Not Learning from the Pacers, the Bucks or the Suns

agree

however I think the draft is a fine place to pick up D

b/c if you haven't watched the Rockets lately, Steve and Cat still have a long way to go when it comes to learning to win. I thnk we have the time to wait on rooks to develop while our backcourt matures.

Also, our rebounding isn't that bad, it's the fact that there aren't too many defensive rebounds to go around when your team gives up such a sick fg% to the opponent.

 

Thank you almu.

Too many people here want Odom, clearly ignoring the fact that he is the LAST thing this team needs.

 

I agree with you completely, Almu. If I had to pick a small forward for our team right now, I think a Bruce Bowen type of player would be good. He plays solid defense, and does not demand any shots. That way people like Mobley, Francis, and Griffin get their shots. I know that Bruce Bowen has no shot, but he would be a nice fit.

By the way, I think Derrick McKey would be a good pickup for the veteran's minimum. He knows how to play defense. I know he's old too.

 

Excellent post Almu, plus you get bonus points for using the word "beans" three times in one paragraph. The rockets need D, and a post presence on offense. More offense is the LAST thing we need to concern ourselves with at this point.

 

Who are these good, young, defensive stoppers? Are there any? I'd love to see an enforcer inside, but I can't think of very many players today cut from that cloth.

 

hell, we don't just need D, we need O too

i think all i want the rockets to pick up now is ming and some smart players


i don't care if it's a guy with one arm... just let him have a higher iq...

guys who know how to improve and how to adjust

 

Its more about team defense than individual d.Last year while Zo was out, Miami had a top 5 defense without a shotblocker. During his early yr with Denver, even though he was leading or near the tops in the league in blocks, Dike and the nuggets were in the bottom qt in defense. Even with 2 20 pt per game scorers our offense still sucks. We are back on 2 players, one old and the other coming off a very bad injury to come in and avg 15 and 18 pts? Maybe I'm missing something.

 

Odom is not such a great offensive player his strengths are his passing rebounding and defence and we suck in all of those categories, Odom is not A.Iverson and he is not going to take 20 shots per game , he is a great defender/shotblocker/rebounder and playmaker and he could cover any postion on the court if somebody would get injured . Odom is exactly what we need.

 

leebigez - Is your point that Odom is a good enough team defender and because of his offensive skills, he is overall a plus?

Or are you saying that overall the Rockets are bad at team defense so they may as well just try to score more than the opponent?

It may well be possible, but it is beyond my comprehension that a team of poor on the ball individual defenders can be an above average defensive team.

In another thread it was pointed out to me that the Lakers lead the league in 3pt defense. After looking further, I discovered that the Spurs and Sixers are #2 & #3. And further, I observed that the bottom 8 3pt defenses (with the exception of the Pistons) had no defensive presence at the 5. (Zo/Miami are #7).

My conclusion was that dominant big men (Shaq, Duncan, Robinson, Mutombo, Zo) provided a "safety net" allowing the other 4 defenders to initiate defense further out on the court.

With or without Odom, I just don't see improvement in the Rocks without some defensive presence at the 4 or 5.

 

Good point, Almu, except.... they already are the Bucks\Suns\Pacers.

Let's see, what do the Rocks have in common with those teams:

1. No legit big men, and the ones they have are 'Charmin soft'.
2. No interest in playing defense, rebounding (hence, the 'PG\short SG' is the best rebounder on the team)
3. Injury-prone players
4. Well, I was going to write 'Entertaining, but never a threat to contend', but then that would be lying. This team is anything but entertaining.
5. Deep, talented rosters.... Oops, another thing that distinguishes the Rocks from the others. Sorry.

FWIW, I've come to 2 conclusions:

1. If the Rocks obtain Lewis or Odom, fine. Still won't be enough to compete in the West (barring a miracle this summer with the exception), but at the least the core will be stronger.
2. Considering the teams that they've put on the floor the past 2 nights, they should probably keep both picks! (Since Toronto looks to be going to the playoffs) The Rocks' biggest deficieny, injuries or not, is their overall talent level. There are just too many holes in their roster.

