I believe it is time for Rick Adelman to solidify his starting lineup, give them a chance to really jell for the rest of the year. Lots of tinkering has been done, but this is what I would like to see. PG - Alston SG - McGrady SF - Battier PF - Scola C - Yao That lineup has a potential scorer at all 5 spots, and has threat in the long range game as well as mid range and up close. I know the team has been doing well with Tmac off the bench, but if he is healthy he starts....and I would like to start seeing them come out and put teams away early. Our 2nd unit would comprise of: PG - Brooks SG - Head SF - Bonzi PF - Mandry C - Hayes I believe it is time to make the switch to the lineup that is going to play 30+ minutes together, and give them some time to get some chemistry going. DD
Big step towards that new starting lineup last night to start the second half. It'll be interesting to see who starts Sunday
Indeed, it will be interesting. I wonder if Rick will stick with Hayes or make the switch to Scola? Hayes is an awesome defender, but what happened to him working on his offense all this offseason? Was he working on tying his shoes on offense? What? DD
Who knows. But at least Chuck used to be able to finish. I might even go so far as to say that he HAD been a pretty good finisher, especially when he was on the floor with McGrady. But this year....damn. It's like he knows he's playing his way out of the rotation, and the pressure's getting to him or somethin.
I think Scola's relative inexperience will keep him out. He's defense is not at Hayes' level. And there are also concerns about him hitting a wall. He still fouls a lot and he has been struggling with his shot of late. I think next year would be a year either Scola or Laundry could start.
landry shouldn't start cause he'll foul out if we put him early. hayes is in a slump, and he should play better on offense pretty soon, cause how worse can you play on offense? if scola starts, i dont' have any problems with it, especially since scola does great against physical teams like utah.
I'd rather start Landry instead of Scola because Carl is a good recipient of Tmac's pass. He finishes well. And Hayes is a good backup whenever Carl and Scola is in foul trouble. Hayes can even cover for Battier in chasing opponent's best player.
Well the case against Landry starting is the fact he's young and still commits those stupid fouls that gets him into foul trouble early. So if he start him, he'll commit those fouls in the 1st when he really need him down the stretch in the 4th to get those hustle rebounds and the easy buckets. But I completely agree with Scola starting over Hayes, honestly the only thing he has over Scola is great defense but Scola's height makes up for that imo.
I am for any plan to reduce Rafer's minutes. Our current starting lineup is so NOT athletic that the rookies (especially Landry) look like All Stars. Brooks looks scared to death. If can get comfortable, he is a sharpshooter and could bump Rafer out. I don't think we have really seen his shooting ability yet. I think his "handles" are as good as Rafer's. They tripled him at one point and couldn't take the ball away from him. I have said this all season: the Rockets starting "supporting cast" is the worst in the West by far. BY FAR.
I agree a switch has to be made because we won the last few games because of bench production. Your first unit is what's the most logical and most people will agree on but i would give both a chance. Against Utah the PF spot is critical to a win so Hayes' minutes got to be cut or some1 else has to start. I think Landry and Scola deserve a chance to prove themselves as starts cause they have shown what they can do in 20-30 minutes. Landry imo can have the same impact Horry had if he gets the chance and confidence by RA. Also starting Brooks would be a good option for one or two games, see how he does because even though Rafer is solid he's too TO prone, a streaky shooter and Brooks is a better defender. My 2nd unit would be different though, I would have Landry at SF, Hayes at PF and Mutombo at C and the rest the same. Mutombo is still capable of blocking shots and intimidate whoever comes into the paint and none of our PF's are capable of playing the Center position. It's very unlikely but if Brooks would beat Rafer to the starting PG spot i would love to see Francis & Rafer battling for the 2nd one off the bench. Definetly something has to be done because if we play like we did against the Sonics were are not going to win many games against the bigger teams like Dallas, Denver, Cleveland, Boston, Utah, Golden State or Phoenix (problably more but these from the top of my head). We are showing progress but Chuck's lack of scoring + Rafer, Head & Bonzi beaing streaky is going to hurt is in the long run. Battier is streaky too but at least he's starting to hit some threes and is playing the best defence of the team imo. They need to make some plays for Battier because he needs to get to the basket more instead of only taking outside shots.
landry is not ready to start or get 25+ minutes, yet. not on a nightly basis. i'm all for starting scola and has actually been rooting for that to happen since last november.
