What is the OBSESSION with Luke Ridnour?

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I see a lot of stuff on these boards. And while we all have an opinion, I've never understood this obsession that some of these posters have with acquiring Luke Ridnhour. Somebody PLEASE explain it to me.

Luke's career numbers:

9.6 ppg

5.2 apg

42% FG

34% 3FG

85% FT

Hollinger wrote last year the the Sonics were the "worst defensive team EVER" . . and the play of Ridnour was a big reason for that.

And yet, you have people on THIS BOARD suggesting we trade Marvin Williams in some sort of package deal to get LUKE "friggin" RIDNOUR or Chris Wilcox? Luke is a nice PG who can find people, but he's far from a good PG in this league. People could probably list about 25 PG in this league that they'd rather have, than Luke Ridnour. And some of those PGs are backups themselves.

Luke has been benched this year for Earl Watson. You know . . the "great" PG, that "all-star" caliber player Earl Watson. And what's worst, is that Luke may have peaked right now as an NBA player. There's nothing in his makeup that says that he can be a 14 ppg . . 8 assist guy. He'll probably forever be that 11 ppg . . 6 assist guy in the NBA.

Translation = HE WILL NEVER BE CLOSE TO WHAT NASH IS AS A PG . . EVER!!

But his name constantly gets brought up in a trade on this board. When you look at Luke, the ONLY thing he does better than a Tyronn Lue, is pass the ball. Everything else, Lue does better. And even the playmaking aspect of Luke's game isn't head and shoulders above Lue . . or Speedy Claxton, for that matter. Because if it was, the Sonics would be much better than what they are right now.

Luke is not an impact player. When the trade deadline came up, and Seattle was wanting at 1st round pick for Luke, people looked at the Sonics like they were CRAZY . . . C-R-A-Z-Y!! Only delusional Hawksquawkers would DARE give the Sonics a 1st round pick or a previous 1st rounder, for a guy like Ridnour.

And yet, people on this board want a "pass-first PG" so bad here, that they're willing to take on potentially ANOTHER backup caliber PG in Ridnhour, and ship out Marvin Williams before we even know what his ceiling is?

Unbelievable.

You want a PG Hawksquawkers? Take Law with that #11 pick. I can almost guarantee you that he'll have a bigger impact from the PG position in his first 3 years, than Luke "I'm not even on Jason Willaims level" Ridnour ever did.

[Packfill]

I think you are right that Ridenour is very limited as a player and I do not have much interest in the Hawks acquiring him.

That said, he is still better then any point guard currently on the Hawks roster.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

EDS . . that's BS.

He's not better than a healthy Tyronn Lue who is a far better offensive player than Luke is, and knows when to pick his spots to score.

He's not better than a healthy Speedy Claxton, who is 3X the defender that Luke is and only slightly less of an offensive player.

Luke is a better playmaker than both of those guys . . but only slightly. People act like Luke would be the answer at PG with the Hawks. That's crazy to say, if you've ever seen Luke play.

Given the minutes, a guy like Jose Calderon could do exactly what Luke does right now, more efficiently on BOTH ENDS of the floor. Give me a BU PG like Calderon any day of the week, over Luke.

[exodus]

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Everything else, Lue does better. And even the playmaking aspect of Luke's game isn't head and shoulders above Lue . .

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That's like saying Lue's shooting isn't head and shoulders above Speedy's shooting.

Luke got an invite to try out for the national team. I guess Speedy's invitation got lost in the mail.

I am pretty much neutral on Luke, but i must say your post is pretty ridiculous. The Hawks gave up 5.5 more ppg when Lue was playing while the Sonics gave up only .8 ppg more when Luke was playing. And Watson, one of the best defenders at the point in the league, was Lukes replacement. Yet you are saying that the only thing Luke does better than Lue is pass?

And i don't get this whole obsession thing. I don't see a Luke obsession here. I do see an obsession with improving the pg situation by any means necessary and i am definitely on board with that.

BTW Luke actually made a higher percentage of his jumpers this year than Lue.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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Everything else, Lue does better. And even the playmaking aspect of Luke's game isn't head and shoulders above Lue . .

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That's like saying Lue's shooting isn't head and shoulders above Speedy's shooting.

Luke got an invite to try out for the national team. I guess Speedy's invitation got lost in the mail.

I am pretty much neutral on Luke, but i must say your post is pretty ridiculous. The Hawks gave up 5.5 more ppg when Lue was playing while the Sonics gave up only .8 ppg more when Luke was playing. And Watson, one of the best defenders at the point in the league, was Lukes replacement. Yet you are saying that the only thing Luke does better than Lue is pass?

And i don't get this whole obsession thing. I don't see a Luke obsession here. I do see an obsession with improving the pg situation by any means necessary and i am definitely on board with that.

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Ex . . I know you have league pass. How many Sonics games have you watched this year? There was a reason why Luke got benched in mid-season, for Earl. It had to do with his poor defense and his inconsistent offense.

And you and I know that Speedy had BY FAR his worst season of his entire career. I've watched Speedy for many years, and he's never looked that bad. Something definitely had to be wrong with him. His game is built on speed and defense, so when his knees started to give out on him, it affected his entire game.

I'd be SHOCKED if Speedy had anywhere close to the season he had this year, once the 07 - 08 campaign begins. And even if we acquired Law or Conley in the draft, it wouldn't shock me at all to see them playing behind a healthy Speedy Claxton.

And a healthy Speedy Claxton is a far greater asset to the Hawks, than a healthy Luke Ridnour would ever be. The health issue is the main issue with Speedy. Not his play on the court when healthy.

