The Rockets have a problem that imo is going to prevent them from winning big and is only correctable by big changes. That problem is shooting. Now your first response is probably "duh the shooting is bad right now" and then you'll rattle off a few excuses about injuries, chemistry, time to gel, etc. But even after all that, the problem will still be there because it's been there for awhile. We don't have players on this team that can just shoot the basketball. Tracy McGrady, our "shooting guard," is just a bad shooter. His fans are quick to jump to his defense when he is criticized and offer up reasons why he'll shoot better later, but the numbers don't lie. Last year he ranked 29th out of 34 "shooting guards" in the league in FG%. Below him were fellow all-stars Michael Finley, Jamal Crawford, Stephen Jackson, Larry Hughes, and DeShawn Stephenson. This is the fundamental problem this team has. Yao has to fight incredibly hard to be productive in large part because no matter who is on the floor, they can sag off of them unless it's a 3 point shooter. When teams play Yao tight in the paint and run guys at him constantly, this team is ineffective because most of the other players are going to miss the bulk of the shots they take. Tracy's value is as a playmaker. He gets off good passes and he can score tough baskets when he takes it to the rack and takes a high volume of shots. But how valuable is that really? Isn't the only reason we still have Rafer on this team is because of his "value" as a "true pg" and "playmaker?" We carry two guards in the starting lineup every night who can't shoot, but hey, at least they can pass it to each other! When your two guards are incapable of hitting most wide open jump shots, how are you going to to beat good teams consistently? Adelman's offense, even if properly run, is not going to get these guys layups every time. I guarantee that if we had someone like Richard Hamilton or Kevin Martin starting at the 2 we'd be significantly upgraded. This team just can't shoot anything but 3s, and as we all know, 3 pointers just aren't going to fall for you consistently.
Tracy has never been known as a good shooter. He is known as a good RYTHM shooter. When he gets it going than nobody can stop him. He is just a scorer, not a shooter.
Agree.we all talk about Rockets' problems now,Tracy is much better as a PG,not SG,his shooting rate is terrible,last night 1/11,maybe somebody will tell that he is still ill,and his body now is not 100%,but we also know,last Kobe got his finger hurt,and he tied two fingers together,but his shooting rate is not low too much.So I really think we need a better SG,and move Tracy to 1.
I love basketball folklore. So, if a player is not efficient, the best thing to do is let him take lots of shots so that he gets into a rhythm. This is *complete* nonsense! How about letting Rafer get into a rhythm!
He used to shoot 45% from the floor. Whether that was him hitting more jumpers or being a better finisher, I can't say. But either way, he's not good at either now. And you are right, he's still a good rhythm shooter. He's still capable of hot nights. Unfortunately, those are not the norm for him. He's more likely to go 6-20 than he is to go 10-15. Has been for awhile now. However, it's not only about Tracy. Rafer is an awful shooter and while Artest is a good player, he's not a shooter either. Shane is a good spot up 3 point shooter, but he's not a good stop and pop guy either. There is nobody on this team who you can say "man, if we run a play to get them an open look they are going to knock down the jumpshot."
T-Mac at PG will only slow down our offense even more. At least Rafer and Brooks try to push the ball up the court and look for some early offense. With McGrady running things, we'll get like 10 shot clock violations a game. And nevermind that he has no shot of guarding the opposing team's PG. We'd need to cross match there.
It's the Flip Murray syndrome, which I remember a lot of people here mocking last year when someone recommended we should sign him. Can't shoot but is willing to take a bunch of shots to get his points and somehow that is a "skill."
This team will always be offensively challenged when it starts two guards that neither can consistently hit an open jumpshot.
IMHO, t-mac is the talent player in the league but from my observe since last season that for current team the best role and responsibility for t-mac should be "ASSIST" , he got height and eyeshot on the court and incredible explosive strength ,and especially the passing skills, yeah he has the best ability in this team to create the chances for his teammate ,so dont play self basketball as you said "the game is five" . sometime we can see that when t-mac scored high pts but we still lost the ball game.(sorry t-mac fans) For yao frankly speaking yeah right many pp may hate this guy due to "many reasons" , but my question is this team build around t-mac or yao? maybe neither ..the last I questioned that is RA know the each player's advantage in this team? especially yao ? does he really know well how to use yao ? just let him "pick and roll "at the high post till end of this season???too much rotation and until today this team still have not find the right substitue C for Yao yet ..maybe Landry?Deke? lets see ...also i dont want to know that why Mr Alexander would like to pay more salary to JVG than RA , was that relate to the coaching skills and ability?you think
Bingo. Yes, there will be nights where the shots are falling and they look great against good teams, but in a 7 game series I don't like their chances against a tough team.
I beg to differ. He can't dribble well enough to play the 1!! Also, he's too slow to guard the other team's 1. Sigh.
Maybe we should look into getting Mike Miller I'd be willing to trade maybe even Battier for him and bring Artest off the bench. This way you have someone outside who can keep the defense honest.
teh problem is we lost teh def once JVG brought to us. fortunately there r some noob teams around, we can eat em 4 breakfast even w/o any def. and we ****ed up adleman's offence too.
This has been the history of the Rockets since (JVG) they look for players who are decent at both ends of the court. Look at Novac who was a great shooter- left undeveloped by the Rockets and then traded away after his talent sat on the bench for two years. Now they have Von Wafer who possibly is even better than Novac- will he ever be used-no because is is a specialist shooter.
FWIW, JVG bemoaned the fact that he didn't have shooters constantly. I don't think Novak is a good example of them not wanting to play a good shooter because he wasn't good at defense. Novak was atrocious at D.
i want mike miller too. heres teh deal: yao+rafer+head for AI jefferson+mike miller. we could solve all teh problems and have strongest bench in teh league. Timberwolves get yao teh cash cow. their team prolly needs an exp. PG as rafer and they liek young player with potential such as head ROFL. yao 1500m, rafer 500m, head 200m, AI jefferson 1100m, mike miller 900m. and we can sigh deke now. we go for champion while they become a better team maybe has chance to get in playoff even and their boss would be very happy with chinese market, fair enuff imo.
