Sup old heads and newbies? The Rox have been struggling early this season and many are already jumping off the wagon. I'm one of those who would like to see how this team evolves before making any rash assessment, but i have a few things noted. I think Van Gundy is a very good coach based on defensive schemes, but i dont think he gives Ming a chance to be successful during his time on the court. I think he asks too much of Ming on the offensive and defensive end that really wears him down. Watch a team play pnr and watch how Ming has to show strong, pretty much trap, then run all the way back to his man. Even if this was a guy fleet of foot like Hakeem or Robinson, it would be very difficult. On the other end, why does Ming come to the 3pt to set a pick then run all the way down to the blks? Ideally, Ming should go blk to blk or maybe to the ft line, thats it. This team really needs a 3rd scorer. It goes without saying either with or without McGrady, but this team needs that guy. In the offseason i thought SAR would be better for this team than Swift. I think if you're going to play half court basketball, then you have to get good half court players. SAR is a great athelete, but he's way more effective in sets than Swift. He's a proven scorer who shoots a high fg% and would keep the help keep the Rox out of those droughts. Rafer needs to be cut loose. I dont mean cut as in Vin Baker, but as in running pnr and penetration. He can get to the rack and right now he seems to be trying to fit in and not step on toes, but he needs to get inside and collapse the defense. He's shown flashes, but he can and needs to do more. He'll never be confused for Marbury,Nash or even Parker, but theere are things that he can do and getting inside the ft line is one of them. I know its looking bad now, but this team will be better after the all star break than before. No one makes the playoffs in December last i checked.
I totally agree with your critique regarding the utilization of Yao. In fact, it's not just us. Many major papers and magazines commented in their seaon previews that Yao has been asked to run around on the perimeter chasing guards and getting totally worn out. They predicted that Swift would ease Yao of some defensive responsibilities, thus freeing Yao with more energy to contribute on the boards and on offense. This has not panned out yet. Swift has been very inconsistent on both ends of the floor. This also relates to your comparison of SAR and Swift. I agree that SAR would be a far superior scorer, but it was widely held that Swift is more athletic, and has a higher ceiling with regard to defense, which is what we need him for more than on offense. Our guards are the ones who're supposed to pick up a lot of the scoring outside of TMac and Yao. We should give Stro and the guards more time, but it is certainly frustrating to not see any kind of improvement in the offensive system run by the club over the past few games in which TMac was out. I have trust in his defensive coaching abilities, but Van Gundy really needs to get some help devising more effective and varied offensive sets, or we're in for a long season and ugly season.
totally agree lee. I wanted SAR originally as well and there's no question that atleast at this point we'd have a couple more wins with him in place of stromile. that said, as with the rest of the team i'm curious to see what swift can do if and when this team starts clicking. right now he's probably playing the worst basketball of his career, but you could say that for arguably every single player with the exception of yao and maybe ryan bowen.
I was very happy with the Swift signing because of the deal we got him for, not necessarily for getting him. He's the guy I'm most worried about out of all of our guys...he's supposed to be the PF of the future here to go alongside Yao, yet he just doesn't get it. He needs to make some drastic mental improvement on the court, or he's not going to be the answer at all. On a side note...I started a thread this offseason about trading for Michael Sweetney in NY, but I don't think there was one person that supported that idea. He's averaging 11 points and 8 rebounds in 23 minutes so far with Chicago. I'm not giving up on Swift by any means, but if he doesn't improve there will be a lot of questions about whether or not we went after the right guy.
For the longest time this team has needed a "3rd scorer". We just can't rely on Tmac/Yao as the one-two punch all the time. We have to have a 3rd guy to rely on in case someone is injured or in foul trouble. This team is SO dependant on Tmac/Yao that if one of those guys aren't in there the offense just implodes.
Totally agree on misuse of Ming, makes no sense, and even though everyone is on JVG's case about this, he refuses to adjust. And talking about adjustments, I just don't buy all the "give it time" theories that are floating around the board. The cream rises quickly, the good are good wherever you put them. They may not be as good for awhile, but they are still good. With the exception of Head, the Rocket's new additions have shown almost nothing. Adjustments? What is the offseason for? What is preseason for? The Rockets have a long history of bone-headed personnel moves, and I think we are witnessing another example. Certainly I hope things get better, but, deep down, I am having a "Philadelphia" feeling.
