This is where there seem to be huge chasms of difference as to what people see and also as to expectations. I don't see Roche living up to expectations many had for him and thus not (or at least not yet) being a quality transfer. But there are wide discrepencies on players and a disconnect about the coach that I find hard to reconcile. If all our players are so great and we have such high expectations each year - - how is it not a coaching problem when we consistently fail to live up to the expectations? Also, if Roche is such a good shooter and more than acceptable defensively WHY didn't he play more? That must be a coaching error that we sat him so much? (for the record, I don't believe it was a coaching error - - just a player not as good as he is given credit for by some on here.
Now as to our players - - We also seem to just see players very differently (and by we throughout I mean lots of people on this board in both directions - - and including me). So I will start with Roche (and I am just using him as an example because of the post above - - I think we over assess many, many players) and several assessments in the above post. First I will start with the very last sentence. That he is more than acceptable defensively. Not even just acceptable - - but MORE than acceptable. What I see is Roche is a bad defensive player. Period. Full stop. He absolutely works hard, but that isn't enough to keep him from being a bad defensive player. Unable to keep guards in front of him and almost no physicality. Now I guess its possible that that someone might find him a "more than acceptable defender" because they are willing to accept bad defense, but that's a losing recipe. Even Mooney, who certainly loves him some offense couldn't find more time on a struggling team for Roche because of his defensive shortcomings. In addition, I have seen little to indicate Roche is anything more than a catch and shoot guy. No dribble drive game (in fact no real dribble game at all), no penetration, no making others better etc. He's a shooter (and not a scorer). That's fine and there are roles for shooters, but a one dimensional player makes doing certain other things harder too. We'd be better able to use Roche if we had better creators and guys who could penetrate and kick etc. And this is not to pick on Roche - - - he's a contributor and gives effort which is important, but he is just not as good as folks on here give him credit for. I find this true at the upper end of the roster where I think Burton gets well more credit for his game than is deserved. I hear NBA talk on here and I see him very, very far from NBA talent and without and NBA level skill (and that includes his athleticism).
But this is just an example of the wide ranging opinions on this board on so many players. Its hard to figure out how it all ranges so greatly. One man's "More than acceptable defender" is another man's (me in this case) "bad defensive player". Its perplexing to me that things so consistently are so wide apart (Mooney in general being a poster child for dramatically differing opinions).
This is not to criticize anyone's opinion or say those whose opinion differs from mine are wrong, just observing how far apart opinions on this board often are! But why is that?