Who will be the Rockets' best player next season outside of Tmac Yao and Artest?

Battier will probably be the most consistent but I think Scola will really step it up

 

Rafer is going to be our fouth best player on this team.

 

I would say Scola, but we will really have to rely on Rafer.

 

I don't know who will be the best player, but the supporting cast is an interesting discussion.

Scola, Battier, Hayes, Barry/Head are relative constants. You know for sure going in what you will get from Battier, Hayes, Barry and Luther Head. As far as Scola, I think many here are going a bit overboard with their expectations of improvement for him based on olympic play. He's 28 - I don't see him improving that greatly upon last season. That's not a problem though as he is adequate at the position.

Rafer Alston is the most important player on the team. Where he goes, the Rockets go. Noone else on the team is near capable of running the offense, and noone else has as great a chance of corralling Artest. He's a solid defender, and a steady floor general. He is a horrendous shooter/offensive option. It is a law of diminishing returns with Rafer. The greater his role/expectations/amount of shots, the less return you will get. Which brings me to my next point:

Carl Landry and Aaron Brooks, IMHO, represent the two biggest factors for our success this season. They are the only wild cards in this bunch. On a sluggish, half court team, they represent the only energy and change of pace options on this roster.

Landry gives us a frontcourt athleticism that the team hasn't had since Robert Horry's rookie year. He is a high percentage target for McGrady on the pick 'n roll. His play last season before the injury was one of the biggest factors in our turnaround. Scola alone leaves us merely adequate at the position, but coupled with a healthy Landry, power forward becomes a strength.

As far as Brooks, we desperately need him to come of age. He has the perfect skill set for this team. He can penetrate (in theory) and hit the 3's. We desperately need backcourt penetration when things slow down.

If Landry and Aaron Brooks emerge, we advance to the second round. If not, it is all up in the air.

 

Alston.

 

Scola is gonna be a beast this year... he may even be our third scorer...

 

this poll has one answer: Scola.

 

i agree with your landry and brooks statement. assuming landry is healthy, he'll give the rockets an athletic option that we have sorely missed since olajuwon. stromile doesn't count. as for brooks, depending if we don't sign a veteran pg or if francis has nothing left, he will be extremely crucial piece to the team. with no one adequate to run backup point, the rockets will be in huge trouble. and no, i don't think barry can play pg at this point of his career besides spot minutes.

however, saying that rafer is the MOST important player on the team, is a hyperbole to say the least. I understand where you're coming from, but I think you're overblowing his importance to the rockets when you have players like tmac and yao who are obviously more important relatively to rafer. I feel if we had rafer for the jazz, we'd win the series in 7, so I definitely agree with you that he's very important, just not the MOST important player. That statement is reserved for TMAC (just look at our record w/out him), and to a lesser extent Yao.

I think Scola will perform better than last year, stats wise, and just on the court presence. I don't see him being 28 to be much of a factor because with one year of NBA play under his belt, he will only get wiser. And he's not the type of player that relies on his athleticism. I mean seriously, how many times did he dunk last season? Twice? Age would be a factor if he relied on his athleticism like say Landry does, but I don't see him being 28, which is also considered the "prime" of a player's career to be much of a hindrance at all. I was really impressed with his play in the Olympics. Having monster games against Russia and USA makes me think he'll play an integral part to the Rockets success this year. He looks more comfortable shooting mid-range than he did last year, and he also looks quicker defensively.

 

Lopsided poll....these polls are popping up all over the place.

I personally cant wait til the season starts so we dont have to resort
to 139 threads with polls to entertain us.

 

i am suprised there is no Steve Francis option

 

Steve with 70% of his game back>better than artest and the rest of the TEAM. Thats just my opinion. Pippen was and will always be better than Artest, so no one should ever compare the two. But all in all I hope every player suprises us this season .

 

Hah... pretty tight race.

 

If the question is whos da best, then Scola without a doubt.

If the question is whos most important, then it should be rafer alston

 

I predict Scola will be even better. He didn't get to play with Yao that much and the little we seen him with Yao they're very productive.

 

We rely too much on Rafer.
Can we get another good PG like Bob sura?

 

LUTHER HEAD!!!!!!!!!!

 

I think it'll be Scola.

Scola struggled when Yao went down and he had to be the go to guy down low. Yao relieves Scola of all that attention so he's able to work in the paint.

So when Yao comes back, Scola should be back to playing at near all star level like he was when Yao was healthy in the second half of the season.

Rafer on the other hand actually improved his game when both McGrady and Yao went down. His floater looked good surprisingly, and his jump shot had good form. Someone from the coaching staff deserves a huge pay raise for fixing Rafer's shot. When both Yao and McGrady were healthy though his contributions were far less but still productive.

So that said, Scola will benefit the most. Rafer will be the 5th best option on the court always and will primarily be around the perimeter. A lot less will be asked of him.

I think his impact off the court will be enormous and undervalued though. I'm aware of his recent troubles with the law but he seems like he has his head on straight during the regular season. He's good friends with Artest and I think he'll help make sure Artest doesn't go off his leash, which is crucial.

 

scola!!!!

 

I hope it will be Rafer because we need a good contribution from him but the most possible option is Scola. He's gonna be better and I am even afraid of thinking how good can he be next season.