Remember when fans wanted to resign this guy? Looking at his numbers he seems to be the epitome of a good player on a bad team.
Not really sure about this... 1) They just had a seven game win streak and are 6th in the Western conference, so I'm not sure they qualify as a "bad team." 2) Once again Hickson is playing center, which I think is out of position for him, but he's averaging nearly a double double alongside Faried. I think he would have been a great backup big for us, but I'm happy with Robinson. I think he has a higher upside.
One of the biggest reasons why we're so much better this year, and why I think Aldridge is so much better, is because of Lopez. Still, I think Hickson would have been a really good player to have coming off the bench. Not sure if he would have gone for that though.
I was never on the Hickson bandwagon. He'd be good backup, but supposedly he didn't want that, and not for a reasonable price. The Blazers had no choice but to pass on Hickson to make other improvements to the team. And they did. Good move(s). No regrets.
I really don't think Neil gets nearly enough credit for his "soup kitchen" additions this summer. We got Lopez for cap space... that's just crazy. I bet we could easily turn around and trade him for something really good right now (not that we should.) We got Robinson for cap space and second rounders, and we won't know how that one turns out for a while, but I'm still very excited about the kid. I think he has some very promising talent. He just needs confidence and some overall development. I think he was probably taken too high in the draft, which made things more difficult for him.
If you watch Lopez on offense, a big thing you'll notice is he's always shoving somebody around. There were several plays last night where Aldridge or somebody else scored because Lopez was just flat out-muscling guys, jockying for position, screening underneath. Lopez somehow just gets more physically imposing every game. Hickson was a good bench guy. But he's one of those players that you don't want to rely on as a starter. He's too small to play C, and his rebounding/hustle/no-defense game doesn't fit well playing next to most starting centers. I could see him doing well next to maybe one of the Gasols or Brook Lopez, but after that it gets hard to see.
Hickson signed a reasonable contract with Denver knowing he was likely going to be coming off the bench. Robinson has more potential but if this is a magical year for the Blazers, I would rather have the experience of Hickson coming off the bench instead Robinson. Of course if Hickson would bring down team chemistry, it wouldn't be worth the trade off.
One thing that I really like about Lopez is that he gets the offensive rebound, and then immediately passes it back out. Hickson would pad his stats by getting the rebound and then missing a couple putbacks before either missing again or scoring. Robinson does this as well, to a degree, but he's not quite as bad. I would much rather have an offensive rebound kicked back out, unless it's a sure thing dunk.
"good numbers on a bad team" would at least apply to Hickson last season. His production and efficiency are both down this year on a better team than the Blazers were most of last season.
His numbers are down, but I'm willing to bet his rebounding is down because he's playing next to Faried.
Not sure I understand this need to trash a guy just because he's no longer on the team. He wanted to stay in Portland.
Is this the first time Lopez has been on a good team? I never really paid much attention to his career, but it seems like his game might be getting a boost by playing with better talent. Being around good players makes him try even harder? Just a thought.
because it's not really a thread that is trashing him, as much as it's a thread made to trash those who wanted to keep him. A "told you so" thread. I think you are correct, in the sense of what teams he's played for. how's that for a recovery?
