Is this a joke? I mean, I guess this is a Rockets forum so you can just indicate that all these mediocre players are all stars because they wear a Rockets uniform? The only players worth a damn off this bench is Corey Brewer and maybe Harrell if he steps up. The rest are worthy of being included in salary dump trades. Beverly is a decent defender but really is a D league quality player that happened to get a lot of opportunity on the Rockets because they had no other choice at PG.
Late reply, but the thing is they have multiple guys that have the potential to go off on that bench. And if you have one or two players go off for you off your bench, it can completely change the climate of the game. Thats precisely what happened for us in the Clippers series. and while the bench as whole may be inconsistent and could occasionally have collectively bad outings, the potential they bring will outmatch it. Any night you can have a bench player score 20+ or two bench players score 15+, your odds to win are so much better.
Not sure if we're better, but I think we do have a top notch bench and are a lot deeper now then we were when we made the WCF. Beverley and Brewers hustle is electric enough, but I think Thornton is an undervalued commodity too. He is just a few years removed from a 20+ point season, and is a decent 3 point shooter. TJ is a solid backup, and who knows what we have with Capela/Harrel/Dekker/McDaniels, though I think Harrel and maybe Dekker will probably start the season in D-League.
I think they keep Redick as the starting SG and Pierce as the SF starter. If Lance gets his shot back then maybe he becomes the SF starter.
Okay hold up. Not trying to be rude. And not defending the other guys comment. But the bolded has to be the dumbest **** I've read in a while. Top 5 defensive guard in the league and a 40% 3PT shooter is a D League player? No. You're wrong. There's no way around it besides you're wrong. I can name over 30 point guards in a teams rotation worse than Beverley from around the league. All of them are better than anybody in the D League right now. Also if you think Harrell is worth more than TJ and Capela you're even less knowledgeable than you were with the Beverley comment. Two top prospects are worse than a guy who could barely edge out an undrafted guy the same age on a SUMMER LEAGUE roster. Harrell is spending the season in the D League. Brewer is good. You got that right. And then you disregarded Marcus Thornton. 21 PPG in Sacramento and still averaged about 10 in 15 minutes in Brooklyn and Boston. He's good.
Hmmmm something smells rotten here..... I am sure they would. They would all need to reach the "level" of their play on Rockets first. lulz.... LOL Knew something was fishy here.......
What year did Beverly average 40% from the 3 point line? Are we going back to D-League years? To save you some time, here's a link to his NBA career statistics: http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/beverpa01.html As far as Thornton is concerned, 21PPG was in 2010. I'll give you that he averaged 18PPG in 2011, but that's when he hit the wall. For people on this forum to say that Lance Stephenson and Josh Smith are garbage and then follow up with how awesome Marcus Thornton is is just an exercise in lunacy. Harrell has more potential than anyone on that bench. I'm pretty sure Terrance Jones is still the starter at PF especially since Josh Smith is gone. I don't know why everyone on this forum keeps saying the Rockets were missing two starters. Jones was the starter at PF last year. DMo was only in there because Jones was injured. That said, Harrell has a higher ceiling than both those fools. Capela does have some potential, but I don't really see his ceiling as high as Harrell. I would say the same about Dekker as well, but I think he's got some injuries that may impact his ability to get his career off the ground.
No way sorry lance starts over reddick. Jj is a very good player, great shooter runs off screens as good as any and a plus defender. Lance can't do anything better than jj but rebound/playmake and with Paul he's kinda redundant starting over jj. The clippers are talented but they still Have no shooting outside of redick pierce and cp3.
The Clippers had the #1 rated offense last season so that's not their problem (http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/teamstats). They're problem is that they had zero wing defenders and no rim protection behind Deandre. Lance Stephenson is the wing defender that they really needed last season and Wes Johnson is also a very good wing defender with long arms. Johnson can also hit open 3 pointers which will be plentiful if he's in with the first line players. As far as rim protection, Josh Smith will provide that off the bench next season and Cole Aldrich is actually a very underrated signing who can definitely grab boards and protect the rim in short stints. JJ Redick was a 44% three point shooter last season so he will definitely be starting, but when the games are close down the stretch, I wouldn't be surprised to see Doc have Stephenson in the game to close out. Plus, Stephenson is working a ton on his corner three this offseason knowing that he will have tons of open shots playing with a combination of CP3, Redick, Pierce, Griffin, and/or Deandre. Replacing Barnes with Pierce is an offensive improvement on a team that already had the #1 rated offense in the league. Both Stephenson and Josh Smith are a bit crazy in the head, but it seems that the Clippers need a little more crazy in the head on their team. They have been the best team on paper for the last few years, but they get pushed around too much. Barnes was the only guy on the team that pushed back, but now they have Stephenson and Smith to get into it. As far as outside shooting is concerned, I don't know what you mean? The Clippers were second only to Golden State in 3 point shooting percentage last season and they replaced Barnes with Pierce who is a better three point shooter. They also lost Hawes, but I'm pretty sure Hawes was bringing down the team percentage last season. https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/three-point-pct/
It depends how Doc wants to stagger the minutes. If he's got CP3, Redick, Griffin and DJ in the first unit, putting Wes Johnson in the starting lineup would be good to add an additional defender to that group. This would allow him to do a platoon substitution and bring in a lineup like this off the bench: PG: Austin Rivers SG: Lance Stephenson SF: Paul Pierce PF: Josh Smith C: Cole Aldrich or go small with PG: Austin Rivers SG: Jamal Crawford SF: Lance Stephenson PF: Paul Pierce C: Josh Smith Doc is going to have to figure out how to get all these guys who took paycuts and give them reasonable minutes for doing so. He's probably going to have some hockey lineups like the all defensive lineup: PG: CP3 SG: Lance Stephenson SF: Wes Johnson PF: Josh Smith C: Deandre But that said, I think he will have Paul Pierce start at SF but be the first one to be sub'd out probably with Lance Stephenson midway through the 1st quarter. So the starting lineup will still be: PG: CP3 SG: JJ Redick SF: Paul Pierce PF: Blake Griffin C: Deandre And I'm sure the closing team will be the same but Stephenson will be in there instead of JJ Redick.
