[CBS Sports] Did the Houston Rockets get better by subtraction this summer?

How is replacing Lin's production easy? And for the record I'm not a Jeremy Lin fan at all, but your saying Canaan's worst game won't give you the typical headaches we had with Lin. How do you figure?

 

Correction, we need a 1 and a 5 to make big steps forward. It doesn't have to be Canaan and Dmo.

 

If you're saying Canaan is an upgrade at PG over Lin then you must be dreaming. I hope you're right.

 

Canaan is actually a major upgrade over Lin.

 

Go back and look at the box scores/play-by-play:

Game 1, Harden put us up two with 7 seconds left in regulation, we couldn't get a rebound and Aldridge tied it up with two seconds left.

Game 2 he and everyone else sucked all around (except Dwight).

Game 3 Harden scores 4 in a row to put us up three with about 50 seconds left and Jeremy Lin decides it's a good idea to not run the clock and brick a layup leading to the transition three and tie by Batum.

Game 4 AGAIN, Harden scores 4 points with about 50 seconds left and AGAIN Lin's bonehead play directly leads to the Williams 3 to take the lead. Harden with the nice play to Dwight to force overtime.

Game 5 with the Blazers within two with 4 min left Harden scores 8 of the last 10 points to take control of the game late.

Game 6 Dwight was our clutch guy.

So yes he made plenty of clutch plays and he put us in great position to win games 1, 3, 4 and 5. Obviously he played poorly overall especially in the home games but to say he didn't make clutch plays throughout is just bad memory.

 

We'll see.

 

Base on what, how do you figure?

 

As long as we do HAVE to count on Adrien, Dorsey & Canaan we will be fine. That means we need a veteran PG, Trey D to his job, Garcia to bounce back, Papa to be able to handle the 4 position and D-Mo to be solid at the 5. I think we have to stop forcing D-Mo to be a stretch 4, he's best in the post so let him be that guy in the second unit with all shooters around him (Trey D, Garcia & Papa).

 

Fixed..

 

Canaan has better upside than Lin. I haven't seen anything in an nba game that says Canaan is better now. He sucked every time he was on the floor last year. Troy made an immediate impact - I iept wanting Canaan to do something but he never showed anything. I'm still hopeful his skills will translate, but he hasn't shown it yet in nba games. So saying he's a better player than Lin is not accurate. If he were, he would have been played more last year. I will keep my fingers crossed that he gets his chance to shine and does this year.

 

That's exactly what I'm saying.

It was hard for Lin and Harden to coexist together in the backcourt. It will be much easier for Canaan and Harden to do that since their skillset complement each other much better than the latter two.

Lin may end up scoring more points due to a higher using percentage in LA now. But with our system Canaan is the ideal fit at PG. If he can get some solid defense under his belt, he'll definitely make a push for the starting job held by Pat Bev.

I feel like both will be a great one two punch with whomever comes off the bench or starts for our squad this season. I'm especially excited to see what Canaan has to bring to the table.

 

I think OKC is a few notches below great due to their bench. They just don't have a bench that's sustainable enough to win a ring. KD has to play out of his freakin mind every game. We are similiar

 

I don't think we've been discussing this enough. Dwight Howard was better than he had been all season in this series. Was he saving himself for the postseason? Was the Blazers defense really that bad? Or did Howard simply hit his stride?

A quick look at his all star break splits doesn't really help too much. His numbers appear down but so were his minutes, from 34 to 31. On a per minute basis his numbers were about the same, with a little less scoring (but a higher field goal percentage).

 

Agreed. I neglected to say "if trades don't happen" which we know they will.

 

umm....ok....

Stay ignorant. I like Canaan's potential, but from the few showings he had last season, he's not nearly as ready as you thought he is.

Ariza's D is an upgrade, but Ariza only shows up on contract year, so you really have to take back a few steps on his performance prediction as a replacement to Parsons.

Parsons may not be that great of a play maker, but he was assigned as our 2nd ball handler with Lin. Losing 2 of your secondary ball handlers is never good, especially we have non-proven players to fill those holes.

 

I don't think he was saving himself in the regular season. I think he knows what he can do and was playing more of a team game and trying to build chemistry and confidence in his younger team mates. When it was clear he had an advantage against Portland AND everyone else on the team was sucking he decided it was time to put the cape on and do work.

 

U mean screw up the play maker ?.

 

who /.......? I mean who cares of course ...last years headache

 

I'm ignorant cause we have a difference in opinion? Ok... stay dumb.

Last season is last season, he was a rookie. He's finally got a year under his belt and should have the game slowed down enough to be a contributing role player for this team. He as well as D-Mo have shown they can hang with the top 2nd year players of their class in the D-League tournament. Now it's time for them to translate that to the big leagues.

Unproven players become proven by only one way, being given playing time. I mean is that not how we discovered the semi-playmaking ability of Parsons.

Let it go man, they're not here anymore. They won't be back. And eventually whether from within or thru trade those guys are going to be replaced.

 

Ehh... I think his numbers looked better in the playoffs because we went to him more and that's about it.

Regular season per 36

19.5 points 13.0 rebounds 1.9 blocks 3.4 turnovers

FG% - .591
FT% - .547
TS% - .600
eFG% - .593
USG% - 24.0
FGA - 12.0
FTA - 9.6

Playoffs per 36

24.3 points 12.8 rebounds 2.6 blocks 3.0 turnovers

FG% - .547
FT% - .625
TS% - .581
eFG% - .547
USG% - 28.2
FGA - 16.5
FTA - 10.0

Shooting was down other than free throws. Minor improvements in blocks and turnovers. His usage was upped and took 4.5 more shots compared to the regular season.