# Larry Hughes



## cmd34 (Jul 17, 2002)

ESPN just reported that Larry Hughes signed with the Wizards. Hmmm...trade one shoot-happy guard (Courtney Alexander) and sign another one? What is MJ doing? That team needs size and rebounding, not people who will steal minutes from MJ(now) and Rip Hamilton.


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## robyg (Jul 15, 2002)

*I'm looking at ESPN.com right now, and it doesn't say a thing about Hughes to the Wiz*

Although I happen to think that this guy is still way too young to give up on. If you can get this guy for cheap, I'd do it. For $5 mil/year? Nope. But for $3 mil/year? Absolutely.


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## erickboy22 (Jul 17, 2002)

Heard on the local news here in DC that the wizards signed Hughes to a 3 year / $4+ million per year contract


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## shroombal (Jul 17, 2002)

Yea it wuz like 4.5 million dollars.


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## mambo47 (Jul 15, 2002)

What's rhis about needing size? They have Brown, White, Laettner, Haywood, Jones(if signed) Thomas and Jefferies,
They need people who can "fill it up" from outside and play some defense.


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## shroombal (Jul 17, 2002)

dude u must not know the Wizards.

We got dudes that can flip out from the outside. Dat's why we had the best 3pt. shooting pct. But guess what???


The Wiz had the fewest 3pt. shot attempts. We've got hubert davis, whitney, hamilton, nesby, lue, jefferies, and dixon who can all drill from 3pt. land.

We've got a deep back court. We've got Jordan, Davis, Lue, Whitney, Dixon, Hughes, Hamilton, and Grizzard.


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## R-Star (Jun 13, 2002)

Jordans not back court. Hes a sf since he came back. That way him and Rip can play at the same time


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## Showtyme (Jun 24, 2002)

Jordan wants to shift over to SG.

I think Hughes is a great player, capable of doing a LOT. Unfortunately, he does need some tutoring. He has the ability to be an awesome scorer and a strong defender, but he needs some basketball intelligence so that he can learn to adapt to new situations.

Jordan is in Washington. Maybe he could help.

But recently, I've begun thinking that Jordan isn't as great a tutor as many might consider him. I forgot what happened to it, but there was a long article in PARADE, maybe, or something, about how Jordan's toughness and overcompetitiveness turned off a lot of the players on the Wizards, including Rip Hamilton. Kwame Brown turned out being something of a nervous wreck after he was highly touted by Jordan and he seemed to fall short of those high expectations. There are stories of outbursts that Jordan had with Kwame, temper flares that laid the pressure on thick. Remember, Kwame was still a teenager and making the shift from the focus of a high school team where he could do no wrong to an NBA player with expectations to be great from one of the game's greatest players... that can really mess you up.

Anyway. Hughes might learn something from Jordan, or he might not. Either way, it's a good idea to have that kind of talent on the team, for when Jordan leaves. But recruiting him to play PG isn't a great idea... I don't think that's his ideal position.

Still. With an improved Dixon, Hamilton, Hughes, Haywood, and Kwame, along with some solid vets in Whitney, Popeye Jones (who doesn't look like he'll be getting re-signed, if Hughes is taking a lot of the money), and Davis, and with Grizzard developing in the wings to come in and make a huge impact... it's a very talented team. Hamilton is on his way to being an All-Star caliber player, and Kwame might recover enough from his nightmare freshman year (as well as his asthma) to start playing strong ball... in the later part of last season, Kwame really started to show up a little. Haywood is a tough, old-fashioned center that will block shots for real and crash the boards. Hughes fits in perfectly, with his mix of youth and experience.

It looks good for the Wizards, and Hughes makes it look better.


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## Sir I Gotta Go (Jul 7, 2002)

whats the deal with all the guards they drafted?

PG:Whitney/Lue/Dixon
SG:Hamilton/Jordan/Hughes
SF:Jeffries/Nesby/Grizzard
PF:Jones/Laettner/Brown
C:White/Haywood/Thomas

Deap team, but who gets the minutes?


