2 Franchise players and a partridge in a pear tree

Sir, I counter your opinion of what you think is the BEST the Rockets could do. And YOUR signature. With my own.





Hussle,smarts, more clutch, way less stumbling boneheadedness, sturdy, intelligent and role players that know their roles and play their roles consistently.
Now this, is a dynasty.

 

just what the rockets need, a power forward with no defensive ability.

 

It's amazing to me that you think all problems will be solved if the Rockets could only pick up a couple of bench players (Malik Rose or Okur, Daniels). Since when do guys like that make any team a contender? And this is after trading away an asset in Mobely to boot.

You say it all depends on Yao becoming 20/10, but why couldn't Mobley and Cato or Mo work with a 20/10 Yao just as well?

Keep in mind we're talking about a team that won 45 games and really barely made the playoffs. You're saying trading Mobley and getting other role players is going to be what pushes this team to contending status?

 

Its get tiring to see the same team next year. Steve and Cat just wont work. We need unselfish, smart and decent defensive players. Steve is trying so hard to become a pass first pg but hes too inconsistent and his obssession with dribbling the ball for almost 3/4 of the shot clock really drives everybody nuts. His decision making is unquestionable considering hes already in his fifth season going to six. Thats unforgivable. Heck, he even cant finish a 2 on 1 or 3 on 2 fastbreak. Unbelievable. Even the commentators observed that. I watched game 5 between the heat and the hornets. I just cant believe dwayne wade is a rookie. He's like a younger version of steve but in this point of his career, he seems to be more controlled than the franchise. And davis, everybody in this board agreed that francis is much better than davis, i dont think so. Baron > steve. Baron has more control of himself, even if he gets fancy with dribble, he still has much control of the ball than francis. But i dont believe that davis fits into this team either. Cat, hes a good player, decent defender. What i dont like bout him is hes dumb. He is a streaky shooter, but sometimes a volume shooter at that. But he and francis dont know how to play the pick and roll or they r just selfish no to give the ball to yao. There are so many instances that yao gets free inside but they just dont want to drop the damn ball. I dont know if its picture of stupidity or they r just selfish that yao would score. Thats y jason kidd is great, steve nash, mike bibby, sam cassell, they are smart players and they just want to win.

 

I'm saying that, in an offensive system built around a post player (Hakeem), a slasher was able to thrive (Drexler).

JVG runs more pick and roll, but he clearly wants the offense to revolve around the big man. But there's no reason why that offense can't incorporate Steve's drives to the basket -- as we saw in Game 4.

Oh, and I don't appreciate your attempt with your pithy little comment to make it look like I don't know what I'm talking about by suggesting Steve and Yao are the equal of Hakeem/Clyde. That's not what I was saying, and you know that.

 

No, I don't. I should have said that he ran the team as well as Nash did during the playoffs(As he didn't do that much during the regular season), but I stand by my statement.

You want to retract your username?

If you watched the series(I'm skeptical as to whether you did or not), you would know that Daniels played lots of PG minutes down the stretch. I don't know how much he will improve, but he plays with great maturity. He knows his limitations and adheres to them.

 

1. I was actually somewhat encouraged by their symmetry in the playoffs, but maybe you saw difficulties I missed. Cat played Kobe very well, and they had no match for Steve but Stevie himself. That said, when both Cat AND Steve are on the floor, the inside out offense doesn't seem all that organic. I'm not sure that it's not something that won;t improve in and of itself, but yeah, if one's gotta go, as impressive as he's been this year, you let Cat go. On the other hand, I'd almost rather replace Steve with another star then replace Cat with another quality player.

Okur's something to think about, but I'd be really going all out for Darko. Not sure how well he fts with Brown, or if RW stays, where he's gonna get time. Yeah, sure, teams just hate having too many quality big men, but I'd give up Steve, Cato, Cat, etc. for Darko and Billups.

Brand isn't as natural a fit, to me, as some seem to think. Both he and Yao operate best on the low left block, and I have visions of a return to the Dream/Charles rotational post play which was a waste of talent. Yeah, he's the perfect kind of player, but whethr he's actually the right player is another issue. That said, I'd love to see how it works, just not sure if I'd love it enough as our one big move, and we've only got one load in the gun.

What's the fascination with Malik Rose that resounds around chat boards across the NBA? Have never really seen it.

