We can be sure Landry won't play many minutes this season but I belive in him. He can ba a good player in severals years. He can play inside + he has a mid range jumpshot. PS. I would love to have Sean Williams here, but...
I was intrigued by Williams too......I'm wondering if he was the first choice that the Rockets were targeting but fell through...or was it Fernandez? Anyways, if a player does ok in summer league like Landry....is that a big indicator of how he will be? I'm hoping that he just needs time to adjust.
That was Williams. We need a guy like this, but stop deramin', he's a Net. Something about Landry. Looks nice <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/j68GY-FZWPU"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/j68GY-FZWPU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
The Rockets won games...but even in winning they struggled against teams like the Blazers and other quick teams. If you didn't see this, you were too focused on the final score. Just because Portland doesn't "shred" you doesn't mean it didn't expose you. The vast majority of this board bought into the "wins" hook, line and sinker without critcal analysis...and were predicting a sweep of the Jazz. You do remember that, right? A handful of people never bought into the W's or 82games crap. I've done the homework...bypass the BS +/- stuff and go through game by game and observe the numbers Battier, Alston and Head put up against taller, quicker teams that played some semblance of D.
Without a focus on winning during the regular season, what chances do you think we'd have had to advance against the Spurs, Mavs, or Suns? We put ourselves in the best position to get to the second round, and we lost in the final minutes of the 7th game against a good team. And you're completely exaggerating when you say the vast majority of fans were predicting sweep. In fact, I challenge you to bring up one person who thought we'd sweep the Jazz and was any kind of adherent to 82games type stats. I can't believe you still are hanging on to this absurd notion that Battier is a mediocre player after last season. I understand his limitations on offense quite well, but without Battier we would have struggled to win 45 games. And there's no way in hell we would have gotten out of the first round. Yes, regular season wins does have something to do with your playoff chances, believe it or not.
Well, hopefully adding more athleticism, size and speed will keep our team more balanced defensively and less susceptible to being exposed.....and I hope the coaching staff can make them greater as a sum than their parts. I just wonder what kind of defense Adelman will employ with this cast? Is it going to be more like what he did with the Kings or more like the Blazers....or maybe something different entirely....
Hopefully it's very similar to JVG's defense. Pack the paint and force the opponent to shoot outside jumpers. It's pretty effective in this era of basketball with so few great shooters. It's a great defense for Yao also, as his lack of speed isn't a liability when he's centered in one area. Our defensive numbers won't be as high this year obviously with the faster tempo. However, I hope we're still in the top 5 in fewest points in the paint allowed.
I think Adelman will use more zone defense. I don't know that coach, so I only hope. Can you tell me if Adelman prefers zone? or the same as JVG - only man to man?
I'm trying to remember what he did in the past.....but he did try to have guys be aggressive forcing turnovers, get in the lanes and slap at the ball..... If there's an Adelman expert, please throw in your 2 cents on his defenses. I'm hoping that the renewed commitment of Francis, James and Bonzi will help.. There's no reason for Francis not to be a good defensive player....he's athletic and strong and has an amazing vertical. Scola likes to take charges so he and Battier might help us get extra possessions that way while picking up fouls on opposing players and annoy the hell out of them.
I would love to see zone defense against teams like Jazz, Pacers, etc. It could help us, cause zone is really effective (not against every team). I a bit tired of man-to-man.
you are a bit tired of man to man...wow...thats some statement for an nba fan...you would rather watch the exciting zones of the world...brillant
Last year was only man-to-man. I like changes so i would like to see zone defense in Houston. Don't you think it could be more effective against some teams?
