Time to stop this center/guard oriented team folly

Many people are angry these days and saying the Rockets should go back to their center-oriented offense instead of using their guards as main scoring weapons. Although I do agree that they need to get Yao Ming more involved, I believe the center/guard orientation mentality is already obsolete at this stage of NBA basketball.

At this point, there are only two so-called elite teams in the NBA, the Mavs and the Kings. Their records tell the story. Are they center oriented or guard oriented? The answer is NEITHER. The Mavs' offense is so unstoppable, not because of Nowistiki, not because of Nash or Finley, but rather a combination of five key players. They have either a star or very good role player at every position. To shut down their offense, you've got to shut down at least three of them, and it's very very hard to do(the Kings did that successfully in the last game of their playoff series). To the Kings, they are more dangerous, in my opinion, than the Mavs, because they are two stars deep in almost every position. You need to shut down 8 to 9 players to stop their offense, and it's almost impossible.

Yes, the theory of success for the NBA champions in the past ten years have been: putting two league's best players together and mix good role players with them, get a 30, 30, 10, 10, 10 scoring combination for the five starters and enjoy the rings. However, starting from last season, and magnified in this season, the Kings and Mavs have discovered a new formula, which is to put allstars caliber players in almost every position, and get a 25, 20, 20, 15, 15 scoring combination out of the starters. None of these guys need to be the best, but all of them had better be pretty darn good. And the deep the bench is, the most successful you can get (this is why I think the Kings have an edge over the Mavs).

I know, for the last ten years the old formula have won all the championships(the Bulls, the Spurs, the Lakers and our Rox), but the tide is changing. Last year was the dramatic struggle between these two type of offenses, and was culminated in the Kings/Lakers serie, which I believe the Kings was the final winner(ask the refs), and this year, the two teams that are using this new offense is tearing up the league.

I know it's still a young season to tell anything, but this is just a theory for fun. Back to our Rox, I don't think either Yao or Francis should be the focus of offense. Otherwise, if you shut down the focus, the offense is dead. We need to develop something fresh and agreable to the trend. Both Yao and Francis had games in which they scored over 30, but in how many of them we win? But for those games in which at least two guys scored over 20s, and the rest got into their 10+, we won most all of them if not all of them. We need to play more team ball with a lot of ball movement(I am not a Francis hata, but kinda agree with his critics), and do a wide open type of offense. To do this, we need to develop Nachbar and Griffin more, so in our championship years they can contribute their 10+ points and some nights, 20+.

I might be wrong, and if I am, let me know.

 

Well, he's had success in the past that was unmatched. However, the tide is changing now as I said. I can almost guarentee you that the champion this year will be either the Mavs or the Kings(most likely the Kings). The Spurs are a long shot, and we the Rockets have a even longer one. The Lakers? They need to make it to the playoffs before any consideration.