Use Juwan Howard

because he is inconsistent. offensively and defensively. (how many blocks has he had this year?) I admit.. sometimes that line drive jumper is money.. but it's a brick a lot of times too. Check the stats from the game before last night... and that's WITH Tmac in the lineup to draw double teams.

 

i would bet that every teams has a bad record when scoring under 90.

i think jho scores well when one of the big two are out but while they're in i'd rather them get the ball every time.

 

We can only hope JH rounds into form like he did late last season before his injury. If he does and Rafer continues playing well, we could make some serious noise. But JH's inconsistency this year drives me crazy.

I think our best bet for the season and playoffs is Tracy being Tracy, Yao taking it to another level, Rafer continuing his stellar play and Wesley being healthy this year instead of hobbled like last year. If our defense steps it up a notch we could be in for an entertaining ride. We also need Bogans to eat up some minutes between Tracy & Wesley and for Luther to be at least serviceable at backup PG. Anything we get from JH, Stro, JB and Deke will be a bonus.

 

juwan only scores like that when we have one of our main guys out.

 

I'd still take JH over Stromile any day. Who would you want shooting FTs in the final minutes or taking that tie breaking jumper or having a guy that can actually play 30mpg/80 games a year.

 

But I don't wanna use him, i like him, i think if I use him it could end our relationship.

 

And how 'bout them Juwan facials? I always expect him to lay it up. Hell, he won't even dunk in NBA2K6. Now he's posterizing people once a game.

You go Juwan.

 

Look, Juwan had a good game. Here's the deal. The Warriors start Foyle and TMurphy as their 2 bigs. Murphy is gonna have to help out on Yao because Foyle cannot even slow him down. Howard's offense came off the double of Yao or the shadowing of Yao. Foyle is slow footed and Murphy isn't exactly quick out there. As a matter of fact, Murph is a subpar defender.

Now when we go back to the defensive end, Foyle is going to give them nothing. Yao can shade OFF of him and help on Murphy a little bit and Howard can come out a little bit. They don't have to worry about being beat to the hoop too many times by that combination. Yeah, Murph can get to the hoop but Yao is shading off Foyle to help with that.

So, in the case of last night, Juwan works fine as the 3rd wheel ........as long as that jumper is on. We can get by with the slow-footedness of our 2 bigs because they are essentially playing 2 on 1 with Murph and Foyle.

But when Juwan's jumper is clanking, like it was against Phoenix, and when we are playing a team with smaller more athletic bigs on the floor, that can both step outside, like Thomas and Marion, the Yao-Juwan combo is TERRIBLE. Juwan cannot guard a player like Marion on the perimeter. And Yao cannot step out far enough on Thomas to stop the jumper and be able to help with the slashers and dribble drive of Nash.

On the offensive end, Juwan cannot take Marion down in the paint and post him. He'll get blocked 6 or 7 times, and wind up taking off balance fade aways just to get the shot off. So, he's left to sit outside and take that 17 footer. If it is off.......well, the game is a blowout. And because of the quickness of the defenders and the slow footedness of both Yao and Juwan, those defenders can effectively double and triple Yao and still get back to cover their man, because Juwan isn't quick enough to get to the rack nor athletic enough to get up in in the air for the lob dunk from Yao off that triple team. It all adds up to a big fat blowout.

Juwan would be most effective coming off the bench with Deke for Yao and whoever the 4 is with the 2nd unit for scoring. Let him take the 17 footer, let him post up a second stringer and get some high percentage shots off in the paint. And if he gets hot, and the matchup is favorable, then he can play a few minutes alongside Yao for the added offensive punch. But the matchup does not favor us when the opposing 4 is athletic and the opposing 5 has some sort of offensive game, ala Thomas, Okur, etc.etc. etc.

 

Juwon needs a lot of shots in order to score a lot. If he gets that amount of shots when T-Mac is playing it means T-Mac isn't getting enough shots.

 

Every player in the league has stregnths and weaknesses. Yes, there are a few teams that give us match-up problems but there aren't too many. Fact is, we give other teams more matchup problems and they give us.

Dallas, Phoenix and maybe the Pistons are 3 teams that gives us problems because they are so long and athletic.

Would it be nice if we could get more long and athletic. Yes. But virtually every team in the league is saying that. Easier said than done. In the meantime, Juwan is decent enough.

I would love to upgrade Juwan but I won't be disappointed if we don't. I think he is fine.

 

You shouldn't hate him after a bad game and you shouldn't praise him after a good game. You need to see the consistency. He hasn't had too much this season. He's a great player on nights like the Warriors game, but nights like the Clippers game, he's pissing me off.

All I can say is, so far, Chuck Hayes has been our only consistent PF.

I'm not saying start him, because I know his jumper is not too great (he has a lot of flaws in a lot of parts in his game), but give the kid more playing time, he's awesome.

 

Howard is what he is. Is he a great PF? No. But unlike Swift, Howard gives you a decent all around player. What you see is what you get from him. He's not athletic, but he can shoot. He's a slow defender, but he plays smart. He is not a great rebounder, but he's not bad.

He is certainly a better starter than Swift. He is not a spurt energy guy. So he's not good off the bench. I don't agree that he is better off playing with Mutombo. I think he is better off playing with Yao to benefit from the midrange space Yao's presence creates. With a non-scoring center, he has to either create his own midrange shot, which is not his forte, or play the low post, which is mediocre. On the defensive end, I think Yao and Deke are a wash. Deke is not that defensive monster anymore. Deke is not quicker than Yao.

I have never been a Juwan fan. I'd be happy if we could upgrade our starting PF position. But I think to label him "loser" is just blind hating.

 

I do not feel Juwan is a loser. And he is a smart, savvy vet, no question about that.

And obviously, he is better off playing with Yao than Deke. Anybody on our team is better of playing with Yao than Deke for their own game.

But I'm talking about what is better for the team. How can we say that Juwan is a better starter than Swift........until we have seen Swift start?

Yes, Deke is a non-scoring center, but remember the rotation I'm talking about. THey're matching up with 2nd teamers. Remember, what would be best for the team.

All I'm saying is........teams with quickness and athleticism at the 4 and a 5 with some scoring ability deal us fits. Why? Because we can't hang with them on either end. Look at the players on the floor man. Against those teams, we gotta get more quickness and athleticism on the floor. Who should be replaced, Juwan or Yao?

 

BTW

The vast majority of playoff teams have quickness and scoring ability at the 4 and 5 positions.

 

I can't believe we are still talking about starting Stro. What a joke! Clearly, on most nights, JH gives us our best chance to win. You can criticize every little detail about his lack of physical ability and everything else. Go right ahead. I forget who the moron was last night who kept going on and on and on and on. One of the worst game threads ever. Next thing you know, JH is our leading scorer and we win. I though we couldn't win when JH was our leading scorer. Oh well.

When JH doesn't fit the bill (which has been often this year), Stro will step up to the plate on a very few occasions. Other times, we will need a small/quick lineup to close out a game because of matchups posed by the other team or because both JH and Stro are not productive. This is what we are stuck with. Next year, we must upgrade the PF position by getting a new starter. There is no way around that. Stro is a lost cause and JH has declined this year and will continue the slide next year. Stating Stro is out of the question. At best, he will be a decent backup in the NBA. If you are still taking baby steps after 6 years in the league at age 26, you aren't going to learn how to run.