Our missing piece was a strong/tall 2 guard & we have one now. & as far as J. Howard going to Memphis rather than Stro is just a pipe dream. No 1 wants Howards contract. Just learn to live w/ it. He is & most likley will remain a Rocket for a while.
It's a Monday morning and somebody had to go and bring up Eddie Griffin. I should have stayed in bed.
******Stop all this stupid stuff about trading Luther Head!!!!!!!!!!!! Head is a winner and a very talented player who will surprise everyone this season. After all he was the only bright spot as we finished up last year!!!!
A trade idea that involves Head...I never seen that before. Honestly this is not a good time to bring up a Head trade considering the way Lucas and V-span are playing unless we get a point-gaurd in return.
I think we are fine. Every team has a weakness. If all the other 4 positions do well its all good. our weakness last year are covered, rafer is playing smart like a great starting one, so much for vspan finishing the season as a starter. the two is covered by bonzi and backed up by head and snyder. its ok to have one weakness. hayes will surprise every one i garantee it. hes the next sir charles without all the whinning and offense.
HEY GUYS MEMO TO THE BOARD: YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE THAT TRADITIONAL BEAST OF A POWER FORWARD TO WIN IN THIS LEAGUE!!!!!! VERY FEW TEAMS DO.....THE ROCKS HAVE PLENTY ENOUGHT TALENT TO WIN TODAY........ No but reallly how many teams actually have studs at power forward, very few.... we are not the only one with that problem..it just happens to have 2 in our conference.....which we make up for with a stud center and swingman......how many nba teams have that?........you have teams complaining about not having a stud center.............which is way more formible than a stud 4......point being, you can't have it all, nobody does..........take dallas for instance, stud 4 yes, but you could complain they have no good center, and no true point, they are a team full of swingmen........you just play to your strengh, to be truely honest we should kick there buts actually, they only have one superstar, we have 2 key ones....every team has a weak spot........if yao and tracy stay healthy.....we are fine guys......thats the real issue...our roster is plenty fine....so please guys, you can back up from the keyboards now, and go put the razor blades up, no need to start slashing our wrist yet, we are gonna be fine EXAMPLE A: THE WORLD CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO STUD 4, EVEN WALKER CAME OFF THE BENCH
jshabang makes a good point - albeit LOUDLY. Name the best power forwards in the league. Now, name the other great, athletic guys that play the power forward position. The reality is that teams are going away from the big, athletic four. The reason? No centers. There are only 3 or 4 traditional big men left in the NBA. The rest - Ben Wallace among them - are converted power forwards. That leaves traditional small forwards as the fours - see Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki, etc. The only traditional power forwards left - Tim Duncan, for example - spend as much time at five as they do at four with the change in the way the league plays that position. As a result, the need for - God help us - someone like Stromile Swift has vastly diminished in the modern era. The question isn't really whether or not you have a good power forward, but rather do you have one good big man? We do. That's enough to win.
I agree, to a certain extent. My thinking is that you need one good big man ON THE COURT, not just on the roster. The Rockets are fine for 35 mpg when Yao is playing, but what about the other 13 mpg? Does Deke have enough left? Can the converted PFs (Hayes, Howard) succeed in the regular season or post season? Also, what if Yao gets injured again? Anyhow, the preseason looks OK so far without Yao, there's enough talent to beat bad teams without the big man and Hayes and Juwan looked OK. But I'd just feel a little more comfortable if there's another guy who can defend the paint (and isn't 40 years old).
^^^^ Zactly. I would bet that San Antonio decides to match up with us with Duncan at center and Bonner/Horry out there gunning from the arc at the PF. They plan to try to isolate Yao in the defensive paint against Duncan the same way we plan to isolate Yao against his defender in the paint. Really, big men like Duncan are really centers that have been playing PF out of position because they don't want to have to post up against the bigger, stronger, heaver lugs in this league and they don't want to get beat up in the paint defensively. I for one, think San Antonio is extremely vulnerable this year. I know they made those trades. But come on now. Their big man rotation is TD, Elson, Butler, Bonner, and Robert Horry. Elson and Butler are nothing but 12 fouls to use against Yao and that won't work because Yao is an 80% FT shooter. Not only that but we've got Bonzi posting up creating defensive fouls against. They really can't afford to hack him. So, they are stuck trying to run Duncan out there in the middle and Horry/Bonner at the 4. And we can stick Deke out there for another 6 fouls on TD if Yao gets into trouble against him. One of the big, huge keys for us this year is going to be can Yao get out of the blocks fast offensively and stay away from fouls defensively. And that will largely depend on how successful we are early at guarding the perimeter penetration and entry passes. If Yao can get to halftime with 1 foul or less, then he can really turn it loose in the 2nd half and take a few chances defensively, and create more interior pressure on the opponents during crunch time. I am a big advocate of Yao just letting guys go like Duncan that get him in post up position early. Step back, if Duncan tries to initiate contact, let him have the shot. Give up a couple easy buckets on penetrators that are coming fast. Let it go and get it back on the other end. Keep the foul count down and run the ball into the post and run up Yao's shot opportunities or fouls against. Then let it rip come the 2nd half. I'll take my chances with Yao against Duncan in crunch time provided Yao only has a couple fouls and can give up 3. That is the ideal situation with the game on the line and Yao able to aggressively defend Tim on his post up moves. This is one reason teams like Denver are in trouble. You've essentially got a PF that is playing center in Camby. He is a great shot blocker defensively, but most of those blocks are help side. And his offensive game is not a post up low block game. He is a PF offensively. While Nene is the real true center over there and then you've got another athletic type guy that is earning $10 mill a year to grab a couple offensive boards and cut to the basket for lay ins off opportunties created by somebody else. KMart is not even a decent post up threat. The ideal matchups are one big guy posting up in the low block and 4 floor spreaders. You've got to understand that with the rule changes. Two low block players is ineffective now with the defensive changes that allow players not to have to guard a man.
