I am wondering about which players on this team are the real difference makers in light of our injuries and our continued good performances. How much of our success is due to our roster and how much of our success is due to our defensive and offensive systems that seem to allow us to plug and chug almost anybody around Harden and get it done. It sure seems like we can lose practically everybody (sans Harden) and still get it done most nights. Are these players really that good? Or is the new defensive system the huge key to all this? If I had to say what is the greatest key to our early success it would come down to the new defensive system, designed to get on the ball handler and push him to one side or the other while he is up high and subsequently whomever gets the ball we push to the sidelines and away from the middle of the floor. It's a real focus and it's something that Harden, Pat, Canaan, Terry, Kostas, Ariza, and now even Nick Johnson is able to do. You can see them starting way out high and pushing the ball towards the sidelines, covering guys curling out of the paint and pushing them to the sidelines. I just rattled off all 7 of our 8 perimeter guys (Daniels has barely played) and all of them are basically able to do the same thing with some base level of success including Terry. In my mind this factor along with the fact that DMo has been better than we expected in the offensive post are the biggest reasons that we really haven't missed Dwight. We've got opponents scrambling on the perimeter, taking away the middle of the floor which is leading to lower shooting percentages and our own offense on the other end. We're around top 3 in steals (haven't checked lately). So we're getting opponent offenses out of their comfort zones and going back the other way on them. How else can you explain Dwight going out and our defense staying tight? How else can you explain both Dwight and Bev being gone and our defense staying tight? How can you explain Tarik Black being a raw rookie yet looking adequate down low against NBA bigs? (He ain't that good, guys.) However, we're not playing a 7-game series in the playoffs. If we were with these injuries, I have a difficult time seeing us beating anybody in the West in a 7-game series save for the possibility of PHX. I'm afraid the other 6 teams currently in the playoff slots in the West would grind us down in our current state with Dwight gone. Because we are simply too inexperienced on the front line behind DMo and playoff games are mostly brutal half-court contests because playoff teams typically take much better care of the basketball, especially in the playoffs, non-playoff teams. So.....who exactly are the difference making players on this team? Who are the players that are truly making the difference now and will make a difference in the playoffs? If I had to pick the difference makers on this team today I'd probably go with the starters (minus Terrence) and DMo. DMo has been the interior anchor that has held us together even with Dwight out. That puts him in a special class of difference-maker to me. No way....not for one second....would we be 10-3 without Dwight and DMo and with everybody else. DMo has held the interior of this team together and helped James take us to 7-3 without Dwight. That is huge for me. Harden is far and away the main difference maker on this team. He's responsibility for over 50% of our success all by himself. We're not a playoff team if he goes down for a significant time. Ariza has played every game and typically takes the opponents best perimeter offensive player. He's got to be considered a difference maker because of the role he plays on a great defense. Although we don't seem to have missed Dwight over this stretch of games I think he is a difference maker when it comes to a 7-game series in the playoffs. He's still the premier defensive center in the league and arguably the best rebounder. I think we've got to have him if we are going to go anywhere. Same thing with Beverley. Although we've gotten by without him, when we get to the playoffs and we are playing the great PGs in the West, I think Bev makes a huge difference if healthy. Right behind these five I would have to put Canaan. We've got to have a second playmaker out there. We've been able to get by with Terry these last few games. But in the playoffs I really don't think we can depend on Terry to be handling and making plays. I think teams overplay him and make him turn it over. He's not that great of a handler to begin with and he is 37. So, in my opinion, we've got to get Canaan back for the playoffs or trade for a second playmaker. The rest of the guys on this team have played great for what skills and experience they have. Except for Capella which was to be expected. But everybody else that has played substantial minutes and hasn't been injured has played well for their role. I just don't see them as difference makers. It appears to me everybody is replaceable in this group. Kostas goes out....move Harden down to PF in the small ball lineup and bring in an extra guard. Terrence goes out, we don't miss a beat. How much do you think it would hurt us to lose one of Black/Dorsey? None. They're the same player. If Terry were to go down right now with Beverley back....how much are we going to miss him? Why not plug in Daniels to hit some bombs if we need bombs? I don't think we miss Terry if he goes down. Beyond the top 5 I mentioned I really think most everybody else is replaceable long-term and not a difference maker in the bigger scheme of things.
