I am just going to express my opinion as a fan... I believe the Rockets would be a much better team (using the current roster) if these changes were made: 1. Start Boki at the 3. I just believe down deep that given the playing time and the confidence he would provide better chemistry to Yao and TMac, better defense and fewer turnovers. He would over time become a much better starting 3 than JJ 2. Keep Barnett as the backup point guard. He just seems to be the kind of role player that fits the transition game that Boki and TMac and Yao could thrive in. He brings energy. 3. Go ahead and put Yao at the 4 with Deke at the 5 in situations. Our interior defense has suffered with out Cato and Yao on the floor together. Give this combo some minutes. 4. Run more with Sura, TMac, Yao, Howard and Boki, this is a team that can score in transition (if they rebound) I just have a gut feeling (which means nothing) that these changes would work. I do not like our current role players, but because of the horrendous contracts it looks like we have to make do. Why not try this? Oh, yeah because I'm not the coach.
I like Deke getting more minutes... but there is no way that either of these guys could guard any of the fours in the league. They couldn't even guard Howard or Mo without getting in foul trouble. We would get destroyed with these two guys in at the same time.
Yao has guarded Duncan Zone is perfect. And with any change you have to give up some things to gain other things. If you could defend the post with bigger taller bodies and rebound you could get more transition offense. I think this team has some good fast break and transition type players- TMac, Sura, Boki to name 3.
A zone defense would never work with Deke and Yao in there... you would have to run a 2-3 or 2-1-2... in order for it to work you would need three, shutdown defenders on the outside. Sura hustles enough to do it, Tmac could if he wanted to, and JJ is a bit slow. It doesn't hurt to try...
I also believe we should start Yao and Deke in certain situations. We obviously can't do it too much, but I think 5-10 minutes of twin towers will do wonders to our D.
The Rockets will be much worse team with this lineup 1. Rockets will be killed by transition defence 2. Rockets will be killed by Pick and roll 3. Rockets will be killed by any team which has mobile 4 4. Rockets will be killed by opposite team's second unit 5. crowd inside, no more post play, Rockets will be killed by their own 3 pointer percentage. 6. Tmac will take 40+ shots a game, and Rocket will lose by 20+
I think the biggest surprise is what Boki could do with starter minutes and several games of confidence. If JVG could show him he doesn't have to look over his shoulder, just play loose and hard, Boki would give us energy, defense, and slashing at the 3 spot. He also has done a better job making the entry pass to Yao and he shoots the 3 about as well as Jim Jackson does at this time. Also it is important to have his length. I think he could become a decent rebounder which we need. The team looks like it has better chemistry when there is a transition game. So I would like to see ways of imporving the rebounding and getting the team to run more in transition. Push the ball. At first there will be turnovers, but over several games chemistry will develop and the runners (Tmac, Boki, Yao - yes Yao and Sura will shine) I think Yao can run the floor as a trailer and get some monster slams and follow up baskets. Our half court offense is set, we need balance, we need to put more pressure on defenses.
Talking about the lineup, a few years ago The Rockets had a great promising lineups Starter: 5. Yao (great talented skilled big man) 4. E. Giffen (great shot block and rebound skill with decent 3 pointer range) 3. J. Posy (great athletic abiity, splashing and cutting, decent 3) 2. C.moblie (great 3 pointer shooter and good defence ) 1. S. Franis (great athletic ability, some decent skills and great passion and heart of the game) Bench: 5. K. Cato (tough inside defender and great shot block and rebound skill) 4. M. Taylor (great offence weapon off the bench) 3. B. Nachbar (young version of the paja stojakvic in the developing) 2. Hokins (decent defender and shooter) 1. M. Norris (decent shooter at point) Player's coach who always always show great passion and heart of the game in R. T What a promising and athletic young team the rocket was, and now this team is nothing but junks, huge gamble turns into disaster, sad sad story.
I'll do you one better..... How about this promising lineup? 5. Yao Ming 4. Eddie Griffin 3. James Posey 2. Tracy McGrady 1. Damon Jones BENCH Sura, JJ, Howard, Taylor, Deke. Sura and JJ on the bench makes the bench look more solid. Posey and Griffin at the forwards gives us a lot more athleticism than we have now. And Damon Jones at PG gives us some good 3pt shooting at that position. All it would have taken to net that lineup was matching Posey's 4yr 24M contract with the Grizzlies, not cutting Eddie Griffin and getting Damon Jones this year in free agency instead of signing Charlie Ward. Pretty simple really. The Tmac deal for Francis/Mobley/Cato was fine. It was the moves with regards to the ROLE PLAYERS that leave a lot to be desired.
Deke and Yao cannot be on the court at the same time - way, way too slow. For my part, I can't understand why Bowen plays over Boki. Does Bowen really hustle and rebound that much better than Boki? There's still a chance that Boki can improve, but Bowen is very limited.
So what's your solution SamFisher? Or are smart ass insults all you are good for? Look, we can certainly play the "what if" game to death. And quite frankly I am not much for doing that. But I felt compelled to respond to that post just the same. But some of the moves I mentioned above I dont think are asking too much. I mean sure we could have traded Griffin for Rashard Lewis (or as you suggested taken Prince over Nachbar) but I am not even going there. I am just saying we keep the players we INITIALLY had and take Damon Jones over Ward. Heck we even took Ward over Mike James in free agency and now we are trying to trade for him???? We dont have ASSETS now because we either gave them away or didnt resign them. And now the players we either didnt resign or gave away are the exact same type of players we are trying to ACQUIRE NOW!
Please, let's keep bringing up EG. Because of course if he had stayed he would be the solid player he is right now. He would have solved all his problems off the court if he didn't learn a lesson by being released.
I am so tired of this sour grapes @#%*. Every team makes mistakes, just like every person. Some teams make a few more mistakes than others and you have to reevaluate those decision-makers at some point. But it's ridiculous to look back in hindsight and assemble a perfect team by pointing out every time we zigged when we should've zagged, especially when you can't account for all of the changes that could've resulted from the different moves (ex: keep Posey, maybe we have a better record and maybe Steve never gets traded). Besides, with the exception of not signing Damon Jones (a money thing), all of the move you speak of seemed like good ideas at the time. Instead of being stuck in the past, put forth some ideas for the future.
How about just start Boki Bring JJ off the bench Let's face it there is not much creative to do with this roster of power forwards... they all stink as starters