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## robyg (Jul 15, 2002)

This team has a QUANTITY but not a lot of QUALITY. The team has a LOT of dudes who are good enough to play, and good enough to play for even a PLAYOFF team, but it lacks starpower. MJ is obviously a star--but he's the only star on the team. Nobody else is close--their second-best player is Richard Hamilton, and he is NOT a STAR, he's an extremely one-dimensional player.

Seriously, take a look at this team's depth, and you tell me how they're going to get everybody enough minutes:

1 Michael Jordan
2 Richard Hamilton
3 Popeye Jones
4 Larry Hughes
5 Jared Jeffries
6 Jahidi White
7 Chris Whitney
8 Christian Laettner
9 Brandon Haywood
10 Kwame Brown
11 Hubert Davis
12 Tyronn Lue
13 Juan Dixon
14 Etan Thomas
15 Rod Grizzard

Popeye WILL get re-signed, incidentally--the dude has a lot of value in this league, so you can't just let him walk.

The point here is that they just drafted Juan Dixon with the #17 pick in the draft, the dude was a SENIOR in college last year so he's not some raw HS kid, and he's their thirteenth-best player! They need to trade 3 so-so guys for 1 GOOD player, that's all there is to it. Quantity for quality. So here are a few suggestions:

1) Christian Laettner, Jahidi White, Chris Whitney, Hubert Davis, Tyronn Lue, and Etan Thomas for Alonzo Mourning. Mourning makes $20.1 mil next season, but then he's a free agent--the team could either re-sign him to a much more reasonable deal, or deal him in a sign-and-trade, or just let him go and be WAAAAAY under the cap for the 2003 free agent shopping spree. And what have you given up, really? None of these guys are a part of this team's future, are they? Here are the Wizards next year if this trade happens:

PG Larry Hughes--Juan Dixon
SG Rip Hamilton--Michael Jordan
SF Jared Jeffries--Rod Grizzard
PF Popeye Jones--Kwame Brown
C Alonzo Mourning--Brandon Haywood

Not nearly as much depth, but who needs to go further than nine deep in the first place? QUALITY wins in this league, not QUANTITY--if you don't believe me, take a look at the Lakers' roster.

Incidentally, Pat Riley might want to do this just so he can have some damn bodies out there! Here's the Heat next year:

PG Rod Strickland--Anthony Carter--Tyronn Lue
SG Eddie Jones--Chris Whitney--Hubert Davis
SF Caron Butler
PF Brian Grant--Laphonso Ellis--Christian Laettner
C Jahidi White--Chris Gatling--Etan Thomas

2) Jahidi White, Christian Laettner, Chris Whitney, and Tyronn Lue for Glenn Robinson and Anthony Mason. The Bucks desperately want to dump these two guys, they're not asking for a whole lot in return. Why not take them? It clears the way for Hughes to start at PG and for Dixon to get plenty of minutes as his backup--why give Hughes $4.5 mil/yr and why draft Dixon with yr #1 pick if you're just going to make them share time with Whitney and Lue? And why keep giving minutes to White and Laettner instead of to the team's FUTURE frontcourt (Popeye, Kwame, and Haywood)? And why force Jeffries into such a prominent starting role so early in his career? I really like this deal, take a look:

PG Larry Hughes--Juan Dixon
SG Rip Hamilton--Michael Jordan--Hubert Davis
SF Glenn Robinson--Jared Jeffries--Rod Grizzard
PF Popeye Jones--Anthony Mason--Kwame Brown
C Brandon Haywood--Etan Thomas

And here are the Bucks next year:

PG Sam Cassell--Tyronn Lue
SG Ray Allen--Chris Whitney
SF Tim Thomas--Michael Redd
PF Christian Laettner--Jason Caffey--Marcus Haislip
C Jahidi White--Ervin Johnson--Joel Pryzbilla

Not bad. Getting rid of Anthony Mason is addition-by-subtraction, since he destroyed that team's chemistry last year, and White and Laettner give the team two experienced big guys to throw out there. And oh yeah, getting rid of Glenn Robinson allows Tim Thomas to finally get a chance to earn his money, his minutes will go way up. And Cassell finally has some backups in Lue and Whitney. And Whitney gives the team yet another great perimeter shooter. And the team doesn't have to pay Glenn Robinson $32.6 mil over the next three years, either.

