I think Maris will get over his infatuation when he sees Miller running a lot more than any PG we've had in a long, long time. Miller is basically a really, really competent version of Sergio, but with more size, rebounding and post up game.
Jeez. You guys are easy to rile up. No one believes Sergio is/was the key to our team, or anything. Hell, I'm certain even Maris is just pulling legs with his off-the-wall comments. However, I (and a few other Blazer fans) do believe that he can be a legitimate player in the league. But, there is no denying that Nate messed with his game by trying to make him into something he's not.
Lame. I meant half court PG, whose creativity and skills were not properly utilized. There is considerable doubt whether trying to force his game into something it isn't would have actually helped him in the future, but there is no doubt that he was out of his comfort zone (which indirectly led to him sucking here).
All I can see is an up and down 2nd unit to where he dishes all day.. because he sure couldnt be a scorer in it. Basically the way I see it is, the players need to fit the scheme, not the coaches fit the players (unless we are talking someone of Kobe's Lebron's MJ's Shaq.. etc's stature, which Sergio obviously isnt) His lack of Defense and lack of a jump shot led to him sucking here... if he could have done one of those two then he would have been playing.
Rasheed Wallace played well for Portland and so he was missed. Sergio had flashes of good play but overall he kind of sucked for Portland. He will not be missed as much. I think it would be cool if he got some real run for the Kings just to see how he would do on a team that didn't give a damn about defense and ran like hell. PW is probably the only coach outside of MD that Sergio would have a chance to successful with. If he can't get it done for Sac Town he should head back to Europe.
I really do hope the best for Sergio. He was a blast to watch when he was on, but unfortunately couldn't get enough minutes to have any sort of consistency. He just wasn't the right point for this team, and I hope he is for the Kings.
He was given 1225 minutes and started 13 games last season. How much more time is needed to determine whether, or not, he sucks? He played in 80 games last season, his 3rd with the team, and averaged over 15 MPG. It's not like he was buried on the end of the bench. If you can't prove your worth getting 15 MPG on a nightly basis, maybe there is nothing worth proving. BNM
As I said, he showed flashes but wasn't consistent. With more minutes may have come consistency, but the team didn't have the minutes to give him just to hope that he would. As such they traded him away to a team that can.
The only way to really give him more minutes would have been to make him the starter - which he clearly didn't deserve. Sergio is no Jermaine O'Neal. He had plenty of opportunities to showcase his talents in Poertland and failed miserably to show any improvement in his shooting, tunrover rate or defense. As a 3rd year player he was no better (worse actually) than he was as a rookie. When a 3rd year player is still making the same rookie mistakes and has shown no improvement in his game, it's time to cut him loose. I for one wish him no ill will, but I'm glad he's no longer on our roster - but them I place a high value on protecting the ball and playing defense. After 3 seasons and over 2700 minutes of NBA playing time, Sergio is still exceptionally bad at both. BNM
I apologize, but I can't ever resist posting a great example of Sergio's defense... [video=youtube;bTuojB41iU8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTuojB41iU8[/video]
OK, at this point you just qualified for a trip to the rubber room for 60 days. Boys, put the net over him and take him away!
It was a beautiful takedown of his opponent, caused a Rocket's turnover, may have aggravated Yao's leg injury, and he wasn't called for a foul. Defense worthy of Rodman or Artest. Go ahead and laugh (at Yao I guess ), but it's sad that last year our backup PG was the only player man enough to not run away and cry when facing Yao. Had he played in the playoffs we wouldn't have gotten whipped so embarassingly. Who played defense for us in the playoffs? Oh, that's right, nobody.
I guess that explains all those DPOY vote Sergio racked up. What a cunning defender, cleverly disguising a deliberate take down as clueless incompetence to avoid getting called for the foul. Of course he didn't. He was too busy running around trying to find his man. BNM
Please. I will Sergio the best, I think most of us do. But he is going to be a back up on a very bad team. Only someone silly enough to believe in astrology can think the "stars are aligning" for anything great. Sort of like how Sergei Monia, Viktor Khryapa, Qyntel Woods, Bonzi Wells, Zach Randolph, Alvin Williams were all going to be superstars once they got away from Portland?
At this point we've seen enough of Sergio to know he isn't going to be a star NBA PG. No coach could hold a good player down that much, even if he tried, which obviously no one has. But I can still enjoy watching him play -- if he does -- when he's clicking with his teammates and feeding them the ball for open shots. It's not a stretch to acknowledge that certain players don't play their best with certain coaches or certain teammates. What I don't understand is people literally hating someone and calling him a piece of shit simply because it turns out he's not as good a basketball player as we'd hoped he'd become.
I disagree with the bold, but completely agree with the last sentence. In the season Steve Nash turned 25 (his third in the league), he shot 36% from the field while playing, well, Nash-level defense and an A/TO lower than Sergio's. I'm pretty sure you could've said "At this point, we've seen enough to know that Nash will never be a star NBA PG". I'm not saying that Sergio = Nash, but he does have an elite skill that is not commonplace in the NBA, while being poor in two aspects of the game (shooting and defense) that can be worked on. While being 2 years younger than Nash was before his transformation. Again, I'm not saying he's Nash, or even close. I am saying that a guy who was a pretty servicable starter when Blake went down, while being 23 (iirc) and possessing an elite NBA skill, isn't kick-out-of-the-NBA material. He doesn't fit our team, maybe will never improve, but you can't pronounce him done just yet, imho.
