[ClutchFans] The Manimal at the four could be a boost to Rockets

True story: I once wrote a political column and gave it the running title, "Below the Beltway." Years later, I saw an angry letter from another guy who started writing a column somewhere else, after me, which he called "Below the Beltway." He was accusing a third guy of stealing the name from him.

 

Great write up, Clutch. Love the new web design, too. Didn't notice it before.

True story: I have a unique, one-of-a-kind name in the US, due to my family's odd spelling of last name. Then when I was 4 yrs old, my dad's younger brother decided to give one of his sons the same name. wth

I've never gotten over it.

 

And if you put House in there at SF with Tucker going to the bench, you're even better from a shooting and rebounding perspective.

Don't forget that P.J. Tucker was always meant to be an energy guy coming off the bench. Ryan Anderson started over him before his injuries and mental meltdowns.

 

Wonder what his handle is?

 

If Faried turns into a 35/36% 3pt shooter I might cry, no joke.

I have a hard time believing he can play as a 4 alongside Clint if he isn't some kind of a threat from the outside, but if he is... man we will be the favourites to win it all.

Can anyone explain to me how it could work if he's not a threat from deep? I can't see how that's feasible. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see it happening.

 

Yeah but I like him as starting SF. House would be a back up PF, with Shumpart being backup SF.

He might have had mental meltdowns but at least he is sitting on about 40 households lifetime income.

 

yup. i feel like players out of their NATURAL position and usual ROLE to the team is really whats causing the struggle. the injury bug really sucks.

 

There is a lot to this and even more. I think Morey and MDA have looked at the overall lineup and when acquiring discarded players have gone away from the developmental Zhou's of the world and rigid philosophy and have said, "who out there can play in an NBA game?" This worked with Rivers and worked greatly with Faried. Just put the player out there and let them do their thing to highlight their best assets and James and Chris will control the team philosophy around it. I think the failures more come from a Melo that cannot and will never change and doesn't fit. Faried is a high energy guy that excels at things we need. You turn him loose and hope that he can pick up some ability on D. He has the athleticism and effort but lacks the instincts. You have to believe a player like that could benefit from coaching at some point. He has a great motor, clearly loves it here, and wants to make it a home and do great.

 

So much better than espn takes

 

Gordon absolutely needs to be a 6th man. Our bench lacks scorers and EG at his best is an all star level scorer. Would really help with the dry spells Rockets seem to go on most games...

 

If he keeps hitting 3's, the sky's the limit. And I'm not just talking about the 4.

That solves about every problem this team has - lack of front court rebounding, depth, toughness, and shooting.

You put House in the mix as well...and this team is in really good shape


Faried, Rivers, Shumpert, House >> Ariza, Luc, Anderson

Harden/Gordan/CP3/Rivers/Shumpert/House/Tucker/Green/Capela/Faried

That's one heck of a solid 10 guys to go to battle with. You're always going to have 5 strong players on the court managed by an elite point guard now featuring better rebounding.

 

Sounds good, but I think you will need to include Nene if we're talking playoffs.

Probably taking either Shumpert, House or Green's minutes because we can really only play two of them per game.

 

Backup 4 is very matchup driven, Clark will be out of the rotation most nights so it will be PJ, Faried and then some minutes Harden or Green guarding the opposing PF (harden has been totally capable of guarding PFs in the post for at least the past few seasons). If we end up playing the Warriors we have more flexibility at the 4 because you don't really have to guard Draymond around the perimeter.

 

I was impressed by how a "breath [of fresh air]" needs a "breather". Galactic brain-level metaphor there... Don't know who stole that from whom, but I am stealing it myself for future use...

 

This isn’t last years team.

We need rebounding more than we need 3 point shooting from the 4.

If he can hit 30% from three he should start.

That rebounding is what’s going to win us games.

And it’s not like pj tucker has been lighting it up from 3 the last 20 games. So we have t had good shooting from the 4 spot for almost 2 months now.

This team with cp3 harden Gordon green tucker and even rivers is going to hit 15 threes every game just from those guys Alone.

We take volume threes we don’t make them at a high clip.

But I’m all in on fareid starting and playing with Clint.

The big lineup is solid we need the rebounds it makes are defense a lot better. I’ve beeb saying it all season. It’s not the Defensive scheme or the players being poor on that end. It’s the offensive rebounds and second chance point that we’re making this team a bottom tier defense.

We rebound the ball we’re prob pretty close to a top 10 D imo.

I don’t know why ppl complain about the offense. This team is a top 2 offense every year with harden and MDA it doesn’t matter who’s on the court with harden the offense is elite.

We need the size and rebound bad and this solves that’s. Plus it gets an elite wing defender with tucker moving back to his natural position at the 3.

 

THIS

btw 3s are not the only way to space the floor
if hes left open at the 3 pt line hes at the rim in 2 dribles finishing at high clip
also member thomphson for cavs who spaced the floor with his off rebounding provess

 

Congrats to Morey on figuring out a way to shore up our rebounding while taking an axe to Capela's chances of meeting that rebounding incentive

 

How do teams beat us without stretch 4’s and 5’s?

 

point blank layups with guy on you thats 5 inches smaller than you does that i guess but what do I know