I sort of hate the small ball lineup, since our last two coaches have gone to it so often. Now that we have a team with size, I would hope they wouldn't use this as often as they did last year.
It doesn't really make any sense to me why fans hate it so much. If the Rockets played worse last year with it, then why did McHale go with the lineup so often to close out games? Per Daryl Morey VIA NBC Sports- What about the trend of small ball? Is there a place for a traditional big man in the NBA? For sure in the regular season, the general rule of thumb to help you win is put your 5 best players on the floor as much as possible. Because of scarcity, the smalls are generally better than the bigs and also more numerous. This is why “small ball” works. Is your argument that it wasn't affective during the regular season, or that it wasn't as asthetically pleasing as slow it down big man traditional halfcourt basketball? Please explain. Also, the Rockets are not small. Actually I would say that they have very good size at all 5 positions because of the versatility of guys like Parsons, Jones, White, D-Mo, etc. If you play Patterson/White/Jones/Parsons/Lin at the same time you have a team that can rotate defensively on pretty much any player, and you will have better size on 3 out of 5 players on the opposing team at all times. This is why the Heat had so much success in the playoffs last season. They were "positionless" at times on the court because of the versatility of guys like Lebron, Battier, Haslem, Wade, etc. on defense. I agree small ball looks gross sometimes when someone like Lowry is the best rebounder on the floor for your team, but its one of the reasons why the Rockets have managed to stay relatively competitive during the regular season against teams that don't have a legitimate superstar who can draw double & triple teams. Am I a huge advocate for small ball?... not necessarily. Usually the team with the best player wins. However, you can make a very good case that you should almost always put your best 5 players on the court at the same time to give you the best chance at winning. If your best 5 guys play better defense, and rebound better than some slug on the bench who happens to be 7 foot... give me my best 5 players to close out the game any day of the week.
Asik is a beast. When he's around people, he affects people's shots. Even in transition. That was most impressive to me. And his hands were also better than advertised. That and his FT% are my biggest worries for him.
From the interviews, they said Saturday will be open for public, and the players will fly out to Houston on Saturday night.
In the Rocketscast this morning I think they said Saturday, but not sure if they are back at TC or if they are still in McAllen.
20 second clip: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fQYEej4ufSk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
They look good out there, I didn't see D.mo touch the ball very often out there. Can't wait till the 10th.
I keep seeing that guy in the red shirt with the pony tail getting in the way. Ugh, its really annoying.
haha jeremy lamb just walks to the bench all chill after that shot. oh damn chandler, that kid can play
