Only Yao and McGrady are exceptionally tall for their positions. And only Francis and McGrady are exceptionally good rebounders for their positions. Battier is average at best. Yao is average to good for a center. I heard rebounding is one of Scola's weaknesses. The best rebounder on our team is Mutombo (if he's on our team this year). The second best rebounder is Hayes. Unfortunately both of them are offensive liability.
But with all that being said, we still were the #5 best rebounding team last year and that says a lot be ranked 5th among 30 other teams in the league. And adding Francis and Wells in the mix is just going to makes us a better rebounding unit.
Scola's 6'9 without shoes so he's gonna be listed 6'10, at least. I'd like to have Deke on the team this year and have Butler as the backup PF (seriously, we don't need Haslem).
I agree that we dont need Haslem, but I just feel like we are missing that one final piece. Like we are almost there but not quite yet. Dunno I could be wrong.
Rox need a tall and athletic sub for Tracy that can play D and rebound. Kirk Snyder won't cut it. The Rox usually got killed by the wings of SA, Dal, and Pho, either because of speed or height. Is it just me or does Tracy disapper on defense?
I've always thought Tracy was not that great of a defender, I agree that the Rox do need another bonafide defender but I have to lean more toward the PF position. And its not like adding Scola to our team made us that much better defending the 4 position. Because from what I have seen on video of him, he is not that great of a defender either and is foul prone. Just think about what Boozer did to us this year in the playoffs. Teams that have a decent PF are really going to give the Rox trouble next year I think.
I guess the point I was getting at was that this year, as opposed to previous years, it really looks like we will be able to get great post match ups, aside from just Yao and Tmac. Steve can bully smaller guards, Scola plays great close to the basket, and Shane is stronger than most 3's in the league and developed great post moves when he played Center for Duke. Bonzi of course is a great post up player. If teams move to double down on either Tracy or Yao, we can still pound it in with other players. Additionally, bringing in James and Brooks will really change the tempo of the offense and frustrate opposing defenses. This is much like the frustration that San Antonio causes posting up for a few plays and then blitzing for a few plays.
Well, if you add all their heights and divide by 5, you still have the tallest starting line up in the league in average format. So I will assume that you meant include the subs. How far into the rotation should we stop? Yes, it is true that Yao being very tall offsets things, but it still doesn't change the fact that Yao is very tall.
Well you can't really even say who the starters are for the 07/08 teams but The Raptors will probably be 7', 7' and 6' 10" across the front line with Bargnani, Bosch and Nesterovic, however, TJ kills their average; The Sonics may go 6'9"" and 6'9" at the Guard and SF with Green and Durant. But of course nobody else has a 7' 6" player. Now pick the team with the highest vertical; height, plus reach plus leap.
But in the end height I think is a small factor in winning games and being true contender. I would like to know how many teams that have had the tallest starting lineup for the year went on to win a championship? I'm sure not many but it would be an interesting stat to know the answer too.
Height only matters if there is a large disparity. A 6'10 guy isn't going to dominate 6'8 because of the two inches. Rebounding position and ability to read the ricochet is much more important as is sheer will power in rebounding.
The 1986 Rockets were pretty dang tall with 7'4" Ralph Sampson, 7' Olajuwon, 6'10" Jim Peterson , Bobby Joe Reid playing some guard at 6' 9" and Ehlo and Lew LLoyd were 6'6"; McCray was about average at SF at 6'7" but even Wiggins was 6'4". Of course they met their match in the 7'1" Robert Parrish, 6'10" McHale and 6'9" Bird..Ainge and the late Dennis Johnson were 6'4". Here is an interesting old article I hit while poking around this subject evaluating the "Twin Towers" concept as the Spurs were contemplating drafting Tim Duncan (only for the truly bored or truly interested) http://www.rawbw.com/~deano/articles/aa062597.htm
A 'tall' team for me would consist of not having an undersized center of power forward. Generally every team has a 7' and 6'10 guy, respectively. I'd consider these positions a wash. Even w/ Yao at 7'6 I don't think that should factor in much. If you're a truly tall team then you're sf, sg, and pg have got to be decidedly above avg.
