I felt our bench quality has improved quite a bit recently. Everyone has kept saying Mavs have the deepest team in the league. I felt our bench is quickly approaching their level, especially after Yao returns. I want to draw an analogy between Rockets and Mavs: Deke > Diop Bonzi >= Jerry Stackhouse Howard > Austin Croshere Head <= Devin Harris (better 3pt shooting but inferior in quickness, defense and penetration) Kirk Snyder < Devean George (Better athelet, but ...)
How does the group of Stackhouse, Diop, Croshere, Devean George, Devin Harris, Greg Buckner and Anthony Johnson compare to Luther, Bonzi, Chuck, Deke, JL3 and Snyder? Advantage Mavs. If we had their bench, no trades would be necessary for us to make a run. Harris and Stack backing up Rafer and Tracy would be solid as a rock; Buckner would also be there for defensive purposes. George, along with Stack would back up Tracy and Shane. Diop and Croshere would back up Juwan and Yao. The Mavs are a great team and there is a reason they've gone 35-5 after losing their first 4 games. They are flying high right now and have a great shot at winning it all this year, but championships aren't won in January.
Superficially, the talent level might seem similar. But their bench is more experienced and makes less mistakes. There's a reason JVG hesitates to go deep into his bench, while Avery doesn't. When Yao returns, I think our bench will be much stronger. Deke, Juwan, and Bonzi are all experienced and should be solid for the playoffs. Luther will be adequate in a backup PG/SG role, if we can hit his outside shots.
Not to mention that three of our bench players are actually starting (assuming that Alston should be a bench player in any rational universe...)
and honestly i think that is what the rockets really had in mind when trading for him. i dont think anyone believed sura to be out for this long. their bench is talented and for once so is the rockets (when healthy) but they have experience and chemistry together which speakes volumes. all of the good teams in the west generally have the same core pieces every year and the same players to develop together except the rockets who seem to have many many new faces every year. but if sura was fine sura/rafer/jl3/vspan mcgrady/bonzi/head battier/snyder/novak hayes/howard/padge yao/deke would have been a very formidable lineup imagine having rafer,bonzi,head,snyder,deke howard or hayes coming off of the bench
Wow, the discrepancy between the Dallas bench and ours is staggering. It's not even close. Not to mention our longstanding PG issue--both of Dallas's are vastly superior to ours.
Dont be misguided by that Portland blowout. As much as I hate to say it, the Mavs bench is much bigger and more athletic than ours. We have a good team but to ger
*I messed up and couldnt edit Dont be misguided by that Portland blowout. As much as I hate to say it, the Mavs bench is much bigger and more athletic than ours. We have a good team but to beat Dallas we have to be 100%.
first of all. DFW DOES NOT ROX. DFWSUX. second, Dallas bench is better. our only good value player guy is maybe howard, and head. Deke is doing a great job but is pretty damn old. I'm happily surprised he is doing what he is doing. bonzi is decent too. JVG will probably start cutting the bench short to eight players.
Exactly! We have the Tmac of Europe in VSpan We have the Yao of Africa in Mutombo Who needs a Mav bench when you have practically 2 superstars coming off our bench?
ROX here as in short for Rockets (fan) not Rocks. You started by saying Dallas bench is better then named 4 rockets player in a roll. Deke will be a starter on Mavs, period. Bonzi is better than Stack; Howard is a better backup at 4 for Mavs than Austin Croshere ; Head's 3pt shooting and hustle will land him sufficient playing time on Mavs too! Before you all instantly write Rockets's bench off, look at this data. I'd admit they have a bit more depth on the bench, but the top 4 bench players , Rockets is at about the same level as Mavs. * Erick Dampier 25'53" Luther Head 29'00" Jerry Stackhouse 23'23" Juwan Howard 26'11" Devean George 20'41" Bonzi Wells 20'53" Greg Buckner 17'06" Dikembe Mutombo 16'30" Anthony Johnson 14'54" Kirk Snyder 14'18" Austin Croshere 09'48" John Lucas 8'54"
