It is no longer an issue, in my opinion. Whereas previously there were debates about what kinds of players we needed, whether they ought to be evaluated on how they fit the system, or how they complimented yao, or how they made up for Steve's shortcomings, etc. now it is simple. We need players 3 through 12 to fit in around Yao and McGrady. Period. If JVG feels his system priorities should supercede this obvious parameter, get a new coach who doesn't. It is much, much, much easier to get a good coach then two young superstars. So, accepting that all decisions about personel for the forseeable future should revolve around our two young hubs, the matter becomes one of role definition, and this is made so much easier because, unlike Steve, for example, these aren't guys who combine exceptional stengths with profound weaknesses. Yao and McGrady are, thank the gods, remarkably lacking in exploitable weaknesses. So let'slook at what we need, don't need and can't afford from the role players we will acquire to help us to the promised land. Note, this is not necessarily an immediate issue; this is over the next year or two. Point Guard Needed Qualifications: *Must be efficient. With Yao and McGrady waiting and able to do their thing on the offensive end, we cannot afford to waste possessions. * Must be able to guard smaller, quicker point guards. With the departure of Steve and Mobley, the Rockets have become even more vulnerable to the Parkers, Marburys, and Fords so common in the NBA at this time. There are too many of them to rely on a bench player to shut them down, as it would involve regular duty. This kind of player is one of those who are least accounted for by system defense. * Must be able to hit the open shot. Much of our secondary offense will continue to come off of kick outs off of doubles, and all will be for nought if the role players can't bury open jumpers. 3 point range would be ideal but is not an absolute must. One of the 1 or 3 should at least have range, but which one is optional. Redundancies * Does not have to be an exceptionally creative playmaker. We will rely on Yao and T-Mac to create their own offense, and the risk/reward of a playmaking point is simply not cost effective. * Does not have to be able to create own shot. While most points can do at least some of this, the Rockets are not in need of a high end solo offensive performer. Deal Breakers * Cannot be prone to bad decisions, turnovers, or trying to do too much. * Cannot want the spotlight. Small Forward Needed Qualifications * Must be able to assume defensive assignments against other team's top perim scorer, at least part time. While Mcgrady has the ability to do this sometime, we don;t want him expending the bulk of his energy chasing the Bryants, Carters, Pierces etc of the league full time. This will require some defensive versatility. * Must be able to hit open shot. See point guard description. * Must be able to get out on the wing. We will be breaking quite often, and we will need lane fillers who can finish. Redundancies * Does not have to create own offense. ( above) * Does not have to be exceptional rebounder or passer. Merely workmanlike in both aspects would suffice. Deal Breakers * Cannot need to score to be happy. * Cannot be foul prone. * Cannot have endurance issues. Power Forward Needed Qualifications * Must be able to hit medium range J. Too often last year we saw Yao doubled because teams dared Cato to shoot, with success. * Must be able to bang the boards and the big boys. The trade off when Mo came in was Yao was all alone under the boards, and given his ability to tip balls, that cost us a few possessions a game. * Must be able to guard athletic 4s. A weakness last year no matter who we played. There are a number of athletic 4s in the league, and while JVG's system does account for them with some success, we need a guy who can do it on his own at times, to keep Yao on the floor. * Must have something of a chip on his shoulder. We need someone inside to be the fire with Yao's ice. Redundancies * Does not have to be an exceptional inside scorer. Js and putbacks will suffice. * Passing and range would be nice but aren't necessary. Deal Breakers * Cannot be a black hole. * Cannot need the ball to be effective in other aspects. * Cannot be overly foul prone. Bench Scorer Needed Qualifications * Must be able to score, whether as a shooter, inside, or as a dribble drive guy. The downside to being a 2 star team is that, when one goes out, if you don't have a legit scorer to come in, the team has to make a huge adjustment, and the remaining star becomes the immediate focus of defensive attention. Has to be able to score in bunches. Redundancies * Does not have to be an exceptional defender, rebounder, passer, or anything else. this is a one role guy, and if we stick to a scorer only guy, we'll get him cheaper. Deal breakers * Cannot be overly disatisfied with role. * Cannot be prone to tunrovers or stupid plays. Now some of you may feel that some of these roles are already filled. Others may feel that my job descriptions are off, or may want different things. Please, feel free to submit your own. Either way, yours or mine, it might be nice to try and think of guys who it perfectly, irrespective of their current availability, with an eye towards cost effectivness. As can be seen by my descriptions, start with what you really need from these guys, and don't pay for the gravy till you've got all the meat. Some examples would be Charles Oakley( younger, before became wrapped up in own image) or P.J. Brown for our 4, Johnny Newman or Vinnie Johnson for our bench scorer, Mario Elie for th 3 spot. I will leave it to you guys to think of perfect fits in the current league, but remember, don't shoot for stars; we don't need them, and likely can't afford them. Nash, Lewis, and Wallace would be nice, but aren't realistic or necessary.
I am among the few who are worried about whether we can make the playoff this coming season. Yes, we have Yao Ming. Right, we have T-mac too. BUt after these two 'superstars', what do we have? JJ is the only decent role player on the team. We still have big holes at the PG and PF positions. I am not optimistic about the coming season at all if what we have now will also be the final rosters.
PF- We trade for Brian Grant or Antonio Davis. We trade Mo T for one of them. So its bad contract for bad contract. PG- Fisher via MLE. If he wants anything long term, then he can take a hike and we go after a Earl Watson, Arroyo, Barry, and worst case a Ward. Bench- I would love to try to get a guy like Bruce Bowen also
Good Post MacBeth!. Brent barry is the player that fits the Point guard discription. As for the PF Position? Etan Thomas or Foyal.
