Actually, he only shot poorly in his first 7 games of the season, he's been shooting well most of the year, since the beginning of December. His pre and post all-star shooting percentages are almost the same.
Reggie Bullock is exactly what you'd want in a 12th/13th man. I mean this sincerely. If he can return next season and repeat the same, he's definitely worth a cool million to the Rockets IMO.
He is a smart guy. Just do your job and be a pro and you are going to play 10+ years with his skillset. I look at Ben McLemore, and it reminds me of all the dumbasses that didn't grab a few extra million dollars by simply being an adult.
I endorse this statement. He's definitely someone that should be brought back and has value to plug in as a shooter in situations, or as a backup you can trust if there are a ton of injuries. Boban on the other hand, has no purpose on the bench, and I think they should just move him to an assistant coach or player development role if he's that valuable to the locker room. This draft has a decent amount of 7 footers the Rockets can take a big swing at and park in the Valley next season, or take Boban's spot on the bench. I'd much rather see a gamble in the draft on a 7 footer to groom for the future, and punt on a 6 ft 5 "shooter" project in the draft, and instead just have Bullock on the bench for those spot minutes.
People are really debating the merits of a vet min signing lol. Whether we keep him or not it doesn't matter guys like Bullock are a dime a dozen. IMO Nate Williams does what he does on the court anyway, but Bullocks is a solid vet presence and he's an enforcer type so if there's no one better mighht as well bring him back.
Me thinks you haven’t been watching Bullock on defense lately. He locked down Paolo Banchero a few plays last game, Nate isn’t doing that. He had a rough start to the season but if who he is, is the guy we’re seeing now, sign me up. Same for Jock Rock.
We don't know what Nate can do he doesn't get any playing time. He balled out and outplayed Bullock in SL and in preseason so if Bullock is good now with reps then Nate would have been even better.
Easily worth that too. I'd also argue Tate/Landale/Jeff are worth their 7-9 million per deals as end of bench, injury insurance, hustle guys in practice guy. The cap is projected to be at 141 million next season, so everybody has to adjust their value radar. It's okay for the end of our bench to have a little quality and not be all G-league vet minimums, for where this team currently is at least.
Right, WE don’t know. The coaching staff does because they know what’s going on behind closed doors. Bullock is seeing important minutes on the court in games, Nate isn’t. I’m not sure our knowledge of Nate is as relevant or reliable as the coaching staff’s. I’m pretty sure Bullock playing late in close games is a sign we can read and understand. Coaches like him. Coach doesn’t have the same opinion about Nate, otherwise we’d see it.
I think it's fine. It's why I get cranky when people complain incessantly about Dillon the Villain making $20mm - in a world where the salary cap has doubled it's a perfectly reasonable# for an all defense caliber starter who's not unplayable on offense
I’d bring Bullock back. It’s really going to depend on how some other things shake out. We have three free agents in Boban, Bullock and Holliday. I expect us to draft one player and sign someone with the MLE. That only leaves one remaining roster spot. If we make a trade that brings back one more player than we send out, that spot is gone. If we draft someone like Knecht, there’s probably not a need to bring him back. So, I think there’s a high probability he’s gone, but I’d welcome him back if there’s a spot and a need.
Unless we make some big multiple of our players for just one or two players types of trades, I don't think Boban comes back. I'm glad we've had him for these two seasons though, he's been a lot of fun to have on the squad Steven Adams will bring good energy to the locker room in his stead though
In his case the not unplayable on offense over the duration of his contract is questionable. This season he was fine, but this was a career year for him offensively, if he regresses to his means of a 51TS% + higher FGA's I think people will continue to feel irked by his contact. I'm hoping for the best of course, but won't be surprised if he doesn't keep this up.
Like I said in another thread, his contract actually declines in value over the 4 years so that he's making $3m less in year 4 than he was in year 1. Basically his salary as a % of the salary cap will go down even if it just stays the same, which it won't, it's likely to go up again. Not including hte guys on rookie deals or the guys on expiring or team options, he's as tradable a contract as you get. I mean the way people talk, you'd expect some kind of 'bottom fall out" Amen Thompsonesque 3 point shooting year from him. That's never happened and doesn't seem likely to happen, he's 2% above his career average this year, seems like we just know who he is at this point, a guy who's going to shoot in the mid 30's - which is about what you need to remain playable on offense on elite teams.
I'm fine with Holiday returning too if he's satisfied with hardly ever playing. He's like a 6'0 PG version of Bullock. I also think he's a Udoka type of player and probably enjoys him as coach. Problem is, he's only 27 and may have higher expectations for himself (and his earnings). But also like Bullock, if he leaves, no biggie.
Bullock makes me cringe every time we have to rely on him for big minutes but he's not a bad player for the role we have him in - its just he gets exposed a bit more the more we have to roll him out to higher level players as foul trouble/injuries to better players force our hand. Bullock does vet things - he communicates, he generally knows where to be on the court. He's just not as effective at this point in his career as most of the first 7 or 8 guys in a team's rotation but getting outplayed by a better player is preferable to making mistakes that allow lesser players to be more effective. I mean generally that's the secret sauce of vet teams with a bunch of past their prime buyout guys sitting on the bench - they force you to beat them by limiting both offensive and defensive mistakes and force your team to outplay them....so Bullock isn't too exciting of a player but he serves an important purpose here and for the vet min, he's a good guy to have to call into duty as needed and a good guy to expose and teach younger players in practice. As someone said earlier - Bullock is just a professional and every player on that roster needs to learn to have the floor of a professional if nothing else - you may be a star one day, but before that you gotta learn to play smart mistake free basketball and if you can do THAT you will have a long career in any case.
