Dont complaint so much, I do think we are competitive, I want to keep all talented players in Houston, Von Wafer is better than Green, at least for now. We need an offensive guy, he can do that better..
Tracy is best at feeding Yao the ball, but not necessarily best and making sure to try to feed Yao the ball. I agree that a lot of it is on Yao as far as getting position. But there are many times where Yao has it going and its like they suddenly forget he is on the floor. Battier seems fixated on getting it to Yao down low and working from there, and he is quite effective at the post pass as well.
I am trying to figure out how anyone can be relentless about attacking Rafer Alston for his low shooting efficiency and yet at the same time stay on Green's nuts. So far this year, Rafer Alston's TS%= .494. Gerald Green TS% = .481. Do we need someone who shoots worse than Rafer Alston and at the same time suck at defense and passing, and dribbling and all aspects of basketball? I'd take Von Wafer instead. He shoots a good .540 TS%, and is functional enough for Rick Adelman to trust him with minutes. Von is only about 6 months older than Green, too.
we have shane, ron, and mac... all are SF's now. we don't have a JR Smith type of player, a pure 2. the offense seems stagnant, no firepower even though we have 3 capable scorers. we need a pure 2, athletic, slasher and shooter and a defender.
There are other ways to get the ball and other people that can get it to him. Being fixated on getting Yao the ball is a problem. When yao has it going, its because he's getting to his spot quickly and making his move quickly. Holding the ball forever while yao is wrestling with the guy knowing battier cant break anyone down off the dribble isnt a good thing. Thats why the jazz came back and kicked our ass 2 yrs ago.
seems like no one sees this, but leebigez is right. we are stagnant, we go into the post then shoot or pass out for a 3 point shot. we could do this with the dream, but can't with yao. look at the fakers, they're loaded with players with length, shooters, slashers... and the offense runs very smoothly and you have kobe if and when the shot clock is running down. wafer is a keeper, i'm not disagreeing with that. we just need more players like that instead of spot up shooters like barry and head. jr smith comes to mind, all i'm saying is that green would have been a nice player to have. unless the players start to shoot lights out from the 3 point line, we won't beat the lakers nor hte celtics.
Did you not read the post detailing Gerald Green's true shooting percentage? Its lower than Rafer Alston's! How can having someone who's "forte" is shooting but shoots worse than Rafer be a good thing? Its unfair to compare ourselves with the Lakers because not only did they luck out with Bynum, they ended up with Gasol as well. I doubt the Lakers front office expected Bynum to become as good as he is now when they drafted him (he was what, 16? 17? lol), and while stealing Scola from the Spurs was nice, it simply does not compare to getting Pau Gasol for Kwame freakin' Brown. Of course every team wants a wing they can develop. But while young athletic scoring wings are the most common Nba player, good athletic young scorings wings who aren't knuckleheads are one of the rarest players in the league. Those guys are basically lottery level talent (Kevin Martin, Brandon Roy, Mayo etc.)We've been a playoff team since Tmac came to town, and the one time we got into the lottery, we cashed gay in for Battier. Its no wonder then that we have to settle for scraps when it comes to getting young players to develop. IMHO it doesn't matter though, we're here to win now, and for now Von Wafer more than fills our need. Our lack of a penetrating player will be gone once Tmac gets back and Francis finally gets some playing time.
Von Wafer can get to the rim and shoot. He's a pure SG, long and athletic enough. Also working hard to stay on the team and being around Battier and Artest will make him a better defender. It seems like a prerequisite is to be able to do a triple reverse double between-the-legs 360. Nowadays it looks like people here just ask for dunk contest participants. Really, I haven't seen a single post that tells us what Green would bring to the table. Yes we need athletes, but what good is all that athleticism if there's nothing on top to use it. Prime example: Stromile Swift
Our offense has been so much better lately with the ball going to Yao and then working inside out. I dont think anyone can deny that. Although I still think he waits to long and invites the double team rather then attacks the initial defense, he has done a good job with his pass out of the double. There have been a lot of times where he would get a hockey assist as his pass out starts the rotation and opens up a shot one pass later. Also, people need to stop all this the Jazz kicked our ass two years ago. Yao was coming back from a broken leg and not his usual self yet. I believe Juwan Howard went out with his heart issue and he was playing very good ball at the time. Yet we still lost a game 7, that was very close and possibly one bad bounce from going the other way. Its not like we got swept or anything. I will agree, the more athletic you are the better assuming you still have good basketball players not just athletes. Gerald Green is nothing but a good athlete who sometimes does okay on the basketball floor.
Like i said earlier, it didnt have to be green. Thing is with the offense, it always looks better when shots go down at 50% rate. Yao plays well in spurts. He'll play 30 games when he'll look like the best player in the nba, 25 games when he's ok to all star quality, and 20 some games when he looks like just another guy or just a scrub. Thats his cycle. Some i'm glad he's in that 1st cycle right now. When we've discussed that swing guy its because too many guys on this team will settle for jumper even in a scoring slump or when the team gets into the penalty. When the other team gets into the penalty at the 7 min mark, everything should go to the basket, but who does can do that on this team? When you go to the basket, you have to go relentless to finish because there are times you may not get the call, but cant give up. Those are ways to score freebies on teams. There is a reason why the spurs upgraded to mason jr over barry. This league is setup for slashing right now, but the rox dont have enough of those guys. Im not saying they cant win or anything like that, but i hope wafer keeps getting playing time to give the rox that wreckless guy to the hole to pick up the older guys on those back to back nights when they prefer to settle for jumpers. Kobe isnt the only reason why La kills Utah and we cant. Utah plays hard and tries on defense, but they have no shotblockers at the basket. When someone from la breaks down utah off the dribble and get to the rack, its a foul or a finish. In the playoffs, the lakers avg 35 ft vs utah. The lakers have more guys willing to slash and take it to the rack than the rox. Last yr, Utah fouled more than any team in basketball. The rox couldnt take that advantage because shane,rafer,luther, and this yr barry are alll spot up shooters. If the rox get healthy with tracy and keep ron healthy, at least along with wafer, the rox will have a few guys that can draw fouls. They cant tilt to tracy and physical yao with artest on the floor. With battier playing extended minutes they could, but come playoff time, the horses have to get you there. Barry was a waste of time and money and not because he couldnt hit a shot, its because he cant guard his position nor can he slash to the basket. He was a older slower version of head who we didnt need anyway.
