Could Hedo Be the New Manu?

[Doc]

Doug jokes about it, but it could work. At least for the rest of this season it would appear as though Jay will start Weems instead of Hedo, but having our secondary unit consisting of 3 former starters I think makes us that much stronger and more well balanced. I think the proof is in the pudding too seeing how well this team has performed in the last couple games.

Thoughts?

The new Manu?

Not quite. But we were goofing with Hedo after the game that Sixth Man of Year might be something he’d like to consider.

“It’s too late for that, huh? Not enough games for that.”

But he, and you, should get used to it because I can’t see them going away from Weems for the rest of this season. And it seems everyone’s quite okay with that.

Turk, a pre-game media session, said he’s got no problem with the decision, Jay likes the athleticism the new lineup brings and there’s no way they should change it in the next nine games.

Actually, no one should be at all surprised at Hedo’s reaction.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over this season is that his default position is to laugh and joke and smile. It’s not that he isn’t upset or angry or disappointed in his effort but his immediate reaction to anything is to smile and laugh. It’s his character and it’s not going to change at this point in his life.

It may not fit the prototypical personality we like in our athletes, he doesn’t slam the ball to the floor or act disgusted or give the greatest angst-filled quotes. But it’s who he is and that’s got to be accepted.

Now, as a backup? Well, it’s not like he’s going to come into games and energize them or up the tempo or get the crowd roiling but he looked last night like a pretty solid second-unit guy.

And Jay made an interesting point before the game: When things were going well, Hedo, Jarrett and DeRozan were the starting backcourt. Now, they play together as a second unit and that can’t be all that bad.

If you look at the minutes distribution last night - Hedo at 28, Jarrett at 23 and DeMar at 20 – that’s not bad and I imagine that’s what we’ll see the rest of the way.

Source - Click here

[Apollo]

A $50M bench player... Must be nice having that sort of money to throw around.

[mo-sales]

About two months too late to save the season or Bosh from leaving.

Teams bench players all the time for underachieving, not giving thier all or being out of shape. I would much rather pay Hedo ten million a year not play than to be forced to sit through another fourth quarter of him panting and weezing slowly up and down the court.

Eddy Curry's essentially been benched for two years with a huge contract, Tmac got benched for half of this year. I haven't seen Hedo have a productive first quarter all year.

Its a travesty that either the front office has too much leverage with the coach to play thier guys (we saw this with Bargs in his rookie year) or that the coach is too concerned with keeping his job to upset the brass.

Having said that, the team clearly has no focus or rhythm during fourth quarters when he isn't out there. Opposing teams defenses tighten up and double Bosh right away and he has 0 idea how to handle it. No one can beat thier man off the dribble and by default Bargs becomes the go to guy.

I've argued for him coming off the bench for a while. It allows him to act as the primary play maker, play off Jose/Jack and hopefully find his offense playing against second tier defenders.

Most importantly it keeps him fresher for the fourth quarter where we actually need him to produce and not revert to carelessly turning the ball over or the classic stumble into his defender and pray for a bail out call.

[Raffy15]

Please dont let this happen.

[MattyG-Ray]

A $50M bench player... Must be nice having that sort of money to throw around.

The Spurs were giving Manu 10 million a year to come off the bench, nobody thought that was to much. Obvioulsy Hedo isn't gonna have the same impact as Manu was 3 years ago, but if Hedo contributes more off the bench, then why not do it. How much money a player is making should not be a factor in deciding where or how or even if to play him.

I like Hedo off the bench. It allows him to handle the ball a little bit more, and could get him looking for his own shot more. Hedo and Amir should be able to get some chemistry running the pick and roll. Besides, can't really get any worse.

[LBF]

A $50M bench player... Must be nice having that sort of money to throw around.

how did i know somebody was going to say that. jesus, what the hell are you complaining about? you imbeciles. were playing like crap overall it's time to change things up and do whats best for the team!

sure, big contract but you know what i think we have to ignore the contract now and focus on just getting hedo into a consistent comfortable position cause he's going to be here for a while.

i don't remember who it was, but a good coach once said " now who wants to start?" everyone shouted "i do". so, he picked five random guys to start calls a timeout after 30seconds and benches the guys. he says "now, why was it so important for you to start?"

doesn't exactly fit this situation but it does.

It's whats best for the team! not whoever starts is who gets paid the most!

[insight_tor]

A $50M bench player... Must be nice having that sort of money to throw around.

And why is important if he is a starter or not? What matters is how is he helping Raptors. In the end, Raptors wins by outscoring the opposite team. Think out of the box.

[DarkKnight]

One thing I will give Turkoglu, is he has taken coming off the bench pretty well, for now at least. That alone saves the team a lot of potential trouble - a la TJ Ford from years before. Besides, he'll always finish the games - like Manu.