Here's my projected rotation for opening night, probably a 9-10 men rotation: PG Rafer Alston SG Tracy McGrady SF Ron Artest [with the injury to battier, its clear artest will start the season] PF Luis Scola C Yao Ming First big off the bench: Carl Landry [you can't possible have any debate to this, can you?] First swingman off the bench: Shane Battier [unless he's still injured] First guard off the bench: Brent Barry [i think adelman would use barry as our official backup pg, due to the injury to francis and the inexperience of brooks] other 1:chuck wagon [i know many ppl will disagree with this, but this guy is extremely valuable to us, at least until dorsey proves himself] other 2:luther head/aaron brooks [with the age of brent barry, and the injury to francis, i think these guys has a chance at playing time early on in the season. It's certainly possible that head will be traded away once francis comes back]
yeah i do think we should have a deep 9-10 rotation, bc we have alot of depth and bc we need to keep our players fresh, especially with us being so injury prone.
We know who the starters are.....let's argue who will be taking a breather before the 1st quarter ended. I'll say the lineup will be Barry, Tmac, Battier, Landry and Scola.
PG Rafer Alston SG Tracy McGrady SF Shane Battier (if he is healed 100%) PF Luis Scola C Yao Ming I think Adelman will start Artest off bench at first then when the season progress, he will rotate between Battier and Artest for the spot.
I predict that Adelman will put out this lineup: PG - Rafer Alston SG - Tracy McGrady SF - Shane Battier (I think he and artest will share the starting role depending on the team they play) PF - Luis Scola C - Yao Ming During the first few weeks, Artest will be the starter because Battier won't be fit until December. After Battier recovers, he and artest will share the starting SF role. The first frontline player off the bench should be Landry. Brent Barry will be the first guard off the bench and will play either PG or SG. Steve Francis, Head, Brooks, Mutombo and Dorsey will also get their chance to rotate into the lineup.
I wonder who would we drop from the existing team in training and whether Deke would be included in the roster.
yao (34) ron (36) shane (32) tmac (34) rafer (36) ------------ scola (27) landry (15) barry (14) brooks (12) head (0) hayes (0) dorsey (0) ------------- steve harris strawberry/deke
Hollinger seems fairly convinced that Ron would have been starting alongside Battier. He said the same back in July, claiming to have heard about such an arrangement from someone close to the team. No one close to the Rockets have indicated this is a likely starting lineup, and in fact Morey said not too long ago that he believe Adelman was inclined to bringing Artest off the bench. Considering the depth we have at PF, I'd be surprised if Scola isn't starting. There just wouldn't be much room for him and Landry if Artest is playing the bulk of his minutes at PF.
adelman said he was inclined to bring ron off the bench, but i think that had more to do with chemistry in the starting lineup than anything else. i think since shane is going to miss preseason, ron will earn his starting job. now, will shane or scola make the starting lineup? scola does have the inside track due to his size and ability to gel during preseason. however, it should really come down to which option is better: ron-shane or scola-ron. i believe that scola's defense last season, especially one-on-one was suspect at best. defensively the 4 spot was the weakest position on the team last season. ron will seal that up while being the best candidate at that position when it comes to spreading the floor. IOW ron is a bigger upgrade at the 4 over scola than at the 3 over shane.
I want to see something different. how about starting rafer, battier, ron, scola, yao? tracy off the bench
I just don't think Scola is as effect in a game starting off on the bench. Scola sets the tone during the first 3 to 6 minutes in a game. Not only that, he scored most of his points in the 1st, 3rd, and late 4th quarters. He's just better suited starting than on the bench. We saw many games when he was the main scorer in the first quarter. I think that will only progress more as this is his second year. Don't get me wrong, he can still start and only see maybe 30 minutes tops.
It'll be nice to see Artest and Battier starting at the same time. BUT Scola will do fine. And i think Adelman is going to put Artest and Battier on the court for most of the time when the game become tight or when the game is on the line. Maybe Tmac rest and you can see the lineup of Barry, Battier, Artest, Scola and Yao. If Tmac did't play well, you might see this lineup.
well this is what I WANT to see... almost anyone can guess who the actual starting five will be.. PG. Steve Francis SG: Tracy Mcgrady SF: Ron Artest PF: Luis Scola C: Yao Ming
I see Rafer Tmac Ron Scola Yao as the starting lineup. Artest would have come off the bench but given Battier's injury, he will most likely start. Others in the rotation, are Landry, Barry and perhaps Dorsey or Hayes battle for playing time. If Francis gets healed he may get some playing time as well, he will be battling Brooks, who looks like he has improved.
i think Scola's starting position is set in stone, because there's no way ron artest will bring enough size against other starting PFs in the league.
