I agree, we definitely need a PF that can hit the midrange shot, finish inside, and defend. Josh Smith is not a good midrange shooter, though. FG% from 10 ft to just inside the 3PT line for starting-caliber PFs: Josh Smith 29.8% Zach Randolph 35.2% Kevin Love 35.4% (last season) Blake Griffin 37% Paul Millsap 37.9% Pau Gasol 39.3% Al Jefferson 41.3% LaMarcus Aldridge 42% Dirk Nowitzki 42.2% David Lee 42.9% Tim Duncan 42.9% David West 44.5% Kevin Garnett 47.1% Serge Ibaka 48.7% Chris Bosh 51.1%
I'd rather see Houston use free agency to get the smaller pieces. A shutdown wing defender (Iguodala) And a defensive first big to spell Asik. Use 2014 or next years trade deadline for a star
That's my favorite strategy so far. The guy is a beast and worth the wait and giving out a max contract to. In the meantime, you hedge your bets on D-Mo and T.W.
Like it or not, the Rockets' strategy does not feature the midrange or longrange 2pt shot. It is the last option, and usually only taken when On offense the priorities are: Fastbreak points, Points in the paint, Free throws, 3pt shots, Pick n Roll probably in that order...
Yes The best part is we get to watch Love one more year and keep commenting on the possibilities along with any current potentially great fad player.
Well...to get points in the paint... you must spead the floor. Mid range jumpers may not be 3's (which Smith hits 33.5% from 3) but they are important in spreading the floor, see patterson/scola with there automatic mid range jumpers for us when someone would drive in and draw there defenders to the basket. Then when there defender sticked with them, Harden and others got a one on one to the basket. Pick n rolls, lets say harden/lin/parsons wants a pick from a big, to take it to the basket...they won't want the big's defender to follow them to double team e'm. You need the big to be able to pop out and be enough of a threat that his defender will have stick to him again, which free's up the drive for others. It doesn't have to be a 3, mid range works just fine. Plus if you can hit mid range J's you can hit free throws. So free throw, points in the paint, spreading the floor, and pick n rolls are all greatly efected if you have a guy who can hit the midrange shots. Thats everything you listed except fastbreaks. Which with josh smith...you already know. Overall, josh would fit great on this team IMO. Although his contract won't be a bargin, and his age doesn't exactly fit with our core's. Might just rather keep 21 y/o TRob if he develops..but wouldn't be upset if we got smith.
The difference here is that Josh has never played with a good pick and roll player, and here in Houston we have two premier p' n' roll players. Josh is one of the best rim attackers in the game, you don't think those percentages would see an uptick if he played with our guys? Plus, the guy is still a great athlete at the age of 27, and one of his signatures is shot blocking.
He is the best fit considering the pace we play at, and his all around skill set. If we're going to play at this high-octane pace, we need a pf who's athletic, can play off the ball, rebound, scrap for loose balls, and can block shots. If we're going to go in another direction and play half court basketball, then go for a more conventional 4, but til that happens, Josh is the tailor made for our system at the pf position.
If Smith has never played with a good pick and roll player, then how do you know he'd excel in a pick and roll system? Its already been pointed out that he's a poor mid-range shooter which takes away the "pick and pop" option. That's a moot point since the pace/style we play won't bring us a championship. We need a legitimate post threat. When's the last time a team won a title w/o a low post threat?
It's not moot at all, Mchale has chosen this system for this team, and he's building around James Harden. Unless we get an elite player, a la Dwight Howard or a 100% Andrew Bynum, I don't see Mchale changing systems. Btw, last years champs didn't have your conventional post threat and they won it all, and more likely than not, will win it again. So there goes your argument on that. You really think Al Jefferson, just because he has a polished post game specialty, is going to get us closer to a title than Josh Smith would? Even though our system is catered for our young guys' speed? Something's loose
No Al Jefferson would be a good back up to Asik is all. Unless we decide to change the team and go to a more half court game then Al and Milsap need not apply.
Let's wait and see how D-Mo does. He is tailor made for the Rockets offensive system, plus he brings a serious low post game with him. He actually could be much more effective in the Rockets system than anybody else mentioned in this conversation.
Lebron James is by far the best player in the league, and he did spend some time in the post. So yes, my argument doesn't apply if our team has a prime Lebron James or Magic Johnson. Does our team fit that description? Absolutely. Jefferson gives us an offensive dynamic that we lack, can play backup center (a position we need), and would allow for Dmo/Trob to develop. Smith improves what we already have on offense and improves our defense, but doesn't fill any of our positional needs, doesn't give our offense any versatility, and would actually stunt the development of Dmo/Trob. Jefferson is obviously the better choice.
My point was that Miami won, playing unconventionally. They didn't have your 'ideal' post player who played on the block. Lebron went into the post because no one was strong enough or fast enough to stop him. If what you want is to steadily get better over a long time, and hope that t-rob and D-mo will grow into stars, then I say sure, go that route. But I say emphatically, that if we had Josh Smith now, we would be better as a team for the next 2-3 seasons. Al Jefferson may accelerate the growth of the rooks, but we can't even play Asik and A Big Al on the floor at the same time without there being a problem with spacing. Big Al is not all that great on the high post. plus, he's a plodder. Our strength is our speed, we're not going to slow our team and slow down our system for someone who isn't an elite player, like Al Jefferson.
Would rather let the team be then to sign jefferson. You think he gives us a more dynamic offense, i think he just screws up the offense. Like the other guy said, i doubt our offensive system is going to change for jefferson. Maybe it will for a dwight, but not a jefferson. If jefferson was on our squad i believe he would be forced to change his game to fit our system. Which would be a disaster. Smith on the other hand fits our system well. If anybody was to bring a a different type offense to our team they're game would have to fit into our system. Like say a richman's D-Mo's game would, maybe D-Mo can fulfill that in the future if we're lucky.
