[ESPN Chad Ford] Rockets still have major holes to fill

Ostertag is better than Mutombo, the Rockets must of thought so too, since they offered him more money than the Kings did. Dallas has Shawn Bradley, what are his blocks per 48 minutes? The Spurs are more or less like last year's Rockets, both their C's started. Memphis has Lorenzen Wright or Stromile Swift, Minnesota has Magic Johnson. Who out of those guys would you NOT take over Mutombo? Maybe Ervin Johnson? Ostertag, because we're supposed to hate former Jazz players? Shawn Bradley because he's Shawn Bradley?

 

Jeff Gundy missed the final part of this Chad Ford article:

I think this is a pretty accurate article.

 

Input from a Grizzly's fan about the Rockets is always so informative.

 

The part Ford doesn't mention is you can also put McGrady as SF, who can likely hold the spot pretty well. And then we've got a couple of options at SG, with Sura being my top choice.

 

If I'm reading Ford correctly, 35 minutes of Yao and 13 minutes of Mutumbo is apparently a weakness, but 48 minutes Howard/Taylor apparently is not. Geez, I wonder how many teams will take the production of the Yao/Mutumbo duo over the Howard/Taylor combo.

 

I did not say that it was a bigger concern of mine. I was just trying to verbalize my impression of what Ford was saying. I like our team and it's depth much, much more than last year's team.

 

Im afraid that Chris Ford raises several points of which I'm deeply concerned about. His questioning of Mutumbo's effectiveness is both reasonable and fair. The prime reason he's been bounced around for the past 2 years is because he has been a big disappointment as well as injury prone. Based on his track record, I'm not that keen on him as Yao's backup.

As for what he said about the 3 spot, I'm just not sure. I am hopeful that somehow, Nachbar will prove to be a solid player but to date, there has been precious little evidence to support this. If he breaks through this year, then they are set at the 3 but their front line looks to be a major question mark.

 

If it's that easy, and the Rockets isn't doing anything to get a second backup, that bothers me.

 

..I think Deke will be fine ! 10 minutes is all the Rox need from him...

Key injuries will hurt any team. CHad FOrd is such idiot for mentioning "if Yao goes down" jeez...who started for SA when Duncan went down? Big Shot Rob? "Defense Specialist" Rose ? ...

 

I haven't read all of the posts, so I wouldn't be surprised if this has been pointed out already. You do make a trade like this if you can pair two mid-twenties stars together and keep them together for years to come. What's wrong with filling in the pieces over the course of a couple of years? If Yao and T-Mac were on their last legs, yes, I'd understand this logic. As is, there is no logic to it.

 

10 minutes? So Yao's going to play 38 this season? 15-18 minutes from him is more like it.

San Antonio minus Duncan is still a solid/average team, the Rockets minus Yao are basically last year's Orlando Magic moved to the Western Conference.

 

Oh so hes going to play 30 minutes this season? Mutumbo at most will play 15 minutes. It's not going to be any problem having spoon playing 3 minutes.


San Antonio minus Duncan is still a solid/average team, the Rockets minus Yao are basically last year's Orlando Magic moved to the Western Conference. [/QUOTE]

ok.

 

I would not say we have "major holes", but I would say we have some question marks.

The #1 question is overall chemistry--we will have to see about that.

As for the line-up:

Yao, Deke, JH
JH, MoT, Spoon, Padget
JJ, Boki, Sura, Padget, A Griffin (if resigned)
Tmac, Sura
Lue, Ward, Sura

That is a very solid 13.

Personelle wise, I am most interested in evaluating the team contributions of Boki, Sura, Howard, Lue, Ward & Deke--in that order. But truth be told, we have a very flexible roster and only need 3 or 4 of these guys to meet expectations to have a very solid, possibly championship contending, core.

The fact we are debating if Deke is an adequate back-up for 15 MPG, if Boki is an adequate back-up for 15-20MPG or if Ward has any game left or Sura can play any 1 minutes with discipline is a luxury most teams don't have. We also have some options if these don't turn out, MoT/JH can play back-up center effectively versus most teams if need be, if Boki fails we play JJ/Tmac a few more minutes and fill in with Pagdet or AG, and we can always turn up Lue, who is fairly young and defintely servicable, to 30+ MPG if need be.

