When Yao gets back, I bet Juwan will go back to the bench - not as punishment, but it just makes sense. Chuck Hayes' defense is needed to help keep Yao out of early foul trouble. But once the game gets into the late 3rd quarter and foul trouble is no longer an issue for Yao, then it makes a lot of sense to pair Yao with Juwan. The two-man game with yao in the post and Juwan at the top of the key has been very effective in the past. Yao-Battier-Howard-Mcgrady-Head is our best 4th quarter offense. Man, it's going to be sweet when our gun is fully loaded!
Where are your facts? We are -5 even with the increased performance at the PF spot. More or less the margin of victory for most contested games. Playing better on offense is wonderful- but against what calibre?
That is a cop out position- our PF spot is more negative than the PG spot- not that I am advocating Rafer is great. If we want to win close games against quality opponents- "we are winning now" is not a great attitude. Can we win against Dallas, Phoenix, Utah, SA is the question. The facts are we will have to cover the holes at PF and PG spot to make it to the conference finals. Has Juwan improved? Absolutely yes- but you can paint stripes on a donkey and call it a cheetah!
You must not watch the games if you think that pf is more of a problem than pg.... We are winning games without our best player and Juwan stepped up. Rafer is struggling big time, case closed, nice chatting with ya.
I was big critic of Rafer- even before that became the majority opinion. I am a big supporter of Bonzi- althought it is not popular. OUR PF spot is our weakest link- there is absolutley no doubt at all. If you think we are winning Because of Juwan- you are seriously delusional
If you support Bonzi after he's basically been stealing money from the Rockets and doing nothing but acting like a jackass since he's been here, I can understand why you can't see that Juwan stepped up and Rafer is tanking..... We're winning for a lot of reasons....one of them being Juwan's play...none of them being Rafer Alston's play.
Let us check back to this thread- Bonzi will contribute if he is still here. Absolutley no doubt about it. I am NOT a fan of Rafer- have never been. But our PF differential is why we will lose- it should not be that difficult to get this. But then it takes all sorts to make this world!
While Howard has been a contributor, it's hard for me to care for him much when he (a) is a total stat hound/rebound stealer and (b) takes contested shots 15 feet away from the basket w/18 seconds left in the shotclock.
He did a great job on JHo who sucked for a period of time. Maybe JHo read Zboy's signature, was humiliated, and had a rebound now. Many thanks to Zboy if so. Question is: who is next?
I challenge you to find a team who doesn't have one position weaker than the rest. There isn't enough money to spread around to have a highly effective player at every position. Even the Suns Mavs Spurs and Jazz have a negative at one position or another. The key is to have your + position numbers make up for the - of your weakest position. The Rockets do that. Our strong C + more than makes up for the - of the PF spot. Go to 82games and see if you can find a team that has all positive production numbers for all positions. If you find one let us know because I personally don't think there is one. To hop back on topic... Juwan "hate" was popular because Rybo wasn't a big enough scapegoat to cover all the losses last season. But thats just my opinion.
That is the the point. Our strong dominance at Center is what hides the flaws at PF . The PG -negative is getting compensated by the SG/SF spot. I am not suggesting we need all positive. But if we bridged that Weak link- we should win a lot easily ( even at -2 will be just great) Since you pointed to 82 games- take a look at Phoenix and Dallas. The only have one spot That is just barely negative- phoenix suprisingly at PF spot. and Dallas a little worse and surprisingly negative at PG spot. THe news of Someone domianting by +10 PER is wonderful- but in playoffs that kind of numbers will call for special tactics. And conversely they will exploit our weaknesses. And lets us not forget in the Western Conference play offs these 2 spots are where we are weak, our opposition is stronger or perhaps near the top in the conference. I will take any win for that matter- but if you want us in the Finals we need to bridge that gap- so that the dominance at center will provide us the clear advantage.
