I love David Lee but teams starting scoutiing him more and more because of the team he was on. The knicks really dont have anyone that needs to be double teamed so teams would be able to lock in defensively on everyone and be able to play everyone straight up. not the case with landry..playing with Tmac alone will always give him at least 1-2 easy baskets a game...now put in Yao and artest who both (especially yao) require a double team most of the time Landry will get his fair share of easy looks like he did last season. Also like Lee Landry will always hustle and create easy points for himself whether its on the break or off of putback. you may see his rebounding go down as teams will start making sure they put a man on him when rebounding...landry was an exceptional offensive rebounder i expect that to go down most everything else should be fine. he wasnt much of a passer anyway mainly just a finisher. plus i think landry is a much more polished offensive player than Lee (though i believe Lee is the better defender)
David Lee and Carl Landry are wayyy different. That's comparing apples to oranges. Landry didn't just score off of McGrady or Rafer. He scored off a lot of offensive rebounds. If you're active off the boards like he was, he'll do fine. The one thing I can say to the point that you're making is Landry still has some growning to do. We saw last year in a few games how he got upset with himself for fouling. That night when the Rockets beat the Pacers, he got upset with himself because of the fouls. Even in a few games you could see him crying. That's what you're gonna get from Landry. All in all, we all want landry to do great. Right? right.
anyone know what off season moves utah made ? why are they being thrust into the top 2 in the west ?? i do believe the lakers are probably the only team in the west that could beat utah easily because of their combination of size, speed, and kobe bryant. everyone else will probably have to struggle to beat them (including us). with that said, i still just don't see them finishing top 2 in the west.
Guys, we finished 2 games behind the entire WC last year without Yao at the end....TWO GAMES !! And, we are the only team out of the top that adds a healthy Yao Ming, a superstar Ron Artest and an all around offensive whiz in Brent Barry. The Rockets didn't just get a little better...they got a LOT better. We win the west by 4 games. DD
Hollinger put us as #1 last year but now he put the Jazz as #1. Did we dissappoint him so much that now he's rooting for the Jazz to be #1??
I was wondering when you were going to join the conversation. If we won the west.... Who would we want to play at the 8 seed?
But do we want to gamble on playing Melo and AI? I'm not saying we can't beat them, but they can be dangerous with JR Smith shooting all those three's. I bet you'll Artest and Battier guard Smith and Melo. AI is going to be AI.
Gamble!? Yao should avg 40/15 against them. They have no perimeter defense, no inside defense, and no rebounders. Melo has to guard either Artest or T-Mac. I would say that would wear him down, but he'd probably just let them score all day, only to be met on the other end having to work hard to score on Battier or Artest. Rafer can hold his own with Iverson and force him to take a lot of contested jumpers. There won't be any daylight for him. T-Mac isn't like Kobe or Lebron who likes to roam and gamble in the passing lanes. He'll do fine just standing next to JR Smith and making him shoot horrible 3's over those very long outstretched arms.
Don't get me wrong, I know we can beat the Nuggets but they do have a few scores. It's going to be fun to see if AI is traded during this season. How does Nene and Kenyon Martin do in the starting line-up? There's a lot of questions going into the season for the Nuggets.
I don't get it???? Hollinger's own stats show NO is better offensively and defensively than the Jazz. Add the fact NO is younger and did more to improve their team than Utah did. IMO Utah is the most overrated of the West teams. W/O question they are behind the Lakers, Spurs, NO, and Houston. They might be behind Phx too. They are favored to get the 4th seed, sure, they only have to finish ahead of a very young but more talented Portland team and declining Nuggets, but I expect them to lose in the 1st round anyway. The only reason they got out of the 1st round this year was we were missing Yao. You add Artest and Barry to the mix, ouch. When people think Utah, they really need to understand their lack of interior defense and team athleticism. That is why they were not difficult for the Lakers to dispose of this year, nor the Spurs the year before. They can't stop a good offensive team at all.
Agree, and the rockets didn't really give up anything (ie.1st round draft picks) for Artest (who in my estimation is one of the top 10-15 best players in the league) and signed Brent Barry for nothing. If healthy they should win the west hands down.
