McGrady & Yao: Enough to Make Rockets NBA Title Contenders?

EXACTLY what i was thinking! (brilliant!)

 

Why has everyone fallen in love with the "moneyball" phase---no one player's worth is defined through statistics, and vice versa.

Are Yao and TMac-alone--worthy of a title contender? No, of course not. They need pieces. They need shooting and defense. They need depth.

We have "pieces"-all-around players who will help and can contribute greatly when being the 3rd and 4th options, i.e. Alston, Howard and Battier. Between those three, they should give us about 34 ppg and 16 rpg. However, they also lend a healthy dose of experience and veteran leadership. Meaning they are appropriate fits for THIS team. Younger players capable of putting up the same numbers would not suit as well.

We have shooting. Battier has shot the ball well, Novak was known as a shooter in college, and Alston's career numbers suggest he is a competent shooter.

We have defense and athleticism. Snyder, Battier, Head and Lucas all are quick, versatile and can defend. The jury's still out on VSpan.

This team, as it is right now, is NOT a title contender. We're capable of going to the 2nd round of playoffs, but--as of NOW and at this point--we don't have the depth up front or the experience off the bench to compete with the Mavs, Spurs and Heat's of the world.

 

I have to agree. it will be nice to see how those numbers compare with a healthy Yao and healthy Tmac. please god let us have a healthy yao and tmac for one year.

 

Forget the stats for a moment.
With Tmac and Yao both on, we killed Clippers pretty much every time we met them, except the first game, in which Yao's toes were stepped on. If both Tmac and Yao click at high speed, we are one hell of the team in the west. The real question is can they both hold for the 82 game regluar season. If one of them is down for a while, can we do reasonablly well?

 

Also, stats of one bad season is not that telling anyways.

 

Hey tango anyway to prove to these guys that a team centered around a couple of guys who can shhot two feet from the basket is better than a bunch of mediocre jumpshooters who can't finish drives in the paint. Face it fellas SJax,Miles,Fred Jones may fill a position but none are good enough to draw double teams away from the guys in the middle. Lets take it inside on this league. Exploit it for the average shooters its become and take advantage of a dominant center and pf that just happen to have one of the best sf's in the league. BIGS it's about close to the basket game and forcing teams to jack up playground bs when we jam it down through their throats.

 

ok well I am of the opinion that the tmac of last year was nowhere close to the tmac that took us to 3 - 1 against the mavs. I think with a healthy sura we finish off the mavs. anyhow, tmac is the best offensive player we have. we did not see that last year and who knows if we see it this year.

that is why I am begging for a 100 percent tmac and yao.

 

Remember at the beginning of the 04/05 season, when Tracy was trying too hard to defer to Yao, but Yao wasn't ready to carry the load yet, and then Tracy had a talk with Van Gundy and started getting more aggressive?

Now that they have a more capable Yao and (we hope) better shooters around them, I have a feeling Tracy will try to defer to Yao again and spend more of his energy on the "little things" like defense, rebounding, and initiating the offense. Carrying less of the offensive load may also work to conserve his body for the playoffs. Tracy is a great scorer, but some forgot that he doesn't even have to score 25-30 ppg to be an impact player.. back in Toronto, he was scoring 15 ppg and getting almost 8 rpg with a ton of steals and blocked shots.

In fact, I don't expect either Tracy or Yao to average 24-25+ per game. With other capable/efficient scorers on the team (Battier/Snyder both seem smart and atheltic enough guys to take advantage of easy shots... Hayes is a nice garbage guy for rebounds and tips), the best offense for the Rockets could be something more equal opportunity than you'd expect with two "superstars"... I'm thinking maybe 20 points or so for each of them, but with very high %.

Also, the biggest improvment for this team could actually come from the defensive end. Battier and Snyder are bigger and more atheletic than the guys they replaced at the wing.. I see alot of potential in mixing and matching 3 big wings in Battier/Snyder/McGrady and keeping each of them fresh... if they do play Hayes more minutes, he'll be an likely improvement over either Howard or Swift from last season. Yao and Mutombo will play the backstop. The onlything missing, I think, is good defensive backup C/PF in case of injuries and to guard the bigger frontcourts. Maybe a Keyon Dooling type defensive PG would help, too.

 

If both of them can stay healthy for the whole year (regular season and playoff), I think the answer is yes. Of course, it is a BIG if. Yao and Tmac, when 100%, is better than Wade and Shaq, IMO. JVG needs to find a way to rest Tmac as much as possible during the regular season.

 

How come nobody's whaling on this guy for making such a ridiculous "homeristic" comment, and I get bashed for nitpicking on Yao Ming? Is it because it's a pro-Yao comment? Didn't Shaq and D-Wade just won the freaking NBA title?

In response to Tango's grandiloquent statistical anaylsis of the team, Yao and T-mac only played 19 gamestogether, which means the team never had a chance to truly coalesce. I'm sure the majority of JVG's plays were for Yao and T-mac. It also depends on the seeding. If the Rockets would have gotten the #6, they would have beaten the Nuggets. But who knows? We'll just have to wait for next season.

 

Robbie, my man. Tmac never had a 3-1 lead against the Mavs.

And I get bashed for nitpicking on Yao Ming. (The Asian Mafia is taking over the damn site)

Sheeesh!...

 

my conclusion from all of this is still the same. Van Sucky is costing the Rockets about 5 offensive points by himself. so in other words, as long as that offensive nimrod of a coach is still with the team, the Rockets have a 5 point handicap no matter who is on their roster.

 

ok can we agree that tmac was the best player on the team that year?

that's all I was implying.

 

robbie, my man. Remember that every member in this site hates my guts more than a sadistic pedophile, so you don't have to defend yourself.

I hope I'm not ruining your great thread Tango.

 

You aren't nitpicking Yao Ming. You're a YOH. Calling Yao soft and slow goes way beyond nitpicking. It's simply ignorant Yao-bashing, which is why you get bashed.

 

Before anyone forgets, here's where this idiot revealed himself as a YOH:

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=2409577&postcount=1594