You're wrong about a lot of things sorry. I agree that the Clippers have a deeper and more talented bench than us, but your analysis of our bench is really off. Bev was an average starting PG in the league, but on the bench, he becomes one of the best back up PGs in the NBA. 3 & D off the bench and with him on fresh legs, he'll be able to harass like he did in his first season with the rockets. If you think he's D-League level then you really don't know much about basketball. KJ was a promising rookie last year for the sixers and I believe he can be a plus on the court this year. He can't shoot very well, but he's a good defender and a great finisher. It'll be interesting to see his development. Thornton has had a decent career so far in the NBA, but has had a couple of bad years. He still scores at a impressive rate when looking at his per/36 numbers, and if he can replicate what he did in Boston last season, he'll be valuable. 42% shooting from 3 in Boston. That's impressive. As you said, Brewer is "worth a damn" When I saw you mention Harrell but not mention the fact that we have Jones/Dmo coming off the bench, I knew you had no idea what you're talking about. We don't really know who's going to be starting this season, but regardless you're getting a young talented player who can stretch the floor a bit. If DMo is on the bench, then that makes this a really really good bench. If Jones comes off the bench, I'll enjoy his help defense and his versatility on offense which will come in handy. Harrell will probably get no time, but even if he did, he's a decent player. He's raw, but he's high energy and high motor which is really welcome on the bench. Capela grew so much throughout last season. Good finisher, good blocker, and good attitude. He's still raw but he's talented and that's obvious to ANYONE that watches the team. We may not have the best bench in the NBA, but we're right up there with the elite teams in the NBA.
PG: Beverley = Rivers SG: Thornton / Terry < Crawford SF: Brewer / KJ = Lance / Wes PF: Jones = Smith C : Capela = Aldrich IMO we match up pretty evenly with the Clippers bench, Crawford is the only player on their bench that we don't have an answer for.
Obviously I was exaggerating when I said Beverly was a D-league player, but I also do not believe he is a starting quality point guard in the NBA either. He is a serviceable point guard off the bench but I just don't see him as someone that should be thought of as this great asset. In fact, I'm not sure he will be coming off the bench. The Rockets may want to stagger Lawson and Harden's minutes to make sure at least one of them is on the court at all times for offense purposes. Plus, neither Lawson or Harden are very good defensively so they may not be able to afford having them on the court together at times. I've always thought that the Rockets should just start Harden, Brewer, Ariza, Jones, and Dwight. As far as Jones and D-Mo, I don't think either are really top notch power forwards. Like Beverly, they are both serviceable, but not starting quality players on most teams. In fact, I think Josh Smith was the Rockets best PF last season by far. The Clippers were beating the Rockets by like 30 points per game until Smith was inserted into the starting lineup. It's really his defense that helped most, but also his miraculous transformation into Larry Bird for the period of game 5-7 also helped.
I sort of see it this way: PG: Rivers/Prigioni = Beverly (But Clippers have more depth in that they have two options) SG: Stephenson/Crawford > Thornton (also more depth) SF: Wes Johnson/Paul Pierce = Brewer/KJ (depends on who is starting though) PF: Smith > Jones/Dmo (Regardless of who is starting) C: Aldrich = Capela (Although I give slight nod to Capela on potential) As for starters: PG: CP3 > Ty Lawson SG: JJ Redick < Harden (Although Redick plays Harden really well and sometimes outplays him in head to head matchups. Harden is obviously better player overall though) SF: Paul Pierce = Trevor Ariza (Pierce adds leadership that could be more important to Clippers than his basketball abilities. Ariza obviously the better defender though) PF: Blake Griffin > T Jones/Dmo (Regardless of who starts) C: Deandre = Howard (Although I feel Deandre is getting better each year and Howard is getting older) That said, I just because the Clippers look good on paper, that doesn't win championships. There's definitely something missing from a chemistry standpoint with the Clippers and that is harder to fix sometimes. I still think the Warriors, Clippers, Spurs and Thunder are the teams to beat this year though, but the Rockets and Grizzlies are capable of winning the West depending on how things go with chemistry and also injuries.
The Clippers also have Branden Dawson who played very well in summer league that is from Michigan St who is in the mold of Draymond Green and also a very good shooter in CJ Wilcox who gets no minutes from Doc for some reason. They also will probably be keeping Big Baby to ride the bench as well. I didn't mention any of these guys because, although they should get some minutes, my guess is Doc will only use them in garbage time.