Let's look at what the last 4 champions did in regular season: Code: [B]Season Champ PG SG SF PF C[/B] 2007 Rockets? -1.6 +3.0 +2.6 -4.2 +10.1 2006 Heat -2.4 +7.7 -5.0 -0.6 +9.0 2005 Spurs +5.0 +6.3 +0.7 +1.7 +1.7 2004 Pistons +4.5 +0.3 +4.2 +1.2 +2.1 2003 Spurs +2.4 -0.7 -5.0 +4.6 +3.9 The Heat had a deficit at 3 positions. And the 02/03 Spurs had a deficit at SG and SF.
Durvasa, I am not sure why you are singling out Just the Heat. Even if you took that- they were so dominant at two of the positions- that it covered up the weakeness at SF. And by no means can you say that the HEAT won it with some authority. The Rockets PER you are quoting- at PF it was minus 6 Plus PER. That was about when Yao got injured. The 10.1 PER at center will come down- as it has since then. The record of the Spurs ( 2005) and Pistons ( 04) brings out what I feel is indicative . My point is- if we do not have -ve PER of 4 at PF ( and if you can factor in the teams we faced recently)- if there is one thing we should expect it is the opponents will try and take advantage of it. Sure Mac and Ming will dominate- but if we closed the gap the PF - which by the way is till the bigger hole- then we have an easier chance. I do with the argument - that Rockets are a two superstar team. Are you seriously suggesting Juwan is not a liability/weakness. Too much is made of his scoring recently, have been noticing the quality of the competition and how much they put up? I dont really care who plays the PF- as long as the negative PER comes down to say -2.
Per Woodlands boy: "Like most people on this board. I don't necessary like Juwan Howard as a player. I look at the stats and see his +/- and wish Hayes was on the floor more than him. Even though he has been a very productive player over years, I wanted him to be included in the Shane Battier trade and not Swift but it didn't work out and now I am glad. He has been awesome the last few games and I truly beleive that he deserves some major love. Keep it up Juwan." I have dogged Juwan's contract cost and length. I was at the game Wed nite- he was consistent and impressive- he helped get us that win with good team play. He has been a professional and never laid down while on hte bench. He has been ready. Thanks Juwan
I dont think anyone here or in the rockets organization would care if the negative PER at PF was at -8 as long as the rockets win and keep winning. Per is just one of many myriad of indicators of a player is playing, it is not the determinant of whether said players team will win or lose.
Sure it is about winning- No problem with that. What you are looking at is the end result and say " we are fine, We are winning". While this is NOT the only indicator - it gives you a quick read on where strengths and weaknesses lie. Also consider, for PF's like Dirk and Duncan etc- the advantage of dominating at the Center- disappears. And we all know what it is at the PG spot- so if we dont make any other changes- we have to add at the SG position. It does come down to match ups and regular season stats might not matter- but to say that we dont have any issues- is being in LALA land. For guys suggesting we won against Lakers- let us not forget Lamar is their number 2 player. When playoffs come we will not have similar situations.
I don't know what this plus/minus nonsense is... but it looks to me like its nonsense. Our team is good and is a championship contender. Numbers are good but I'm not gonna base anything on them. Our PF situation is fine and quite strong if you ask me. I mean we have a great defender and rebounder and Juwan Howard... that's pretty solid. And as far the topic, I have much love for Juwan, he has played great all year and with a good team he can still be a good player. He is just the kind of player we need around our two super stars to win a title. I don't know if some of you realize this... but we can't have a super star at every position. I swear-the pessimism on this board makes me sick sometimes. We have a very good team, two stars, a lot of great roleplayers, and some young players with great promise. We've had a tough schedule, have been riddled with injuries, and we have a great record so far... what is the problem? When we lost Yao we were all talking about how we'd be lucky to break .500... well look how well we've done inspite of our injuries. The mark of a great team is the ability to overcome hardship, this team has done just that. You pessimists need to get real. JUWAN FOR LIFE.
