BTW- the ONLY player on the Rockets with a positive +/- was Budinger...everyone else was neutral or below. http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=311226019 DD
oh come on. No need to bring those kinds of things up. Then ppl will just post horrible players that have had great +/- stats. C-Bud or Martin has to be benched. You cant start 2 horrible defenders at both wing positions. Its idiotic. Martin is not gonna sit so it has to be Bud.
I thought you would come up with the only positive thing here. Well we won today because of Buds non stats.....NOT
Honestly, I don't remember T-Will getting abused like you claim. From what I saw (missed a couple of minutes here and there), T-Will played good defense and at least attempted to stay in front of his man. There were times that T-Will ran into screens and his man hits the jumper but I honestly don't remember him getting destroyed like you said. But i'll take your word for it. I do know for a fact that T-Will is a better defender than Chase Budinger. We have seen Chase play for seasons, and well he is a POOR defender. T-Will has been bashed for a lot of things but defense was rarely one of them. McHale wanted T-Will to become a defensive stopper for a reason. He saw his defensive capabilities. As for the +/-, doesn't mean anything to me. In the game, Courtney Lee is at a -8. Enough said.
The reason Bud started was for the sake of continuity with a short camp/limited practices. With that said, unless hell freezes over, he will not be starting by the trade deadline. Not that Bud is that terrible of a player- he is pretty bad- it is just that if Mchale meant a word that he has been preaching, then Bud is the antithesis of "Mchale type" player. Defense, toughness, hardnosed competitor vs. matador, weak, soft, timid. As for Williams, his biggest draw back is that with the ball in his hands, he can disrupt an offense, our own. It is the Steve Francis/Aaron Brooks syndrome. What exacerbates this is his inflated ego which makes him take matters into his own hands much too frequently. Ironically, that is also why he should start. Williams needs to be playing next to a dominant personality who can keep him in check. Someone with credibility who can tell him "Give me the ****ing ball" when necessary. We only have 1 person like that on the team now with Hayes gone, and that's Lowry. I think Williams' play would be much more tame and under control as a starter next to players he respects and has to defer to, rather than coming off the bench trying to do it all. Ideally of course Marcus Morris eventually steps in, since he is the much more efficient scorer and his skillset fits the starters more, but at this point he doesn't look ready yet. Very jittery with the game moving a bit too fast for him still. Should be able to settle down with some more reps.
Interesting point, although the idea of Williams as a starter, right now, scares the hell out of me. If what you said about Lowry is true, I wish he would go ahead and raise holy hell with the guy, chew his arse out, and get him to straighten up. If that doesn't work, at least we know more about Williams.
It does make me wonder. New coaches, system, and players. Yet, it's still mostly same group of guys from last season. The Rockets have been able to click quickly in the past especially the 2nd unit. The chemistry this team displaysed on the floor was always brought up. It seems to have gone. Are players finding it hard to play with TWill?
Of course, you have to surround him with guys that move off the ball, ironically the two guys that would work the best with him are CBud and Kmart.... The problem with TWill is that he NEEDS the ball to be successful, and while CX makes an interesting point in playing him with Lowry, that combo does not fit TWill's current skills. He is not a catch and shoot player, he is a dribble drive player, and right now, Lowry is the best we have at that, maybe TWill should be more backup PG, but then you would need to play him with catch and shoot guys....and let him attack. DD
Its been one game folks. Budinger does not make many mistakes. Terrence still does. TWill makes things happen, Budinger hasnt so far. So right now, with the season just now starting, its going to be a balancing act for McHale, but realize that he cant just throw TWill out there for 40 minutes now and expect consistency. With Bud, he knows what he's going to get on every other aspect other than scoring. Plus, its nice having a playmaker come off the bench when Lowry comes out. He's going to get more and more playing time with consistency. Starting the game doesnt mean anything, its who ends up finishing it that matters.
The thing is, i don't know if TWill has the ability to play 2nd fiddle on the court. Similar to how Steve Francis suffered greatly when he went to the Knicks and played SG. Some players are just better on-the-ball than off the ball. And TWill at this point in his career seems to be that person. I don't think he can be effective with Lowry running the show. I could live with him being a bench player at this point. His game just doesn't seem well-rounded enough to play with dominant scorers like Lowry,, Scola, and KMart all at the same time.
T-will played more minutes than Bud this game. I expect that trend to continue this season. Lee should also take more minutes from Martin if he stays in this slump.
