AB's major problem is his nonexisting defense, he can't defend one on one, he still don't know how to defend pick and roll................
I'm more interested in what's best for the team and less interested in what's best for AB's payday. I think he would be OK with it if Adelman sat him down and explained the situation. It's not a minute reduction -- he can still get his minutes/points/stats off the bench much like Jason Terry or Ginobli did. And him coming off the bench doesn't necessarily mean he won't be in the game in clutch situations. The fact is, he's not going to be playing NBA basketball for 3 - 4 weeks. If the Rockets can sustain their current play throughout that time period, I think RA has to think harder and harder about making AB the 6th man.
ive watched all our games this year. early on, most of our shots felt like one n done. the last game was the exception with lots of offensive rebounds by hayes to get a new 24. another observation is when yao's the starter in the first quarter, most of his plays were him one on one down low and the rest just standing around. i didnt see kevin martin getting much of the benefit of open 3s that we all thought he would see. i thought kevin's 3s were from the team sharing the ball around. also on fast breaks here n there. luis has been awesome, but he has to share with yao when theyre both in the game. n neither are strong rebounders to get the other's miss. i dont agree with having to need all 5 starters scorers. infact i think our 2nd unit has trouble scoring. chase n lee (last game an exception) arent getting it done. i think they might be better moving than spot up shooting. the team needs a pecking order like the OP says. especially the big men. whos the first center after yao? is it brad or jordan? is hayes still being plugged in as a center? i think lees a better overall player compared to chase. and kevin's an able guard to bring up the ball. i think him not being able to create his own shot is way exaggerated. i think aaron n kyle are equally talented in their own skillsets. both can start over the other. my starters jordan, luis, shane, kevin, aaron. 2nd unit yao, hayes, chase, lee, kyle. i see jordan and hayes as active big men to chase around the loose balls. luis and yao as the primary post scorers. i still like kevin and aaron working together for the scoring advantage in the backcourt and i think kyle might be a better passer inside to yao and to cutting chase n lee. but really, some other advantage can be said to switching aaron with kyle. brad still needs to be in the team. jeffries isnt a bad player to have off the bench when someones down, and hes been good when hes had the chance to come in, but i think he needs to be packaged somewhere soon. i watched the wolves vs bobcats earlier. still love gerald wallace. the guy plays all out and i think hed make a good model for our other players to play off especially if we're serious about having a defensive identity. maybe wait till larry brown gets pissy frustrated and the team's to blow up. morey should suck up to michael jordan and take him out drinking n gambling.
Nice thread and post. Well thought out ideas and solutions. 1. I agree with this, Brooks would be a very good scoring punch off the bench. Him and Martin together creates too many defensive holes to cover up. A nice mix of clear cut offensive options (scola and martin, and perhaps Yao) with clear cut complimentary assist and setup players (Lowry) with a team defender (Battier) is a nice mix I think. 2. I agree, absolutely. Scola, Martin and Yao, with Brooks as the scoring option of the bench are good ideas. 3. Not sure about this one. Yao is clearly our best center offensively and defensively, and should start in my opinion. When he sits, the original plan of Miller starting and Hill backing him up are fine with me. I think Hill should replace Miller as Yao's backup if we need a defensive presence and a shot blocker (this makes a Huge difference in the game for team defense) and vice versa if we're starving for offense. Miller or Hill should come in for Yao if he is being torched by a 3 pt shooting center, or if an athletic center is destroying his lateral movement. 4. I don't agree with this. Hill has to play, Bud is in a slump but he will come out of it (His points off the bench are invaluable, all shooters are streaky at times), and Hayes needs to not be the primary backup, but come in when Scola, Hill and Miller are getting used and we need a defensive stopper. (in a weird way, even though he doesn't block shots or is a dominant rebounder, he's our defensive enforcer) Overall though, great post and ideas.
Forgot to mention, Lee can't play SF. He would be giving up on average 3-5 inches and 25-60 lbs every game. There is no way he could handle the size and strength of these guys, and we would get destroyed team rebounding wise at the SF position. Also the comparison to Hayes I think isn't a strong one because most PFs are more power post players and chuck is specialized for that. SF is a more of a shooting position and everyone would be able to shoot over Lee. Here are some examples of the size (Courtney Lee: 6-5 200 lbs) of Western Conference SFs: Carmelo Anthony: 6-8 230 lbs Caron Butler: 6-7 230 lbs Trevor Ariza: 6-8 210 lbs (7'2 wingspan) Nicolas Batum 6-8 210 Grant Hill 6-8 225 lbs Andrei Kirilenko 6-9 235 lbs Kevin Durant: 6-9 230 lbs (7'6 wingspan) Ron Artest: 6-7 260 lbs.
