><div class="quote_post">That playoff run he had in Dallas was vastly overrated because the most important player on that team is always Nash not their scores,</div> Did you actually watch those games when he was playing in the Playoffs with Dallas last year? Nash was NOT the most important player on the team at that point, Nick was. Look at his stats for the playoffs, 19.5PPG on only 33 minutes off the bench. He absolutely killed the Kings in every clutch play, and he was their go-to guy in the 4th. So tell me how Nash was the most important, because I don't see that. I like Nash a lot and all, but he isn't much better than Nick defensively either btw.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Phreeze:</div><div class="quote_post">Did you actually watch those games when he was playing in the Playoffs with Dallas last year? Nash was NOT the most important player on the team at that point, Nick was.</div> If the Mavericks thought he was as important as you think he was they wouldn't have traded him... All the guy did was score, the Warriors must of thought he was running the team to trade away Jamison for him, he wasn't, Nash was...
No not really, the Warriors also were looking to dump Jamison's big contract. They weren't happy with his play for as much as he was getting paid, and on Van Exel's contract there's a team option to get rid of him after next season. They also were looking to make room for the future counting on Mike Dunleavy. The Mavericks told Nick that he wouldn't be traded, but they went back on their word when they were offered Jamison. Mark Cuban is not one who cares for bad contracts, and he saw the young talent in Jamison and obviously jumped to the trigger.
I go with RocketLaunch on this one, Nash isnt a scorer, he runs the offence.. I dont care if NVE scored 50, without Nash, the Mavericks wouldnt get anywhere.. He shouldnt have to put up 20 points a game, but he can sometimes.. And not to get off subject, NVE would not be a good addition to Houston.. He needs a team where he can get some good minutes, but it cant be in Houston.. He would thrive in a run-n-gun team, like Dallas, but Dallas had Nash, putting Van Exel on the bench.. he would be a great addition to the Atlanta Hawks, because they are rebuilding there team, they can be one of the better teams in the East, if they play there cards right.