3) Jahidi White, Brandon Haywood, Chris Whitney, and Etan Thomas for Antonio Davis. Davis' contract starts getting HUGE over the next few years, and the Raptors are on the verge of getting hit with the luxury tax--a Raptors team that may not even make the playoffs next year, a Raptors team that wants to re-sign Keon Clark but can't really afford him. Davis might be had this easily, you never know, because of his contract (which extends at LEAST four more years--11.5 mil next year, then 12.8 mil, then 14.1 mil, then 15.4 mil).

PG Larry Hughes--Tyronn Lue--Juan Dixon
SG Rip Hamilton--Hubert Davis
SF Jared Jeffries--Michael Jordan--Rod Grizzard
PF Popeye Jones--Kwame Brown
C Antonio Davis--Christian Laettner

4) Jahidi White, Christian Laettner, Chris Whitney, Hubert Davis, and Etan Thomas for Michael Dickerson, Lorenzen Wright, and Jason Williams. Jerry West HATES the fact that these three dudes are locked up to longterm contracts, he'd love to just get rid of them altogether, because if you ain't part of the solution, you're part of the problem. I hate this trade for the Wiz, though.

PG Jason Williams--Tyronn Lue--Juan Dixon
SG Rip Hamilton--Larry Hughes--Michael Dickerson
SF Jared Jeffries--Michael Jordan--Rod Grizzard
PF Popeye Jones--Kwame Brown
C Lorenzen Wright--Brandon Haywood

5) Jahidi White, Christian Laettner, and Tyronn Lue for Danny Fortson and Erick Dampier. The Warriors want to get rid of both of these dudes, as we all know. Not much of a trade, either.

PG Chris Whitney--Larry Hughes--Juan Dixon
SG Rip Hamilton--Hubert Davis
SF Jared Jeffries--Michael Jordan--Rod Grizzard
PF Popeye Jones--Danny Fortson--Kwame Brown
C Erick Dampier--Brandon Haywood--Etan Thomas

And HEY! Don't call me an idiot here, I'm just throwing out some possibilities. The bottom line is that this team has quantity, and it's looking at about 25-30 wins next season--they need to go get themselves some QUALITY instead!

And BY THE WAY--I like the second trade, the one with Milwaukee, the best--and I honestly think that both teams would make that deal in a SECOND.


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## NISMO (Jul 15, 2002)

*I'm a GSW fan and watched a lot of Hughes, I not sure if that is a good decision*

Hughes has a poor work ethic, bad decision making, takes a lot of ill advised shots, was he not like 20% for the season on 3 point shooting. and worst of all his SHOOTING MECHANICS are horrible... he dosn't shoot while he is at the apex of his jump, instead he waits till he is coming down from his vert already... sometimes he combines it with a fadeaway or a contorted type shot.. BUT HEY, if he is going to be with MIKE, maybe mike can light a fire under him to make him finally realize what he probly could do or what people envisioned him doing when he got drafted top 10..


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## NISMO (Jul 15, 2002)

*CONT..*

As a warrior fan I would not do this, 

Fortson is the same as white, undersized
dampier- laetner= underachievers
lue= scrub


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## JoeF (Jul 16, 2002)

Hughes is a SG that cant shoot. He has shot consistantly around 40% overall, 20% from 3. If he could play PG, GS wouldn't have let him walk for nothing. His career average is 3.2 APG and 2.3 turnovers. He also seems to be injury prone. Last year he played 73 games and that is his career high. The four years prior to that he had played 50, 50, 32, and 50 games. Might be a decent role player on a good team with strong veteran leadership but isn't going to signifacantly improve a team.


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