Hey, that's definitely a start. If getting out the first round means a step into becoming a better team, then so be it. Getting out of the first round would have saved JVG's job so I wouldn't be surprised if it saves T-Mac from getting traded. If we are good enough to get out the first round, then who says we don't have a good shot to win it all or go deep? We need to take it step-by-step and the first step would be getting past Round One.
we don't have any leaders on the court, Yao and T-mac, the so-called "superstars" don't lead the team, last year it was Van Gundy but a coach can only do so much. Yao and t-mac are the softest "superstars" in the league.
Actually the on-court chemistry between shaq and kobe are miles better than tmac and Yao. whatever the off-court problems they had, they played the game the right way on-the court during those 3-peat years. T-mac and Yao, hey they may be bestest buddies off the court but they don't mesh on the court at all.
whatever happened to: Francis >> Fisher > Rafer Scola = Horry > Hayes Bonzi > Rice, Fox, Battier? or at least that was what was supposed to happen. Kobe didn't become >= T-Mac until championship 2.
More importantly, the Lakers had a coach who have won SIX titles already, and commanded ultimate respect from the players.
When Shaq was in his prime, he was so much better than Yao it isn't even a fairl comparison. Even with that being said, Kobe is the one who hit the big clutch shots down the stretch. The recipe for success IMO is having a solid big man and a guard/forward who can hit clutch shots. Most games in the NBA are close, and what seperates great teams from average ones are the teams who excute at the end of the game, with clutch performances. Sure the Bulls were great, talent wise. But many of those games were close at the end, and MJ closed them out. Tmac is our closer, he just isn't healthy, and he gives the ball up too much and trusts his teammates too much when the game is on the line.
Good point. Phil Jackson came in and then they started winning. The Lakers had Kobe and Shaq with Dell Harris and they didn't do crap. Phil Jackson deserves a ton of respec for what he has done.
You got it right on the on-court thing. But you are wrong on the off-the-court thing. Yao is very friendly to all his teammates and hope to get the same in return. On the other hand, Tmac can only be friendly if you admit his superiority. That just makes it impossible for them to be real buddies.
I agree with this 100% - it always seems like either Yao or Tracy are dominating but never both. Their styles of play just don't work well together. I've always thought that the best type of player to pair with Yao would be both aggressive and a great shooter. Someone who immediately drives to the basket when Yao sets a pick or is playing the high post, and someone who can hit the 3 at a high, consistent clip when Yao kicks it out from the low post. Tracy has many talents, but he's not particularly aggressive about driving anymore and he definitely doesn't hit his 3s very well. Although he's not as shot-happy (or tough, for that matter) as say Iverson was in Philly, Tracy needs to dominate the ball to be effective. This would be OK if he could cut and run the pick-and-roll well, because then he'd be setting up his teammates with a lot of open, easy shots. But Tracy does neither of those things well - he stands around a lot and when they do run the PnR for him, he tends to hold on to the ball too long. Teams have figured this out now - they usually leave the player setting the pick to double Tracy, who holds onto the ball and thus forces the Rockets to restart the offense all over again (with most of the shot clock used up). Add to this his penchant for jacking up long, fadeaway jumpers, and you have a player who despite making a few great plays and assists per game, pretty much kills the team offense. So I don't know what kind of player I'd match him with, which is why I'd lean more toward trading him. The question now is whether you admit the two players don't mesh and try to get some talent that improves chemistry, or whether you hope that they somehow adjust enough to become more compatible. I'm not particularly optimistic about the latter.
pretty selective memory you have, forgetting that the two played together quite well for the past couple of years. it boils down to yao and tmac not being real leaders. tmac doesn't know how to finish games, and yao doesn't demand the ball, he defers too much. best work ethic does not equate to winning games or being a leader which a lot of rookies in this board believe. yeah tmac did say it was on him, but i find yao fans really took this to be a serious slap in the face and coming out in full force this year to let tracy know he ain't all that. lighten up, let the offense find its flow, this is going to take a little bit of time
Paul Pierce is still the leader on that team. Everyone else is supporting cast. Not that garnett could'nt lead, it's that they both submitted to serve the team instead of trying to take over. Thats why they will win the east.
I dont think you have any clue what you are talking about. All this cant coexist crap is a joke. They were totally fine together for the first three years and won 52 games last year. They dont openly argue or say bad things about one another. (Yes, Yao called everyone soft, but even himself). It hasnt worked this year because the new offense doesnt fit them at this point. Last year, it worked great until the last few minutes of game 7 vs. Utah. One rebound against the Jazz and everything would be different. As for Tmac being too cocky, he wanted to leave Toronto because Orlando paid him a huge amount of money. As for leaving Orlando, I think he was gone before Howard was even drafted so I dont think his motivation was to leave so he didnt have to defer to a star who was not even in the league yet.
Im so tired of hearing about Chuck Hayes free throw shooting. Yes it is ugly but who cares. If you think it makes us the embarrassment of the league you are a moron. He shoots 60 percent from the line. That means he makes one less per ten shots then Tmac does, and with how little he shoots it almost never effects a game. He shoots the same percentage as Dwight Howard, and better then Bogut, Curry, Shaq, Big Ben, and Okafor. Im sure he has tried shooting a normal shot and makes it less then when he uses that hitch. As for Inside the NBA, who cares what they think. They are the biggest group of morons. We all know how Barkley's ass kissing bet turned out. He also said Houston wouldnt make the playoffs last year. This was probably the second game Magic has watched the Rockets play. If the Yao and Tmac combo was a failure why wasnt Magic saying that last year when they won 52 games. Magic also said the Lakers needed to trade Kobe to have success. Good call on that one.
I don't think so. There have been times when they've both played well, but it's more like a "my-turn-your-turn" pattern. I can't name a single effective play that the Rockets run consistently involving both Yao and Tracy - i.e., the baseline cut with Yao and Luther. I don't think Tracy is really capable of running a great 2-man play with anyone, but even if I'm wrong, I think it's pretty obvious that he can't run it with Yao.
what do you mean by two man play? pnr? ala karl malone and stockton, because if that's your standard, no one in the league can run it like they did
It is 22% this year (admittedly based on a small sample). The fact that he is even close to TMac in FT % tells you more about TMac than Hayes. The fact that Hayes is a starter tells you more about the PF on our team than it does about Hayes.
if tmac and yao can run a pnr at like 50% the efficiency of stockton and malone, rockets would be in the finals by now. Hell if they can run a pnr half as good as deron williams and carlos boozer, they would be out of the first round.
tmac is not a point guard, and yao is not a PF. it isn't going to happen. a two man game such as nash and amare or utah is unrealistic. and actually utah has never really run anything else consistently either, they just pnr you to death, but it is to their strength because they have the right types of players to do that. going to back to hakeem years, what special play did rudy draw up? give the ball to hakeem, double team him and kick it out, great offensive plan wasn't it? asking the rockets back then to play a pnr like stockton and malone would be ridiculous, it wasn't who the rockets were, and they sure aren't like that today either.
