|
Yeah, Veal still has to prove he can be a 3-pt threat. If he ever does that, there would be no reason to play Rogers and his short streaks of made 3s.
I didn't realize Rogers was even considered a good post defender, but if he is, he's definitely overrated. In terms of 6'6-6'7 block-house forwards, I had the privilege of watching vintage Mase and then LJ defending the post for the Knicks. Rogers' D doesn't compare at all.
He reminds me of Keith Van Horn at times in how he loses track of a developing play, gets out of position, and either takes himself out of the play or tries to recover and commits a stupid foul. In the Nets defense, a player has to know his assignment, move quick, react quick and help his teammates. From the Finals, I have this enduring memory of all the Nets, including Veal, playing their hearts out on defense, but Rogers running (jogging?) around cluelessly in the half-court defense in Game 6, not really defending anybody, and Deke screaming at him after yet another blown assignment.
Veal ain't K-Mart on defense, but he's got some tools to work with. He's a much better help and recovery defender than Rogers. He's surprisingly good at disrupting shots in the paint by closing out quickly, though he's not a shot-blocker. He sticks with it, keeps aware of what's going on around him, reacts well, uses his big body, has good footwork, gets good position, and at least makes guys work for their points. Even when Veal gets busted, he's in the vicinity, unlike Rogers. Kwame Brown couldn't score on him, and the one shot he hit over Veal - the short hook in the lane - he hit over Twin, too. Veal looked a lot better defending KG than Rogers looked against KG-lite (Bosh). Heck, the only reason Rogers hurt his thumb was because he was trying to recover on his busted defense. Veal at least forced KG to make tough jumpshots over him. The only thing Veal doesn't do well enough on defense is snatch rebounds.
Last edited by NYCbballFan : 11-03-2003 at 10:29 AM.
|