House Signs With Nets

[George O'Brien]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/sports/epaper/2006/08/12/a9c_heat_0812.html

House signs with Nets
By Andrew Abramson

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Former Miami Heat guard Eddie House passed on a potential opportunity to rejoin the team, agreeing to a one-year, $1.5 million deal with the New Jersey Nets.

House averaged 9.8 points per game last season for the Phoenix Suns, the second highest total of his career. He also made 123 three-pointers.

Though the Heat might be looking for help at shooting guard, House believes he will get more playing time with the Nets. House last played with the Heat in 2002-03.

"He loves Pat Riley and he loved playing for Riley, but with the Heat roster the way it is, he thought it was a better fit for him going to the Nets," said House's agent, Mark Bartlestein, who added that he didn't have any in-depth talks with the Heat about specific contract terms.

The Heat, ranked 12th in the NBA in three-pointers made, has few options at shooting guard. Gary Payton made it clear he would like to rejoin the team. Shandon Anderson is a free agent, and Derek Anderson could seek a buyout because of lack of playing time.

 

[boisesuns]

I don't think we would bring him back anyways.

 

[arthurracoon]

hope he does well

 

[George O'Brien]

I'm glad it worked out for Eddie. He did some good things for the Suns, but he really needs to play off the ball and should get more chance to do that with the Nets.

 

[jbeecham]

If Derek Anderson gets a buyout from the Heat, is there any intrest in bringing him in as a backup SG/SF for cheap? I'd take him over Cowpieski any day.

 

[George O'Brien]

Derek Anderson has not been healthy, but overall his stats leave me cold. He is career 40.8% shooter from the field and 33.9% for three (his stats were worse this past season).

If I was going to gamble on an athletic guy with limited shooting skills, I'd be more interested in Jumaine Jones who is a lot bigger with better stats.

 

[Mainstreet]

I really liked Eddie House and never doubted his effort.

I wish him well and thank him for his contributions to the Suns this past season.

Go Eddie.

 

[cly2tw]

how about adding shandon anderson to our roster? he is a very good defender back with the jazzs and reasonable 3-pt shooter. what has become out of him later anyway?

 

[George O'Brien]

how about adding shandon anderson to our roster? he is a very good defender back with the jazzs and reasonable 3-pt shooter. what has become out of him later anyway?

It's been a long time since he was with the Jazz. He spent two seasons in Houston and three in New York before spending the last two in Miami. It appears his contract was bought out in New York but still is on their books for cap purposes. He signed with the Heat and is on their books for $2.5 million this season.

Shandon is a career 31.6% three point shooter who shot only 26.3% for three last year and just 17.9% for three the year before.

 

[Errntknght]

It will help Eddie, offensively, to play SG but if he has to defend SGs he's going to be giving too much height. Maybe the Nets will be a good place for him since Kidd can switch with him on the defensive end.

I really think Eddie needs to stay out of the limelight because once he got lots of press for his scoring binges here teams started playing him tight - and nothing hurts his shooting like being closely defended.

 

[George O'Brien]

It will help Eddie, offensively, to play SG but if he has to defend SGs he's going to be giving too much height. Maybe the Nets will be a good place for him since Kidd can switch with him on the defensive end.

I really think Eddie needs to stay out of the limelight because once he got lots of press for his scoring binges here teams started playing him tight - and nothing hurts his shooting like being closely defended.

I agree with this issues of having Eddie play with Kidd. Matching Eddie with either Leandro or Steve was never effective on the defensive end.

However, I think Eddie could really thrive in the right environment because he is so good coming off screens and picks due to his quick release.

 

[Bada0Bing]

It will help Eddie, offensively, to play SG but if he has to defend SGs he's going to be giving too much height. Maybe the Nets will be a good place for him since Kidd can switch with him on the defensive end.

I was thinking the same thing. Kidd is a big PG, so he should be able to guard the opposing SG. He'll still struggle with quick PG's, but not nearly as much as he does against the bigger SG's. I think NJ is a great fit for him.

 

[Louis]

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060818/SPORTS/608180445/1002

House said he was offered a lesser contract to return to the Suns, but felt their signing of guard Marcus Banks would lessen his playing time. He anticipates being "held accountable for your mistakes" with the Nets, which he said was not always the case with the Suns.

"In Phoenix, sometimes guys weren't held accountable," House added. "It was more to outscore the other guys than to stop them. Jersey is more of a defensive-minded team."

It's a little pot calling the kettle black situation for sure. But Eddie raises a sound point.

 

[sly fly]

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060818/SPORTS/608180445/1002



It's a little pot calling the kettle black situation for sure. But Eddie raises a sound point.

Wow. Can't believe Eddie would slap his former team. I can't count how many times Eddie was tormented.

I've seen 8th-grade ballers with better handles than him.

 

[F-Dog]

It's a little pot calling the kettle black situation for sure. But Eddie raises a sound point.

