Couple of things to look at: Could Ariza/Battier contain McGrady? McGrady was a top 5 player in the league at that point. This was the last season in his careeer where his jumper was automatic which made him extremely dangerous. Ariza could challenge his jumper but McGrady would catch him off-position and beat him off the dribble. Battier would do a better job of staying in front of McGrady but he would not be able to bother his jumper. So, no, I dont think anyone on the current Rockets roster could contain McGrady one on one. Which leads to.... Would the current Rockets double McGrady at the top of the key? Remember that McGrady was running the pick and roll offense at the top of the key. Mavericks figured out a way to stop this as the series went on. They started to double team him and forced a lateral pass to another Rockets perimeter guy. If the current Rockets show hard at the screen and do double him then 04-05 Rockets offense suffers IF.... .....current Rockets constantly front Yao. 04-05 Yao was even worse than recent Yao when it came to issues with his balance. To this day, Yao and Rockets have not solved fronting defense applied on him. A fronting defense of Chuck Hayes would be a nightmare for Yao and even a Chuck Hayes behind Yao would pose considerable problems for Yao becaue of his quick hands. So, if the current Rockets double McGrady AND front Yao then their production on offense suffers and current team has a chance to win a series (I am not saying they would win, I am saying they would have a good chance of winning). The only other consistent creator on offense left on that team would be.... Mike James. Which takes us to the next question... How well could Kyle Lowry stay in front of Mke James? Remember, Mike James was very good that season. He was excellent from the perimeter and was constantly attacking the basket with good results. He was also a pesky perimeter defender. Lowry's game is somewhat similar. He is not as good as Mike James was from perimeter but he is a stronger finisher, draws more fouls, and is a better defender. If the current Rockets front Yao AND double McGrady at top of the key AND Lowry is albe to contain Mike James, 04-05 Rockets offense suffers a lot and current team's chances improve even more. On the flip side: Could anyone on the 04-05 Rockets contain Brooks? I dont think anyone on that team was quick enough so, no. However, Brooks isnt at the point where he will win a series for Rockets single-handidly. Brooks would present problems but not be the deciding factor on his own. What would be the net production from Yao on defense? While Rockets interior defense would be better with Yao closing down the lanes, would the current Rockets expose him using pick and roll? Remember, the Mavs started to isolate Yao on the perimeter by going small, which actually ended up hurting Rockets defense. Current Rockets are small and their game is based on quickness, but is the talent level there to do what the Mavs did on the perimeter? Could the 04-05 Rockets keep the current team off of boards? This curent team has some excellent mobile rebounders in Scola, Landry, Hayes, and even Lowry. I think this team would pose a lot of problems for the 04-05 team with Yao as the primary rebounder, who is slow to react on boards. How would 04-05 Rockets defend a double post up game of Scola and Landry? Both are capable post up players and Rockets had one post up defender at the time; Yao. Yao plays one but who contains the other? Clarence Weatherspoon? Ryan Bowen? The chair in your living room? How well would the 04-05 Rockets defend current Rockets transition game and their transition 3 point shooting? If 04-05 Rockets do this well then the current Rockets offense suffers a lot. And although 04-05 Rockets were not very good at transition defense, playoff games do turn into half court affairs so this current team would be at a disadvantage. Which team has more liabilites when it comes to offense? Mavs used Ryan Bowen's inability to make shots to gain an advantage. 04-05 Rockets could use Ariza and Chuck Hayes to gain an advantage. But remember, Bowen was only in to contain Nowitzki. With no Nowtizki on this current Rockets team, he would not really be needed on defense, which means 04-05 Rockets team could surround Tracy/Yao with James/Barry/Sura/Wesley, all capable shooters. The current Rockets team lacks that kind of offensive firepower, and at anytime, they would always have one crutch on offense. However, the current Rockets team has an advantage when it comes to player movement and unpredictablty on offense. SO.... IF the current Rockets team did a lot of things right like doubling McGrady, fronting Yao, and Lowry containing James, then the current team could definately make life miserable for 04-05 team. In addition, if the current team played to their advantages on transition offense, attacked the board and Brooks was consistently stellar through out the series then the current team could win. However, there are a lot of IFs involved with the current team to win, which is why I think 04-05 team would win. 04-05 team was a better team on offense and they would have had the best closer in the series.
i can't believe some think a 6'6 chuck hayes could front a 7'6 yao ming effectively. It's ridiculous. Zboy that's a lot of analysis there, but it's not that debatable. Yao would outrebound those guys easily, not to mention they have deke on the bench. Rockets would need to double yao AND tmac, that means a lot of layups and open jumpers for everyone else. The 05 team wouldnt need to double anyone now and defensively yao and deke could cheat off of chuck and still recover if he got a pass.
It isnt a question of height when it comes to fronting Yao. He is always taller. The problem is his inability to hold his position to catch lob passes and his inability to catch those lob passes once thrown because he lacks balance, both of which is needed to be effective agianst fronting. Smaller players with strong base can be very effective againt him when it comes to fronting. Hayes fits the bill. Yao has never been a very strong rebounder because of his slow reaction speed. And this was a very early Yao when he was not as strong. I have a hard time believing an early Yao would easily outrebound Scola, Hayes, and Landry.
