The bottom line is this: if the Rockets miss the playoffs this year is Adelman going to feel any heat? Of course not. The Rockets are bringing in new players, they've got rotation players out on injury and their star center is out. It's disappointing but a realistic assessment of the Rockets would conclude that they've overachieved all season, regardless of where they end up in the standings.
Yes, I agree Lowry and Ariza are very important to our team. but, plenty of people were arguing that playing Budinger over Ariza was already an upgrade. Some were rejoicing when Ariza got injured and others were discussing how good our backcourt would be without him. Based on those opinions I would have thought that we would be winning a lot more games. Great thread, tinman. I think people need to be reminded of how important these players are to our team. With the rate at which we are dropping games without them it is obvious that the active roster is not dominant alone.
Budinger over Ariza is an upgrade on offense, but you have 3 guys playing 96 minutes, and one of those guys is getting only 20 min(budinger) That's a lot of minutes for Martin and Battier. Having Ariza/Lowry reduces the load on everyone, in addition to what they actually bring to the floor. You could argue that Ariza seeing very limited minutes with Brooks/Lowry/Martin/Battier/Budinger seeing the lions share at the 1/2/3 makes the team better. But dividing 144 minutes between 5 guys works alot better than dividing 96 minutes between 3 players.
The problem with this assumption is that while we are stronger in the backcourt with Martin and Brooks and Budinger, we are weaker off the bench without Lowry, Budinger (starting) and Landry. So, we sort of robbed Peter to pay Paul....but I think we will be better for it in the long run. What I don't get is why Chase is not seeing an increase in minutes even though both Lowry and Trevor are out....Chase should be in the 30 mpg area.......but for some reason, Adelman leaves him in the same ole 20mpg slot. And last game, he was the only wing hitting any shots and boom back to the bench he goes....very weird. DD
Aaron Brooks and Kevin Martin aren't playing any more minutes than star players like Lebron, Kobe, Durant, etc. Either you are saying they lack the necessary conditioning or Ariza/Lowry have a big impact on this team. You can't argue both points. You can't dog out Ariza and excuse the active players for our recent losing.
I think you're confronting a reality that doesn't exist. Sure, losing because of injuries is an excuse. It is actually a decent excuse. But no one is saying it's okay to lose to sub .500 teams. A few years back, a high seeded 50+ win Rockets squad got swept by the Bobcats, and were more or less healthy in both games. Bad losses happen. Certainly on a game by game basis they happen. Overall, though, injuries ARE a reasonable excuse. ESPECIALLY when the three guys injured are about as key to the team's defense as possible. Lowry and Ariza are much much better backcourt defenders than Brooks and Martin, which in turn would help out the interior defense. Of course, the team was struggling before those players went out. But, on the whole, considering the pre-season injuries - Yao, the T-Mac drama, the Lowry and Ariza injuries, and the trade, the team has seen a fair amount of turmoil, especially in the last month...ALL while nonetheless not having enough talent anyway. That's why it loses to sub .500 teams and is inconsistent. Having Lowry back would help. Having Ariza back would help....regardless of your thoughts about him (even if you think Budinger should get more minutes at Ariza's expense, it still makes your team deeper), and having a healthy Yao back would help a lot. Having all three would help a ton. Then having Morey land even more talent, through draft or trade, in the offseason, would help even more. As is today (March 5, 2010), the team is more or less a .500 team, with .500 talent, which means it wins some games and it losses some games, and not always the ones you expect.
I'm not dogging Ariza to say Chase is a better offensive player than he is. Ariza will still make a difference due to his defense. Lowry's difference doesn't even need to be mentioned. One player back will help the starters stay more fresh, both players will get the team back to what it should be. And those happy with Chase being ahead of Ariza in the rotation still wanted him to see minutes off the bench. It wasn't a sense of Chase making Ariza null and void. With Martin in here I am less anxious to see Chase starting.
No, Brooks is a PG who needs to learn a thing or two from Rafer. Pass! Rafer was the last option. If our bigs didn't have anything and our wings could not find an open look it was his turn. Martin is our SG, he should be taking the majority of the shots from the perimeter. One could argue Brooks is a scoring guard. This season, that is fine. That better not be the case next season.
Or what?? You can't do a single thing about it whether it happens or not. I guess you could cry or whine about it on here. But next year Rick Adelman will have these guys doing precisely what they are supposed to do. Or they will be riding the pine. Rafer was the last option because he couldn't shoot. There is a reason teams left him open even on rotations. There is also a reason teams double team and trap Aaron Brooks. Brooks is taking so many shots this year because he is option 1. Martin just got here, and his role should begin to expand as the team gets more comfortable with him. Also, Aaron is not a selfish player. He passes the ball when he is supposed to. He shoots when he is supposed to. As far as being "within the offense" Brooks is doing the right thing. Just because you THINK you see a pass he should make, doesn't mean he should make it. He sees things that you and I don't. Like that help defender trying to lull him to sleep so he can pick the pass off.
I think about 50% of the board does not understand that RICK IS THE RULER. I mean ever since he got here, Fans were yelling "We want Steve Francis" then the fake Knick fans wanted T-mac to play 99 minutes a game. Rick is the freaking coach of the team, I assume he knows all the weaknesses and strengths. Plus we all know what happens when ANY player goes against the RULER. This ain't a democracy!
based on the threads I've been reading here, this is the most logical poll. you know like drinking+driving is bad. you can poll people and 100% will agree, but then people will still do it. you got people posting that Tmac is better than Michael Jordan, so this is prime steak compared to the ground beef out there. bon appetit
LOL @ the "I'm still thinking about hypothetical situations with players not on the roster" option... To answer the queston, yes we SHOULD beat teams like the one we lost to last night with our current roster, but with many players injured, we will not win, or even get to, the playoffs.
couldnt find how to show the picture in my post so had to put it in a link so srry http://www.jmorganmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/captain-obvious-1024x377.jpg
