Thing I Learned About This Rocket Team During The Playoffs.

DD, that was just a hot streak by Wafer. Do you really believe Von could have kept 50% 3 point shooting if he played as a starter all season?

The whole season afterwards already showed it's a fluke.

And tell me what else Wafer does besides scoring? Absoutely NONE. And even at scoring, he isn't as effiecent as Yao, Scola and Landry.

Landry is a situational player when we desperately need some offense.

 

Agree with a lot except for the Carter thing. I'll most def pass on that one. Morey can do better with TMAC's expiring contract than that. And if not, I'd rather let him expire and take my chances on the market. Even if we dont land anything, at least we dont get stuck with a bad contract.

 

Agree. I'm very high on Lowry, but I also have to admit Lowry made just as many bad decisions as AB in playoffs, if not more. Pass up open shots is one of them.

 

Wasn't this Aaron Brooks second season in the league?

 

Landry's explosion last season came from the fact that he was a rookie and nobody really paid attention to him. He was getting all those monster dunks, as well as open 15 ft jumpers. And Tmac's presence helped him tremendously. He was an energy guy with a nice 15 ft jump shot. Last season after his injury, he was not as good. I think partly because he temporarily lost some of his athleticism, partly because other teams started to figure him out and put a body on him all the time.

This season he is still the energy guy that feeds off garbage baskets and open shots, and I think that is a huge reason for his inconsistency. If the opponent game planned for him and denied him those opportunities, he would struggle, but if they don't he would have a field day. I think Landry has shown some legit post moves this playoffs, some spin moves around the basket. If he can get a couple more post moves so that he could create his own shot, he would be much more consistent on offense. If he could extend his shooting range that would help a lot also. On defense he still has a lot to work on. He still needs to improve in both help defense and one-on-one defense.

I am still dreaming if he could learn defense from Hayes, and post moves from Scola, then he could become an all-star level forward.

 

Great post. The Yao being fronted for the rest of career and Von Wafer leaving stood out to me the most. I doubt Yao will be fronted for the rest of the season. The reason I believe he was fronted so much this year was because no one else really made the apposing team pay for it. Guys would just stand around like a bump on a log and jack up ill advised shots.

Von Wafer on the other hand I believe is gone no matter what the outcome maybe regarding Ron Artest. Well sort of. I agree that if Ron signs Von is gone. McGrady, Battier , Artest basically take up all the mins at the 2 and 3 spot. Also add the combination that Rick loves with Lowry and Brooks. So Von his history. I still believe he was way overrated on this board. Also add what happened between him and Rick during the playoffs. His ego is way to big than his game.

Kyle Lowry was afraid to shoot because he can't shoot lol. During the summer he should hit the gym and shoot about 500 mid range jumpshots a day. That way next year he would be real threat.

McGrady is younger than Carter. Has a better game than Carter. Contract is shorter than Carter's. Why would you want Vince Carter on this team when all the Rockets have to do is ride out one more year with McGrady and basically see what happens. Win win situation for both sides. Your almost certain to get a beast with McGrady because its his contract year. So you know he is going 2 bust his ass. The Rockets should keep him no matter what. Keep 23mil for themselves and get whoever the hell they want with that money and Yao's money.

 

Yes, and it makes his trade value even higher.

But if he's not allowed to shoot that much, his trade value will most likely go down, becuase he doesn't do much else.

That will likely happen once Yao and Tmac come back to lineup.

 

I've always enjoyed your posts Old Man Rock.
Well done!

 

Nice post! I do disagree on a few points, though.

1. AB as a second-tier star: not yet. I have doubts that he'll ever get to that point just because of his size...but maybe I define a second-tier star differently. To me, a second-tier star needs to have demonstrated the ability to take over games in the past. I can count on one hand games that Aaron has taken over to this point. I can't give him second-tier star status until he proves to me that he can score fifteen points a night on a consistent basis, and he hasn't proved that to me yet. Can you imagine if the guy was 6'5 or 6'6? Sure, he'd lose some speed, but his size is still really tough for me to look past.

2. Kyle Lowry afraid to shoot - I wouldn't use the word 'afraid.' I was completely wrong about the Alston/Lowry trade because I didn't realize how well Lowry FITS with this team. He doesn't have that need for shots, which is so incredibly rare. He also has incredible poise in pressure situations and enough size to d up on elite point guards. He's not a great shooter, and I don't think he ever will be - it just doesn't seem to be a part of his skill set - but he works damn hard, shares the ball, and plays great defense, which is the point guard we've been waiting for, well, for as long as I can remember. I think his lack of shooting is more a cognitive realization that he's not a great shooter so he shouldn't penalize the team by constantly doing something he's not great at. As long as we surround him with players who can score, I don't think it's a huge liability.

3. Wafer is gone - I certainly hope not. Now, if he's looking to cash in or something anytime soon, he still has a ways to go before he's worth serious money. But he has been instant offense off the bench and this is a team that, with its injury problems, can use offense wherever we can find it. I haven't seen enough of Wafer being a moron to say that he won't or can't grow out of it, and his offensive style at least is a good fit for Adelman's system.

