I think that Steve Francis should come off the bench.. James Mcgrady Battier Scola Yao ... Steve Francis should be back up PG/SG
It may be Shane Battier. He played that role before, I think. There are a lot of ways the rotation can shake out.
I disagree. The man for that job is James. He is a spark plugg coming off the bench, kind of like Bobby Jackson in his Sac. days. Adelman can use that same concept w/ James & insert energy instantly into the line up. Hopefully that'll get the other team out of sync.
Starters I think will be: Yao C T-Mac SF Scola PF But Battier starts at the beginning of the season SG James PG Francis I believe the Sparkplug is gonna be Brooks or Battier.
Battier is tall enough and athletic enough to play the 4. But on thinking about it...I say that Hayes starts the season and loses the position to Scola later. Still, the PF position could be Battier. Man this roster gives you headaches just trying to fit where all the pieces could go...but I can live with this kinda headache Alternately, Bonzi because of his past history with Adelman could win out the SG starting postion and James could come off the bench.
battier is not tall enough, strong enough, or athletic enough to play power forward. i don't disagree with the idea of putting mcgrady back to the 3, but the combo of james and francis in the starting lineup at the 1 and 2 is just as bad as lb doing the same thing with marbury and francis.
i personally believe mcgrady will still start at the 2 and battier at the 3, but i believe adelman will interchange mcgrady from the 2 to 3 and then have bonzi fill in at the 2. man, this team has so many guards it is hard to determine what adelman has up his sleeve. it will be much clearer once they finally trade off some players like rafer, jl3, and possibly kirk or luther.
Battier is such a good defender I think he will play the other teams best player whomever that is just like Bowen does for San Antonio. Battier is just too good a defender to leave on the bench.
I don't get you guys expecting Butler to produce. Butler couldn't get PT over scrubs like Oberto, Elson and Horry, even in the regular season. I see him as a longer shot as Snyder. Basically any production from either is gravy, but I wouldn't count on either. And I absolutely don't get people slating Francis as a PG and not James. James is more of a PG than Francis. James is a lot more disciplined and always has been much more carefull with the rock. Francis could be an excellent back-up to Tmac at SG and occassionaly spell PG when we are OK with a trade off of creativity/plamaking for TO proneness.
It would be about average for the NBA. Height for the guard position was never a prerequisite for playing. It's nice if you can get a Magic Johnson type guy but that's really rare. Orlando Magic has small guards. Francis doubters will continue to doubt until the season starts. James is good but he sucked it up at the Timberwolves last year and eventually got benched in favor of Foye. James only had the one breakout season with the Raptors but his numbers came back to earth and were similar to his Rockets numbers when he played for the Wolves. I don't expect anything big out of James unless he plays in a Raptor's type situation and style. Brooks can play some guard and so can Head. As I said before, there aren't enough minutes to go around with this bunch. I still think Francis will win the starting guard position.
I agree Francis is a former all-star and hopefully he still has some gas left in the tank. James only had one breakout season on a bad team but I still see him as a 2nd sting bench player who can handle the ball, drive, and shoot. If and when bonzi comes off the bench james can help spread the floor with his 3pt shooting, can't say the same for francis.
Thinking this article pretty much sums everything up with Franchise. http://www.mixmakers.net/?p=25#more-25 Tracy McGrady and Steve Francis on the same team? Yes, Steve Francis has returned to Houston for a second run with the team, but can it work? Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming have proven they can succeed together, yet they have not been able to get out of the first round. What is the problem? They are missing that third scorer that they can count on every night to score the ball. Houston fans are hoping Steve Francis can be the answer. All of the elite teams have three big guns that they can goto for scoring. San Antonio with Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili. Dallas with Nowitzki, Howard, and Terry. The list goes on and on, but can McGrady, Yao, and Francis compete with that type of company. I think so… Last season Rafer Alston was forced to take a role that no one else was willing to take, the third scorer. Alston averaged 13.3 PPG last season under defensive minded head coach, Jeff Van Gundy. Rafer shot 37% from the field, which is good for last in the NBA, but that’s not a flook. Alston is a career 38% shooter from the field, which will not get it done for a championship contending team. With Francis, who had a off year, but still shot better than Alston with a 40% shooting percentage, will likely either start or be the sixth man, but to get to my point. Alston averaged 13.3 PPG last season under defensive minded head coach, Jeff Van Gundy. Francis, a former 3 time all-star, could possibly average around 16 PPG with new offensive minded head coach, Rick Adelman. Personally, I think a third scorer was all the Rockets needed to have advanced to the second round. I think they have finally gotten it with the Francis. Though he might not be the “Franchise” anymore, but he could possibly be the final piece to the franchise. - batkins182
Last years team with Francis instead of Alston probably would have gotten past Utah. I really believe that. With Scola if he pans out, we should definately make some noise. Even if James were not on this team, I would still be stoked especially with Aaron Brooks waiting in the wings.
