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Chronic: Rockets' guards sidestep traffic jam so far

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Rockets34Legend, Oct 4, 2007.

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  1. Rockets34Legend

    Rockets34Legend Contributing Member

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    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5186686.html

    Five players find coexisting at point not that difficult

    By JONATHAN FEIGEN
    Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

    AUSTIN — Sometime between running the point for the Rockets' summer-league team in July and for the Rockets this week, Aaron Brooks moonlighted as a sparring partner.

    The Rockets' first-round pick played for the USA Basketball select team, serving to tune up the senior national team, and more specifically point guards Jason Kidd and Deron Williams, for the FIBA Tournament of the Americas.

    After two days taking his turn in the Rockets' clown-car glut of point guards, he said this has been more difficult. And after that taste of what the best of NBA point guards looks like, he said he has seen plenty of similarities on the floor in Austin.

    "This is tougher," Brooks said. "Everybody knows your sets. Those were great point guards, Jason Kidd and them. It's just different styles. You can tell the guys here have the wisdom and they're smart with the ball. You can tell they are NBA point guards."

    The Rockets are not ready to declare their quality is greater than their quantity at the position. But after two days, the idea of bringing five point guards — Steve Francis, Mike James, Rafer Alston, John Lucas III and Brooks — to camp no longer seems so strange, either.

    "One thing I always tell people," James said, "it's better to have a bunch of good players than a bunch of mediocre players."

    Theory doesn't hold up

    That would seem irrefutable, and a good guideline should James eventually move into a front office. But it was the "bunch" part — with shooting guard Luther Head able to also work at the position and with Bob Sura still under contract, though long since out of the mix — that seemed likely to be awkward before practices began.

    Things might not be as cheerful when camp reaches its sixth day and seventh practice and bodies are aching, much less when decisions must be made about playing time. For now, however, the Rockets' most obvious roster issue heading to Austin has not been a practice issue at all.

    "I think it's great," coach Rick Adelman said. "Those guys came in here with great attitudes. They all busted their tails.

    "It (the glut) is there. There's no doubt about it, and they're all good players. Mike and Steve played together, and they played well together. A lot of them can play both guard spots. We have to find a way to get them on the floor."


    Time-share concept

    So far, he has, leading to the good cheer about the presumed excess. With practices reaching 3 1/2 hours, a few minutes to step off the floor is not unwelcome. But the Rockets' point guards have had more than enough practice time to put off concerns about playing time.

    "We have a lot of interchangeable guys and guys that are versatile," Alston said. "You're going to need a point guard to initiate it, but the perimeter players, we can fill any spot on the court. I think our offense, as long as you're making hard cuts and good picks, anybody can handle the ball, anybody can come off scoring.

    "Right now, things are flowing smoothly. He (Adelman) is allowing us to go out here and perform and he's mixing up the groups. That's how I guess he's going to determine what guys will play."

    For much of the practice time, Adelman has had two point guards playing together. Even if someone is designated the point guard, the duties of both guards in the halfcourt sets are usually interchangeable. In the open floor, either could receive an outlet pass and direct the offense.

    "It's been a very pleasant surprise." Adelman said. "They've all picked it up."
     
    #1 Rockets34Legend, Oct 4, 2007
  2. MONON

    MONON Member

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    Sounds like the cuts are really gonna be difficult. That's a switch around here.
     
    #2 MONON, Oct 4, 2007
  3. A_3PO

    A_3PO Member

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    Not really. The cuts won't be any more difficult than normal. We happen to have way too many guaranteed contracts. RA is just being diplomatic and is working everyone very hard, whether they will be staying or not. JL3 is gone. Reed is gone. Sura isn't there. Harris is gone. We'll see after that.
     
    #3 A_3PO, Oct 4, 2007
  4. battousai

    battousai Member

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    it sounded like aldelman would like to use two "pg" for our 1 and 2 positions.

    perhaps:

    MJ and SF, battier, scola, Yao

    Alston, Wells, Tmac, Hayes, Yao

    If we can't trade Alston, then AB is out on Bench.
     
    #4 battousai, Oct 4, 2007
  5. Dei

    Dei Member

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    Luther is gone.
     
    #5 Dei, Oct 4, 2007
  6. peleincubus

    peleincubus Member

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    if he is gone alstons a** better be gone to. because if we keep him and get rid of head ill be pissed
     
    #6 peleincubus, Oct 4, 2007
  7. bladeage

    bladeage Contributing Member

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    Not likely they will trade Luther until either the trade deadline or until next season.
     
