Agreed, except Canaan probably takes Ish's spot. Between Dorsey and Black it will be one guy. Adrien I think has a secure spot on the team.
Still Garcia getting cut huh, you guys are in for a surprise: he's staying!! Hahahah If Ish Smith makes this team and gets 1st nod as a back-up PG, I hope we lose big in the regular season.
Yeah Harden can't go 38 mpg playing both sides of the ball. He isn't 25 year old LeBron. I agree that 35 mpg should be closer to the number.
In all fairness, that was when we had no real backup at the 2, except for Garcia who was pretty damn bad last year. I really hope both Jason Terry and Troy Daniels, upgrades to Garcia, get ~15 MPG at either the 1 or 2 to help reduce Harden's minutes.
Garcia was used as a backup SF last year. The year before that was Delfino. We didn't have any backup SG. We had Lamb, but he got traded to get Harden. Then came Anderson, but he was benched the entire time. Lin was our backup PG/SG last season. Even then Harden was playing most of the time.
Should be, but the offense this year is really going to struggle with Harden on the bench. I wouldn't be shocked if Harden leads the league in minutes played along with Westbrook who is going to be equally as important to his team in the first half of the season.
Also, folks you don't really want Terry running the point. There is a reason why he's never exclusively played the point before. He's completely useless on the ball. Off the ball, he's excellent. Playing alongside Harden, I can see him matching up well. Playing alongside maybe Daniels, or Garcia... not so much. I think either way, the Rockets are really going to have to rely on Papanikolaou alot with that bench unit to facilitate some offense.
Gentile plays in Italy. The Rockets only own his draft rights. He's not coming over this year. Maybe next.
I suspect the problem is McHale needs to win to keep his job (as do all coaches). And to win, he needs to keep Harden on the floor for as long as Harden can last and just hope that he lasts the 82 game grind. Cos a Harden at 70% is better than any of the guards currently (or the other 2 Harden seasons) on the roster. Of course, this runs the risk of a having 0% Harden.
Early on, I agree, but I am not so sure about later in the season. Morey has been adding defense and three point shooting. I think at some point the Rockets want to have Howard surrounded by 4 three point shooters when Harden is on the bench. Howard and 4 three point shooters should be able to be at least adequate offensively. I am not sure if the Rockets have the personnel for this lineup just yet. The best bet with current roster would likely be Beverley or Canaan, Daniels, Ariza, Paps, and Howard. It doesn't look good for Canaan right now. I don't put too much weight on preseason performance, but him not playing much speaks volumes unless he is battling injuries we don't know about.
I think Dorsey will be retained, and D-Mo too. I would be very surprised if Jones is traded just now. Ish may not make the final roster, Canaan may survive. That would leave either Adrein or Black available for the last spot. I feel both Black and Adrein should be retained, and Garcia should be cut. The likelihood of that seems low.
He has played PG exclusively: for Arizona Wildcats, 2 yrs for the Hawks and 3 for Dallas. Not completely useless, cause as a Wildcat he was PAC-10 player of the year, and in those NBA seasons we was good for about 5-6 assists a night. Still I hear what you're saying, that he shines more as a 6th man/scorer doing catch & shoot and cuts. But at this stage in the game, he's way better than Ish & Canaan. Those 2 are clearly showing they can't hold down the back up PG role. Plus we could have a little bit of 'PG by committee' the same way our starting 5 did last year with Bev, Harden and Parsons. Terry-Pap can handle and playmake. Also in this day & age, the line between PG & SG is fading...it's truly the era of combo guards (Harden Westbrook Dragic Bledsoe Lowry etc) Plus Terry at the PG would free him up from back up SG spot and afford more minutes to Daniels, or even Garcia. We could have a perimeter of Terry-Troy-Pap or Terry-Cisco-Pap. Ish & Canaan just do not need to be on the floor. Sucks to say, but it's apparent.
This is probably a subject for another thread, but the key to the Rockets being able to have success with this offense is if teams starting doubling Howard early. If you've noticed, the past two years, the scouting report remains nearly the same for every team that plays the Rockets. The report says to give Dwight single coverage, but bring over help after he makes his move to the basket. That's a problem for Houston because after Dwight makes his move, he's taking the shot regardless. Dwight is a very good passer out of the post, but he's not very passive once he's already making his move towards the bucket. Back in 2010 when Dwight was a world beater offensively in the post, teams were doubling him and sometimes triple teaming him as soon as he got the basket. It was buckets all day long for Rashard, Turk, and Nelson. Ariza, Daniels, and Canaan aren't going to get that much freedom. Even in Orlando, they really needed Turkaglo to play off the ball a little when Dwight wasn't rolling. The thing they really want to do with Howard in the post, IMO, is create off the ball movement that can create some easier buckets on the pass off from Dwight. You saw them try a little bit of that last night, but it got a little clunky when you saw guys start to run their man towards Dwight accidentally, and the offense got a bit jumbled. We'll see during the regular season what Papanikolaou can do, but it looks to me that he's maybe the best chance of being able to play that Turkaglo role that they are probably going to need to create some offense when Harden is on the floor. The fact that the Rockets are going to have to rely on a rookie in his first year from Europe for such a vital role does kind of scare me a bit. However I like what I've seen so far. We just have to wait and see.
I see a three guard rotation with Harden , Bev & Terry. Two of them will be on the court for the vast majority of meaningful minutes. One of Ish or Canaan makes the roster and gets spot minutes. I'm more interested in who they keep at the backup big spots as Black has thoroughly outplayed Dorsey & Adrien .... at least in my opinion. Tho I think DMo will get most of those minutes. PG: PatBev / Terry SG: Harden / Terry SF: Ariza / Papa PF: T.Jones / DMo C : Howard / DMo Typical 8 man rotation. That leaves 7 roster spots & Capela gets one of those leaving 8 guys fighting for 6 spots. Ish , Canaan Daniels Garcia / Johnson Adrien Black / Dorsey I think Daniels & Garcia are pretty much locks to make the roster as is Johnson tho he'll be sent to the DL. From what I've seen , Black has been the best of the three bigs even if the other two have guaranteed $$. This leaves me with 4 guys fighting for 2 roster spots , two guards & two bigs. Ish Vs. Canaan & Dorsey Vs. Adrien. I'd probably keep Dorsey & Smith .... reluctantly.
You guys realize that Terry is what.... 37 years old, didn't even play last year, and last night they were about to call out a stretcher after 12 or so minutes? And folks are banking on him being able to play the backup PG spot exclusively and really play that vitol of a roll this year? Look, guys I like what Terry can do for this team, but folks need to realize who you are talking about. This isn't 2005 Jason Terry we are talking about here. The guy is almost out of the league for crying out loud. Calm down on the expectations. The Rockets NEED to get something out of their young guys this year. If the success of the backcourt outside of Harden & Bev is relying on Jason Terry at 37 years old, I hate to say it but we are pretty much S$%# up the creek without a paddle.
Howard can be used in PnR (actually is preferred in my book). Without Jones's or DMo's man under the basket, I expect PnR to be easier for Dwight. Also, Dwight, even with injuries, seemed to be playing a lot more efficiently in post in second half of last season and in the playoffs. I don't think Dwight will rebound all the way to Orlando version, but he was very close to punishing single coverage with the late double team last year.
So that wasn't 2006 07 08 09 10 11 Terry that was torching us each time? Doesn't need to be 10 years ago Terry, just needs to be 3 seasons ago Terry, i.e. an old but healthy Terry. The guy spent a year and a half getting right again from knee surgery. What's it say about how bad ish & canaan are that, yes, terry is a better stopgap until a trade is made?
