What can this years team do that last years team could not?

make it on and 1 streetballers tour.

 

Finish at the rim much more often.
Alley-oops to someone other than T-mac or Yao.
Less slow starts, we have more dimensions to our game than last years starting squad.

 

We'll be able to run a lot more and keep up with fast break teams, like PHX, much easier.

Overall a more althetic team if you ask me

 

I don't think there was one particular thing last years team could not do but there's certainly things they didn't do well or do enough of. For example, driving to the basket. Other than Sura and Mcgrady, we just didn't have the type of guys who could put the ball on the floor and attack the rim. But with the additions of Alston and Anderson, we should improve in that area. From what I've seen both of those guys can handle the ball in traffic and attack the rim and when you do that you collapse defense and create all sorts of different problems for the opposing team. especially when a team is focused on sending weak double teams to guard Yao. There's lanes open when that happens and you can make 'em pay. So we should improve in that area of the game.


Then there's the fastbreak. The additions of Barry and Wesley improved are fastbreaking last year but the additions of Alston, Anderson, Head, and Swift should keep jvg from losing hair on the sideline when yelling for his guys to push the ball every possession. There may not be a better fastbreaking team in the league next year. And I say that because of Yao Ming and Dikembe Mutumbo. I know, what!? The reason I say that is that we have the best two shot blockers in the league, and when that ball is sent back to the hardwood, the new Rocket additions should be trucking down to
the other end with a quick score on their mind. Fastbreak points can really bury the other team and create a impressive point differential over our opponents.

 

Run
Better defensive rotations (post & perimeter)
Weakside help from the PF
Score points when T-Mac and Yao are out

 

Take the title from the Spurs

 

We have a winner. So to speak.

 

Score 150 points a game.

We were the oldest and slowest team in the league last year. Had no one save T-Mac that could create his own shot, James thought he could but he was only an average finisher. We were too dependent on the perimeter shooting and if the team had an off night it put us in a big hole; with this team we have more scoring options. We got a lot better.

I am dying to see how we fare against SA this season in regular season games, I am expecting that we will surprise some people and take the season series.

 

1 If someone goes down, we should be able to "keep on ticking". We have better depth and are more insulated against injuries (Tmac and Yao excluded). Last year showed how important depth is.

2 We can run with anybody. Adding Swift, Alston & DA in place of Padgett & James makes us lightening fast on the break. Having Swift, Tmac, Alston (and any other two players) on the floor at the same time should be fun to watch.

3 Our interior defense last year was the best in the NBA and should improve, which is hard to believe. We now have 3 premier shot blockers instead of 2. 100% of the time we will have a major shot blocker down low. At least 50% of the time (i.e. when Swift is on the court) we will have 2 shot blockers on the floor.

4 Can anyone say alley-oop? Mutombo, Yao (kind of), Swift, Tmac and Head can all slam down alley-oop passes. Alston & DA should keep defenses honest with this threat. We should consistently run back door picks in 1/2 court.

5 We have several PnR combinations with Alston & Tmac off the dribble using Yao & Swift. DA may also be able to initiate PnRs. Last year, Tmac and Yao were our only solid PnR combo.

6 Attack the basket and dish! Alston brings this skill and now Tmac won't have to initiate the offense so much. He can focus more on getting into position and receiving the ball. I think this is huge and will allow Tmac to "coast" more during games like Michael Jordan used to. In other words, Tmac can play the same amount of minutes and be less tired. For that matter, because Alston can play a true point position in our offense, maybe Tmac can rest more because our offense won't disintegrate so much when he sits.
I should add, many of us feel DA brings this same ability to our team, so we now have 3 players who can truly play the point.

7 We should have enough offensive firepower to punish weak defensive teams on a consistent basis. I'll never forget the Phoenix game where we outscored them 41-17 in the 4th quarter and won by 20 (in Phoenix). We should have more blowout wins and limit Tmac's minutes in those games.

8 This team should get off to a better start than last year, allowing us to finish with a better record and possibly compete for the #1 seed. My concerns aside, if Alston brings his "A" game this year, I predict we will finish with the best record in the conference. If he develops chemistry with Yao, later on we will debate what led to Yao's surge in offensive productivity. Some will argue Yao is being more assertive and demanding the ball. Others (like me) will argue that it took a real PG besides just Tmac to get Yao the ball where he wants it more often.

 

outscore the mavs by 50 points in the playoffs.

 

Going to the WCF. at least, and beat the mavs.

 

REBOUND

 

Depth is area that stands out the most to me. Therefore, injuries will be much easier to overcome.

Just look at our 2nd team. It can beat some 1st teams out there.

 

the cheesy fan answer to this question:

BEAT THE MAVS!!!


ok now that thats out of the way...the one this that stands out is how much more athletic we are. the additions of stro and DA meant that we will be able to finish at the rim more often. the addition of rafer means that DA, tmac, and stro will be running the fast breaks like deers trying to get rafer to hit them for an easy bucket.

the second thing that came to mind is how much better we are on defense. we were the 3rd or 4th best defensive team last year, but this year we added:

stro - huge inside presance with shot blocking.
DA - some one who can guard the 2 (wesley is too small, JB is too slow)
rafer - a defender who can keep up with the quickest of point guards.


we won 51 games last year and if we would have kept the same team we would have won maybe 55 (without the bad start). this year the added fast break can bring us to 60 and the added defense can bring us to game 7 against the spurs.

the sky is the limit.

 

Adding Alston gives the Rox chances to run 2 man game with him and Ming while backside action with McGrady,Swift and whoever. The team should be quicker and Van gundy shouldn't have to call as many plays. Just getting into the offense quicker will help.

 

We have Swift to allow Yao to foul out less.

Last year it was fatigue and foul trouble for him. This year, he's going to have a breath of fresh air.

 

give us dunk and crossover highlights beyond belief!

 

if a team tries to go small on us (Dallas) we actually have enough guards on our team to hang with them. and not have yao chasing josh howard around.

 

thats the way i see it. if we had DA last year against the mavs we would have beat them because stack and finley would not have combined for 30 PPG just posting up wesley.

against the suns we would have needed to add stro for extra inside defense and rebounding (thats how the spurs beat them). plus the ability to go small with a line up of: stro, tmac, DA, wesley, james would have been able to keep up with the suns for stretches.

against the spurs we match up very well and the addition of skip puts us at par with them last year. this year their bench is as good as some starting lineups. i like our chances to getting to the WCF this year.