They didn't have the depth to hold guys accountable. The worst offender on defense was Tim Thomas, and what were they going to do with him?


Anyway, there are two ways IMO that you can take that comment:

1. sucking up to his new team--he can't say much about the Nets' offense compared to the Suns, so that only leaves one area; or

2. making a veiled complaint about PT, in which case he's saying they should have used a quick trigger for Barbosa, which is stupid.

 

[Louis]

To a certain extent I agree. I think it's a veiled attempt at taking a jab at Barbosa. It's quite obvious that Barbosa/Nash paired together spelled trouble defensively for the Suns but punched up the offense another notch.

But House may also serve a point, James Jones seen his PT suffer tremendously after getting injured which coincided with Tim Thomas' acquisition.

But Jones continued to play solid defense, rebound, and give full effort to no avail. Instead his time dipped and the Suns instead relegated themselves to trying to outgun their opponents in the POs.

--------

If you haven't read the full article take a peek. House goes on to suggest that he has more skill than being a shooter. I only hope his verbage on the Suns isn't he suggesting he can play defense.

 

[nowagimp]

They didn't have the depth to hold guys accountable. The worst offender on defense was Tim Thomas, and what were they going to do with him?

Eddie house defended the '2' position(or the '1') worse than Tim Thomas defended the 4 or 5. Thomas even had one game where he helped limit nowitski to 11pts, a playoff low for Dirk. You can say Dirk had a bad day, but he wasnt shooting 3's, he was attacking the basket against the suns. Eddie couldnt even get his shot off or pass the ball effectively, so he was also an offensive liability in the playoffs. Guys like quinton ross, magette, livingston, stack, devin harris could score 30 a night against eddie. Because of matchups and an inability to get off his shot, DAntoni was afraid to play eddie in spite of the short bench.

 

[Errntknght]

Louis, "But Jones continued to play solid defense, rebound, and give full effort to no avail. Instead his time dipped and the Suns instead relegated themselves to trying to outgun their opponents in the POs."

I'm not knocking James Jones but you cannont compare his defense to TT's in the playoffs because they didn't defend the same players. We didn't see JJ against guys like Brand and Nowitski, who TT defended frequently and did as well as any of his teammates against them. I don't recall D'Antoni even matching JJ up against Maggette or Josh Howard. I know JJ is much better than Tim when it comes to team/help D but you can't say he defends better overall when the coach has to be so careful who he gives him as a primary defensive assignment while he gives TT the toughest jobs.

Its not even the case that JJ did significantly better rebounding than TT in the playoffs - their rebounding rates were almost identical - .204 for JJ vs .198 in rebounds per minute. JJ did rebound much better in the playoffs than he did in the regular season - thankfully, because he was well below average for small forwards before the postseason.

You can say that playing TT over JJ meant D'A was merely trying to outscore the opponents, if you like, but it looked to me like he was doing what he thought gave us the best chance to win. If anything, philosopically, he trying to force the opponents into small lineups they didn't want to play - and it worked well against the Clips.

 

[Louis]

No comparisons were being made 'tween JJ and TT. Just that his PT took a hit when he got hurt which was also when TT arrived.

I'm glad the Suns weren't able to dump JJ as rumored. I think he is going to be a very solid bench player for years to come. And at his contract is a bargain by NBA standards.

JJ deserved more time. He played many 20-30 minute games during the season. And his inconsistent PT seemed to correlate to his inconsistent shooting (although I'd bet his nagging injury contributed more).

Maybe D'Antoni is just more comfortable shortening up the bench as most teams do PO time?

Take a look at http://probasketball.about.com/gi/d...n=probasketball&zu=http://www.hoopsstats.com/

Notice the minutes played per game drastically drops when it goes from Barbosa to JJ.

 

[cepstrum]

If D'Antoni held people accountable for defensive mistakes, Eddie would have never played. He should thank his lucky stars that D'Antoni doesnt do that instead of criticizing. Ungrateful prick...

 

[George O'Brien]

If D'Antoni held people accountable for defensive mistakes, Eddie would have never played. He should thank his lucky stars that D'Antoni doesnt do that instead of criticizing. Ungrateful prick...

Eddie did some good stuff and then lost out in the way the rotation worked. He's probably unhappy that the Suns went out and got a PG, but it should be remembered: Eddie was the one who opted out of the contract and not the Suns.

He may have a point that the Suns did not focus enough on defense. That's not news. The idea that playing Eddie more would have helped their defense == that's not news, that's fantasy.

 

[sunsfn]

I am surprised that Eddie House would have any reason to criticize the suns. He is the one to opt out of his contract, and because D'Antoni played him and gave him a chance to show his offense is the reason he may have received another contract. After all he played for 3 teams the year before that obviously did not want him back. This talk of going back to Miami I think, was just that, all talk. He had a chance for a ring with them and did not go there. I liked Eddie House but do not like players that criticize after they leave.

P.S. regarding James Jones, he is, Junior=JR not JJ. His request, not mine.