Bigger Need: Clutch Bucket-Getter or Imposing Rim-Protector?

Two things. One, players were not going crazy jumping ship trying to team up like they are today.

Two, the Yao, Mac window was very small due to injuries, it was non existant in the RA era.

You telling me if Yao and Mac were healthy and at the top of their games that others wouldn't want to come to the Rockets? Sadly it's a new NBA right now and these management teams seem to have too much say in what is going on.

So what I'm saying is, it's not just the player that may attract other player/s, the management teams seem to be forcing teams hands. Obviously Melo's team is part of this trend.

 

This is poor logic.

You could just as easily ask: Might we benefit more from adding a player that would significantly improve the offense right from the opening tip and make our performance down the stretch of close games less of an issue?

In your proposed world, more points over the first 40 minutes of a basketball game would decrease the significance of end game buckets as well.

 

We would have beat the Fakers 2 years ago had Dekimbe not gone down. Just like would have beat the Mavbricks McGrady's 1st year here if Juwan Howard hadn't been injured.

 

not necessarily....he's saying a center would help throughout the game, especially early on. The rockets don't have a lot of offensive issues early on. For this specific team, a defensive center would help create a larger lead prior to the 4th quarter ( Or mid 4th) than an offensive player would. There's more room for improvement on that end. We're already 3rd in the league in scoring, IIRC.

 

Count me in on the Shotblocking athletic center.

That would make us a 50+ win team and a top 4 in the WC immediatly.

DD

 

I went with the Carmelo option. I believe finding a superstar player is much harder to acquire than a shot blocking presence.

 

Would adding Melo take shots away from our other scorers? I think it would. so the addition of Melo would only marginally improve scoring. The only place Melo would help in scoring is in the clutch.

 

I guess we're 8th overall then? I should have said third in PPG, 4th actually, now that' i've looked it up.

 

I know teams should always draft the best player available. Should it be the same way with trade? I think with trades it's more flexible. Teams can trade by needs, but if Martin, Carmelo, or Amare is on the table you take him.

While a shot blocker would do wonders for this team Carmelo would be nice to have on the roster.

 

But we don't need to improve our offense very much to do that. Heck, we've done that many times. The problem is, once our shots stopped falling, the other team would erase the big lead in no time BECAUSE we did not have a defensive anchor like we did when we had Yao and Deke.

 

So we get Melo and Birdman!

 

Easy answer: you go for the better player and worry about fit later.

Our team's biggest need is a rim protector and rebounder, so I actually think Deke would help out more immediately. In fact I believe this team with Deke would be better than with Melo.

That said, I would still pick Melo, easily. We might be worse off in the near term without Deke, but it is much easier to add a shot blocker/rebounder- maybe not HOF level like Deke but still effective- than a superstar like Carmelo.

So who would make us a better team, immediately? Deke.

Which player would get us closer to a championship? Melo.

Hope that makes sense.

 

Good question, in general terms carmelo is a better player and would provide us with the superstar we need...but for our team deke is a better fit. We are losing games because of defense not offense

The big question would be, does adding one or the other makes us a true title contender?

 

No, it doesn't. Which is why you add the one that is harder to come by, and work your way towards a true title contender from there.

 

Not to make a complication out of this, but saying all the rockets need is a shot blocking big is like saying thats all gsw,phoenix, and all those other high scoring teams needed also. At some point, the defensive philosophy has to be included.


Phoenix was a terrible defensive team because their best player was the worse defender in the league. The coach can't crack the whip on players about defending their man when the best player is not even trying on defense. Pop would ride Duncan which gave him the express train to ride Parker. When you can chew out and hold your best player accountable about not playing up defensively, the others will fall in line. Right now, 2 of the rockets best players are terrible defenders.Not to mention, i don't think adelman stress defense as much as say jvg or thibs.

 

uhm. no. a dikembe mutombo for this team would be HORRIBLE. Just look at how Shaq's awesome defense greatly improved Phoenix into championship after championship

 

Obviously rim-protector. There has never been a team that won a championship with just pure offense and very little defense. The Rockets have 3 scorers(Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Aaron Brooks). A defensive big man would have more of an effect on the team than another scorer.

 

"Yeah adding more defense to a team would tremendously destroy a team's chances of getting a championship. Yeah sure there is no place in a team for more defense. Looking back on all of the championship team, they were all pure offensive teams" (sarcastic).

 

Count me in with the rim-protectors.

Rockets are number 8 in scoring... but still a sub 0.500 team. I don't think the problem is on offense.