I'm not saying I want to replace Rafer, but I think the team would better served with a jaric as a backup as oppsed to head who is a sg. I think a guy like Jaric allows the team to play head to guard pg and jaric guards sg. I like brooks, but his size or lack of it plus he's a rookie. Thomas gives the team a lot of options. you could play him in any combination. You go yao,thomas,mcgrady,scola,rafer. How about Rafer,bonzi,thomas,scola,landry. I mean there are many lineup possibilities with thomas and jaric. The rox would get longer and more atheletic. The contracts they would give up are non performers anyway. James and Hays gets thomas 5m. Snyder,francis,and novak probable gets jaric.
apparently he didn't score 20 pts in both games against us once again. our team defense is very good.
hmm. good thread. i had this feeling too. feels like we needa make one more move ... though, if we dont i wont be like "all is lost." the players we have now are good and the way we're playing is pretty darn good too. I think the Rockets do have an upperhand that has fallen through b/c of the extreme/rare lack of role players last year. We have TWO superstars. SUPERstars. We're only going to go as far as they take us as yawl know but if you take the players we have and add them to last year's team (landry, scola most notably and bonzi and ab), i have no doubt we would have advanced. Think about it ... we had tmac give his all and yao ... i'd say 80% of his potential. And that in itself with little to no other support almost got us through a team that made it to the wcf. We were and are a dangerous team. If T-Mac has that killer instinct he had in the mavs series and yao continues to develop his killer instinct that he's shown this year, we'll be a very good team. makes me all gitty takling about the potential. i would explode if stevie somehow made the miraculous dramatic/emotional rockets comeback that everyone hoped he would. but that's another thread in itself tho I still think he's got that fire that our team needs. but it's encouraging to see that fire rising within each player of the team now. kinda random, but i like how we run plays for battier sometimes ... didnt know he could actually curl off screens and hit jumpshots like tmac has. kinda surprised me. we needa continue to develop his offense. that's all of my rant for the night. g'night clutchfans.
What are you talking about? The consistent highlight of the series were, 1: Boozer's rainbow shot over Yao at 15'; 2. Boozer drove by Yao for a layup. We lost the series because, 1. Yao cannot guard either Okur or Boozer; 2. Yao couldn't dominate Okur inside; 3. TMac was scared to drive to the basket. Yes, it'll be nice if other players can make a few more shots, but those guys didn't get that many open looks if you remember the series. JVG's Rockets offense solely rely on TMac's penetration and dish, or Yao draw double team and kick out. When Tmac refused to drive to the basket, and Yao couldn't do a damn thing against Okur, that's basically the end of the Rockets season. The Jazz was not that good that series, the Rockets just sucked. If we meet the Jazz this year, it will be the same story if Yao cannot force the double team, and TMac scared to drive to basket. I don't hold my breathe for TMac to do anything differently, but hope Yao can figure out a way to destroy Okur.
The insertion of scola, improvement of landry and bonzi will help,but the matchups is going to be a problem. I think a true contender matchup with any team. Sometimes teams in the playoffs can avoid matchups like the rox of the 90's missing seattle. I'm not going to turn this into a trade thread, but I think its fools gold with some of the holes of this team. We already know how teams will play the rox in the playoffs. They will push and get physical with Yao hoping that he will get tired and shade towards T-Mac. Bonzi gives the rox a guy that can get his own shot and scola has to be guarded, after that the rox have a few needs/wants. You already got it....we lost game 7 to Utah last year w/o scola bonzi and landry....that's already a huge plus...gotta get worse before it gets better...6-1 to start the season was fools gold...this is the better part. -V
tmac did give us his all, but *******, 39% shooting isn't going to cut it. he did everything else well. if you look deeper into it, he played like a true superstar at home and yet struggled mightily away (ironic isn't it). i do think tmac will deliver in this year's playoffs. last yr was the only yr where his shooting was poor, but he still gave us 25, 5, and 7. yao was good, but he just didn't have that impact that i think he will this yr under adelman. let's be real, EVERY rocket fan will worry day and night as we approach the playoffs and always have these doubts in the back of our minds. those won't disappear until this team ADVANCES past the first round. the same thing applies to our stars, primarily tmac. the organization as a whole just has to destroy this monkey on our backs and advance. until then, the doubt will remain.
dfish played tmac well b/c he was a very strong player. he's gone. but tmac was just off on his shooting last yr. and he did drive, primarily against other defenders not dfish, since he did get to the line 7 times. he just didn't shoot very well on the road like he did at home (again, the irony). whenever tmac had great stats, we won (except for game 7). i think this yr, we could steal 1-2 games if our stars struggle. scola/landri/bonzi -> ONE of them has to show up right?