As far as their not being an obsession with Luke, I've seen his name mentioned in possible trades, more than any other player this season. People are convinced that he could help the Hawks. He'll do exactly what Lue does, and give the points right back to the opponent, when he's playing defense.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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BTW Luke actually made a higher percentage of his jumpers this year than Lue.

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Hell . . he should've . . seeing that Lue was hurt for 2/5ths of the year.

When healthy, I'm taking Lue. And I've been one of Lue's biggest critics over the years. I'd still take him and Speedy ( when healthy ) over Ridnour.

Dang . . playtime is over for me on the computer, but I could name 20 - 30 guys in this league that I would rather have running the point for ATL, than Luke.

I'd rather even have Steve Blake than Luke. At least Blake can defend the position, and score when need be, even if his jumper is terrible as well.

[DJlaysitup]

Ridnour looked pretty awesome when I saw him...of course that was against us.

[exodus]

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Ex . . I know you have league pass. How many Sonics games have you watched this year? There was a reason why Luke got benched in mid-season, for Earl. It had to do with his poor defense and his inconsistent offense.

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Late in the year i watched them quite a bit due to the draft positioning. I wanted to see where they ended up and I also wanted to check out Luke since the trade rumors were likely to heat up this summer.

Frankly i was pretty impressed with him. Offensively he can make plays nobody on our roster can make. I saw him break Iverson's ankles so bad it was laughable, twice in one half. I was also paying particular attention to his defense and he looked a lot better than i had given them credit for.

Remember than the Sonics are Allen's/ Lewis' team and they create a lot of offense on their own. They don't need to be set up to score. And Allen is a constant complainer, saying he doesn't get the ball enough. My guess is that he was griping about Luke not passing to him enough.

Luke actually played very well the first two months of the season. Then his numbers took a dive. When the trade rumors were swirling at the deadline i went to a Seatle board to see what was up and they were putting a lot of blame for Luke's drop in production on the coach.

[mrhonline]

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Ridnour looked pretty awesome when I saw him...of course that was against us.

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Good stuff.

To answer NC's question, there is no obsession with Ridnour. I would LOVE to trade Speedy for him (as would many), but I hardly think that merits the term "obsession."

[coachx]

You have to get use to Diesel. He hates Marvin with a passion. I think Chills for Ridnour is fair.

Luke is not the perfect PG but he is young and healthy and an upgrade offesively over what we have. He is by far the a better floor general then what we have now.

Ridnour is brought up alot b/c there is still no guarantee a PG will be available to us inthe draft. There was also reports in the national media that the Hawks had talked toSeattle about aquiring Luke prior to the dead line. It is unlikly but Indy may move up in the draft and cause us to lose the #11 pick. Even more unlikly is that Law and Conley are gone when the 11 pick comes up.

Luke is not the ideal PG fix he is just a back up plan.

[mrhonline]

Yep. He's young, feasible, and pass-first. That's why he's at least got to be considered in trade scenarios.

(But I agree he's a defensive nightmare).

[Packfill]

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EDS . . that's BS.

He's not better than a healthy Tyronn Lue who is a far better offensive player than Luke is, and knows when to pick his spots to score.

He's not better than a healthy Speedy Claxton, who is 3X the defender that Luke is and only slightly less of an offensive player.

Luke is a better playmaker than both of those guys . . but only slightly. People act like Luke would be the answer at PG with the Hawks. That's crazy to say, if you've ever seen Luke play.

Given the minutes, a guy like Jose Calderon could do exactly what Luke does right now, more efficiently on BOTH ENDS of the floor. Give me a BU PG like Calderon any day of the week, over Luke.

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It is not BS at all. Lue is a better shooting guard (as in, he is not a point guard) then Ridenour but he has nowhere near the playmaking abilities of Ridenour. It is not even close, Lue, AJ and Speedy have zero playmaking abilities. They are all undersized shooting guards.

A dude like Ridenour makes players like Smoove, Marvin and Chill better by getting them the ball in a position to score and creating easy scoring opportunties. Does that mean he is a good player? No. It just means the Hawks currently have a bunch of scrubs at the position.

[ncthompson11]

"Translation = HE WILL NEVER BE CLOSE TO WHAT NASH IS AS A PG . . EVER!!"

I doubt anyone will be. Hes the best pg in the league and one of the best ones of all time. 2 MVPS with another one maybe coming. You wont find a steve nash but ridnour could be similar to him or like kirk hinrich.

[Packfill]

I wouldn't go as far as to put Ridenour in Hinrich's league, but it just goes to show how bad the Hawks point guard play is.

Do people realize how much better this team would be with an Andre Miller at the point? Do you realize how much better Smoove, Marvin and Chill would be?

The complete absence of solid point guard play has plagued this team for 8+ years.

[bumpyphish1]

. . . and Northcyde pops...

[Guest Walter]

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Yep. He's young, feasible, and pass-first. That's why he's at least got to be considered in trade scenarios.

(But I agree he's a defensive nightmare).

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Agreed. I think our obsession is with a Pg prospect, not anyone in particular. I'm sick of 30 yr. old otherwise career 8th men.

W

[shug94]

Luke Ridnour is a quality shooter. He is a creative and reliable passer.

The knock on him over the years has been his defense. But he worked on his defense over the offseason, and he was much improved on defense this year.

I think that the two teams most likely to take a PG in the draft (other than us) are:

L.A. Clippers - Need to replace injured Livingston and old Sam Cassell.

Sacramento Kings - Need to replace Bibby, or at least have a back-up plan cause he could flee in free agency.

Sactown will pick before us, and the clipps will go after. I can see sactown taking a distributor instead of a scorer, to move the team away from the bibby era. So they will probably take Conley at 10. We will be stuck with Law IV or Crittenton(although I do not mind being 'stuck' with either of those two.)