If Luc was the difference maker in us winning a championship then we probably weren’t that good to begin with.
He’s our version of Iguodala. Every team needs a Luc. I rate him higher than Ariza on both sides of the ball.
He may not even be able to shoot. This not something you can delay, it can get worse by playing on it.
I guess we just see things differently. Against a heavily perimeter focused juggernaut like the Warriors, I'd just think having my best perimeter defender playing is crucial.
I don't think Luc was/is the difference between winning a championship or not. He helps, sure, but it will be a lot more on Harden, CP3, and Capela's shoulder. Gerald Green, Joe Johnson, Ryan Anderson, the rest of whoever plays, simply has to step up...and Harden/Cp3 need to outplay whoever is across from them!
I'm not going to take such a negative view. I feel the Rockets can definitely win the first two rounds without Luc. He missed one month the first time he got injured. If he misses a month this time, he could make it back for the WCF. What I'm wondering is if the Rockets feel he's gone for the season, is there someone they could bring in for that roster spot?
With Luc out, Tucker and especially Ariza will tire out in later rounds leading to poor shooting. If Harden has an off series we have much greater chance of losing now. Tucker would need to play more 4 while Anderson plays the 5 for spacing but that will hurt our switching defense.
Hoping they were just careful with him last time. Rockets have been known to be conservative with everyone as it pertains to injuries (Cept for Harden for some crazy reason). Let’s just wait to see what the medical staff says before freaking out too much. This is me trying not to freak out.
we do. I mean, he's a guy that plays good team defense, but he isn't going to lock down durant or curry. He wouldn't make those perimeter guys non-juggernauts. I just think it is severely over-stated to say that HE was the key to the title run. thats a joke.
the rockets are not like the warriors. they don't have the luxury of having 3-4+ all nba players that can drag a roster to a championship. the rockets are like a finely tuned sportscar to where if 1 thing is off it affects the lap times. luc and tucker are huge parts of why the rockets turned into a top 5 defensive team and possibly losing him for the first 2 rounds is huge
Also, the threat of Rust isn't worth the risk of injury. If you are the #1 seed, you can afford to be rusty against the #8 seed, what you can't afford are major players going out to injury in meaningless games.
in theory - if he's out for the same # of days as last time, he could be ok for the WCFs which don't start for 33 days at least.
