Alston was traded prior to the post season. There's a plethora of guys @ that can play the SF.. Ariza, Brewer, Pap etc... SF was better now than then.. Ariza is greater than Battier would ever have been. Hell it was Ariza on the Lakers that was a big difference maker that helped the Lakers beat the Rox in 7...
As I recall, we choked a 10 point 4th quarter lead to the Mavs in the final game of the season. If we won that we would have been 2 seed. Very similar situation to how the standings played out this season
2009 team was a better squad if fully healthy, end of story. The current team might have a higher ceiling since Landry/Scola/Brooks all peaked very early, whereas many current players have room to grow. It remains to be seen whether they'll grow faster than Dwight declines.
This is what I keep telling people that criticize Morey for not having been able to put together a legitimate contender. The 2009 team was for real. McGrady shut it down late season, but it was legitimate until Deke and Yao went down in successive playoff series.
Didn't we traded for Lowry (Memphis) in a package that send Alston to Orlando? http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Rockets_Acquire_Lowry_Cook_In-301460-34.html So your PG rotation is not correct, IMO. On the other hand, a healthy 2008-2009 squad with T-Mac and Yao would still be better. The intensity and leadership from both Artest and Battier were very underrated at that time.
Lowry and Brooks is miles better than what we have right now at PG Artest and Battier is comparable with Ariza I guess Rick is a better coach than McHale that's for sure Yao was shut down by fronting lot of games, but it ended getting Portland into foul trouble. We eventually adjusted with shooting a lot of threes because of the attention Yao was getting.
that's not comparable, Dwight is not the focal point of our offense like Yao was. Yao's role is more comparable with Harden's than with Dwight's. Everything ran through Yao that season, when he was fronted, we kind of adjusted into a slashing/three point shooting team because of the attention Yao was getting and it somehow worked out. Evidently we are useless on offense when Harden gets shut down.
if both squads are fully healthy, give me the 08-09 any day of the week. that team had no weakness when fully healthy. deep bench, quality bigs, elite perimeter defense, elite playmaker, coaching, etc. there are much more weaknesses with this year's squad. harden is just that good that we tend to overcome them (PG, FT shooting, turnovers, McHale at times) if we're considering just playoff rotation, this team has a higher ceiling because of talent, but could flame out just as easily. with the 08-09 playoff squad, it was all heart after yao went down. amazing we took the lakers to 7 w/o tmac, yao, and deke.
realistically this team is better. but if the 09 team could stay healthy, they could've won it all. a healthy tmac/yao surrounded by those role players would destroy the the league.
Dorsey FTW! If everyone is at 100% health, I will go with Yao, Tmac and Artest. 3 players that can crack the NBA team. But with a gimpy tmac, i take this season.
How many games, playoffs or regular season, have we lost due to hack-a-Dwight? Though its often discussed, it really hasn't been an issue.