Excuse me? First, what is the relevance of discussing "not winning" in the regular season? I have no clue where you're headed with that one. Secondly, when the search engine comes back, I will address your flip comment and your bogus attempt to re-write history. It's a fact. The Jazz were struggling, the Rockets had HCA and the Rockets had the better $Ball/plus-minus players...80%+ of this board predicted victory. As far as the thrust of my comments, you're obviously struggling with the conceptual logic so let's simplify it for you.. Hypothetical player Joe Stats plays 3 NBA games... Game 1: 6-10 from the arc vs Lottery bound team in an 8 point win Game 2: 3-7 from the arc vs a EC playoff team in a 4 point wins Game 3: 2-8 from the arc in a 6 point loss to a WC playoff team Stats for the 3 games shows Joe shooting a blistering 11-25 (44%) from the arc. And he's probably got a high +/- built by games 1 and 2. My disagreement with you and ALL of the other plus/minus stats jockeys that run to 82games to support your favorite player is that NONE of you abstract out the stats pad of mediocre competition. Believe it or not....there are actually people who watch games instead running to a calculator to form an opinion. As far as the absurdity of my opinion of Battier, I've got two comments. Jerry West let him go for a rookie and you'll be the first to b**** when Wells takes his minutes from him.
oooh, I am eagerly awaiting your retribution for flip comments and your bogusness eradication *giddy with anticipation*
The relevance is that we overachieved last year in terms of regular season wins, considering the injuries. That's a credit to the guys who did play, and the way the coach prepared the team. Do you really think that if we didn't make the Battier trade we would have won anywhere close to 50 games? Last year, we did about as well as could have been expect given the circumstances. I'm not one of those people that thought we would roll through the first round, and I posted multiple times that our struggles against the elite teams in the regular season should be a concern heading into the playoffs. What you wrote: "The vast majority of this board bought into the "wins" hook, line and sinker without critcal analysis...and were predicting a sweep of the Jazz. You do remember that, right?" Who's doing the rewriting here? Yes, you watch games (as do all of us), but what do you observe? Perhaps you just see what you want to see, the things that support opinions you formed at the beginning of the season. Never mind the actual results and trying to understand the trends in an objective manner; that's just for the "stats jockeys". Let me be clear. I would never form a strong opinion on any player just based on numbers from a handful of games, contrary to the strawmen you keep constructing. I've posted +/- and other stats for players under different contexts many times last season. Different quality of competitions, West vs. East, different games situations, playing with different combinations of teammates, etc. I welcome any kind of information like that, because the more of it I look at the better picture I feel I have for the team as a whole. One should understand a team by a combination of observing the actual games and recording/reviewing the quantitative information. That's how you analyze any system, and a basketball team is no different. Professional basketball teams understand this, and that's why coaches/scouts collect and look at stats. And this is only becoming more and more prevalent. I expect Wells to take minutes from him, because he should play better next season under Adelman. He may even start (when search comes back on, I'll link to the post where I said this was a possibility). And the Memphis trade was a move for the long term future. You understand the difference between a team who is rebuilding, and a team that's expected to contend right away, don't you? Short term, I think the Battier trade was great for us. Long term, it's hard to say -- this is the position I've maintained since the summer of 2006. And since you bring up Jerry West, if you want to consider NBA GM's views in this check out: http://www.nba.com/preview2006/gmsurvey_moves.html Who was voted by the GMs as most underrated acquisition last season? They're all "$ball" fanatics, I suppose?
I'm still concerned about what kind of defensive unit we will have on the floor against fast teams like Phoenix. I hope we can trade for a quick big man who can run back and defend. Also, who is the better on the ball defender....James or Francis?
Well, my former man toy coached defense like few can in the league. I know the defense will take a hit. But what we all have to be hopeful for is that when the stops need to be made in the most important games, they can be made. We have to hope that when we have to turn up the intensity, we can do that. We have to hope that the few series that matter being defended at its absolutely necessity, we can do that. All the points in the world don't matter in the playoffs. Execution and stops do. If that wasn't true, Phoenix would have won like 3 rings in the 90s and two more the last few years.
MJ without question. He takes pride in hawking the ball. The problem is sometimes he goes overboard and gets dumb fouls.
In all the interviews, all the coaches and players have talked about is offense, but I hope they don't let defense go by the way side. From, what Battier said about how the defense looked the first two days, I hope Adelman and the staff has some rigoorous workouts focusing on defense: ""We haven't figured that out yet," Battier said. "The defense really has not been stellar the first two days." I'm hoping the with James, Tmac, Battier locking down the perimeter, Scola showing a lot of energy all over the court and our big centers locking down the paint, the defense will be able to do what it did last year, but also make the crucial stops.
