Looking at what junk this team has become it made me think about the Warriors.. I mentioned on a Warriors message board that none of their starters would be starting on other teams. Then I started thinking about our own team and other than Yao and Tmac none of players would start on other teams? Especially good teams. JJ love his heart and effort but he was coming off the bench for Sac. and starts for us. I wonder if that shows how much of a talent discrepency there is between the two teams? For most other teams JJ would be coming off the bench ? MoT/Jhoward alot of teams are in need of a scoring PF but they recognize rebounding and defense are also part of the equation. Which we are seemingly lacking from that position. Where else would they be starting if anywhere? Sura was a carreer backup.. usually backup SG now he's our starting PG again does that speak to our lack of talent or has he grown into that position? just curious what you guys think? other than Yao/Tmac/Gaines and Boki I could care less about everyone else right now.. the only reason I hang onto the young guys is they havent been given a chance to show their stuff yet and I dont want them to blossom somewhere else when we have seen some potential from them. J
Jim Jackson - Would probably start on Cleveland, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Denver. The rest - I'm sure there are a few teams out there who would love to have Juwon's 17-7 career average. Last season's starting lineup wasn't much better. Mobley wouldn't start on half the teams in the NBA, Jackson would start on a few just like this season, Cato would start on a few as well. The only above average players we had was Francis and Yao, this year it's T-Mac and Yao. Last season we had the least amount of overall talent amongst the rest of the Western Confrence playoff teams, and a handful of the Eastern Conference playoff teams had more talent as well. This year's bench is a little better than last year's as well. Anyway, if McGrady is a real top 5 player, and Yao is a real top 10 player, they wouldn't need above average players at every other position or Phil Jackson as their coach to play winning basketball. Weren't they supposed to make players around them better?
The Rockets going into every game are outmanned at the PG and PF position. It's arguable the Rockets are outmanned at the SF position too especially when JJ isn't hitting the 3s. It just gets magnified in the half-court slow down offense when defenses can just surround TMac and Yao to force everyone else to take shots. Yao can try to force up a shot through a double team, but that's a turnover or a miss.
if we traded yao and tmac for kobe and shaq we wouldn't do any more than make the playoffs. and thats only because those two know how to win. tmac and yao haven't won yet.
If Mcgrady were a top 5 player and Yao were top 10, they should be able to beat the Bobcats BY THEMSELVES. Without any contribution whatsoever from their supporting cast. A team should not need great performances from their role players in order to beat a freakin’ expansion team. You’re star players alone should be able to beat them.
Based on this season TMac = at most 8~10th. Last night = 15 ~ 20th Yao = 15 ~ 20th. Last night = 20 ~ 25th. By the way, Bobcats is not that bad. Checking their boxscores, they could have had 10 ~ 12 wins.
Yao & TMac are the only starters on this team. Sura, MoT, JJ, Howard, etc.. would all be bench players for other teams. But the fact is that "this" team should be able to beat a lot of the teams we lost to. There is no reason to lose to the Knicks, Hawks, and Bobcats-TWICE!!
the bobcats are better than the raptors or grizzlies when they entered the league. but i think JJ would probably start on their team over bogans. i think rush should start over bogans too though.
Well they would be making the players around them better if said players actually hit the damn shots they are given. And I dont think any of those players would be starting on contending teams... perhaps bad teams.. oh wait, that's exactly what they're doin now
true.. On good teams only Yao/Tmac would be starting.. and the rest of our starters we be on the bench almost everywhere else except for the dregs of the league like Atlanta, Charlotte and New Orleans. what makes me sad is we look like one of the worst teams in the league and we had such high expectations. JJ would be better quited for the bench to come in and provide a lift in scoring and defense. MoT could probably start for a few Eastern conference teams in need of a big man, but most likely coming off the bench. Same for Juwon (damn they are so similar) Sura would be a backup 2 on most other teams. I feel our role players are weak and cant seem to hit an open shot and Kobe and Shaq wouldnt be able to do much with this group, unless they decided they would take over the game and not get the other guys involved at all. J
ok, Its not always the roleplayers job to score. Sometimes to win you need a PF that will just be down-right dirty, and knock some guys on their butts and get a hand on the rebound. Sometimes you need a point guard to drive the lane and draw the crowd and dish off for an assit. Sometimes you have to have a guy come in off the bech and disrutp everything on the floor (Mark Madison). hey, our stars do shine, and they do score. eck when was the last time you saw Kobe the rapist' bryant score like 13 points in 35 seconds to pick up the win aginst the team that many already consider the champion? I think our star players are doing pretty; with the exectption of last night's to problem. Lets look into roleplayer upgrade. Not in the scoring department; not that that would hurt anything, but lets get some players that know their roles and show up with heart to preform those roles.
Great players make players better by making them winners, T-Mac and Yao haven't done that... yet. We weren't supposed to be a contending team, we weren't supposed to be a bad team either. The Lakers didn't have either of those guys outside of Madsen. When you're losing you're not shining. That memory is fading more and more after every loss, now when's the last time you saw T-Mac win a playoff series? There's no contest comparing those two dudes, or the duos of Shaq and Kobe to Yao and T-Mac. Sura, Jackson, Howard and all the rest of the role players know their roles, they know they're not supposed to win games for us, the losses shouldn't fall on their shoulders. The role players aren't supposed to be the heart of the team T-Mac and Yao are supposed to fill that role, they'll be on average teams until the recognize that and take on that challenge no matter the role players surrounding them.
Im afraid you miss the point Jumpman. Its mostly my fault I should have clarifed it for you. How better can Yao and T-mac make this team? I never once said that it was the role-players fault for our loses. I think if you play as a team you lose as a team. That means I blame Yao, T-mac, role-players, coach, GM and Les for these loses. The point I was trying to make is how much better can T-mac and Yao make these players. They have to bring some effort. We dont really need them all to score we just need them to do what they are suppsoed to do. PS. I dont Kobe would have ONE championship without Shaq. Kobe is totally over-rated and one of the worst things to ever happen to the game of basketball.
You shoulda made this a check box poll instead of a radial poll so we could vote for more than 1. I think Sura would start for another team. Hell, he was starting last year. I think MoT would start for some other teams. Howard - when we got him I thought he'd be a starter. Now, I'm not so sure.
Well. My point was that they're not as good as they're thought to be, top 5 and top 10? No. They're extremely talented players that don't make as big of an impact as other top 10 players... YET. PS: Shaq's doesn't have a championship without Kobe either and he was the BEST thing to happen to Shaq.
so a team w/ Shaq and DWade should never lose to a sub .500 team right? or the Shaq and Kobe lakers of last year should never have lose to crappy teams? ummmm... Shaq almost won a championship w/ out Kobe in Orlando remember? He made Penny look like a star.. J
I’m not saying players like Shaq and Wade don’t ever lose to bad teams, but I know one thing is for sure, if Shaq and Wade did lose to a bad team like the Bobcats, Shaq and Wade would be the ones blamed for losing to the Bobcats. NOT Wang Zhizhi, or Malik Allen, or any other scrub role players on the Heat. Your star players need to be held accountable for taking bad teams too lightly or allowing their teammates to take teams too lightly. I’m simply baffled at how easily people are letting Yao and Mcgrady off the hook.
