Yes he should start. I've seen enough of Luis Scola this season to see that he is a terrible defender, especially against shooting bigs and quick ones. Landry's athleticism allows him to cover more ground than Luis, and ultimately I feel Landry is the superior defender of the two. Start Landry, let him gaurd the dirk's, the channing fryes, the lamarcus aldriges, etc. Scola cannot keep up with them. The starting lineup SHOULD be this: AB C-Bud Ariza Landry Hayes Bring Scola and battier of the bench, allow him and Ariza time on the other teams best scorer(s). Once Yao comes back that starting lineup would be contender worthy.
As long as he continues to finish strong I think it's a moot point whether he starts or comes off the bench.
I think the Starting 5 should be, well this is if the rockets do get Von he just took his physical again 24 hrs ago and the results should be in 1/7/2010: C-CHUCK-Obviously F-LANDRY-Sorry Scola F-ARIZA G-VON-Knows the system,can score- and i like BUDDINGER of the bench G-AARON BROOKS- I think should be an All-Star :grin: Back Ups: C-ANDERSON- could give other teams trouble guarding because of his shot F-SCOLA- Top F in NBA but i like LANDRY strating F-BATTIER- Great D to go along with the second unit G-BUDDINGER- Love his IQ for BB, great scorer can help the 2nd unit put up pts G-LOWRY- Cant say enough about this guy all out toughness and demeanor Thats my roster take...replay if you like :grin:
i don't think starting means too much other than other nba teams might scout his game more(?), but either way it doesn't matter. however, i do think landry needs to CONSISTENTLY get 30-32 minutes a game. right now he's at 26. he's too good to keep him on the bench for long stretches i think ... i don't know how we do that but i'm willing to cut pretty much anyone else's playing time for his.
Why start him? He's been very good in the role he's in. The Rockets have exceeded most people's expectations. He's great off the bench. He gets good minutes. He's been a big part of their success. So why start him? Some sense of basketball justice? Just because it feels right to "reward" him with a starting job? Because that's the knee-jerk thing you're "supposed" to do when a guy is playing well? Why not just look at what's best for the team as a whole instead? Don't fix it if it's not broken.
Landry is more than worthy of starting, but for me right now I like him coming in off of the bench bringing that firepower. We have guys capable of filling it up but are not near as consistent as Landry. I don't want the bench to just kind of tow the line and try not to give up a lead. I want to push and Landry brings us that off of the bench. I also believe part of why he is so consistent late is being fresh. I'm not sure we have anyone who can be as explosive coming in with the second unit
Fans just don't seem to understand this. The rotation is what it is and Landry won't be starting unless a trade, injury or something drastic changes. It's not a video game, if you start to move guys around in the lineup it effects more than just that one player, it effects the whole team. Changes are done out of necessity and lineup rotations should be done with care. Lowery and Landry make a good combination together. Do you split them up? Hayes off the bench? Hayes defense should be on the starter not the backup. As long as Landry is getting big minutes and finishing the game, what else can you ask for?
Landry plays well coming off the bench, why would you want to ruin that? He comes in and dominates the other teams' bench. If he started, he may not do as well. 20ppg whether starting or coming off the bench is 20ppg. 30 mpg is the same starting and coming off the bench. Doesn't matter as long as he gets plenty of playing time.
I agree we are slow to start on offense, but ... more important is offense late in the game, and ... The reason we are slow up front is Scola is slumping right now; it won't be for long, so ... Starting lineup needs to remain the same. Let's ride out this losing streak ...
I dont think anyone he replaces could have the effect on the team the Landry does off the bench. Thats a big part of why he comes in. If we recognise someone is having issues or if we cant score, or even need a burst of energy.
Don Chaney was asking the same question after the game. Its something I'm sure Adelman is considering right now. There are pros and cons to doing it, of course.
I personally wouldn't. You don't want to blow your entire offensive wad with the starters, because you will eventually need to give them minutes to rest or risk wearing them down. It is part of the reason Yao and McGrady wore down so early in their careers, it was because we didn't have anything coming off the bench. Only Landry is able to score in double digits consistently for the team coming off the bench, everyone else may have one or two big nights but often are just single digit role players. It is better to keep Landry coming off the bench to play a fresh closer, unless Andersen suddenly starts stepping up his offensive game. Also for those that say Landry should start over Scola, that won't happen mainly because Landry is smaller then Scola and guess who is the one that usually jumps for the ball at the start of games? He may not always win but, Scola's size is a key factor for our team this year.
