I rewatched the game and noticed that as bad as T-Mac played, we had bigger problems. 1. Our team defense was horrible. I'm not even talking about rebounding which was also an issue. The game was close until the 4th quarter when the Lakers 2nd unit killed us. Kobe wasn't even on the floor for most of the time when the game turned into a blowout. Vujacic, Gasol, Odom and Farmar were passing the ball, moving w/ and w/out the ball and finding open players. Our defense was leaving open man after open man for short jumpers or finishes around the basket. It wasn't just one player at fault either. It was poor rotation after poor rotation by multiple players. I had doubts but now I really do think Battier will make a huge difference. He will not let us fall apart that badly and truly is our floor general on the defensive end. As far as the rebounding, there were some cases where we simply didn't box out or had poor positioning but there was also the length issue, bringing me to the second point. 2. We absolutely have to add one, maybe two, frontcourt players with not only length but good defensive and rebounding skills. We would be best-suited if that guy could play PF or C so we could put him on the court w/ Yao at times against some of the bigger frontcourts around the league. That means that we need to get rid of some of our excess guards and PFs to bring in that type of player(s). The way I see it, Head, Francis and at least one of our 4 PFs need to be on the trading block. Scola, Landry, Hayes and Dorsey all have intriguing qualities but they all have serious weaknesses, too. One weakness they have in common is being undersized for their position. Plus, you have to give up something to get better. 3. The offense isn't where it needs to be but I am still somewhat confident that we will improve in that area this year 1) if T-Mac fully recovers and 2) Yao returns to normalcy (whether that means changing how we use him in the offense or he gets back in game shape or any possible injuries stop hampering him, etc...) 3) once Battier returns and reduces Artest's role on defense and 4) as Brooks and Landry continue to improve. The bottom line is that we absolutely must regain our defensive excellence and improve our rebounding before anything else. These are higher priorities than worrying about Alston or McGrady or Yao.
Agreed 1000% Scola is a nice player as is Landry. However, they are both on the level of a Kenny Thomas. In the West, every team but us has a great PF that we must be able to defend effectively as well as keep off the glass. Yao is too slow which means we must have a PF who is athletic. It's too bad that Swift was worthless. I wish there were a way for us to get Al Horford.
Getting an Al Horford would do wonders for us but obviously that won't happen. If we can find a lesser but similar version of him as well as get Battier back on the court to organize the chaos that is currently our team defense, the Rockets will improve vastly. I truly believe we are much closer to the Lakers than the scoreboard would tell you.
For what it's worth, I'm not letting Tracy and Yao off the hook. The thing is nobody can do much about them sucking other than hope they stop sucking. Neither of them will be traded this season. The point of this thread is to discuss weaknesses that can reasonably be addressed while we hope that Tracy and Yao become at least league average players again. Battier + another 6'10+ rebounding big or two will do wonders for this team.
This is why that 94 Front line was legendary with Dream, Otis Thorpe, and Horry Defense, Rebounding, athleticism
Good points! Sign Antonio McDyess, and trade one of Scola and Landry for a good pg! Cut wafer, and sign back Deke!
I was up in DC during those years so I wasn't fortunate enough to see that team on a daily basis. Obviously, they had what it took to be champs. Unfortunately, I don't see us gaining enough quickness and athleticism this season. Yao, McGrady, Scola, Barry and Battier are about as slow as they come. We need to hope that Artest, Landry and Brooks provide enough strength, quickness and athleticism to make up for some of that. I assume Morey is trying to do something about the rebounding though and hopefully Battier will show his worth when he comes back. Maybe he really is that valuable. I never believed that but at the same time, he's never been out for extended time as a Rocket. Our team defense is awful right now.
Walter Herrmann, he plays well on both ends of the court, also has 3pt range. Landry's (25) youth and potential might appeal to Detroit and they give up Herrmann (29) and Sharpe. Sharpe is a 6-9 PF who was the 2nd pick in the 2nd round this draft. He isn't expected to contribute this year but his salary makes the trade work. Landry might be one of the better PFs in the league in a few years but if the window of opportunity for 111 is this year and next. Another way of looking at it is, does Landry have the potential to replace Yao or McGrady as cornerstones of this franchise? If he doesn't IMO he should be used as a trading piece.
