HaHa, Joe just made a trade that forces Flips hand. I guess we can just believe now that Nazr was indeed being showcased for a trade, and I'm sure this is why Nazr did not play against Houston, did not want to risk an injury and blow the deal.

AJ also didn't play against Houston, so there is no guarantee he will play now, but I would say the odds just went up a bit.

If on the other hand Brezco comes in and gets 10 + minutes a game then for sure we will know where AJ stands with Flipper.

This is Flip Saunders we're talking about here. We just added 2 jump-shooting veteran big men. On top of that, the path is now wide open for Brezec to be waived, and Webber to come in. There are many scenarios where the Amir situation becomes much worse.

Versus Houston 12/23/2007
The Bad:

• Scola skooled the kid on a few moves.
• The boy is light in the pants

The Good:

• Swatted Dikembes shot
• Looked comfortable in the offensive sets
• Nice low post move, threw up a running hook in the paint and missed. But the miss had more to do with a lack of experience/rhythm than overall skill. Great Move added to his repatoire
• Faced up and drove Scola 2x's, fouled both times- Rocks weren't in the penalty so no FT's.
• Great play in the high post with an awesome ast to Primo for a lay in.

I dunno, kid looked OK, still looks a lil lost and a little light, but still seeing some great stuff. This is not Darko pt.II !!!!!!!!!!!!!! He will eventually be our starting PF.....and you can TAKE THAT to the bank.

__________________
Play hard, Play smart, Play together, share the ball, have fun....Play the right way!!!!!!

One thing I have notice about AJ the last two or three games is that he is starting to take shots. I think that most of those have been drives to the hoops followed by a lay up, dunk or hook shot.

I think that Flipper has now put in at least a couple of plays for AJ on offense. I expect to see more plays for AJ as the year goes on.

Yep, he's just got to be aggressive. Flip isn't going to give him time just because he's a great athlete. If he can't assert himself with the young crew out there, he is just going to disappear with the veterans. Having an unselfish PG, who can get him the ball (Stuckey), will be a great thing.

As long as he's assertive in the offensive sets. So far he's been quite tentative and looked to set up teammates more than trying to score himself. From what we've seen so far, he's got the talent to finish, and he needs to use it.

Its all a matter of Flipper setting up plays for the team to run for him.

This ain't no freelance playground ball in the Palace. That is only one of the reasons that Murray sits because he keeps thinking that the Palace is located on some playground in Philadelphia. LOL

For the heck of it... Max's first year compared to Amir this year (first year on the active roster):

Amir (20 yrs old): 8.8mpg, 2.5ppg, 2.9rpg, 1.1bpg, 0.5apg (46.5% FG, 71.4% FT)

Max (22 yrs old): 6.0mpg, 2.3ppg, 1.1rpg, 0.2bpg, 0.1apg (42.6% FG, 33.3% FT)

And look at Max now.

I just hope Amir has it in him to stick through all of this.

That's beautiful. Amir has more natural talent and he's going to be more dominant because of his height. Just needs to get thrown into the action and figure it out.