Barry's playing healthy for pretty much the first time this season. The outside shooting of Barry, Wafer and Alston is doing wonders for this offense right now.
Keep Barry going as it is,otherwise he will go cold. I understand the need to avoid wear and tear but we need all the guys who can play right now. If McGrady can come back with real force,Barry will get some rest anyway.
I am disappointed that you left Hayes out. I would rather see Wafer playing significantly less minutes than Hayes with no minutes. Chuck is fun to watch and he has a great impact on the game by his defense alone. No one in this team can replace Chuck's role. On the other hand, if TMac plays at 80% of his old self, he completely covers what Wafer brings and much more.
Just like they loved what Hayes was giving them the year before. The spurs loved Bowen too before this year. I'm just saying that shane is a 15-20 minute guy. I can or u can chart his games and you will see. I know ur good with stats and stuff. Last year in the playoffs, he was -100 or so, something crazy. The guy is heartless, has a low offensive bbiq. He's a good team defender, but this season has been getting torched by 2nd rate offensive players. I didn't say he couldn't play, but next time u watch, see who man crouds Yao the most. Watch and see the potential up tempo plays and what he do. I think, just like with chuck last year, battier is going to be a pine rider.
or u can make barry run the point.. esp during Clutch time.. Mac and Barry can run the point alternatively.. I know for a fact that Barrry > Rafer in 4th q... Pop knew it.. thats why barry gets time during playoffs with the spurs..
As someone else said, defense wins championships. I think this is the season the Rockets go for broke; that is, trading Artest is not an option unless it's for a better player. We are going to milk this potential to its full fruition or suffer the pangs of what could have been, but I'm pretty certain we aren't going to pull the reigns back for a "safer" alternative. Let's see how Artest reacts to being back though. And I sincerely hope that we can integrate him successfully into the offense before T-Mac returns and that whole drama starts up at the same time. Although it probably won't.
Trading Ron is like chopping off your balls.......... Lets chop off the vag's if you know what I mean.......
Battier can not be traded. Berry will probably retire after this season and Ron is at his contract year. We do need battier if both Berry and Ron leave next year.
We have to many wings. And i dont want Wafer to be the odd man out. The way i see it, i say we trade Battier. He's been garbage almost all season with the exception of a very few game. His defense this year has regressed. And the best thing about this is Battier has a lot of trade value. He'd be a valuable commodity to any squad. Package him with Head, for a young a talented big(even if the big is a project)
while i believe this I just love what artest does when he starts stealing from the get go that gets the def in our starters up /sigh
Is it possible for Barry and T-Mac to log limited minutes at PG? Make Aaron the starter and those two split the rest of Alston's minutes. I wouldn't want to make either of them play extended periods there, but it would allow all 5 of the players we're talking about to get substantial playing time as well as remove the problem of Alston's streaky shooting. Although he has been hot as of late. That of course is a very drastic change which I would never anticipate or even do msyelf, but just throwing it out there.
good problem to have: too many good players. still, it's a headache to think of the lineups with everyone healthy. not sure who should have less playing time.
Barry needs to play 12-20 minutes a night during the playoffs. NEEDS. His superior 3 pt shooting and cerebral way of playing basketball is essential in the playoffs. As good as Wafer is playing right now a mentally and physically healthy T-mac is even better. Some people seen to be forgetting that fact. So when T-mac comes back rejuvenated (hopefully), Wafer would be the one sitting on the bench again.
Barry has been on fire lately. I was a critic early this season of him but I like what I see right now. I hope he keeps it up.
I love seeing Brent Barry shoot the 3 pointer. He has the ugliest shot but, man, when he puts it up you just know its going in. No one can say with a straight face that the Artest experiment, even with incomplete data, has been a success. Its not a disaster either, but there is absolutely no reason to keep him when our biggest glaring weakness is once again the PG postion's consistency. And also, damnit, Artest is NOT going to be back next season. Let's get a flippin' point guard!
We always have the ability to have T-Mac run the point, with Wafer or Barry along side him if Rafer and Brooks are playing poorly. We can always use Artest as a post presence. There are still plenty of options. Also who is to guarantee that when the play-offs role around Wafer doesn't perform aswell? We have plenty of options.
I know ppl love to hate on Mike Miller... but he is a very skilled player. I would take Mike Miller over Ron Artest at this point because Miller creates spacing and facilitates the offense with his dribble drive and passing abilities. Ron is a good post-up guard but that isn't what we need right now. Look at the Orlando Magic... they ran away with JVG's blueprint for the Rockets and built a great team. David Wesley, Jimmy Jackson, Luther Head, Steve Novak, Brent Barry, Boki Nachbar, Bobby Jackson, etc... JVG's plan was to surround Yao and TMac with a bunch of shooters. Mike Miller is a better shooter than any of the players mentioned above and I'm sure he will fall right into place both on the court and off the court.
