If the Dallas offense is the model for the future, Yao is a great center piece. If we went that direction as well, who would be our undersized PF with PG skills? I think it would be interesting to see Tracy play the four. He was guarding Dirk in the playoff matchup a year ago.
Yeah, cause' learning something from the team that's in the NBA finals is stupid. Avery Johnson is just some idiot that got lucky. We'd be there if we would have won 30 more games, right? The point is, who would be PF if we played smallball? I think Tracy is big enough to play the 4 when we go small. TriCkz, you're smart enough to be an a--, but are you smart enough to fill out a small ball roster for the Rockets?
I've said more than a couple of times on the board that the blueprint for our team is to surround Yao with four guards/swingmen, which would somewhat follow the Suns/Mavs model of going with a smaller more perimeter orientated PF, but with the added advantage of a dominant low post option like Yao. And ideally Tracy would be perfect for the role. He's got the length, size and athleticism to make it work on the defensive end. But with his back in it's current state, it's probably not something I would pursue. That's why I'm so keen on landing Rudy Gay, and to a lessor extent Carney or Brewer. Those are the kinds of players that have a chance at being a new-age mini-PF. P.S. If Cleveland ever figures out that Lebron would create historically dominant mismatches at the PF or godforbid even the Center spot, the league might as well turn the lights out.
Who would play SF then?? We already have issues with PF, SG and some what with our PG.. Let's change it to having issues with SF, SG, and PG? What's the difference.. I don't think changing his style of play will contribute to us winning more.. He was great in 04-05.. We were just injured in 05-06..
The NBA mold is changing. Our team has to adjust to the NBA because the NBA is not going to adjust to the Houston Rockets. So, next year, I think we should know how to play small. If we don't add some offensive sets in the offseason, we're going to be the same team that lost to Dallas in game 7 by 40. So who will play SF? A draft pick or an existing SG. The idea of playing small is to move everyone up a position. M_Cable, is that the style that we played with Hakeem? Robert Horry was a cutter/slasher/shooter at 4 and so was everyone else on that team. It's a great idea. I think that we're just missing a 4 that can hurt you from the 3pt line or slash inside. That's why I've been thinking about Tracy McGrady at the four. He has back problems, but worrying about the injury isn't going to fix it. A lot of ya'll will know this from experience, but I find that when you play to prevent an injury, it's more likely to happen. Lebron would be a dirty center. He would just need to learn to defend other centers so that he wouldn't get pwned.
There's about 3-4 centers in the league that are worth a damn. I wouldn't worry that much about Lebron getting pwned at the C. He's much stronger than Diaw and he seems to be doing fine at the 5. I'm telling you, Lebron at the PF would be like Dirk only 10 times better. And I don't really want to imagine what kind of havoc he could cause at the C.
That would be revolutionary for the NBA. What would a Yao/Shaq/Iglauskis do to a Lebron though? I don't think he would have an answer for those types of players. He could guard an Aldridge or mid-sized center. Do you think that Jeff Van Gundy is thinking about your blueprint? Not that he needs to credit you. I wonder if the Rockets are working on a style like that.
Well Lebron at center isn't going to work against everybody. It depends on how much he'll give up on the defensive end versus how much they get on the offensive end. And as a general rule, you probably don't want Lebron constantly banging in the lowpost with guys who he'll give up a couple dozen pounds. But considering that he's pure muscle and about the same size as Ben Wallace with unnatural quickness and mobility, he could probably guard 95% of the players in the league if he wanted to (of course he has yet to fully commit himself to the defensive end so far). But back to the Rockets, I'm probably far from the first to think up of surrounding Yao with a bunch of skilled athletes. Hell Van Gundy played Tracy at the PF and three little guys next to Yao last year against the Mavs. So I'd like to think that the organization is aware of what's going on in the league and the steps that we need to take in order to matchup with the Suns and the Mavs, and to dictate the matchup with the Spurs. Aquiring the hybrid SF/PF is the key. Once we get someone who has the length and athleticism to guard PFs on one end, but still has the offensive skills to create mismatches on the other end, everything else will fall into place.
I always thought Lebron would be even crazier as a point guard. He got comparisons to Magic, so why doesn't he play magic's position? He's probably more of a scorer, but he can still pass well enough for a point guard. Obviously it would depend on the matchup (no way he could keep up with arenas or parker, but definitely be solid against jaric or the white guy in seattle). Although, If you guys are dead set on him playing center, maybe he can pull a magic and play every position in one game.
The thing is, that Lebron can play "PG" and run the offense from the center or PF position if he wanted to. These positional definitions are basically used to designate traditional roles on a team. But there's no reason why you can't have your center or PF run your offense. They've had a few point-forwards come through the league in the past decade or so (Scottie Pippen, Grant Hill etc.). This just takes it a bit further. And the reason why I think Lebron would work better in the front court, is that he's so strong, and such a good rebounder, that the team wouldn't lose a whole lot with him as one of their "Big men". But if a regular team tries to go smaller to matchup, they would probably lose a lot on defense and rebounding.
Drafting Rudy Gay and letting him play the PF would allow the Rockets to play like the Suns and Mavericks. I wish we had some trade bait to move up. Luther Head is just not enough capital.
Tracy playing PF when we go small is a definite. On a full time basis, I doubt it. Maybe later in his career. On LeBron, he should stay at SF for a while. That's where he is best at being a playmaker and playing defense. I assume he will continue to put on a few pounds each year and eventually will move over. Putting LeBron at center full time would be a mistake.
Wouldn't you think at some point, the opposing defense would start playing zone? On top of that, even if Lebron was the "biggest" guy on the court, I still don't see a team sticking the center out on the 3pt line every time the ball is brought up just to guard Lebron beceause he is guarding them. The opposing team would probably put a smaller guy on LBJ if he chose to run the point because of the huge mis-match on the perimeter. And, again, they could play some zone to mix it up. I think the smaller line-up is something to consider. But talking about Lebron at center is mearly amusing.
I too would like to have a team like Dallas but moving Tracy to the PF slot wouldn't do any good... 1. How about we find our Josh Howard type of player... 2. How about we find a Jerry Stackhouse type of player that comes off the bench and can go off +15 points.. 3 A PG like Jason Terry 4. A backup center that is yong like Diop. And not to mention there other bench players would just totally dominate ours. I've had the scenario in my head for months.. What would it take for the Rockets to have the same gameplay as Dallas,Phoenix ( maybe a bit to much running ), Detroit. You would have to trade Yao Ming... No way he would play day in and day out in that kind of system... We just need consistant Shooters and Slashers... We have 1 1/2 slashers ( Tracy and sometimes Rafer ) Shooters?? Maybe Wesley...
i don't think it's a good idea to have tmac at the 4 for the whole season, however in short spurts during the game i would like to see it. of course, we can only do this if we have another 2 wing players worth playing.
If the Dallas offense is the model for the future, how do you figure Yao as a great center piece? Yao plays a very different role in our offense than Dampier or Diop.
You are correct. In the Dallas system, Diop & Dampier are merely expendable placeholders of a sort - they are there to clog up the middle, rebound and contest shots. They are in no way being counted on to be one of the main cornerstones of the team which is the case with Yao Ming (remember, he's one half of our TWO superstars). There's also the small issue of how you'd run an up-tempo offense with Yao but I don't want to start confusing this discussion by interjecting facts...
