Here Is A Bizzare Thougth

[George O'Brien]

On another thread I did a comparison of Crawford and Eisley. My point was to say how I was not impressed with a shooting guard who hits only 38.8% of his shots. But it got me thinking. Assuming the Suns can't unload him, maybe they should start Eisley.

It sounds bizzare and I guess it probably is, but it makes a weird kind of sense. No one wants to trade for a third string guard with a big contract - except maybe Danny Ainge. But if Eisley was a starter, he would look more valuable as long as he didn't stink the joint up.

In his last full year with the Knicks (2002-03), Eisley averaged 9.1 ppg on 41.7% shooting, he had 5.4 assists per game, 2.3 rebounds per game while averaging 27.4 minutes. These are not "knock your socks off" stats, but they aren't horrible.

He was much better in the 90's playing behind Stockton in Utah, but he was a legitimate starter with the Knicks. If Eisley could duplicate his NY numbers, it might work.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

The suns tried to play him big minutes, but he just sucked to much. He litteraly cost the suns a basket every time he touched the ball on offense. He tried to dominate it like Marbury, except he has like 1/5 the skill

 

[fordronken]

Hey, showcasing worked with Gugliotta. All we have to do is wait until Eisley is in the last year of his contract, then we can trade him away to a team under the cap(as long as we include a couple first round draft picks).

 

[sunsfn]

I think we may have gotten an injured Eisley. He had problems and did not play the last few games because of it.
I have watched this guy since he has been in the league and was quite surprised he looked so bad at times with the suns, it may have been the injury?? If he can play he is a veteran pg and the cost to get rid of him may be too high.

 

[Joe Mama]

I'm sorry George, but that is just a horrible idea. Howard Eiseley should be getting the veteran minimum, and every team in the NBA knows that. Allowing him to start will only cost the Phoenix Suns victory and their young guys valuable playing time.

Joe Mama

 

[George O'Brien]

I guess I find it curious just how much worse Eisley played here than through most of his career. Oh, he is grossly overpaid even for his best years, but unless he really was more injured than anyone knew, it is not unreasonable to assume he would play closer to his career averages than what he did this past winter. If he really is as bad as he looked this winter, I would expect him to be put on the IR for the next two years.

The big problem I had with Eisley was that he shot too much and rarely hit anything. His assists with the Suns were way down from what he did the first half of the season as he went from 4.7 apg in New York to only 3.4 apg in Phoenix playing similar minutes. Maybe he didn't know the offense but I think if he had focused on passing rather than shooting he might have been a big help.

BTW, for those people who want to bash D'Antoni, one thing I will say against Mike - he was not very good at reining in players like Eisley who were consistently clanking early offense jump shots. With Marbury he had the excuse that Stephon is a star. But Eisley should have been immediately yanked when he would start jacking up threes without any passes.