I find it "interesting" that JVG was universally blamed for the composition of the roster he inherited and coached for 4 years and now Adelman is receiving the same treatment. The answer to your question is quite simple: Alston, Hayes & Battier start because they are the best he's got right now. And out of that group, the only guy I'd replace immediately would be Hayes (I'd start Scola). I believe Adelman to be no dummy (unlike other people) and I have to trust his judgement in this matter else why bother hiring him in the first place? The big discussion now (aside from a constant rehashing of the Gay-Battier deal) concerns Adelman's choice of starters. Once again, I feel that folks vastly over-valued what Morey did in the off season. To wit: He brought in Mike James and SF3 to join the hated Alston at PG. Question: which of the 3 has the best pure PG skills for running your offense? Answer: Alston. Question: Which of the 3 makes the least mistakes handling the ball and works to get others involved? Answer: Alston. But...Question: Which of the 3 has a streaky offensive game? Answer: All. Question: Which of the 3 plays good defense especially on the perimeter? Answer: Neither. Beginning to see Adelman's problem here yet? But wait! What about Brooks? Can he be the answer at PG? After all, didn't he tear up the summer league against a bunch of guys named Herb? Based on that and from the limited minutes he's played so far, isn't he ready to take on the likes of Nash, Paul, Parker and Williams? Answer: No. Did you forget that Morey himself publicly stated at the time of this year's draft not to expect much in the way of significant contributions from Landry & Brooks? Besides being undersized, both are rookies and it is unrealistic to expect them to be instantly better than the other veteran players you have on the roster. Again, if Adelman can't depend on the veteran players he has, then just what CAN he depend on? Now the question I ask is this: Just how many losses are you prepared to accept while Brooks learns to play PG at this level especially if doing costs you playoff seeding? Remember: he'll have to play defense as well as offense and a sub-6 foot PG doesn't strike me as a defensive stopper... Question: But what about Bonzi. After all, didn't he play like a demon for Adelman two years ago at SAC? Answer: When you find THAT Bonzi Wells instead of the one who showed up last year fat, angry and out of shape and who ultimately quit on this team OR the one who's still here playing for that big contract he thinks he deserves, let me know. So as you can see, Adelman is in a bit of a pickle. He can only play with the team given to him by the organization (unlike JVG who many here feel was both coach & GM). He tried putting in his new system and the offensively-challenged players on the roster simply couldn't hack it so he ended up junking it and going back to putting the ball in Yao & Tmac's hands and that same group of offensively-challenged players still can't hack it and worse, they've no longer playing defense. Now what? As you can see, there are simply no easy answers nor quick fixes for what we're seeing on the court right now. They will just have to push ahead and work their way through this. Hopefully by February, there'll be some positive signs of progress for all to hang their hats on.
Hillboy, I understand what you are saying, but I personally think there are better options on the bench than on the court. First, Alston is simply too much of a liability to start and play major minutes. I would likely start Francis and play him the majority of minutes. The team looks more confident when he is on the court (IMO). No, he is not a pure PG, but he is a decent distributor/passer, he drives with authority, good rebounder, tough, has an attitude, strong. No longer the "human highlight reel" but a better role player, overall, than Alston. I would move TMac to the 3, and bring Battier off the bench. I would try Bonzi at the 2, if he doesn't cut it, sit him. I think he would respond, just guessing. If not, try James. Back up Francis with Alston and Brooks. Back up James and Bonzi with Synder. Hayes backs up Scola at the 4. This gives the team more options, more scoring punch, more attitude: defensively, not that much of a loss. Scratch all of this, and I still say Adelman should be experimenting more. If our best three role players are starting, this team is in real trouble. I am absolutely convinced that they don't start for any other team in the West. In your heart, you know I'm right.
Agree- but I would play TMac also at the three, Yao at center, Scola at PF Steve isn't the answer at the point, he doesn't run the break and probably not the one to get us into the new offense. I prefer Steve at 2 guard in Adelman's system. Rafer shouldn't be in the rotation Hayes is ok off the bench for a few minutes. Snyder could also start at the 2 guard (bringing Steve off the bench) James would fit in off the bench along with Battier Which leaves us without a starting PG. There is the rub Maybe you go ahead and give A Brooks some minutes with the starters? I can't believe any contending team would want Rafer, Battier, Hayes in their starting lineup and only Battier in their rotation.
Guess it all comes down to whether Adelman would be willing to give up Alston because "he's the perfect guard for his system". Personally, I think it'd be better to have a scoring guard in the mold of D-Wade and a shooting guard who's deadly from the 3 point line who's also athletically gifted enough to drive and make opposing teams pay. As to whether or not this team can play better with the players they have. Yes. I guess it just depends on whether you're a glass half full or a glass half empty type of fan.
Sounds good to me, but perhaps we should do the changes in steps. How effective we look when Rafer occasionally hits his shots give us an idea of how good the team can be if we can just get Yao and Tracy some more offensive fire power without destroying the defense. I really don't think that Rafer is that good defensively, that it overcomes his streakiness and overall poor offense. As someone else said, you can't run Adelman's or really anyone elses' offense probably with those 3 guys. I say start by replacing Allston with Steve in the lineup. If that is not enough, then move Tracy to SF and put in Bonzi at guard. Maybe being demoted would give Shane the idea that he can't just be a glue guy with no offense. I'm not sure if that would make any difference, but maybe it would. Hayes, is Hayes and it is useless to ask him to help out more on offense. I'm just not sure Scola is ready to be a full time starter yet. BTW has the combo of Yao, Tracy, Bonzi, Scola and Francis gotten any appreciable playing time together? I can't specifically remember it.
