I've said it before season started, the biggest problem of playing Shane at 4 for significant minutes is rebounding. In 37 minutes, Shane averages only 3.9 rebs, while Hayes averages 6.9 in 21 minutes. If we want to give Novak consistent minutes, we have to solve the rebounding dillama.
the Suns, which entered wednesday's game 25th in the league in rebounding, even outrebounded houston by 19 boards (55-26).
What "dillama"? Rox needs a starting PG and a PF, but JVG should play Bonzi even if he is lazy and out of shape. Maybe by playing him, he will start to work harder and get into shape.
BTW, some guys wanted to bet with me that Alston can have a double-double season, 10 asssits, 10 points. Where are these guys now?
This is the price you got to pay if you start missing long range shots. If i'm not mistaken, we shot over 35 times last night.
I haven't gone anywhere. I was one of the guys that was saying that Rafer should be around the 10 assist mark. Hindsight is 20/20. It probably isn't going to happen. I never imagined that McGrady would become essentially the distributor on this team. I still don't think ultimately that is what McGrady should be doing. McGrady should be scoring until he forces the defense to have to cover him and then he should distribute. And in fact, if he doesn't start scoring, defenses are going to more effectively lay off of him and pack it in around Yao and force him to beat them.....until he starts knocking down the points. I don't think there are any of us that can claim they felt like McGrady would be the PRIMARY distributor on this team before the season began. I was (and still am) looking at Rafer as the guy that penetrated and either finished or dished with Yao and McGrady and Battier standing in the corner for the 3 ball along with another spot up shooter. I have been disappointed with Rafer's finishing ability. I do feel that we would be more effective if instead of relying on his hot and cold 3 point shooting, if he penetrated and finished a few more times, especially when his 3 ball is not working. However, it has worked out quite well for us with McGrady at the point. But we won't be able to run the table unless McGrady gets his jumper working and we get better penetration from the true point guards on the team. Anyways, McGrady's assists have jumped 50% over his career average. That is pretty solid evidence that the assists are there to be had. But, I was wrong. I assumed the offense would take on a different style with lead penetration from Rafer. (I still think once McGrady's shot gets to working, we will have to go this route.) I do remember also telling somebody (that was wanting us to acquire a banger like Melvin Ely) though that we would outrebound our opponents 75% of the time with Yao, Battier, and Hayes. 1 for 2. Touche. And I will add this. If we play Phoenix again and Yao stays away from the foul trouble, we will have no problem matching them on the glass with a healthy Yao and Hayes.
When TMac starts hitting that will bump Rafer's assists. I don't think he'll hit 10, but it will improve.
Our rebounding differential is +2.3...after yesterday's game. Before that game, our rebounding differential was +4.1. We've been outrebounded exactly 4 times...by the Spurs, the Jazz, once by the Knicks, and yesterday by the Suns.
i wish we had a consistent outside player... ala Michael Redd, or even someone like mike miller. I don't trust t-mac's shot anymore. it's like he makes it when it doesn't matter and chokes when it does matter... geez... we need jamal crawford, or mike bibby, or mobley.... someone with a deadly outside shot.. RAY ALLEN!
Well, twice during last night's game Suns' announcers made some comments that struck me. - Near the end of a quarter (forgot which one), with at least 7-8 seconds left on the shot clock, TMac, who had had horrible shooting, decided to take the game into his own hand for one more time. "I think TMac is not going to pass to his teammates," observed one. "Yeah I bet he won't," the other echoed. OK not exactly the same words said by these two announcers but you got the idea. The end result was expected. A contested shot that missed badly. - Alston drove to the low post, unleashed yet another teardrop floater at the basket, and missed. Maybe guys like Tony Parker have perfected shots like that, but if you have watched enough Alston's and1 play, you know that's not anywhere close to a high percentage shot for him. Even Suns' announcers couldn't resist: "How can he not see a 7'6 who is nearby and wide open?" I kept checking on the stats sheet while watching the game last night. For much of the 1st half when Yao was sitting on the bench, he remained the high assist man for the Rockets (3 assists I believe). That's just not right.
Novak was selected because of his spot up three point shooting and his great free throw percentage. JVG needs to use him so that he concentrates on doing what he does best. Novak is not a Power Forward, he is a role player who shoots the three! He should never be starting on our team but coming in off the bench and getting the ball passed to him when he is open.
everything seems to come back to bonzi today, so I'll follow the theme. novak shouldn't really be playing with battier and yao. Just doesn't work because of the boards. With bonzi, yao, tmac, rafe, novak will be an assassin. Only with bonzi or snyder though. He needs a strong slasher/post up guard who can pull down some rebounds. It would work best maybe with vspan playing the 1, and tmac as point forward.
All of those 4 games are either without Chuck or having Chuck play limited minutes. And we lost 3 of those. Coincidence？ Thanks for proving my point.
^^^^^Oh good. So, we've actually got all the rebounding we need with lil' chuckie. Great! I was thinking the exact same thing.
Hayers was back up Yao last game that should be Mutombo's job. It's not a good idea to seperate the best two, Yao and Hayers, and without Mutombo's help. The lineup without rebounding and protecting yao is the key reason we loss. Usuarlly we got 4 guys for rebounding, Mutombo, Yao, Hayers and Howard. See what happened in beating Memphis while we not shooting well but rebounding enough.
