Can Rockets get away with playing Barry or McGrady at PG?

I actually wont mind seeing T-Mac at PG

 

I could see Barry playing some minutes at point guard, nothing major and and probably incase players get in foul trouble.

Will be interesting to see Tmac at the point guard spot, will be fun to see that is for sure. But I think Barry will play any major backup minutes at point guard if Adelman doesn't fancy Tmac in playing the point.

 

T-Mac, no

Barry, yes.


Horsing the ball up the court is a lot more difficult than it seems when the opposition throws a press at you.
Barry has played plenty of PG before
McGrady, not so much - it's more natural for him to be given the ball once into the halfcourt set.

 

Against super quick stars like davis, parker, arenas, no way. If it were that easy, there wouldn't be any short pgs in the league. With no hand checking, there's no way mcgrady or barry could keep up with any pgs for an entire game.

 

i think itd be fine to play barry at pg as long you got tmac in to split the ball handling with him. i just dont know if he'll be able to defend some of these point guards when alston is out. chris paul for example, match his minutes with alston and thats fine but the hornets also have pargo who is straight athleticism and i dont kno if i see barry keeping up with some of these second string pg's. offensively, it wont be a problem, barry played pg for a large portion of his career. i still wish rick could somehow have more success turning luther into a pure pg, he has every attribute you look for in a pg, the shot, the strength, the athleticism, the size. just needs some better ball handling and sense of setting up offense.

 

tmac can play loose defense on pgs and his long arms can contest their jumpers, which most wont go in (1.9 bpg season ). tmacs defense is so much better than pple think it is. even if he gets scorched, the other pg will get scorched and either have a lotta fouls or turnovers. shouldnt use those lineups often obviosly.

 

I think the quick answer is "yes". I could see both in small minutes at the PG either when some of the reserves are in the game or at the end of games to protect a lead and want your two defensive aces on the court at the same time while still keeping your primary scorer on the floor. I could see it.

This season's lineups will be so situational though. I don't think I can remember a team that had so much flexibility with the personnel in their lineup. Assuming they keep Landry and Dorsey is decent enough to back up Yao. They can go with entirely different lineups if they want to go small, big, defensive, scoring, 3-pt, matchup to exploit specific weaknesses, etc. I think(er hope) this season is more about winning then getting everyone minutes.

 

I can see potential matchups where this would be good. Seems like we can get away with it against the Lakers, mainly to go big. But Utah, NO, and SA would kill us.

 

Artest is not a power forward. We will not start Artest and Battier. Artest might see some time at the four, but the idea is entirely situational.

When Morey brought Barry in he clearly stated that Barry will be used as a wing player and point guard, so I would assume Barry will see some time at the point. McGrady wont, though. When McGrady had to compensate for the lack of Rafer in games one and two of the Jazz series, you saw what happened (or didn't happen) in the 4th quarter.

 

As the OP says, the problem is on the defensive side. Barry's in good shape but how long would he last if he had to chase a quicker-footed PG around the court?

I'd imagine seeing a Barry-McGrady backcourt for spot minutes only and depending on matchups. And I'd assume McGrady to defend the point guard during those cases.

Also, there shouldn't be too much of a problem finding minutes players at the 2, 3 and 4 positions. McGrady and Barry will take up most of the shooting guard minutes, while Battier and Artest share small forward duties with some power forward minutes when Adelman decides to go small.

Scola gets the majority of the minutes at power forward and backup center.

Landry is kind of the odd man out in this scheme, though. There will be minutes available at the backup PF, but it may not be enough to satisfy him.

Head and Hayes will get third-string minutes. Which is amazing considering the pivotal roles they were playing just two seasons ago, as primary backup SG and starting PF!

 

Whoa, completely disagree with you. TMac is quick enough to guard 1's, but Barry is not. TMac can rely on his length when needed. Barry is just too old to play the 1. I agree with the last post that only certain teams in the West are a concern. This is the first year we have had Rafer that I am actually glad we have him. We will need a little guy in the game against some teams. We have so much length and defense now in the front court... so nice.

 

I'm surprised at the question. The answer is no. On certain situations both McGrady and Barry can get some minutes as 1's.

McGrady will remain our best passer but Rafer has to be at his best at the point. Barry has to be the main shooter off the bench,passing will be a secondary role for him.

 

Barry can give you spot minutes at the PG. The only way TMac could play PG is if Artest and Battier are in the game and we are playing aganst a big PG(D. Will, J Kidd, BD or Arenas type). Then it will allow Artest or Battier to hold the PG while Tmac can hold the SG or SF on defense. Then it may be possible, but a no-no if we are playing smaller/faster PG's.

 

I don't think Tmac will ever find himself playing the point guard spot, I would think that he will continue to do what hes been doing as a sort of de facto point guard or point forward. I think that if you let Tmac play like that then maybe you could get away with Luther playing PG and just not handling the ball all that much.

 

The only issue is that Tmac probaly can't guard some small but quick PG, say CP3

 

who cares the rockets will be up by 20 after 3rd quarter and all the bench players will get their playing time

 

I don't think the Artest at the 4 thing will ever pan out. Maybe in rare situations, but I wouldn't think we'd see it on a regular basis. Id rather play Scola, Hayes, and Landry, then waste my time trying to get all 3 swingmen out there at once unless McGrady is the 1.

 

Yes, as we all know, McGrady is a Point Forward.

 

Barry is better as PG and has played that before t-Mac has never played that nor point-forward.