I think you are underestimating how important it is to have two true superstars on your team. Francis is a star. McGrady is a top 5 player. As much as we struggled to score the big buckets at the end of games, McGrady is going to help so much in that department. His size, quickness, and playmaking ability allows him to create great opportunities at the end of games. As good as Francis was a breaking down guys, he's still just 6'3". McGrady will not have that limitation. He can get any shot he wants off and the Rockets as a team with be the biggest beneficiaries of it. We are still going to be a top 5 defensive team. But our offense is going to be so much better. Believe It!
Brian Grant or Antonio Davis for Mo-T is not bad contract for bad contract. That's more like terrible contract for bad contract. Those two are max players, who will only provide marginal improvements for the Rocks.
Bench Scorer is Mo T. Point guard sounds like Damon Jones except I think you're looking for more defense. Small forward is J Jackson.
Juwon Howard is going to be perfectly serviceable at the 4. Behind him, I'd like to see a big ugly brute bruiser, preferably obtained in a Mo T termination. MoT must be eliminated from Rocket history and we will never again mention him. I wouldn't mind EG getting another shot at the end of the bench. No shots for you, though, Edward, until you prove you can make 1. Boki could be that 3 guy, maybe maybe no. He gets a shot. I'd really like to get Terrence Morris from the NBDL back for the bench. He can really help. He's tall, plays adequate d, can block, can make entry passes and swing the ball, and he can hit a midrange jumper. JJ is serviceable but should really split time as backup. An ideal guy would be Matt Harpring from the Jazz, - great - really great - shooter, good defense, smart, good contract. Brent Barry is my choice for the point, because I think shooting is the most important qualification. Brent is a bad defender, but he will have a great big fly swatter behind him. If a Tmo could help, even better. After him, Arroyo. I don't think the other shooters are available, and the defenders we mention here are absolutely Cato-level horrible at that # 1 skill. Brian Cardinal would be a good energy guy. Notice these are small deals. My # 1 priority is to kill Mo T, and Spoon, if possible - er - their contracts that is. We have to free up money by replacing their horrible multi-year deals with probably equally horrible two year deals. Yao will need his extension money in two years. Tracy gets more money in 1 year, if it's not already done. There is no way we can keep those contracts past year Yao, even if it means cutting them. I would give up the TE for future draft picks and then just keep trading them away, if someone would just turn those guys into two year contracts. Antonio Davis, Vitaly Potepenko, Jerome James, whatever - so long as it's only two years.
The thing is, the hard part is over. I wouldn't be too concerned in the short term; we've got the Rolls, we're just trying to get the right tires. So we don't win it all this year...so what. Unlike most 2 star painrings, our guys have almot exactly coincidental primes, and they're still in the future. We're gonna have a long, fun ride, health permitting. Get the right guys when we can, not the wrong guys quick.
Did'nt see that one. Fisher?. he might not be The greatest of defenders, but he can more often then not be effective. Infact After the first two games of the SA V LA this year he pretty much ut the screws on Parker!
With the addition of TMac over Francis and Mobley, that extends our prime years well into the future, and AD won't be around for them. He would be pretty ideal in the short term, however, as would Grant. Fisher's a pretty good fit, imo. Barry, i'd be concerned about the bulk of quick points. Think of the problems they gave the Lakers this year, when Fisher wasn't playing. Don;t want an Achilles heel on D just so we can have better range for the 1. Wqatson...hmmm..not sure he's starter material; opposite vulnerability than Barry. Arroyo might be ok; what's his D like? Yeah...a Bowen you don't think should be consigned to the 9th level of Hell.
As I said, the D is a problem for Barry, imo. Ideal otherwise, but that's a big weaknes. Thomas I really, really like. Foyle's gonna be pricey, but he's a pretty good fit. A bit short, though.
It is certainly not my place to judge, but did this really deserve a seperat thread? Aren't there lots of threads going around regarding our role players?
Certainly, of the current options, Mo T is the scorer. Not necessarily thje ideal spot for it, but workable. Hadn't thought of Jones...nice find. Yeah, JJ seems pretty good at the 3, but the long term strain of taking on taller, bigger guys might wear him. He's also a notch or two below a shut down D guy.
I want Barry as our combo guard (point guard/shooting guard; T-Mac will play SG/SF). Did anyone check his FG and especially 3-point percentage? They are ridiculously good, as well as his assist and steal numbers. I believe Barry averaged more assists than Steve Francis last season, by the way...FG % .504 and 3-point % .452. Those numbers really stand out! Minutes could be: PG: Barry 25/Lue 15/T-Mac 8 SG: T-Mac 20/Barry 12/Jimmy Jackson 16 SF: T-Mac 12/Jimmy Jackson 20/Boki 16 PF: Howard 24/Mo 24 C: Yao 36/Backup scrub 12 Note that we would probably still have one exception to sign another player as well...
Howard has some of what we need, but his D is mediocre, and he's not exactly a tough guy complement to Yao. IF T-Mo had developed, he'd have been great, although he would have been an even more ideal complement to a Francis team, IMO. But, sadly, he never came along the way I hoped. Boki...hmm...possibly in some respects, and I certainly think he has potential to be some kind of player, but you;d have to redefine the rle, cause in no way will he ever be mistaken for a shut down defender, IMO. I think the Barry defense thing is really being glossed over. Think how much of a factor it was when the Lakers struggled this year; you don't want a little detail like that getting in the way of the superior talent, but defensive vulnerabilities at either end ( against small, quick 1s or big, strong 5s) are the least coverable by system and most able to upset the whole applecart.
