after numerous threads on possible rotations and starting lineups, i decided to analyze the reality of a deep and rock solid roster. all the Rockets' starters are true starters worthy of at least 30 minutes. PG: Alston 30, Head 18 SG: Wells 30, Snyder 18 SF: T-Mac 35, Battier 5, Snyder 8 PF: Battier 27, Juwan/Chuck/Novak 21 C: Yao 35, Chuck/Deke/Juwan 13 these are positional minutes at the DEFENSIVE end. offensively, i'm not sure what the heck they are with Tracy creating opportunites, Bonzi in the post and Shane on the perimeter. only Yao and Rafer (and Deke) are pure one position players on both ends. the sixth man looks like Snyder although one could easily give Kirk the starting job and have Wells back up both wings. i just think that Bonzi is more proven over his career. if Luther wants more minutes, he'll have to take them from Snyder/Wells or even Rafer. Battier is just too much of a Gundy-type player to get less than 32 MPG. i think that Juwon, Chuck, Steve, and Deke are going to be the situational type players, with Juwon having the most regular minutes unless Chuck can be more consistent. VSpan (or maybe Lucas) looks to be the 12th man. who knows how he's going to get minutes. i don't see either as situational players over Head. it's kind of like calling Bowen a situational player over Juwan. also Luther's not going to foul out in 18 minutes. i think when the Rockets signed VSpan and Lucas, they had written off the possibility of getting Bonzi and probably didn't expect Luther to improve his game enough for serious consideration at PG. Novak's just a pleasant surprise that JVG will have to find a way of squeezing in some minutes. overall, everyone except Snyder, Yao (and the rookies of course) and maybe Hayes will be sacrificing minutes compared to last season. in Yao's case, the center position is just too thin to play him less than 35 MPG. but in Tracy and Bonzi's case, this could help prevent injuries.
Looks good. I really hope T-Mac can play 35 minutes or less, but the guy is just a 40 mpg player. Yeah, they're more flexible now, but T-Mac is just so good on both ends that in close games I think JVG would hesitate to take him out. Last year's 37 mpg was due to injury...for there were many games that he was hurt and still playing that much. But look at the previous years mpgs: 40.8, 39.9, 39.4, 38.3, and 40.1 in his first year at Orlando. If the rest of the guys play great, I think T-Mac will end up averaging 38.3 mpg...and that ain't so bad. I fear that he'll average more though.
Definitely think you nailed down the rotation. Biggest change this year will be the reduced minutes and role for Juwan. JVG is going with the deep shooters at the 4 in Battier and Novak to spread the floor. Novak has a great opportunity in the preseason to earn playing time, he just needs to continue shooting 40-50% beyond the arc and he'll be #2 at the PF. I didn't see the Hawks game but it was huge that Head came up big playing the point, that would have been one big hole if we had to go into the season with Vspan or JL3 backing up Alston. We probably would have had to consider going with T-Mac at the 1 when Rafer wasn't on the floor if Head didn't have a good showing at the 1 against the Hawks. My big concern about Head playing the point is his handle against pressure, don't know if the Hawks tried to trap when he was at the point because I didn't see the game.
he did okay but i dont see him playing alot of 1 because i dont think he can handle the pressure against fast pace teams and quick guards hopefully he can prove me wrong..theres nothing wrong with john lucas he showed alot more improvement from game one to game two is just that his shot isnt there and luther head is but theres a flaw on every team so we just have to overcome and dont make excuses on why we cant win
PG: Alston 30, Head 18 SG: Wells 30, Snyder 13, Head 5 SF: T-Mac 35, Battier 8, Snyder 5 PF: Battier 27, Juwan 15, Chuck/Novak 6 C: Yao 35, Chuck/Deke 13 The "/" implies, whoever plays well or matches up better with the opposing team will get the minutes. We probably won't play more then 10 guys a night. Most likely 8 or 9. On certain nights novak or chuck might get juwan's minutes, but no matter how much we hate him, he'll play at least 15 minutes on most nights. I don't see snyder playing 26 minutes a night, because luther could play the two and battier will spend more than 5 minutes at the 3. Come playoff time, We'll go to something like this: PG: Alston 35, Head 13 SG: Wells 35, Snyder 10, Head 3 SF: T-Mac 38, Battier 8, Snyder 2 PF: Battier 28, Juwan 20 C: Yao 38, Deke 10 Of course this is just a prediction and most predictions end up being wrong!