The offseason sucks.

 

You really think T-Mac is coming back to the lineup and if he does when?

 

the same feeling as yours, AB'll be impossible to aviod facing those star-PGs all the time in the future.The passed series is a lucky meeting of PG in the playoff of this year.that's also the main reason why our team did a great job even then there're two super suits,not an amazing show of whoever, we should expect Kryle a little more.

 

I don't think Lowry is afraid to shoot. He's just looking to run the team and get easy bucket rather than shooting. Like all good PGs (Nash, CP3), they don't shoot at all UNLESS they're extremely open. I see Lowry the same. I don't fault him for taking shot even if he's a little open. You notice he did shoot when he's WIDE OPEN.

 

Tmac didn't need to be The Man. If he can add 15-5-5 to current team, nobody can beat them, not even close,

 

OMR -

Appreciate your thoughtful post and agree with most of it.

Random thoughts:

** I agree totally about AB but feel that Lowry can be an effective scorer, if not a range shooter. A great, cheap, emerging combo. Lets have fun watching them grow.

** On the big stage Artest disappointed big time. His offense can be described as "loose cannon" at best, and apparently even Adelman can't reign him in. I cringed every time he had the ball - he became a meld of "dribble-forever SF3" and "4-for-13 Rafer". How many off balance 3's can you heave???? Defensively he was owned by elite players. He's clearly lost a step, and gambles too much now. I love his toughness, but am not sure we couldn't put the $$ he'll require over three years to better use.

** I wouldn't give up on Wafer yet. He cracked the top eight and I think (hope) he's open to more passing and better D. He's a scoring machine and brings badly needed athleticism. If somehow our defacto 2009 draft choice James White emerges, then maybe Wafer goes.

** Battier is a Rocket as long as he wants, and then becomes NBA Commissioner!!

What a fun season and great ride. Couldn't be prouder!! Should be an intersting off season.

DR

 

OMR, I agree with most of your assessment. A couple amendments:

1) We are still hostage to t-mac's antics. Unfortunately he killed a lot of the trade value he still had by not playing D, being a ball stopper, and going on with the microfracture surgery w/o consulting w/ the team. We need to shop him around this summer to see if we can get someone to bite on his contract. Otherwise we still have to see what he's got left to increase his trade value.

2) Scola is a legit PF that people sleep on just cuz he's not very athletic. But, I noticed he lost a bit of confidence sometimes in his jumpshot when we needed it.

3) The way to attack the fronting is to get AB to penetrate in the lane. He can beat any first defender off the dribble, which means he can get into the lane. Once he gets there w/ no bigman to block his shot, he should go off for 20+ a game whenever they front Yao.

 

How is it we agree so much...you sir are due for some GREEN REP points....OVER due if you ask me.

Greening you up for your quality posts.

DD

 

Thanks DD. Guess we were abducted by the same alien!!

Flattery will get you uh, er....everywhere!!

DR

 

Great original post, I agree with much of what you said.

I think you're underestimating Lowry, though. Yes, he can't shoot (ha, he made 2 threes in a row in garbage time)...I think we all know this is a definite priority of his, but I don't think you said enough about the rest of his play, which has been great, and will continue to improve as he develops more chemistry with other Rockets players.

Not sure about Wafer, I think it's like 60% chance that he's gone, though. He can score, and we need a wing player who can score. Will that be Tmac or possibly VC (or maybe James White..) next season who will replace Wafer's scoring plus 10 or more points extra? Or will we keep Wafer because we don't have that scoring right now? I know that Brooks, Landry, and Scola are all capable of scoring, and I love the idea of refining our plan on offense for utilizing Yao, though I believe we should definitely continue to maximize opportunities in the post when they are there with Yao, but I'd definitely like to see Yao have a more dynamic, versatile, free-flowing offensive style/gameplay. I definitely think he's capable of it. i.e. behind-the-back dribble from half court fast break dunk against the Blazers a few seasons ago . And he is pretty good at catching balls on the run (at least sometimes) and finishing, yet we turn the ball over so frequently when trying to get it to him in the post..

I'd like to see if Tmac can come back in form, and if not, it'd be cool to get a player like VC (or Steve Nash?) to Houston.

 

Oh, just to add, it's really cool to think about if we have a healthy team next season and we keep Artest, we can have Artest as a 4th or 5th option!!!

Yao, Tmac or somebody else, Scola, Brooks, Artest, Landry. Pretty good scoring bunch, except I feel a void without Wafer off the bench, haha. Lowry can get some hustle plays, and if miracles happen over the offseason, Hayes can average 6-8 ppg. Or Dorsey and/or White emerge in usual recent Rockets style as surprisingly good players

I like how we have players with different niches. defensive specialists especially.

Definitely miss Dikembe, though.

Oh, but definitely agree with original post about Tmac needing to work hard, though I don't know if that's possible.

 

Von has no defense. In no way should you compare him with Ron.