I agree with most... Bev should start next to Harden - but Lawson gets more minutes....20/28 or 18/30 or along those lines....
We need him as a starter. He has the talent & as a 2nd playmaker, he'll take some of the load off of James. With Ty starting it will allow Pat Bev to get back to his roots. Absolutely hounding the opposing teams PG.
If you don't start him, how are you helping Harden in any way in the starting lineup? That was the whole point. I understand the need for bench depth, but nothing changes if you don't put an actual playmaker in the 1 spot next to Harden. I'm hoping Lawson will be the quarterback for this team. Harden's expertise is breaking through lines and scoring; he's a running back. Dwight is a big ole receiver. Last year, without a quarterback, a lot of running teams just eventually started smothering our running back and and were always brutalizing our receiver, who wasn't able to get open as much as we'd like. I'm hoping Lawson has the intelligence to open up better scoring opportunities for both James and Dwight, so they can just stab stab stab through defenses. And when that's not a possibility, your PG/QB can "run" the ball in himself. As for the second unit, I'm not sure. James can function as serviceable backup "point guard," but it'd be nice to not run his minutes into the ground. Perhaps the second unit focuses heavily on defense with a Beverley core. Capela is making leaps and bounds, so he should be a formidable blocker and will also be an offensive threat when Dwight is out. I don't think people realize how important that kid is to us. If the second unit can learn to get him the ball, it'll be good for us. Need some consistent shooters in that second unit as well. It's not going to be a bulldozer, but it can defend the line the first unit bulldozes. If the second unit could work on a bunch of specific plays with Brewer, they could really use his talent for slashing to their advantage instead of camping him behind the arc where he's more of a liability. Who knows? It's complicated. The biggest question for me is whether our coaching staff can sort out those complications.
There is absolutely no question Ty will start. Bev and Ariza ignoring open man in the post or making worst passes into the post area ever must end.
This. Lawson is hands down the starter and several levels better than Beverly. It shouldn't even be open for debate as to who will be the starting PG. They may have to bite the bullet in the beginning of the season to redevelop some chemistry, but the payoff down the road is huge. Lawson makes Howard, Harden, Ariza, DMO, Jones ect. better players and that's flat out scary.
I'd like to see him come off the bench, but ultimately play more minutes than Bev. And this might not be so hard to do if he's going to be suspended for the first 3-5 games, especially if Bev and the Rockets are playing well. In the end though, I trust McHale's lineup management - even though keyboard warriors think he's awful at it.
I dot really think starters matter, what matters are the rotation. Lawson can start, he can come off the bench, as long as 100% of the time he is on the floor when harden is not
I think he would flourish as a 6th man, but he's going to make the starters damn near unstoppable. Can't wait for the first GSW game.
Nobody does this anymore but I'd start Beverley, then start Lawson in the 2nd and finish with whoever McHale was feeling comfortable with that night. You get A+ defense on the opposing PG right off the bat then you neutralize some of the halftime adjustments by coming out with the heavy hitters on offense to start the 3rd. It also helps fix some of our notorious 3rd quarter scoring droughts and lets Dwight get to work early in the game in the post.
Of the legitimate teams, I'd start Beverley against: Clippers Warriors Thunder Cavs Of the legitimate teams, I'd start Lawson against: Hawks Bulls Mavs Pelicans Grizzlies Spurs These two teams are tossups for me: Heat Raptors
I agree with this. Harden came off the bench in OKC because OKC had Durant and Westbrook starting. We had one ball dominant player who could make plays and OKC had 2. I don't see anyone suggesting Westbrook come off the bench because Durant is there or vice versa. How are we helping Harden by bringing Lawson off the bench? At the end of the season Harden asked for another playmaker and McHale suggested that they asked Harden to play off the ball more to conserve energy. Guess how that happens? Starting Lawson. Do some of you guys want to start off losing games as teams load up on Harden while Lawson sits? The PG defense thing is overrated for 2 reasons. One reason is most PGs play in the pick and roll which is a team defense issue that involves the big and the PG. The team philosophy is how you stop that. Bev or Lawson are getting picked from the start so Bev's one on one defense is marginalized. 2nd reason is the why allow the top PGs to rest on defense while they sit in the corner on Bev and save their energy for offense. Make them guard Lawson from the start while they expend energy on offense as well. Most top PGs are poor defenders save Chris Paul and Mike Conley due to their size and they fact they end up switching on to bigger guys after picks are set. Lillard is the worst of the worst. Would you guys recommend Lillard come off the bench if he came to the Rockets? The key is to stagger Harden and Lawson minutes after the start of the game and 3rd quarter. For example -Harden and Lawson start 1st qtr -Lawson come out at 6 min mark and Bev come in -Harden come out at 1 min mark and Lawson come back in -Harden rests through the qtr change and back in sometime in the mid 2nd qtr while Bev comes back in for Lawson at this time -Lawson checks back in for the last 2-3 min and is back with Harden to finish the half Rinse and repeat for the 2nd half. This give Harden and Lawson 18-20 min together primarily against starting 5s which is the most important time for them to play together. The other minutes are staggered with our bench and the opposing teams bench and we can mix and match Ariza, Brewer, Thornton, KJ, etc as needed. Lawson is not Jeremy Lin. He is a significantly better basketball player than Beverley and that trumps "ideal fit" just like Westbrook is much better than Augustine therefore starting with KD despite them both being scoring champs.
He needs to start and he needs to play big minutes alongside Harden. Half the reason we signed him is because we needed someone else who could create when Harden inevitably gets swarmed by the defense. Start him next to Harden and give Harden some rest at the beginning of the 2nd and 4th quarters while Lawson runs the team. Lawson can rest as necessary.
Rockets's best defensive weapon at PG position is Ty Lawson's offense. Opposing PG need to play full defense on Lawson, instead of resting on Beverley. Of course we start Lawson. Force opponent to play against our strength.
That proposition is just hilarious! Kudos for your acute wit and sense of humor! At least I hope so ...
Here we go again... Hopefully, this will turn out better than last time. If not, somebody's gonna blame someone again...
