Who should be the starting SG?

wafer def. should get more minutes. nobody can disagree with that.

but did you see the knicks defense on wafer last night? it's like they barely know who he is. his first 3 touches, he got TONS OF OPEN SPACE.

that's why he's able to attack pretty good right now. eventually teams will gameplan.

but you're right, if teams are going to treat wafer like that, we gotta play him more minutes. tracy and artest at most should be play 30 mins a game, not 35+.

 

you simply cannot have tracy and ron playing together unless you tell ron to stay in the corner shooting spot up 3s.

 

Which is what sucks.

I choose wafer to start. But Mac being Mac, Im sure he wouldnt do **** off the bench.

I wonder if Ron and tmac will ever fit in Adelman's system....

 

You know, if i had the confidence in Yao to be dominant or on a upwards tick, i could strip the team down and rebuild, but i dont know. I like wafer alot, but he could be flip murray. I like scola, but he doesnt make up for yao's shortcomings. Brooks and Landry still have upside, rafer is too streaky and battier is a statue in the corner. I can create scenerios or trade ideas that i think would really help if the team has the confidence in yao, but i'm not sure if thats the best thing because he's limited.

 

i know everyone is saying wafer, but come on, tmac isn't the type of guy to be a spark off the bench, he likes to handle the ball and make plays..if anything artest should come off the bench like he was doing...benching tmac is dumb...i know wafer is great and all, but damn.

 

we can never build around yao and him alone. if we're going to start over, we gotta use these pieces and try to find another guy.

even when we were winning, it wasn't yao who was the sole key to drive this win. rafer, wafer, and scola played huge. and yes we played more like a team than one start taking over the game.

now tracy and artest gotta try to integrate themselves into the same mode b/c that's the style we're playing with now. only go 1-on-1 if they're literally on fire.

 

i totally understand your concerns over yao's ability. sometimes i think similarly. but look at the big picture. nothing is perfect and yao is really our best bet - before his peak years pass us by (and then all bets are off and we start to rebuild).

what i see right now is ron doesn't fit and is like oj's glove; #1 has lost a lot of his abilities for whatever reason. if we can find a couple of better versions of wafer, it might be better for us than a near-delusional "big 3".

 

I have no problem with TMAC starting. He might stop the ball from time to time, but lets face it, he's still a playmaker, and we're not going anywhere w/o him. Its Artest's minutes that Wafer could eventually win. At this point, we dont need 15 shots from Artest anymore (or 19 that he put him last night). We now have people to put the ball in the basket. Unless he's willing to just play hard D, rebound, and <b>only </b> shoot in the offense (maybe 8-10 shots), I would have no problem benching him in favor of Wafer and Barry. Think about it, last year's team in the playoffs, add Yao, Barry, Wafer, and much better Brooks and Scola, even w/o Artest, we can go deep.

 

What you are saying is true...
But there is a counter argument...
You could also say that Tracy would thrive being the MAN (i.e., the top dog scorer when you are surrounded by bench players). If he is playing with Yao and Artest then he will complain about not getting enough touches of the ball and can't get his shot off.

 

Its not that i dont think Yao is worthy or anything, i think if you decide to rebuild or even put a team around him that championship worthy and do it in a quick time frame, alot of people need to go. Scola,Rafer,Tracy,Ron, and even Battier. If we can agree Yao has 3 more yrs at this level and then 2 more at a Big Z type of level, then you better have some young guys that can get better quick. I'm telling anyone that wants to listen, 2010 isnt going to be what people think its going to be. There are alot of reservations about playing in a Yao centered offense. Now this summer if yao expand his game by being consistent from 15 ft, thats another story, but as is, no wings wants to come and play and wait to see what he does with the ball.

I actually like 5 man basketball with core defensive principles. The spurs extend their offense alot with duncan being a high post passer or screen setter. then alot of times he's off the block mid post that kinda opens the baseline up for cutting and stuff. I guess what the rox need to do is find a balance that will make them most effecient. They cant run the motion because they dont have enough cutters,slasher,passer types. Yao is the best post option and he needs touches or the whole board cries about that. i mean everyone loves rip and his off the ball movements, can we imagine how much time it would take and the constant screening tand the looks it would take to run that type of offense. While all that screening and stuff is going on, what is yao doing? How will deliver the correct pass and also be the penetrating threat. There are alot of questions that needs to be answered.

 

Agreement.

Me-Mac should come off the bench and Wafer gives the boost we need in Adelman's motion offense. When he's off the rag, then he can start.

 

TMac should start. He'd cry too much to be any use off the bench, but Wafer is full of energy and ready to play anytime because he is just happy to be in the NBA.

 

So Tracy should start because "he'd cry too much to be any use off the bench"? and he'd cry if you cut his minutes. Either way, let him cry. He doesn't do anything but screw this team up anyways. Rafer plays better without him and so does every other Rocket. Personally I'd rather just buy him a one way ticket out of town, let him cry on the plane.

 

Thats not bad at all, I just think he just start and get those kinds of mins. And I don't think Ron and Tracy coming off the bench together would be a good thing.

 

I don't think it's a good idea to let Tmac's knee get all stiff after warmups before he takes the court. As far as a "spark off the bench", that's almost what Wafer seems designed to be with his energy, quickness, and shooting range.

Besides, if we're going to assume that Tmac will suck for the rest of the season, we might as well just give up. This team might make the playoffs without Tmac at the top of his game, but it's not going to do much when it gets there.

 

McGrady. In short, here is why:

1) Who is to say Wafer's current level of play isn't fool's gold? He's been hyped up on every team as a guy with potential who lights it up in the summer but always disappoints during the season. Before January he was averaging about 5PPG on sub-40% shooting in about 14MPG.

2) Outside of scoring, what does Wafer do? The answer is absolutely nothing. Hasn't even averaged 3RPG or 2APG in a month where he is getting starter's minutes. His defense is piss poor. In other words, he is your prototypical BENCH player.

3) Being a starter, getting a lot of minutes and finding a rythym is a lot more important to T-Mac's game than it is Wafer. It appears T-Mac is finally a bit more comfortable with his knee and his body. It is now time to get him to instill confidence in himself on the basketball court, and that can only be done by playing and finding a rythym. When T-Mac is confident in his abilities, he can still be an electrifying scorer while also being a triple double threat every game. He attracts a ton of defensive pressure, which makes Yao's game easier as it does the role players.

I know people like DD want to see him earn his minutes and want to see him work his way up...that is simply counter-productive. T-Mac's game has always been based on rythym/confidence, not effort. The only way for him to ever achieve a rythym is to play through the rust.

 

I agree with that...they can play together for short spurts but not come out at the same time.

 

wow you wanna insult his D, tmac cant even keep up with fat ol quentin richardson, and he is a much better shooter than tmac from anywhere on the floor, oh and your passing that tmac does so well is because he sits there with the ball in hands the whole time till one of our guys cuts to the basket, so yea tmac is a better passer he is also a better point guard, but he is not a better shooting guard, why is passing your main argument for a shooting guard anyway seriously he is a shooting guard not a point guard i dont think i can stress that enough

 

This is perfect tmac and yao do not mesh yao needs shooters around him and tmac likes to hold the ball to long for yao to be effective with him