last year we had the best starting 5 in basketball and we would time after time get out to big leads and straight up blow teams out. Well this year with the same starting 5 we are having problems early and often so what is the solution? Answer is just make one little change to the starting 5 because WE have the fire power on the bench no matter what. This is still a good five but with the new coach lets tweek it a little. The same five for whatever reason is not as effective so I say we go small just like RA Kings teams would do. Rafer James T-Mac Hayes Yao Bench-Wells/Battier/Scola/Francis and at times give Brooks a look James can do more than Battier on offense and we still need Rafer out there running the show. I know Hayes has his limitations but he plays his best with Yao and Mac out there to create easy looks under the basket plus I don't think we should sacrafice any more defense to make up for our struggles making shots. Wells needs to be the 6th man because of the matchup problems he can cause the other team, we can give Francis a look in the first half of each game and maybe even stay small and bring Brooks in with him depending on the matchup and with Battier coming off the bench he can help lock down the other teams best player when Yao is out and we are smaller inside with say Scola playing center. First unit Second unit Yao Scola Hayes Battier T-Mac Wells James Francis Rafer Brooks (limited time) Head-will dress and only play if someone is injured he is a one trick pony who is not even shooting well right now Deke-will dress sometimes and only see time vs a team who has real centers Snyder-will dress sometimes vs teams with athletic swing players, talent but like Head a low bb iq Novak/Landry-will not dress with a full roster I really hope we give this a try, imo we will have a more balanced attack from the start and we will not lose much off the bench. I think before we "blow this thing up" we should give this a try for a few weeks. These guys can't all keep shooting worse than their career averages right? thoughts?
This is completely ridiculous. To have battier come off the bench, does NOT provide the offensive spark they are going to need. If anything Scola instead of Hayes in the current 5. Your second unit is supposed to provide a BOOST offensively while you are out of the game. Without Battier in the starting 5, but james, that means we loose that spark.
Focus and Concentration How many more games would the Rockets have won if they hit their Free Throws? How many games were loss on the boards? How many games were loss on bad passes? How many games were loss on lack of effort? It ain't no shift players etc It is about a mental thing Rocket River
my point was the starting 5 that had the best +- in the NBA last year is not clicking with this new coach, no matter who you take out Hayes for Scola or Battier for James you lose a little spark off the bench the reason I say leave Hayes in the lineup is simple he plays very well with Yao and Mac. Scola like Bonzi and even Francis can create so staering James and bringing Battier off the bench is not as bad imo as you think. Plus the second unit looks bad on d so Battier can boost that aspect in addition to still getting looks when Bonzi is out there.
FACT: Our starting 5 last season was one of the best in the NBA. FACT: We have the same starting 5 as last season. What major factor has changed from last year to this year? You get one guess.
Dude - I completely missed this thread. I just posted a thread on Tempo, reaching the same conclusion that you did. We should go small and play Alston and James together.
Gotta disagree. James does not deserve to start with his play. Also, he should be our points off the bench. I would consider starting: Alston Tmac Bonzi Hayes Yao I think we need Hayes to start because he protects Yao from fouls. I believe our starting lineup tonight will be: Alston Bonzi Battier Hayes Yao
As long as Rafer, Battier and Chuck are all in our starting lineup, FORGET ABOUT A CHAMPIONSHIP! Just stop fooling yourselves...it will never happen with this starting lineup. Now, remove ONE of them...and you can began to believe that we will make the playoffs again this year. Remove two of them from the starting lineup, and you can look for a better seed in the playoffs (if it is done sooner rather than later) and to maybe get to the second round. Remove all three of them from the starting lineup, and you can look forward to making it to the western conference finals with the rest of the people currently on the roster, but don't expect to win it. ( even though I really, really, really want them to. ) Now start my starting lineup below, make a trade or two with any of the other players, and we have a hope to play for a championship this year, assuming Rick doesn't figure out how to screw that up also. Also we need to stop worrying so much about having so much fire power off the bench, a few role players will be enough if we have the right starting lineup. Our starting five won't ALL be sitting down at the same time. So we can rotate in and out offensive fire power that starts also to keep enough on the floor. Everyone thinks that if we put our best offensive players on the floor to start, that we won't have enough off the bench. That's ridiculous and assuming that we sit all five of our starters on the bench and bring in five bench players at once. RA needs to start our best offensive players, and then substitute so that we have at least two of our starters on the floor at all times. It's not Rocket science!
Overtime lineup is the starting lineup: Rafer Head Yao Battier Wells Trade Tmac Scola, Brooks and James come up from the bench Maybe we make the playoffs with that option
Surely we can get some value for T-mac. So that lineup isn't out of the question. My problem is head turning over the ball too much. If he could be less turnover proned I like him at shooting guard.