We definitely missed many beats when Terrence went out, especially at first, especially offensively. We have had a few good games since, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Rash observations on a couple weeks or so of good basketball, right on the heels of some really poor basketball (Even though we were winning most of them). We could have EASILY lost to some of the worst teams in the league with some unlucky bounces.
There has been an element of addition by subtraction with the loss of Dwight. Dwight is a ball stopper and a big turnover guy. Obviously, we will need Dwight to go anywhere in the playoffs, but hopefully, he and the coaches will adjust his game to take what is given and pass early out of the double teams. Not force the issue as much on his post game when heavily guarded.
Terrence only played 4 games against teams that are a combined 19-60. Don't know how you can say "rash observation on a couple weeks or so of good basketball" and then make the case that he is a difference maker based on 4 games.
Terrence has talent and could still be serviceable. I believe that DMo should continue starting as long he continues to play the way he has. Jones, coming off the bench, could be great given his high energy. Dorsey has shown some promise the last couple of games, but we should really try to minimize his time on the court. Give me Jones over Dorsey, every time. That being said, if a deal comes up where we can improve our team and Jones is included, I wouldn't have a problem with that.
At full health I would keep TJ starting and have Dmo run with the 2 so he can get his touches on the block. TJ isnt a scrub and his energy,rebounding, open court handles and slashing abilty, do make him a difference maker.
Serviceable is a good word to define all the non-difference maker guys. Doesn't mean they are bad players. Just means they fulfill a specific role and they can be replaced relatively easily in the roles that they have on the team. They are common players that can play effectively as long as they are playing alongside the difference makers.
Seems like everyone is a "difference maker". Do you mean to say irreplaceable? If so, I think Motiejunas is clearly above Canaan for me, and it's really not close. Jones and Motiejunas IS a close call for me.
Difference makers are players you have to have on the team to win enough games to get to the playoffs and win a playoff series. They're not irreplaceable. But they're difficult to replace unless you're trading them for a superstar difference maker. For instance Ariza. You take him off this team and I think it contorts our defense a whole lot. I truly believe he may be even more of a difference maker than Dwight at this point. Simply because with Ariza and Harden in there we have survived and done quite well without Dwight and with DMo in the middle. But I'm afraid if we remove Ariza that our defense will be much softer with no defined great defender to track all the great wings in this league. But that's just my opinion at this time. Perhaps both Ariza and Dwight are even when it comes to difference makers. Perhaps if we have one or the other we will still be great defensively and if we lose both our D will slide to mediocre. Of course, together....can't wait to see how shut down we become with both Dwight and Ariza meshing defensively over a long stretch of games.
I would staill go with Jones starting with Howard once he's back. Jones clears the board and finishes in the paint facing the hoop much better than DMo. DMo can pick up more time off the bench at both PF and C positions, posting up more while Howard's not on the court. That will strengthen the bench significantly.
The worst posters in this forum are posters that constantly talk about other posters instead of talk about the Rockets. This thread is about which players are difference makers on this team and which are not. If you don't want to talk about that, go to the Hangout and start a thread about what a crappy poster I am. But please, keep it on Rockets basketball here. I kindly refer you back a couple days to Rockets 2k, one of the mods here, commenting on this particular issue in the cyberex thread: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=9379899&postcount=15568 The players that I don't think are difference makers on this team numbers more than Terrence. There are players in that group that I like and think very highly of such as Kostas. And if we had another playmaker I'd probably have Canaan in the group of non-difference makers as well......even though I really, really, really like his offensive game a lot. And for half-a-million dollars I don't know if there is better big man value than Black. But I think they can all be replaced relatively easily and I don't think if we lose any of those guys for a significant amount of time by themselves that we will miss a beat. I started this thread because I'd like to read other posters thoughts on which players are really the difference makers. Because frankly, right now, I think most of the difference is our systems on both ends of the court. We are taking the highest efficiency shots the overwhelming majority of the time on offense (when we don't turn it over) and we seem to have implemented a defensive system that causes opponents to have to turn into the lowest percentage shots. So, I'm actually wondering if we really may have only 2 difference makers on this team and everybody else is actually easily replaceable....including Ariza and Bev. Would like to read others thoughts on it. Quit trying to make everything I post about Terrence. Or I'll deluge you with more text.