Agree with pretty much everything in the OP. 1)Benching Brooks is a no-brainer. You explained the reasoning pretty much to a T. 2)Not sure about a pecking order but with Lowry starting I would trust that the ball will move to the hot hand/the right man with an unpredictable attack. 3)Until Yao is able to at least go on back to backs this makes a lot of sense. 4)Haven't really thought about benching Budinger but have to agree. Go with match ups on certain nights, but the majority of the time play the better player. Which is clearly Lee- not a liability on either side of the ball, more experienced, more proven shooter. Good post and a good plan to go forward with. We'll see if Rick the Ruler agrees.
3. The only reason I suggest this is to give our team more of a consistency. It's plain to see that this team struggles when it can't rely on it's starting five to play every game. Until the doctors allow Yao to play in back-to-back games, I believe starting Miller would help bring more cohesion to our starting unit and stabilize our rotation. Otherwise, you're just flip-flopping the 5th starter on any given night and pulling guys in and out of the rotation. I freely admitted that Yao should join the starting lineup once he's cleared to play in back-to-back games. 4. I like Budinger. I understand he's a crowd favorite. But we don't have room! Playing Budinger puts us at a 10 man rotation and puts another weak defensive player on the court. We're 28th (I think I mentioned that earlier -- working off memory so forgive me if I'm mistaken) in the league in how much points per game we give up and FOURTH in the league in scoring. Offense is not our problem -- defense is. Playing Clee over Budinger helps our defense while having a neglible effect offensively. Courtney Lee is our BACKUP sf. What you listed was a bunch of STARTING SFs.. only three of which would really concern me (Melo; Durant; Artest). Most of those times, Battier will be matched up with the stars in that category. If those guys want to shoot over Courtney Lee, I'd let them. That means they're settling for jumpers and doing it with a hand in their face. What you overlooked is the fact that if Lee weren't guarding them, Budinger would be -- who is clearly the inferior defense player. I'd rather take my chances with Lee.
Well, we won a game against a bad team when Yao was playing (Timberwolves) and won against bad teams with Yao out (Pacers, Knicks), so I think we should see more games with the way things are before we decide to bench him I think. I'm not worried about him being a crowd favorite, I just want the best team to win games. That being said, yes he is a weak defender, but with Lee on NBA SFs would create an automatic mismatch and would make Lee look bad on defense as well, we would lose most rebounds at SF, and since Lee's strongest offensive game is mid-range jumpers, his shot would be getting block a lot more. Well back up SFs are just as big: Shawn Marion: 6-7 228 Peja Stojakovic: 6-10 230 Donte Greene 6-11 226 Manu Ginobili 6-6 205 (the spurs starter Richard Jefferson: 6-7 230) Gordon Hayward 6-9 207 Lee would be a defensive liability with SFs shooting over him, and would get destroyed if they decided to post him up. Bud is bad, but Lee at SF would make him a defensive liability, a weak rebounder, and hurt his mid-range game. Every one has their own opinion, and I respect yours since you really thought everything out. This is just mine, we'll see how things play out and what Rick sees as effective. We all may be wrong, including myself. Until then I'm happy we're winning again
I like it... i was actually always in favor of starting Brooks and Martin side by side with Yao, but i was wrong. I just dont see it working well for us defensively. Guard routinely get by Brooks and Martin, and this will leave Yao vulnerable to foul trouble. I think Lowry makes much more sense here because he is a true point guard. We have enough scorers in the lineup. We need a true point to set things up for players like Martin, Scola and Yao (when he returns). Brooks i think would benefit greatly coming off in a 6th man role. I think he'll be more efficient simply because his role would be to SCORE rather than be a point guard... Jason Terry-esque. Right now, even though our bench picks up the pace, we don't really have a go-to scorer. Brooks has shown in the past that you can put the ball in his hands and he can create shots. Miller makes sense to start in place of Yao (until he's able to play without restrictions) simply because he and Martin work VERY well running Adelman's offense. Miller, while not a great defender, does bring some toughness on the court. He doesn't take crap from anyone - something i think were missing last year. I actually agree with you with C-Bud vs. Courtney Lee as well. Regardless of their size difference, i think Lee would do just fine guarding the SF position. His quickness alone would give SFs fits. If anything, i think it would actually be beneficial to try, cuz he couldnt do worst than Budinger. I'm not saying Budinger's defense is bad.. but i think Courtney Lee is more fundamentally sound defensively. I dont think Lee's size would hurt us defensively.