that's why i said that those lineups were meant to be defensive. Head will probably play at most 13 MPG (maybe less if T-Mac likely gets more minutes) as a point guard as T-Mac will be the "real" point when they're both on the court.
i think that just maybe there will be quite a few games where T-Mac and/or Yao will be sitting out the entire fourth quarter. i wonder if that's why Jeffy is smiling so much...
i guess im the only one who feels novak is more important at pf than Howard alston 20 / head 28 wells 30 /snyder 18 tmac 38 / battier 10 battier 25 / novak 23 yao 36 / hayes or howard 12
okay, i'll bite. where exactly is he going to play? whom does KillBilly displace in the rotation? i don't think that he has shown that he can beat out Rafer in running a team. nor does he do anything better than Luther right now.
i think people are going overboard on luther at the point. it was the hawks at their worst and in the stretch everyone is mentioning he was surrounded by tmac (recognised playmaker) battier, with padgett and howard (two guys who can make crafty passes)
but that still doesn't answer the question. Luther is still the best backup PG the Rockets have outside of T-Mac. what does V-Span bring to the table that Luther doesn't? tangible or intangible. for all his passion and hustle, how is he going to help the Rockets win games without clutch shooting, timely rebounding, taking care of the ball and staying out of foul trouble?
killbill is still adjusting. We might play him just for match ups. he plays good defence. I say when yao is off the court, we should run like crazy.
yao = 36 tmac = 36 shane = 30 bonzi = 30 rafer = 30 snyder = 24 head = 24 hayes = 18 novak = 12 jho = will start out at 18, then fall to 12 by midseason, then fall out of the rotation after allstar break.
the only problem with the above numbers is that even if Deke/Hayes are combined to one person, the total minutes are 258. unless Juhow and Novak are combined to one person as well in which Juhow starts at 12 minutes instead of 18. what to do...
At the 4/5 there appear to be somewhat of a logjam with Yao taking 35 or so minutes, but Battier, Hayes, Howard, Novak, and Mutombo all vying for the remaining big man minutes. Somebody is gonna end up with nothing but charity minutes... Might be young Novak to start the season, but as he progresses, it'll be really hard to not play him.
billy hasn't proven anything yet.. imo he has along ways to adjust. I know the kid has a lot of potential, but its going to take at least 2 seasons to develop. I think this season his only contribution to the team is going to be cheering... how do u think billy would look as a RPD?? ahaha, can some on photo shop billy's head to a RPD body?? haha id think that would be halarious
I dont agree with you, I think Billy will adjust within a few months, and I think he will be anle to contribute this year, even if it is only on defense. I was personallu more impressed with him than JLIII. I doubt he will get many minutes this year. His shooting is still inconsistant and he is a liability on defense. I also this that KillBill has better playmaking ability than Lucas. Although they have not always resulted in assists, he has made some great passes. I think JLII will be a good #3 Pg or #2 occasionally but never be more than that, but I think Spanoulis can be a 6th man or starter eventually. i think he will get minutes just by default if nothing else because there isnt much depth behind rafer
I'd love to have that rotation. But van gundy would not play novak over howard. I wish he would, but its just not likely especially the way novak's been rebounding. He still has a small frame and needs some time to develop. That may be a good lineup for next year, until we get a decent backup center of course. This forum is filled with Jhoward hate, so im guessing we all know where im getting at... We'll see though. Everyone like novak and it seems Van Gundy does also, but is adoration alone good enough for novak to get some minutes? Probably not.