C - Not one servicable starter, just backups
PF & SF - Collection of one-dimensional players (MoT, Rice), underdeveloped players (Eddie, TMo), and limited players (Langhi, Walt, KT)
SG - Strength of the team, solid players who understand their roles and give good effort
PG - Another strength of team, solid players who give good effort, roles unclear

Draft Ming? Fine.
Draft Wilcox? Fine.
Draft Butler, Stoudamire, Wagner? Fine. Fine. Fine.
Use the Middle-Class Exception on the 'Best Available', trade Francis for the Pacers' frontline? Whatever!

Just bring in some talented players! No more limited players! No more quick-fixes!

 

Brilliant post

Live

I must also thank you for "FWIW" the pride I felt when I figured out what the hell that meant was great

 

I don't understand all this hype about Odom...Some of yall make it sound like we are hoping to sign Shaq or something...Don't get me wrong Odom would make a contribution to this team, but he isn't some superstar that will take us to the play-offs next season.

 

I was as excited as anyone to acquire Eddie Griffin-- an excitement tinged with a feeling that we overpaid for him and could have used the talent infusion of 3 top picks. Was he one of those "quick fixes?"

Richard Jefferson has made more of an impact than EG and shows no signs of letting up. In the long run, EG may be better, but if we had those 3 picks back from last year and picked up Wilcox or Stoudamire (to fill the role of EG) with our 5-6 pick this year and grabbed someone talented with the Raps pick WHERE MIGHT WE BE HEADED.

Something to think about. May have been a front-office gaffe.

 

No ODOM please, if you get anyone Lewis because he's a better spot up shooter for that position and goes for rebounds, but we need a big guy.

 

Great point.

I don't think of Eddie as a 'quick fix', I was thinking more of the Rice acquisition as a 'quick fix.' Actually, I think what made the deal for Eddie so exciting was that it showed some long-term thinking for a change, and not the typical knee jerk reaction.

But, Jefferson has been a surprise, he'll be a star. Collins is in the rotation of a playoff team, and a division champion at that.

I'm glad the Rocks' made the trade, but it does make for interesting conversation.

 

If you'd seen all the games, you wouldn't be so calm. The problem, if anything, is worse than you think. We don't play defense as a team, we don't play with any effort, determination or intelligence.

 

Dallas don't have the greatest defensive players in the world (outside of Finley). But the fact remains that they're 3rd best team in the league. I don't think they're that much better defensively than what we can do. WHo says Odom is a bad defensive player? WHO SAYS we're a bad rebounding team?

Have you been watching Cato? Well, add Griffin to that, then Odom's 6 to that, then add Steve's (at LEAST) 5 to that. Bench? KT, Willis, Morris.

Another thing, Odom will be initiating the offense, not scoring. He'd be the play maker. 12pts, 6reb, 6assists. SOmthing like that, but the rest of the team would look much better.

Defense is not what the Rox are focusing on, because, we'd have to add 3 new players to make us a defensive team. We're going in one dierction, tremendous offense.

 

Defense comes from the middle, like GATER said, unless you run that Seattle thing they did 93-97 (a trapping zone, essentially) AND have the top defensive pg in the league. Yes, our guards need better (any?) defensive effort, but what we really need is a presence in the middle. The remarks on Cato are dead on. My problem - I don't know how you get that guy for the interior defense. The contracts we have for Cato, and Taylor (throw in Rice) - essentially untradeable - really hurt us in picking someone up to intimidate, swat, and board. Teams drive at will on the Rox.
Until they become tradeable, I think we will have to hope to lure someone with the mid-level players exception - with obvious limitations on talent. I suppose the Rox will have to try and play the passing lanes with their long-arm players for the next couple years, at least.