Actually, we will be fine in the situation you describe. Yao will average between 35 and 40 minutes. Between Hayes, Howard, Battier, Deke and TMac, we will be ok defending the paint for the few minutes Yao is resting. Further, the other teams will have their hands more than full trying to defend OUR smaller lineup. The real question I am waiting to see is whether or not Yao's newfound respect from the refs last year carries over into this season. Hopefully Yao has solidifed his status as a superstar who is not constantly saddled with ticky-tack fouls, and can remain on the court for the duration of his regular rotation. The problems are going to come in those games when Yao gets in early foul trouble. Hopefully this will happen very seldom this season, but it is bound to at least a few times, and that is when we are more likely to see longer stints by Deke and even Haryasz. Ideally, we will be able to carry some big leads into the 4th quarters of some of these games, and allow JVG to get some of these young guys some more experience, Haryasz at all, and Hayes some minutes as the backup 5. But under ordinary conditions (You NOT saddled with early foul trouble), we will not NEED to have a powerful big man in the middle for those minutes Yao is not in there. You saw how effective our medium lineup was against our first two opponents. Heck, I wouldn't even be surprised to see someone like Snyder pull a Diaw and man up against some 5's in some situations. It's all about the mismatches.
There is a lack of quality centers in the league, but not a lack of quality PFs. Tim Duncan Kevin Garnett Pau Gasol Elton Brand (a bit short, but has the bulk, strength, and PF skills) Dwight Howard Drew Gooden Rasheed Wallace Jermaine O'Neal Troy Murphy David West Zach Randolph Kenyon Martin Mehmet Okur Carlos Boozer You can see all of these guys' position breakdowns at 82games.com. All of them spent the majority of their minutes, or close to it, at PF. On the contrary, I think PFs have gotten bigger. It's no longer uncommon to see a 6'11 or 7'0 PF anymore. Back then, those guys would have played center. I think it's the other way around. Guys with the height or size to play center (Duncan, KG, etc) are shunning the unglamorous, stigmatized position, and insist on playing PF. Even though there's a severe lack of skilled, traditional post up centers, the position is still filled with big guys who are supposed to clog up the lane, block shots, and rebound.
nice list for the sake of making a list.........but to be totally honest with you........only maybe 4 on that list even remotly give a hint of scare to me(duncan, garnett, brand , o'neal?)....real talk.......check the averages on the rest........just mediocre, no all stars there my friend the rest are gonna have fits with our team...alot on that list are in for a long night when they play the rockets because most of them will at some point have to double down on yao or play him straight up which is still in our favor
If memphis thought Juwan Howard was worth more than Stromile swift, the trade would have been Howard + Gay=Battier
Thats a nice list of players, the only one you forgot was Dirk! However, and correct me if i'm wrong, because Yao causes such a mismatch some of these guys play the 5 against the rockets. I don't know if they are playing small ball or just. Tim Duncan Dwight Howard Jermaine O'Neal Mehmet Okur Troy Murphy (will be playing the 5 this year)
i agree with nero completely, we are well equipped at power forward with battier, jho and hayes. we don't need a banger at four, what we need in mobility, battier gives us to protect yao - also, with have jho taking limited minutes spacing the floor- he can hit a midrange j - he's also good for 8-10 points, i think, for this year, and hayes gives us a brute rebounder, when we need it. what i love about this team is its versatility, we can match up well, and dictate matchups from other teams. we can go strong, fast, set up, run and gun, we can pretty much do anything, play inside outside, outside inside- I think the real missing piece is chemistry, and an injury free season.!!!!!!!
Well,as beeing said above,the Rockets really don't need any more pieces,thogh we could use someone like Cato,just as insurance in case Yao gets injuried for a while.The roster,as it stands now is complete and on paper we are top 5 in the league.All we need right now is a little bit of luck ( reffering to injuries ) and the players to have good chemistry,but if we are in a position to acquire a good PF/C via trade,I would be all for it.
Only problem is that Howard, O'Neal, Murphy and Boozer all play the five a big chunk of the time. On your list, really only Wallace, Martin and Brand are guys that play the four most of the time. All the other guys are basically irrelevant because they aren't good enough to qualify as real threats against our guys.
We don't need any more. We have plenty of talent to work with. The way some of you guys want it is with All-stars in all 5 positions. Even the Pistons didn't have that.