2. JJ to the 2? Hmmm...emphasizes some strengths more, yes, but also some weaknesses. Against most 3's JJ's no longer all that quick, has a lesser handle, and will be guarded tighter on the perim. The handle's the big thing to me. With Steve's propensity for turnovers, I'm not sure you want to lessen the handle at the other 2 spot. If anything, lok to improve it.

Daniels is intriguing. Have a feeling he's gonna be a relatively hot commodity, though. Agree that Boki getting a legit shot is a near must, short of adding an Odom, etc.

3. Agreed. ( Did you edit your post to remove a mention of Strickland, or am I thinking of another thread?) Err on the side of safe over talent.

Nice post, btw.

 

I say we focus our attention on signing both NVE and McDyess, they both love Houston and have homes there. Once we've done that, we can focus on re-shaping the roster with one big trade or a couple of small ones. After that, we'd need to

One problem. Nick Van Exel isn't a free agent this offseason. He has a player option, but there's no way that he excercises that option. He's due to make more than $13M next season. So, you think that he would really walk away from that and sign for a piece of the MLE? No way.

Go back an re-read NVE's quote about playing in Texas:

After next season, I'm playing for a team in Texas," the Golden State Warriors guard said before Tuesday's game against the Mavericks. "If I'm not playing for a team in Texas, I'm done.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/basketball/7871737.htm

Notice that he said "After next season". He's not going to give away $10M in guarenteed money.

 

Both he and Yao operate best on the low left block, and I have visions of a return to the Dream/Charles rotational post play which was a waste of talent

Do you mean that Barkley/Olajuwon team that won 57 games in a season where they were both healthy? I'd love our biggest problem to be that we had too many dominant low post players.

 

I have the same question, Okur is OK but how would he be ideal for Rox? It's mostly based on Potential. I'm not too sold on the guy.

 

I don't see Brand as a Francise player, IMHO I think you guys are too high on Brand. He's a solid player that can fit perfectly with Yao and co. He's not a Francise player, Duncan or KG is a Franchise player.

 

1 Sign Barry + McDyess , leave M Taylor
Brent Barry
SF3/Cat
JJ/Nach
McDyess
Yao/Cato

2. Sign Barry , SF3 = Bland
Brent Barry
Cat/JJ
JJ/Nach
Bland/Taylor
Yao/Cato

 

That's too bad. Are you sure it's not a team option? I thought it was.

 

Nope, it's a player option.

http://www.dfw.net/~patricia/contracts

http://www.realgm.com/src_contractoptions.php

 

Okur has a nice shot,rebounds well and is developing a low post game.He can post up , hit a jump shot and pass but he isn't much of a defender even if he is better than Taylor.
Stay away from McDyess. He has had too many injuries.

 

Sorry for the pithy tone. I just thought it absurd to use the success of Drexler/Olajuwon to prove the legitimacy of putting Francis and Yao together. Two reasons:

1. Talent cures a lot of misfits. You think Kobe and Shaq would fit if they were lesser players? Kobe is a slasher too. But he can also make the pull up regularly. And he can pass the ball to Shaq right where he needs at the right time. You think Jordan and Pippen would fit if they were lesser players? They were redundant players to each other. They thrived simply because of their talents and chemistry.

2. Even ignoring the talent question, Francis/Yao is very different from Drexler/Olajuwon.

Francis is a PG. Drexler is a SG. Francis dribbles a lots. Drexler didn't. Francis is not a good passer/decision-maker. Drexler was. Francis is smaller. Drexler is bigger.

Yao moves slow in the paint. Dream moved around fast. Yao has great shooting range. Dream didn't attempt long shots. Yao can't beat double team. Dream did it all the time. Yao is a good passer to cutter. Dream wasn't that good a passer.

You see, when you look deeper, they aren't even the same types of player, which was the whole point of you short little statement.

 

Yao and Steve are kind of in the same boat.

I kind of liken Steve and Yao to Cato and Taylor. Both Taylor/Cato are one dimensional. Now everybody wants the team to go find a power forward that combines Cato’s defense and Taylor’s offense to create the perfect role player at the 4.

I feel that Steve and Yao are both two halves of a superstar player. The team needs a player that combines Yao’s size (maybe not 7’6, but at least 6’10) and skill with Steve’s stamina, athleticism, and heart.

It’s a wonder to me that this team was able to make it as far as it did when it’s two franchise players were both averaging 17 and 16 points per game for the season. That has to be near the bottom of the league in terms of leading scorers per team.