If Spurs are Best-in-the-West, how do Rox catch them?

Kill Manu Ginobli and Tony Parker. Those guys allow the Spurs to outscore the Suns. I don't think the Spurs are beatable right now in a 7 game series.

 

First...lose the signature.

As far as the Spurs not being beatable, I think the Pistons are the best team in the league right now and match up with the Spurs better than anyone.

As to what the Rockets need to do to catch the Spurs...I don't see them being that far away. We need a rebounding-first PF and a pass-first PG. We've got IMHO the best SF in the league at T-Mac, the second best C w/ Yao (if Duncan and Amare are considered PF) and the best back up center with Cookie Monster. We've got a great candidate for sixth man with James. I think if the rest of the team remains intact and stays healthy and we add say a Brevin Knight type PG and Swift/Cato type PF, I think we'll have all the pieces to beat the Spurs or anyone else for that matter - not saying that we will, but that we could.

 

Major moves to get homecourt in first round????
Have you been watching the Clippers or the Rockets?

The Rockets were a top 4 team with the roster they currently have

 

The day Yao becomes consistent 22-11-2 player is the day we dominant the league!!! Who gonna stop yao??? Narz Mohammed?? Rasho Nestrovic??? Tim duncan who is a sissy dont dare to play center position...

 

Ming-wanker,

I don't think Yao sucks, but he IS UNQUESTIONABLY under-performing. Yes, he played well against Dallas...



-P1st, S2nd

 

More athleticism across the board to defend on the perimeter and of course in our new 4 to rebound and play defense.
Yao must be free to train here in the offseason so he can get bigger and stronger.If he's not playing ball all year,he won't be so burned out and we might get 35 min/night.As he gets bigger/stronger and isn't strung out the power game will come into play.It will be a fine thing when the offense can flow through him over half the time.Tracy is the MAN,and we can beat the Spurs before Yao reaches this level,but we will be unstoppable once this happens.

 

They can't guard Tmac. Their whole team can stop Tmac though.
They can't stop Yao 1 on 1 imo. We can't stop Duncan right now either. Duncan isn't an awesome scorer though. They will have to double Yao..which they can do since they have a plethora of big men who are quick mobile good solid.

We need to add a true point guard..Antonio Daniels.
Sign a SG/SF to be with Tmac..an athletic guy who can play defense strong and hustles..good attitude..maybe draft one.

And then power forward..Juwan is good..I think we should go after SAR and Marshall. Get one of them.

Yao will only get better. The Rockets are building their dynasty.

 

The frontlines of both teams are pretty even

It's the guard play that's the difference. Parker/Ginobli vs. Sura/Wesley is far too wide of a gap.

 

Wolves - no, they are done. Nuggets, yes they are for real. Clips, no, history repeats itself and they will trade their best players claiming to rebuild...yet again. Grizz, no. Sac, no, but the Warriors came on strong at the end of the year since the acquisiton of Baron Davis, I think they could be a major player in the West. Jazz, no, other than AK-47 they have nothing.

Yes, it's tight at the top, but we can do it with several acquisitions. The best we can probably do next year is the four seed (since the top team in each division automatically gets 1-3 and I don't see us jumping SA unless we have a major overhaul), but I think the four seed is a realistic goal that would give us home court throughout the first round. However, anything can happen.

 

Maybe, you should stick to cycling...and reading about it.

 

It's headache for sure to match up with the Spurs.

Maybe some "bold" move mentioned by JVG can help.

We need a good PG and a good PF. Also some good shooter like Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Chaucey Billup type of guys.

 

I would be up to getting Antonio Daniels and Kurt Thomas at the 4. He's not the powerforward that looks to score and I think he was 6th in rebounds per game this year. He's older but not too old. I think him being an ex Knick Van Gundy would jump at the thought of getting him. If we could also get a SF/SG that is at least 6'7 and can play better perimeter defence/ knock some outside shots and move without the ball. A player like Rip Hamilton comes to mind. He can guard both the three's and 2's in this league being that he's 6'7 and quick. I doubt we could get him but If we could find a poor man's version of him that would be perfect.

 

look at those elite teams inside present:

TD got Mohammed

SHAQ got Mouring

Amare has Marion

DIRK got Dampier

Piston got R&B wallace



what about us? YAO got any help???

 

I think we could have beat them this year. The Mavericks were the toughest matchup for us, and we all know we could have beat them this year if we made a few more plays.

 

We don't overworry about the Spurs than anyone else. Phx, Mia, Det--lots of outstanding teams you might have to beat.

That said, I don't think the Rockets are built that badly for the Spurs. We played them well last year and offensively they had no answer for Tmac, and Yao should only be able to further be a force with additional strength and maturity.

Defensively, a healthy Sura (or say S&T for AD) and the strong/quick James are not bad guys to play Parker. Tmac is a great person to take out Manu. Bowen can be guarded by anybody who does not forget him. Yao or Deke can handle any C the Spurs throw out there. The only major defensive problem is Duncan of course.

To me the main way to get the Rockets in a position to beat the Spurs is the same thing to get better than the Suns or Mavs. #1, get better and deeper on the 4 spot. #2 try to get an extra more athletic swingman, it would be nice if Tmac didn't have to always play the opponents best swingman if that guy is 6'4"+. Do these moves and it may turn out that the major mismatch of TD to the Rockets 4 is not as bad as the major mismatches between Tmac and Yao to their counterparts.

 

First thing Rockets need is a spiritual boost...so I am hoping the Suns will come out of their two game hole, take SA to game 7 and then beat them by 41 pts...

Seriously though, the Rocks played the spurs pretty well this year. I think a simple upgrade at pg and a solid set of pfs would make us extremely dangerous for the spurs. The spurs seem inconsistent to me... one day they look unbeatable, the next day they look like pretenders. Rocks just need some glass cleaning pfs who play hardnose defense against duncan and in the paint. Get those plus improve their own consistency and I think we are very competitive with SA.