no, hill is not a good one on one defender. i don't see he will be a very good player after watching his play since he joined rox. at most he will be a good rotation player. he is a good weakside defender due to his athletism.
We also need a PF who finishes strong at the rim. Scola tends to jacknife his layup attempts and corkscrew the ball after driving off balance.
Its not like they'd played together on the court for a significant amount of time to actually know if they're a good fit. We won't know if its a good frontline unless we try it! Jordan and Yao may be the best fit or the worst, but its best to experiment now than in March or May... PS. From looking at past workout's and reading scouting reports, Jordan Hill is a lot more developed than what he's shown out there or what we give him credit for, 'he just needs to gain confidence in his own ability', the talent is definitely there... _____
I like the idea of putting Lee and Lowry around Martin. This gives more defensive help around the 2 to mask the defensive deficiency there. I put more value into minutes played than who starts.
I would make one change for sure. Budinger in the starting line-up. I might be willing to start Lowry based on his defense.
Yao isn't converting against single coverage enough to make the kickout threat from AB, Batman and Martin credible. Until he consistently demands an early double team, Battier is too much of a liability on offense to start or play off the bench. If Yao returns to form, Battier becomes a low volume but efficient offensive player with his spot up game and his defense will win games for us. I think Yao should be in the high post and we should be running way more pinch post. Miller when healthy is your backup center and your plan on getting your boards and garbage work from Scola and Hayes/Jefferies/Hill.
Scola's mistakes have been just as if not worse than Hill's. Not to mention Scola doesn't protect the rim. I'd live with Hill defensively
I like your ideas, up until the trade talk. Why suggest all of these changes, and then call for a trade? A trade would immediately cancel out any rotation/line up changes. I stand firm that a trade is not the way to go ... we've been trading on a yearly basis, and it's not getting us anywhere.
Also, starting Lowry will hurt us offensively. Teams will cheat off Lowry and dig down on Yao. Brooks is the starter
5 stars, repped Yao/Hill combo off the bench is a good idea. Hill's athleticism complements Yao well.
It's not that i'm worried their styles won't fit, it's their individual status that i'm worried about. Even Dream and Thorpe wouldnt work out if Thorpe was a young guy with inconsistent PT and Dream was rehabbing back and playing short stints.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...e-rockets-can-rebound-from-a-bad-start#page/1 Here's another 5 ways of looking at things.
EXACTLY...RA and every other team in the NBA always goes back to their starting lineup within the last 5min of the 4th. So I think that Until YAO gets his act together a front court of Hill/Scola or Damp/Scola has to be what we go with down the stretch.
The lineup/rotation changes are like a band-aid on a wound that really need stiches. The current makeup of this roster is not solid enough to dominate or compete with the top teams in the east or west in a 7 game series. Without a GO-TO player, you have no GO-TO play, our defense if suspect right now to say the least, and as a team no one demonstrates poise or a WILL TO WIN late in games. We need to upgrade the talent by shortening the depth of the team. I know it sounds crazy but it is the formula for success.
Everyone needs to stop looking at Lowry's shooting ability and saying that he will hurt this offense. Its just not true. He has the BEST command of the groups that he plays with when he's out there. There is just less confustion on the players when he is controlling things. He doesn't "pound" the ball all the way through the shot cloc and by putting him out there with Martin as the shooter, it will force Martin to be targeted more and work off cuts and screens more. Martin can not create for himself, he is good comming off screens and cuts and driving to the basket following those screens and cuts to draw fouls. Defensively, you have to some how find a way to balance both the starting lineup and bench by masking the defensive inabilities. The only way you can do that is to put active, athletic, touch, defensive players (Hill, Lee, Lowry) around your scoring options (Yao, Martin). It just makes since Think about successful teams in the past that don't have PG's with range and don't have to dominate the game by scoring or taking shots. It worked for years: Spurs = Avery Johnson 80's-90's Lakers = Magic Celtics = Rondo Current Spurs = Parker ...and by no means am i saying that Lowry or Brooks are on their talent level, nor do we have the caliber of stars that those teams had, so please spare the backlash and read into the point of what i'm trying to say. When you have a low post option and an efficient wing scorer that has range, you can spare shooting at one position especially if that position brings you overall command on the offensive end and defensive intensity. Plus he pushes the ball and draws fouls better than Brooks...what does that mean?...it means that it makes the game easier for Yao andMartin because getting to the line essentially "slows the game down" which is ultimately what you want.
RIGHT NOW i'd have to agree. He hasn't brough the things that he brought to the bulls last year nor has he brought what everyone expected by him playing for RA again. He comes with a HUGE price tag for the little to nothing that he has brought so far. Hopefully we get our money's worth later this year.