O.K., the worst in the college top twenty five. Not the worst starting lineup; the worst starting SUPPORTING CAST. Compare other starting PG's, PF's, and SF's to ours. On many nights Yao and TMac (when he plays) are going 2 on 5.
I disagree about Scola. He's not a typical rookie in the NBA. He's only one nominally. With his experience, he's more of a veteran and everyone on the team treats him like one. Scola can easily start and contribute immediately. He's not a high scorer yet, but he's the "every-man" that contributes in areas that needs contribution. Rick would do this team a favor starting him over Chuck. If Chuck's in a lineup, teams would be doing what Portland was doing last night and doubling Yao before he even gets the ball.
as we all know, in a nba game a team won't sub out the complete starting 5 and put in the 2nd unit. it'll be a mesh. i think the rockets starting 5 should be: Rafer Bonzi/Head Battier Hayes Yao i think rafer's proven that he can be a competent point guard when he does not turn the ball over. i like the idea of mcgrady coming off the bench, and we can use bonzi or head depending on the matchup. if the opposition has a big 2, we'll start bonzi, but if it's someone luther can somewhat match up with, we'll have head start (could be a short stint for head if he doesn't make his shots). battier is a no doubt starter for his defense. here is a problem. hayes does not need to play starter minutes, but i have no problem with him starting the game. we'll have our best low post defender on their power forward from the get-go, get some rebounds/steals early to set a tone, and we can see if hayes will finish baskets around the rim in the early going. then the change of pace comes with scola/landry. i don't want hayes to play more than 20 minutes on any night though. yao. tough call, but he should probably start, i don't know. so our bench will be: t-mac scola/landy bonzi/head brooks (deke) that's the 9 (10) man rotation i want to see every night (deke coming in only if yao's in bad foul trouble). t-mac coming off the bench is such a good thing for this team. i hope t-mac is okay with it, and that adelman stays with it. he brings someone off the bench that can create offense for himself and for his teammates. we really need that punch from the bench. it's not like he always needs to come in at about the 6 minute mark in the 1st quarter, but depending on how the game is going, he can come in whenever we need him. sometimes, ginobili comes in for the spurs after 90 seconds because they either fall behind or the lineup isn't working for the spurs. that's what i want t-mac to do. we can finish the game (the most important part) with a more potent team offensively with: alston/brooks t-mac battier/landry scola/landry yao/scola depending on the matchups, i like yao being out for defensive purposes, esp. pick and roll. i believe that scola and landry are tenacious and passionate enough to go get the defensive rebounds if yao is out. but if the opposition are in a fouling situation, i'd like to see adelman get yao into the game for the free throws for sure. granted this is the actual lineup that i would like to see start, but i feel like getting a balance, rather than having the best 5 start at the same time, has helped the rockets. we still fall into a lot of bad slumps during a game, but with a more balanced lineup throughout the game, we have a better chance to break out of those slumps quicker.
thought call DD, scola provides a post option when yao is out of the game. IMO that's almost as important as having him play next to yao. are you getting the feeling that this situation is similar to that of a few years ago when we had 3 good young 4's (mo, k9, eddie). i'm interested to see how they develop and how this fight for minutes plays out.
Just because he starts does not mean that they come out of the game at the same time. Scola can start, take Yao out and put in Landry with Scola, then remove Scola and put in Yao, then remove Landry and finish with Scola. This way you have either Yao or Scola in the game at all times. DD
