Patterson was the best post help defender off P&R screens the team had last year. He was great at that. Obviously Dalembert(when in tune), and Camby could lock up people one-on-one in the post better, but Patterson did a great job on team defense actually. Against a team like the Lakers with Howard and Gasol.... yeah, they are going to get destroyed.... but so will 90% of the NBA.
Key word in your sentence is "back-up", they're not gonna be facing starter's, most of the time they're going to be facing bench players, and both D-Mo and Patterson should be able to handle their own against bench players at the 5 position.
Wingspan and standing reach are what NBA scouts and GM's pay more attention to nowadays than actual height when they project forward. If thats the case then Durant can reach higher, and cover more space physically than most 7 foot centers. Then you have someone like Chuck Hayes who is at least 6 inches short of Durant's length and height, but he's 10X more of a post player than Durant is. Its not about the size, its what you can do with it that matters. (damnit.... thats what she said.)
if TJones can play SF I think that mitigates a lot of the shortcomings we would have to deal with using a small C like Pat or DWolf. a second unit of Jones, White and PatPat would create some match-up problems and hopefully do an adequate job of gang rebounding and help defense.
By the time the season rolls around, I see the Rockets using a 11 man rotation that features: Lin Douglas Martin Lamb Parsons Morris White Patterson Motiejunas Jones Asik With those players, I would expect Asik to get 28-33 minutes a game all at center. That leaves 15-20 minutes a game that need to be filled. I see Motiejunas getting the majority of the backup minutes. Something like 10-13 minutes with the rest being filled by Jones. Jones is a big body at 250 and while this is not ideal, I would have more faith in him manning the 5 for a few minutes a game then I would Patterson.
This will be/should be the line-up though I do believe we need a back-up PG in the rotation even if he gets limited minutes. That said, I thought McHale/Morey made it fairly clear that DMo would be playing minutes at the 5.
Agree, but you really dont want to have more than 9 players in your regular season rotation if you want good chemistry and development. Machado seems like the right fit for the backup spot as of now, but Morey still has some work to do on the roster tweaks. Here's how I see it currently. In the Rockets plans for 2012/13(Expected to make roster) PG: Lin SG: Lamb, Forbes SF: Parsons, White, Morris PF: Patterson, T. Jones C: Asik, Motiejunas On the trading Block- PG: T. Douglas SG: Martin, SF: PF: Brockman, J. Johnson C: Harrellson, S. Williams Non-Guaranteed guys- Fill in's for training camp- Can invite and waive if needed- PG: Fortson, Livingston(buyout) Sg: SF: Simpson PF: C: Greg Smith Then you have the Unsigned - Machado So thats 16 guaranteed spots right now taken up, with 4 additional non-guaranteed contracts signed. I predict Morey will be able to buy out 2 of the guaranteed contracts, and Livingston's contract. Most likely J. Johnson, and S. Williams will go willingly to join a team with more opportunity. Martin and Douglas could probably go pretty easily in trade if a deal presents itself before training camp. Machado making the backup PG spot right now seems like a bit of a longshot considering he has the freedom to sign with any team right now, and the Rockets still have alot of work to do to free up an open roster spot without taking on another guaranteed contract in return.
There is tanking and there is growing youth. iMO, you can't do both. C and PG are 2 critical positions to have decent players at to allow the rookies to grow. If you don't have a pg to distribute the ball or a C to rebound misses and guard the paint, then a "we suck" mentality sinks in which is not good for growth. I want to watch the kids grow. If we rack up Ls then ok that's expected. But if rookies are making mistakes that result in us getting blown out night after night then team moral and confidence take a huge hit. Unless Morey is just completely writing off this season and truly does go full on tank for the number 1 pick, then sliding Patterson or another PF over is not going the help the big picture and will make the Rockets harder to watch.
As others have pointed out, Durant isn't 7ft tall. Dirk is probably the closest example, but he used to play a decent amount at the C position and still does, just far more infrequently. Most teams just don't have 2 true centers worthy of regular playing time. Especially in cases where the team needs offense.
You said "If Morey cared he would've kept Camby and/or Dalembert." in agreement with the tanking post. If Morey was going after Howard or Bynum he still cared even though he didn't keep Camby and Dalembert.
