GERALD HENDERSON.....and the bobcats

[CatNation1]

Not totally sure what he's done to add to his game this year to me it looks like the same things that made him ineffective last year are gonna be there this year. aka no range and inconsistent free throw shooting.

i mean, its a cool shot when the shot clock is running out and he goes in from mid range and does his Kobe 0.5 version fadeaway and drain it. But many of those shots wouldn't be necessary if Hendersons lack of range didn't bog down the offense and give us poor spacing.

basically Hendos game lends itself to inconsistency and he won't be a starter level NBA player till he decides to lock himself in the gym one summer and refuse to come out until hes a 35%+ 3pt shooter and an 85% ft shooter. until then his spot is Shabazz or Wiggins for the taking IMO

[gm in training]

top 20 is my expectations for gerald but with all feelings aside he's definitely a top 50 player. being a great defender alone puts a player in the top 100 , so if u add scoring 20 points w/ defense he is top 50 .

i've seen a few inconsistent comments ,but he's shot about 47 percent for the past 2 yrs and he's getting better . thats not inconsistent ? inconsistent is westbrook shooting 8-19 and the next 3 games about 4-22,5-18,6-21 or amare 10-18 with 10 rebs and the next game he scores 13 points and grab 4 rebs, or mark gasol cant even avg an double-double at 7-1 ,or danny granger who has for the last 3 yrs statically gotten worst every year and what all these players have in common their all in espns top 50. which i think is crap.

... and hendo's post game is hardly apparent let alone on par with Jordans or kobe's.

Hendo is a solid player and does a lot for the team but to say he could erupt for a 25PPG season is ridiculous, only 4 players in the NBA average 25PPG, Lebron ,Durrant, Kobe, and K-Love. The last two doing so relatively innefficiently.

With Batum his contract is a massive risk and SF's that play lockdown D and shoot the 3 and have elite athleticsm/upside are really hard to find.

Oh and btw look at how much OJ Mayo is earning, he's scored 17PPG in his sophomore season at a decent clip, he's a + player on D ,has far better ball handling skills than Hendo and is a 38% shooter from distance for his career. How much is he earning 4mil a year. I'll admit he's a steal at that price but I wouldn't be comfortable paying hendo much more than that unless he breaks out.

mayo was benched for allen because allen plays d, that something hendo does. allen plays within the teams concept something that hendo does. mayo shot 40% , hendo shoots 47 percent. mayo doesn't grab rebounds ,hendo does . mayo shot selection is very sporadic, hendo's is more controlled . i just looked at mayo preseason stats against barcelona and mayo shot 0-7 ,hendo will not do that against subpar talent...

ya keep mentioning a 3 ball ? if a player lets say a guard avg 25 points a game and he shoots 35% from 3 which is maybe lg avg . 35% is basically 2-5 give or take ,thats only maybe 2 3's a game thats only 6 points, so where does the other points come from ? maybe freethrows or maybe a post game , midrange shot,or transition? basically im saying who avgs 20+ by shooting 3's . only a few players where considered all-stars or hall famers based off shooting 3's so ...?

hendo game is simplified he doesn't make it harder than what it is , he doesn't make unnecessary movements or 3's. ppl downgrade his handle because he's not flashy but all hendo's moves are straight to point ,and i think ppl confuse the 2.

2011-12
batum avg 13.9 points, 4.6 reb, 1.4ast,1stl and 1 blks.
hendo avg 15.1 ,4.1 reb, 2.3 ast ,0.9 stl, and 0.4 blks.

hendo and batum are both G-F , hendo's and batums stats are slightly far off ,so your saying hendo is not worth batum's contract or more ,when hendo in yr 11-12 put up similar numbers ,so basically hendo could of made 40 mil last year with those stats but we all know hendo will eclipse those numbers in 12-13 for sure .so whats his value again? wow thats crazy that i had to literally break that down so that ya can understand hendo's value . by the way hendo is 24 and batum is 23.

[dav7z]

Hendo reminds me of the Gerald Wallace factor. Not because of their playstyles, cos niether plays that similar. Rather that G.Wallace was asked to be the no.1 guy on our team, and he struggled to do that. In that regard Henderson also struggles to be the no.1 guy. Scouts said he wasn't highly rated because he was an amazing scorer, but rather because of the all-round package. For the intangibles, leadership, strong defense, for his athletic ability and high Bball IQ. No doubt in college he did okay, but he didn't light up the scoreboard. 16 ppg isn't something you'll expect from the star player from Duke.

However, every year we've seem Henderson add notches to his bow, much like Wallace did. Every year you see him continue to add to his game, to refine other parts of it. Can he legitimately be a no.1 option? That's the key question. Do I think he can be a legit no.1 option? I can't tell. Two pre-season games in where we can see nothing but stats (maybe some can see the game). I'll come back to this thread halfway through the year after watching a good number of games and then I'll give my opinion.

Sure you can say, didn't you see the training camp videos or whatever. His shot looks more fluid, he's hitting 3's better than ever before. That's practice. Hendo has the ability to score on crappy defenders. Ellis's ass still hurts from the asswhooping he got from Hendo last season. But against a good defender, Hendo also tends to disappear and defer.

I looked at his usage rate from last year watching his games. He cannot take that next step until he takes more shots, and develops the ability to create his own shot. He did it to some degree last season to varying success. We should all remember his step back jumper to hit the lead.