It wasn't just pick and rolls that killed us in that playoff series. It was boozer just facing up and shooting lights out over the top of Yao. make no mistake about it. Remember game 7 when the man couldn't miss for almost the entire 1st quarter?
I know scola is playing well, but the playoffs are different. I know the fiba helps out because of the pressure, but the playoffs will be different. I remember head doing nothing in the playoffs. All season he had been a good shooter from 3, but the playoffs proved different. Its not about just the Jazz,Lakers. or even phoenix. To me its about going into a 7game series with the abilty to match up against teams. I just wonder about the backup matchups. How will they offense run when Tracy and possibly yao out? Who defends the williams and davis when rafer is out? Closing some of those holes would be nice.
luther head is a shooter and that's all he does. if his shot is off, he sucks. all he did last yr was stay outside and shoot 3s. it's easy to take him out of the game. scola can score in so many ways when he plays with yao. he can go to the middle and pops jumpers. we can post him up. he can play the pick and roll w/ tmac. the same thing applies to landry. and we also have bonzi to counter the big post up guards like harpring... and he's a beast on the offensive boards. tracy and yao WILL NEVER sit down at the same time in the playoffs. u can never risk that unless it's a blow out. trust me on that. i don't know if brooks will play much in the playoffs. in case he doesn't, we can go to a BIG perimeter lineup. battier can guard whoever is the best perimeter player (say deron for utah), tmac guards the 2, bonzi guards the 3. that should solve the problem. i think this team just has more depth and athleticism.
There is no doubt about it.Getting a better and bigger PG is the key,but getting Jaric won't be enough. Tim Thomas can stretch the defense with his outside shooting but can he improve our defense too? Even if he can, how is it possible to obtain him without hurting the team?
James contract comes within the 15% of Thomas. That can be a straight up trade. They might have to throw in Novak, but its novak. Jaric isn't great by any stretch, but he's a 6'7 pg that can back rafer up. He can lighten the ballhandling of tracy. He makes 6m so u have to get to 5m. Snyder and Francis deal gets u there without giving minny a long term cap space eater.
James plus Novak isn't likely to get the job done. Snyder and Francis is a little more realistic. The Rockets might have to throw a 2nd round pick along with it to get the job done. I would be ok with that because of Francis' injury. Can Gordon Giricek be of some use as well despite his problems with Sloan? We could use some backup help at the 2 spot. He is better than Snyder after all.
A big guard like Dre Miller would be ideal. But there is no way Philly is giving him up. I think they are still playing for something. Also a winger like Odom would be a big help. I am willing to give up Battier for Odom, proly plus Snyder's expiring contract. Talked to some Lakers fans, they seem to like the trade, not that they have Gasol. We will lose some defense, but Odom's slashing ability is what this team sorely needs. Dre Miller/Brooks Tmac/Head Odom/Bonzi Scola/Landry Yao/Hayes This is a real balaced team.
its unfortunate that the trading deadline will pass before the tough March stretch in our schedule. a creative interpretation of Morey's recent (http://blogs.houstonpress.com/ballz/2008/02/qa_with_daryl_morey_talking_tr.php ) interview might suggest that the front office is aware of the OP's concerns. namely; i think recent play should be rewarded with a chance to see what this team, as currently constructed, will do ... my gut feeling is we probably need another piece to be a bona fide contender this year. Morey really breaks it down in the linked interview, if you haven't read it, yah should. so many possible perspectives ... fer example, as a fan, which best describes your outlook? this year or bust? do we try to force a trade just 'cause Fakers, Suns, etc seemed to improve? what if we have the right mix in the pot & it requires time for simmering?
Odom's contract is too big.His skills suit the Rockets, but he is inconsistent and doesn't put much of an effort on either end. He can be dangerous when he plays well and could help the Lakers even after the addition of Gasol.
What I can do now is just hoping Brook to develop faster than anyone expected...who can attack the basket and make opponent PG to defense and pay... Coz we don't have any answer for defending Big & Speedy PG now.