I was against the swift signing and wanted Walker. I know Walker can help you and he can hurt you. But at least you knew Walker was going to give you 16 pts and 8 rebounds. Swift on the other hand, you don't what you're going to get.
I'm not worried. I know that the Rockets will come around. What I don't like is that JVG never seems to have his team ready for the beginning of the season. I like JVG as a coach, but he's the guy that needs to step up his work most of all. We have the best defense in the NBA. That's good. But, we are the worst scoring team in the NBA. He must do something about this. I'm patient. But I don't want to have to be patient.
Heh, but in the long run Walker is also prone to having too many 2-18 shooting games...not to mention he's even less likely to ever play energetic defense.
for the loss, YAO share his part, he did shoot the ball well and lost a couples of key rebound and 9TO in two games. But the bigger picture is: why our offense is so simple? who's fault and how to get it better? or much better. No easy point for YAO at all
For all the people who wanted Stro for this team, can you list what he can do or has done better than J. Howard? If a guy still talks about potential after 4 seasons in the league, then that's probably all you will get from him, potential. SAR is a basketball player, he left Cal for NBA after only two years of college, not because of his athletism, but his basketball sense; Walker is half a basketball player, namely he can only be counted on offense; Stro, just an athlete, not a basketball player. That's the difference among them.
I don't think it's a matter of JVG "stepping up his work." It's simply about what kind of coach he is. There is no secret that he is a defense-first coach. If you have to prepare your team for all the minute details of your defensive system, you are going to lack time to take care of the glitches in your offense. It's that simple. Unless, JVG has the whole summer for training camp, you're gonna see sloppy offense for the first couple of months of the season. Is it good or bad? I don't know.
Walker and Rahim would cost more than double what Swift costs. At the time of the signing- I thought Swift was the better fit. Swift should be a better rebounder and shot blocker than Walker and Rahim. Swift should be a better defender than Walker or SAR and fit with Van Gundy defense. I do not know the answers, but we needed a point guard and a rebounding power forward to help Yao. I like Rahim, but I think Walker presents a chemistry problem.
I've made this point several times, or at least on those few times i've ventured out of the D&D Ghetto, but it would be hard to construct a worse offensive scheme for Yao than the one we have. JVG is an excellent coach, but he's seduced, or blinded, by Yao being 7'6" and wants to turn him into the chinese shaq. he can certainly dominate occasionally down low, but he's also going to get the ball stripped, and since he doesn't have great hands, he going to have trouble catching the lousy entry passes our perimeter people toss his way. Yao should be used like Walton was on the late '70's Portland teams, high post, with the guards running off him. In addition to his shooting touch, and height, Yao has the potential to be one of the greatest passing centers ever, and yet he's given little chance to show it. Like all of the teams since he's been here, this team is increadibly poorly put together for a player of Yao's ability. Rudy thought Yao was Akeem, JVG thinks he's Ewing. They're both wrong, and until someone realizes it, Yao will never play to his potential, and we'll all be left to wonder what might have been.
I agree with your entire post. Very well said, and even last year, how Yao was mis-utilized was hard to watch. I would love to hear JVG's reasoning on this issue. It is almost like the current scheme exposes Ming's weaknesses and fails to captilize on his strengths. I don't understand. Ming has his problems, but the way he is utilized here will do little to correct them. But this team has so many other problems that this is a sideburner issue.
I think we may be suffering from the "Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side of the Fence" syndrome. Both Walker and SAR have serious flaws in their game. In addition, both have also been described as cancers to their teams by fans and journalists alike. They each also would cost 2-3X more than what Swift cost us. If anything, I think Walker's style of play would drive Van Gundy to suicide. He's a bad defender. He's takes way too many ill-advised shots and is a career 41% shooter, unacceptable in my opinion for a power forward. His passing is overrated and more than offset by his perennial place amongst the turnover leaders. He seems to make boneheaded plays at the most inoppurtune times and is a major whiner to boot. He's also a bad free throw shooter, which is continuing to spiral into the abyss. In fact, he's giving Shaq a run for his money in this category (64% career, down to 55% the last 2 seasons, and 44% this year). I have seen him play firsthand for more than 7 seasons, and I was honesting praying that the Rockets would not get Walker, and I am still glad that we didn't.