That was a tall front line and athletic front line Horry and Thorpe are about 6'10' and you have Dream at 7'. Both Horry and Dream were good shot blockers, Thorpe and Dream were excellent rebounders and Otis Thorpe shot something like 60% from the field (ie. he dunked the ball alot). to me that was the best front line the Rockets ever had. Size-check Rebounding -check Defense-check Post up game-check Athleticism-check Clutch shooting-check
Yao-Scola-Artest/Battier Size-no, especially when Yao plays like he's 6'6 instead of 7'6 Rebounding-not nearly enough Defense-Artest and Battier bring it, not so much for the other two Post up game-we are decent here Athleticism-big fail Clutch shooting-Artest has that clutchness, have yet to see that from Scola, Yao every once in a while
we don't run enough pick n roll. Kenny and OT ran the pick n roll so well that we won like 15 games without Dream in the lineup. we could do it.. oh wait, Rafer can't shoot.
Brooksball, I've been saying this 4-ever. Sometimes I get cussed out, sometimes people agree. When I mention names like Turiaf,Booth,Mihm and guys like that, people wonder why I want to break up Scolandry. When I say Hayes got to go, I'm told how great of a post defender he is. Well for 2 yrs, we have the same problem. I think the best guy to play along Yao is a Cato type. That guy can be a weakside shotblocker and rebounder who can finsh and protect the rim. I hear it all the time about the virtues of our 4's, but like I've said, they're redundant. They don't compliment yao from a size/toughness point of view. I think DD brought up a guy like Mihm sitting on Lakers bench. He would fit well because when he's healthy, he's a pretty good shotblocker and rebounder. He's agile enough to also play 4 alongside Yao. My guy Rony was was there for 4m per and some thought that was a lot of money. I thought it was good money because its 2m for backup 4 and 2m for backup C. Manangement was holding out for Landry though. Its really not hard to see, but harder to understand how a team can have 4 6'8 pf's, and 4 guards under 6'3. That's 8 guys who can only play 2 spots. We'll see how long it will take for Morey to open his eyes and finally start giving height some value.
Brooks has the potential to do some damage on the pnr if he keeps developing his mid-range shooting. He may be small but his quickness and ballhandling are more than sufficient to get around the pick and find space. I also think he has better passing skills and ability to read plays than some people give him credit for. I don't think he will protect the ball as well as Alston but part of the reason for that is that he plays aggressively. It's not hard to avoid TOs when you dribble up the court and it hand the ball to Tracy or Ron on 9 out of every 10 plays. Regardless, as much of a legit issue as our PG situation is, I think it's a 2nd tier problem until we get our defense and rebounding fixed.
I really le Brooks, BrooksBall. I think he should start, trade Rafer for A.Carter and Hunter eventhough Hunter won't be ready for a minute and trade Head for Calvin Booth. Booth can play 15-17 mins for Yao until Hunter gets back. Carter can be the big guard backup up to Brooks. Money match, stayed out of LT and the team is longer and bigger. No need to ring Deke back.
I've seen most of your posts on this topic and I agree with you. Losing Landry, especially now that he seems healthy and has improved his mid-range game seems painful, especially given how little athleticism this team has, overall. I would rather have given up Scola and Hayes for Turiaf but that wasn't the situation available. We had our MLE and both Landry and Turiaf were out there. We are clearly in win now mode so Turiaf probably made more sense. He is longer, a better defender/shotblocker and a better rebounder, and we are sorely lacking in all those areas.
excellent posts by BrooksBall, leeb, and tinny (though dream wasn't really 7'). morey does concern me with his disregard for size. I know it isn't everything, and that an inch of height can be mitigated with hustle. however, when we play frontcourts that are both tall and athletic, we will have problems. personally, I think scola is expendable along with head and that francis guy we signed for pr reasons. those guys should be able to net us a 6'10-7' athletic guy. signing mcdyess is a good idea, too, as he is a legit pf with the skill to play 20mpg. francisco elson is another athletic big on the relatively cheap side. nene makes a ton of cash, but serves the purpose, as well.