That's not to say the pantry is empty for Hendo either to take that next step that his fans hope for. He's a co-captain now, so he must lead by example on that court. He has a responsibility to the team. He has a terrific first step and good athletic ability. Very solid from mid-range and improving 3 point range. Ball handling has improved and he does improve every off-season. And he has the belief that he can be an all-star. And a stronger offensive system that's more faster paced than the one Paul Silas used and which is more refined, which means more scoring in transition and more possessions. More easy scores off turnovers. Stronger offensive weapons around him. Mullens has range up to the 3 and is looking to post up more, Gordon can score at will sometimes. MKG is always a driving threat. Kemba can light it up when he can actually hit his friggin jumper. Sessions is a very solid distributer. Improved offense from Biz. That be said, that cast can also take away possessions from Hendo.

Can Hendo take that leap to 18,19,20 ppg? Maybe. But for now let's enjoy the all-round package that he delivers. And for the effort that he gives on both sides of the court. Let's leave this discussion until mid-season, then we can make that judgement call.

Finally, in our team no one is expendable. Except maybe MKG.

I think you hit on Hendo with the Wallace thing . The early years . Walace had to put up those numbers because he was all we had . Hendo is in that position with a supporting cast just starting to surond him . Still he should be the number 1 option for us hes the best this team has . MKG will get his with stuffing the whole stat sheet but not great in scoring. Then you got TT, Mully, Walker, no where close to Hendo .Gordon , [very inconsistant] a chunker who can score in bunches when on.But don't display a whole game. Sessions i don;t know much about but stats say hes not going to score big points. Then we have DIOP, Haywood, Smack, no threats thair on the offencive end. Carroll is just a little past prime. Higgins now might be a threat to become our number 1 option forgot about him sorry guys. See this is a role Hendo has to play good enough or not . No matter how bad you guys say he is . Hes the most consistant with the best all around game we have this season. Others might step up but right now its Hendos team ,,, even if we win only 7 games again . I hear all this neckitive talk about how bad Hendo is but i havn't hrard no one name any other Bobcat as our number 1 option . Just who do you prepose as our number 1 option . This should be instresting?

[CatNation1]

Nicolas Batum is a 58% TS efficiency scorer aka very highly efficient 14ppg which GMs take as meaning he has the capability/potential to handle a larger role in an offense, and thus is paid higher for that potential. if needed, Batum can probably give a team solid efficient 20 or more points per game.

Gerald Henderson is a 51% TS player, below average league efficiency while only netting you 16ppg. To a GM, that looks like a guy who got a lot of shots on a bad team. When looking at Gerald Henderson, a GM doesn't see a guy who's ready to handle a bigger load, or even a guy thats found his niche in the league..they see a guy who will probably need a smaller role to play to his best potential and that will play heavily into how much he is offered

If Henderson has a repeat performance of last season, a GM would have to be braindead to offer him Batum money, or anything close to it. At this point I'm starting to think Henderson will find his best success in the league as an 8-12 ppg role player for a good team. Which wouldn't be the worst thing ever for a 12th overall pick. Not everyone is a superstar...

[spectre]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/4617/gamelog

Inconsistent in that he doesn't bring it every game as far as him being the scorer that we need. In that chart he has a few 17=22 games but all thru it you'll see some 7-8 point games. A top 20 (or 50) player brings it almost every game.

[Chef]

ya keep mentioning a 3 ball ? if a player lets say a guard avg 25 points a game and he shoots 35% from 3 which is maybe lg avg . 35% is basically 2-5 give

except 2 for 5 is 40% which makes a player a much better 3 point shooter than a 35% shooter. a good gm pays attention to these percentages and pays players accordingly. you still need at least a few more weeks in training.

oh and batum isn't worth batum's contract. let alone hendo.

[dav7z]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/4617/gamelog

Inconsistent in that he doesn't bring it every game as far as him being the scorer that we need. In that chart he has a few 17=22 games but all thru it you'll see some 7-8 point games. A top 20 (or 50) player brings it almost every game.

noticed April was his best most consistant month last season . Indacating hes accepting the role hes being forced into. Who else would be our number 1 option as i asked in my last post with no answer . Just more reasons why he can't score 20 ppg??

[TheBeagle]

I don't think it's hate dav.

I just think some of y'all are being way too homer about Hendo's ability. He has no business being one of the 3 best players on any team. He'd make a good complimentary player on a great team, but he won't be leading us anywhere. And his production could more or less be matched buy guys who are available for a few mil every offseason.

I can't give you an official "thanks" because of the discrepancy between your thanks and mine, plus it's an assessment of Junior I've made many times before, but thank you for the post because it is right on.

He's just an incredibly average 2 guard, who, in a perfect world, would be a solid piece on a good team's bench, a la Senior.

[SWedd523]

noticed April was his best most consistant month last season . Indacating hes accepting the role hes being forced into. Who else would be our number 1 option as i asked in my last post with no answer . Just more reasons why he can't score 20 ppg??

We don't have one, and we'll continue to suck until we do (hopefully through a draft). Preferably Muhammad (replaces Hendo), Wiggins (replaces Hendo), or Parker (replaces Hendo)

[SWedd523]

I can't give you an official "thanks" because of the discrepancy between your thanks and mine, plus it's an assessment of Junior I've made many times before, but thank you for the post because it is right on.

He's just an incredibly average 2 guard, who, in a perfect world, would be a solid piece on a good team's bench, a la Senior.

Can't give me one? Let me send one your way!