Compared to most teams, even other elite, we have few holes. Just look at SA. They had to sign total has beens in Horry and Willis (much weaker than our back-up bigs) and if they try to play Parker and Barry at the same time they willl make last year's Rocket guards look like shut down tandems like Dumars & Thomas or Jordan and Harper. Only Minny and Detriot of the top of my head have fewer personelle questions IMO.

 

fORD IS AN IDIOT FOR SURE.....MAJOR HOLES HAVE BEEN FILLED UP.

BUT ONE THING I WANNA KNOW IS IF WE GET MUTTUMBO WE LOSE 3 PLAYERS FROM OUR ROSTER. aND IF I'M CORRECT WE CAN HAVE AT LEAST 15 PLAYERS ON THE ROSTER ( 3 ON THE DL).

WHAT ABOUT THE MINOR HOLES...WHO WE GONNA PICK UP? I TIHKN IF I NOT WRONG WE MIGHT NEED TO PICK 2 MORE PLAYERS......AM I RIGHT OR NOT?

 

AT CENTER: YAO - MUTUMBO

AT PF: hOWARD- MO-T - SPOON

AT SF/2-GUARD- T-MAC, BOKI, JJ, PADGETT

AT PG- SURA, LUE, WARD GAINES


THATS ONLY 13 PLAYERS, I THINK WE CAN STILL GET 2 MORE PLAYERS RIGHT?

 

All of this is SPECULATION. No one really knows--especially this guy--if the Rockets moves this summer will have the effect that we all pray they will have--playoffs and beyond. I personally believe that the Rockets will do extremely well, and I say that knowing that everyone is not so enthused with Bob Sura and/or Charlie Ward, and Dikembe Mutombo, but quite frankly I dont really care that some people think they and some other Rox backups are "garbage". If that is the case, then ALL backups in the NBA are "garbage". All three of these guys are mature veterans, something the Rockets have lacked until last season when my homeboy, (Toledo, OH) Jim Jackson came on board. The '03-'04 Pistons are a testament to what we should have realized in '94 and '95--TEAMWORK wins. period. Go back and look at the rosters of the Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, all winners of recent championships. None of them had rosters full of NBA All Stars, and only had no more than two "superstars", so why get down on backups?? As long as they know the system well, believe in it, and each other and play with heart and determination, winning happens. Lets see what a healthy, together and focused Rockets team does this season.

 

There is a big difference. The Nets signed Mutombo in order to negate/reduce Shaq in the Finals. To be a major starting role player in their championship drive. They just forgot about their offense being a horrible fit. New York then got him to be their dominant center so they could beat up the East and make it to the finals. They forgot that they suck and Zeke came in and immediately killed Mutombo's role and blew up the team, turning it into a really strange mixture of overpaid players (as opposed to the previous team of oddly mixed and overpaid players).

Mutombo was brought here to back up one of our superstars and (hopefully) teach the kid a little bit. We will not be shocked when he does not turn into the dominant starting center we dreamed about.

Also keep in mind that MoT was THE backup center his first year here...to an ineffective (at the time) Cato. The sky is not falling, we have seen worse, and the situation will only improve with time and building. All of our eggs are not in this season's basket.

 

I think Chad has a point if you measure the Rockets against a perfect team, or just a great team. The problem is no team can have all five all-stars at five position, and five more very good players sit on the bench.

Just look at the teams won the titles in the past decade, the Pistons, the Bulls, the Spurs, the Rockets, the Lakers, every one of them has average role players in their starting lineup. They won because they got the main horse (1 or two super stars), and the role players who could fill the need of the team.

Do the Rockets have the main horses? Yes, we have TMac & Yao. Do we have the right role players for each position? No one knows for sure until they play more than a few games together.

Why am I responding to Chad Ford's insite anyway?

 

We have a winner. 9 man rotation is the key, not bringing together 15 names on your roster that will please everyone from top to bottom.

 

yes i though that we have to fill some holes his rigth



what about his ass that a hole that we have to fill

stupid Chad Ford