Samfisher, nobody said anything about slacking or turning it on. It was about developing a team that plays as a team 1-12. Not the first 6-7 players. As we all know the 4th seed didn't get us anything but sent home early. Now do you want to go into the playoffs as a 4th seed and everyone that sees playtime, dead tired and relying on your two stars. Or would you rather go into the playoffs as a 6th or 7th seed and more of your team in the rotation and with fresh legs. Members that I talk about are Bonzi, Steve Novack, V-span or John Lucas. As we all know Utah out ran and out hustled us. We had nobody that could score other than our two stars, that were out for 50 games. The season is early, if you think because we are at .500 the season is over and that we should pack it up, you are dead wrong. Try saying that a few times! Biding time and playing possum? Give me a break! Mastermind Rick Adelman? Oh yea, you have almost twenty thousand post, maybe you should be coach. Personally I'd rather have options if things are not going right come playoff time. Yes it was JVG that brought in Shane, Chuck and Rafer. Is it a coincidence that the guys can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn? Is it Rick's fault that JVG passed up on Rudy Gay for Shane. Is it Rick's fault that these guys seem to be all defense and no offense. I not trying to knock these guys but you seem to be giving JVG a big pass. It's just some see the glass half empty, while others see the glass half full. JVG seems to want to pound square pegs into round holes, he's gone now. That alone makes me happy!
Try looking at some of Adelman's old teams and you will find him using 7 and 8 man rotations. So at first, I was somewhat incredulous as to where you were getting your info, but then.... ....I scanned further down and I saw you citing "V-span", John Lucas III, Novak, and Bonzi as valuable reserves so I pretty much gave up at that point. I mean Bonzi 07-08, outside of a few games, has been pretty muc a huge bust. Bonzi last year? Forget about it. As for the rest - they're pretty much all where they belong this year. Coach/GM - actually wait, no point. See above. You see the glass as half-crazy.
Solid, Glynch & Rhester: We'll have to disagree on the subject of Steve Francis as the being the answer at PG. While I really like the guy personally and he is/was an exciting player, he was a disaster at running the point when he was here before: flying into the lane into triple teams (and turning over the ball), couldn't run a fast break to save his life, turning over the ball all on his own because he tried to do too much, making bad to horribly bad decisions while running the offense (bad passing, dribbleitis and watch out for the press) and worst of all, becoming less and less effective as time passed (ex. his last season here he shot just around 40%). And I've seen nothing I've seen from him in the past 4 years that would lead me to believe that somehow a switch was flipped and he's a wholly different player today. I think he is what he is just like Rafer is what he is and just like Mike James is what he is. And Snyder isn't a true option either to me as he's been moved from 2 other teams because of his "problems" grasping their offensive & defensive systems. So it comes as no surprise to me that he's having the same problems here under RA that he had under JVG. If you add them all up you can clearly see Adelman's dilemma because neither player is what he needs right now. Which brings me to Morey. Question: Why couldn't he see this coming? After all, he should have had a clear idea of what Adelman's system required from a PG as well as the need to match up competitively against the other PGs in the West. If he didn't then all he needed to do was review video from the playoff series with Utah and watch how Deron Williams abused our PGs. As for Battier, I really can't rip him for not being more of an offensive threat because that's not his role and it most certainly wasn't the reason they traded for him in the first place. The Rockets' plan has always been for Tmac & Yao are to be the offensive engines driving this team ever since that trade for Tmac. No, they went out and got Battier because they hadn't been able to draft anyone with his skill set for years now. This problem with the imbalance in the offense has been here ever since the big trade so I guess I don't see why it's such a big issue now. And before anyone blames this on JVG, it's worthwhile to note that this is EXACTLY what the Rockets organization wanted in the first place when they made that trade. They tried to load up on jumpshooters so they could exploit the defenses who focused their defenses on Yao & Tmac but to my knowledge they have never been able to do so. Again, I attribute this to be yet another example of the lack of planning on their (Rockets) part but then what else is new? To me it's always been a strategy that makes it easier for opposing defenses to shut them down. A lot of this talk about Adelman playing the wrong players while there are supposedly guys sitting on the bench who are the answer smacks of what I heard last season about JVG and Spanoullis, Novack, et. al. I didn't buy it then and I don't buy it now. Again: I can see no easy moves or answers to magically fix this so we'll just have to wait to see how everything plays out.
Hey Rhester, thanks for jumping into the mix. Always great to hear from you. I am so frustrated with Adelman's refusal to change the lineup, I am open to any combination other than the one he starts now. Bottomline, Rafer, Hayes, and Battier don't start for any other team in the West. I have no doubts about that.
Acutally i personally feel Battier would start on many of the Wests team, not to mention many of the Easts teams
We are alright. Our players are fine. It's not just about scoring and if you watch a lot of basketball it's what the guys are doing away from the ball and where they are moving too that's really interesting. Watch the plays develop. Who is setting the screens. Who's running to the empty spot. How's the spacing and who's cutting. Coach Adleman and the Rockets really worked hard and fixed a lot of things over the what was it? 5 day break? They still are a little rusty but it's getting better. The ball distribution is much better. Rafer, everyone flames him for his shooting but its just too easy a target lol. He does a good job and is pretty quick with his hands. He is pretty good defensively and he gets the ball into Yao very well. His passing is crisp and he moves well within the offense. So my conclusion? Adelman>>Average Fan
for crying out loud, they are professional players, get pays millions of dollars. No excuse for missing open shots. regardless of win or loss, they shouldn't be jacking up bricks. they need to starting playing like real BB players, and not some too wealthy men playing ball. get their arise to the gym and shoot a thousand time. someone need to play the slam dunk to them. show them how to shoot a thousand shoots.
I'm not defending our poor shooting starting pg. He's not good in that area. I am still for giving our other guards some burn but that's ok for right now. Long as we keep winning.