    #7 bladeage, Oct 4, 2007
  8. No Worries

    No Worries Contributing Member

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    RA likes shooters (which reminds me of Rudy T in a way). I say Head should see plenty of PT while Alston, if he stays, will ride the pine.
     
    #8 No Worries, Oct 4, 2007
  9. DonkeyMagic

    DonkeyMagic Contributing Member
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    huh?! Why? do you mean cut? traded?
     
    #9 DonkeyMagic, Oct 4, 2007
  10. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    luther's not a pg and that's one extreme positive about the glut at pg.
     
    #10 pgabriel, Oct 4, 2007
  11. Barkley

    Barkley Member

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    Agree. Rafer said Luther's pg, but hell no! Last year he just had to play at og but with all these additiond i don't wanna see him as a pg anymore
     
    #11 Barkley, Oct 4, 2007
  12. redao

    redao Member

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    If Luther is gone, Morey better brings value back.
     
    #12 redao, Oct 4, 2007
  13. Yetti

    Yetti Contributing Member

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    I think we should be clear about the picture we are looking at
    GUARDS Head, Brooks, Francis, James, Alston, Lucas.
    Only Alston and Brooks can get the ball down the court quickly and without many turnovers. They can do this with their focus being passing the ball to an open man.
    The others have, at least in the past, a mind set of Shoot first.
    So at this point in time and considering Coach A's game plan we should stop calling them Point Guards and think of them all as being versatile GUARDS, without the formal definition. So we will have two starting Guards and two back up Guards and possibly a specialist Guard coming in as reserve.
     
    #13 Yetti, Oct 4, 2007
  14. Barkley

    Barkley Member

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    No way Lucas' gonna play. He wants it but he also knows he's gonna sit
     
    #14 Barkley, Oct 4, 2007
  15. jasonemilio

    jasonemilio Member

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    I think Rafer summarized the best: we have 7 point guards (including sura), and technically 8 with Tmac (thereby affirming his status as a point forward).
    But even without sura and JL3 we still have 5 point guards. I think if we can trade one of those guys for a pure point guard (yes I know Rafer is one, but he is a liability on defense and cannot score worth a #$S). We have some good combo guards so we need an anchor point guard (Tmac doesnt count)
     
    #15 jasonemilio, Oct 4, 2007
  16. Dr. Basketball

    Dr. Basketball Member

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    Listening to Coach A's interview:

    Rafer is going to play
    Brooks is very far away from producing and is going to be benched
    This is only the 2nd day of camp, but this is how it is so far
     
    #16 Dr. Basketball, Oct 4, 2007
  17. H-TownBBall

    H-TownBBall Member

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    You forgot TMac and Bonzi as guards. It can definitely be argued that he is better as a forward. If Battier can play PF in this system then things would be so much easier. Then things would be something like this:

    PG - (Francis 15mins)/(James 25mins)/(Brooks 8mins)
    SG - (TMac 15mins)/(Bonzi 20mins)/(Francis 13mins)
    SF - (Battier 18mins)/(TMac 20mins)/(Bonzi 10mins)
    PF - (Scola 18mins)/(Battier 15mins)/(Hayes 15mins)
    C - (Yao 30mins)/(Scola 10mins)/(Deke 8mins)

    That makes a 10 man rotation of:
    TMac - 35mins
    Battier - 33mins
    Yao - 30mins
    Bonzi - 30mins
    Francis - 28mins
    Scola - 28mins
    James - 25mins
    Hayes - 15mins
    Deke - 8mins
    Brooks - 8mins

    I could certainly see Deke and Brooks being squeezed out, but I'd like to see Brooks get some playing time. Butler could be substituted for Deke in the rotation depending on matchups to develop him also. Of course, if Battier cannot play PF as was the case last year, then Hayes will pick up the slack at PF and Bonzi and Francis would end up losing playing time so that Battier can play impact minutes at SF.

    Anyone else think this sounds reasonable?
     
    #17 H-TownBBall, Oct 4, 2007
  18. SLrocket

    SLrocket Contributing Member

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    \

    wheres luther in your situation
     
    #18 SLrocket, Oct 4, 2007
  19. denniscd

    denniscd Contributing Member

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    you want to play yao 30 minutes...geez people...lets get our best players out on the floor more not less. this is so unreasonable i cant believe any one would suggest it
     
    #19 denniscd, Oct 4, 2007
  20. steddinotayto

    steddinotayto Contributing Member

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    If they trade Luther away (and I hope they don't), I can see Morey milking a team like the Cavaliers for all they have.
     
    #20 steddinotayto, Oct 4, 2007
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