Yao's always taller, by half a foot or so, not by a whole foot. Not to mention chuck's vertical and reach is below average so that's even worse. Chuck probably the worst possible defender for someone like Yao, the onyl thing he's got going for him is his strong base, which doesnt mean much because Yao can face up if he's pushed away from the rim. Usually that can be risky, if there's a tall orlong defender who can challennge the faceup, but chuck isnt that guy. Landry isn't a good rebounder. Hayes lack of heigh and yao's extra height would give yao the edge. sure there's rebounds that bounce away and you need to go after them, but any short rebounds would be all Yao's. Scola would still get some boards, but as a whole the yao/deke combo would kill them. Howard isn't a scrub on the boards either, he'd hold his own. And how could they ever get anything inside against Deke? Deke's achille's heel are scorers who pump fake, push into him, and use their length to get under or around him. Why would he go for any pump fake against 6'9, 6'7, and 6'6 centers/forwards? Which one of those has the length to avoid him? None. Scola's fakes and use of his pivot would help him hold his own, but landry would get swallowed up and chuck would be lost. You can forget about brooks, ariza, and battier scoring anything 5 feet in. They are terrible at finishing with contact or creating it. Deke would eat them alive as well.
T-Mac would probably get 50+ points, schooling our whole current team. He was still in 02-03 shape at that point.
As I said before, the problem isnt height. The problem is Yao's inability to hold his position. The 6 inch or 1 foot additional height still does not help Yao in that regards. He is a very good defender to use against Yao. He is quick and will stay in front of or behind Yao and the biggest mistake Yao would make is face him and expose the ball. Yao gets stripped very easily and Hayes, with his quick hands is a master of slapping at the ball. Yao does well against big and slow guys. It's the little pesky guys who give him a lot a problems and Chuck is one of the best at that. Re. rebounding. None of the current Rockets are excellent rebounders but they are all very mobile and good-very good rebounders. Put a whole bunch of them against Yao, who isnt a very good rebounder himself, and the current Rockets edge out. Yao had trouble rebounding against the Mavs, who werent exactly known as terrors around the board. Re. Mutombo. If you plug him in to replace Yao, you lose the offense. If you plug him with Yao, you now have two players who will need to play pick and roll defense. It's a give and take.
This is a very stupid question. T-Mac in his prime and Yao almost in his prime would destroy our Rockets of 09-10.
Yao's can't hold his position when he's posting up, not when he's fronted. He can't completely avoid being fronted because you can't physically move that defender. What position does he have to hold when fronted? Yao's the one that defines the position and then the defender just gets in front. After that it's not about holding that position. He can stay there in that same spot and one defender will still be in front denying the entry pass and then another will be cheating behind him to cover the lob. chuck being a lot shorter makes it easier to get an earlier entry pass because there isn't as much threat to get it stolen. chuck's not long enough to reach around yao or stay up in the air long and frequent enough to keep denying a lower lob.A lower lob makes the rear defender ineffective. Why would yao even want to go around chuck? Yao doesnt need to go round him, he can easily go over him. chuck's not blocking his jumper away fromt he rim or a hook turnaround in the post. Yao may get stripped initially, but he'll quickly learn to keep the ball high and/or away. Other players aren't as tall or long as yao so "high and/or away" is still within reach for chuck, not so with Yao. the game isn't a bunch of quick rebounders versus Yao. It's 5 on 5. You can't have landry, chuck AND scola out there. Only two at a time and one of them will have their own defender to worry about. Technically you'll lose offense without Yao since yao's a better scorer than deke, BUT deke is a better defender and is no scrub offensively. He's more than capable of posting up and throwing up hooks or short layups and still being a threat to score, especially if he's facing a 6'6 chuck or 6'9 scola. Deke > hayes and Yao> hayes. It's a lose-lose situation at center for them.
weren't they suppose to destroy Utah and Dallas? these words describe that era of basketball: would could should if almost Orlando
Rep to someone how finds that site where you can generate a game vs. past rosters teams. I heard about it on the radio one. They used to 93 Rockets against the 96 Bulls.
Those were playoff teams, the Rockets this year aren't even in the playoffs as of right now. Think before you speak please.
Keep in mind the 05 team had championship talent, their issue was a mental breakdown. We're comparing that to a team that barely has playoff talent and also has it's own mental breakdowns.
TMac was stronger then that Shane is today..... Meas just what it says. When Shane guards Kobe or DWade he can use his strength to compensate for his lack of quickness when trying to keep them in front of him. He can bump them off their paths to the basket. He can hold his position on the post against Kobe. TMac had a lot more upper body strength and wouldn't be bumped off his path by Shane. Young Juqon Howard meaning he was about 6 years younger than he is today and that's a lot in basketball years. Still ?
Think? I know. I saw the 04-05 Rockets already. You should think first buddy boy, this season is not over so you don't know if this team will make the playoffs or not. Also there's something called the trade deadline. 99
did the 04-05 Rockets win a playoff series? so "if" "would" "should" "almost" "Orlando" are correct words. "Orlando" -word used by tmac fans to make themselves feel good because of a high scoring average
What makes you think tmac had more uppser body strength than shane? What makes you think tmac even had any significant upper body strength? this was a guy who came into the league not able to press his own weight and never gained any significant mass/muscle over his career. He also spent the last few years with a horrible trainer. Battier isn't exactly the governor of cali, but he's got more mass now that tmac had then, not to mention he's visibibly more muscular and that has to translate to more strength to some degree. And you said a "'young" juwan, not youngER, maybe it'was a silly mistake, but you implied he'd have problems with scola based on his youth, when in reality juwan then was actually a little older than scola is now.
