on paper, of course the Rockets are second round bound, heck i say finals bound even. there are no more glaring holes in the lineup. at PG you have James, Rafer, Brooks and T-Mac (good scoring, avg defense) at SG: T-Mac, Bonzi, Snyder, James and Head (rock solid) at SF: Battier, T-Mac, Bonzi, Snyder, Harris? (also rock solid) at PF: Scola, Hayes, Battier, T-Mac, Bonzi, Landry/Harris/Butler? (not bad) at C: Yao, Deke, Hayes, Butler (rock solid) T-Mac realistically won't play 4 positions, but that's how versatile he is. Bonzi will only see time at the 4 if he gets 30+ mpg under Adelman. Snyder and Brooks are real question marks as far as playing time this season. how many minutes Hayes gets depends entirely on how good and ready Scola is. otherwise, the Rockets are stuck with Battier as primary backup PF. compare to Dallas: PG: Harris/Terry/Buckner (small but quick/ mediocre defense) SG: Terry/Stackhouse (still small but quick/ still mediocre defense) SF: Howard/Stackhouse/George (solid) PF: Dirk/Croshere? (best position, but not deep) C: Erica/Diop (better than average) is it really surprising that they lost to Golden State? compare to the world champion Spurs: PG: Parker/Udrih/Vaughn (great offense/mediocre defense/not too deep) SG: Manu/Finley/Barry (good offense/average defense/otherwise solid) SF: Bowen/Finley/Barry (good defense/mediocre offense/just plain old) PF: Duncan/Horry/Bonner/Splitter? (best position, but not deep) C: Oberto/Elson/Bonner/Splitter? (average at best) actually quite similar to the Mavs, but stronger at PG/SG and weaker at SF/C Phoenix: PG: Nash/Barbosa/Banks (rock solid/but average defense at best) SG: Bell/Barbosa/Hill? (the weakest link/but still decent offense/defense) SF: Marion/Diaw/Hill/Jones (very solid with Marion starting) PF: Diaw/Marion/Thomas/Amare (only average with Diaw starting) C: Amare/Diaw/Thomas (very solid) even with Hill, they're not very deep. defensively, only Bell and Marion are good individual defenders. but like Houston, no glaring weaknesses. Utah: PG: Williams/Brown (solid, but thin) SG: Brewer/Giricek/Almond? (not a single starter) SF: AK47/Harpring/Brewer (solid, but AK47 is out of position) PF: Boozer/Ak47/Okur/Millsap (best position by far) C: Okur/Boozer/Collins (solid) big hole at SG; lack perimeter shooting. the Rockets can match up with anyone, even Phoenix. no way they lose to Utah with their current roster. Mavs and Spurs have no answer for Yao, T-Mac or Bonzi, and now they have Scola and James.
We can finally match up to Phoenix because our head coach won't be a stubborn prick who refuses to adapt to other teams' different styles. How many times did we beat Phoenix in the Van Gundy vs. Nash Suns era? I think we went like 2-8 or 3-8 vs. them. Had constant three second violations because Van Gundy refused to accept that Phoenix did not play a post-up game.
Yes, Adelman likes offense, but he also wants defense, why you guys always assume Adelman doesn't give a **** on defense... Saying Battier isn't good enough to start or not a starter is just insane, and IMO, he is no way a 6th man material. Ginoboli can score like hell even Duncan and Parker is not on the floor, but Shane can never do that if Yao or Tmac is off the court. As someone pointed out, using Shane's best weapon (defense) on the other teams's 2nd unit is just a complete waste of talent. Shane is not a scorer, but he is a GREAT role player who play tough defense and you can't leave him open because he is going to kill you with his 3s. That's exactly what we need in a team that has two super start like Tmac and Yao. True that we have Adelman now not JVG, but that doesn't mean he won't use Battier to start. Then again, I see your point about shifting Tmac to the 3, so now the question we could debate is, IF Bonzi gets back in shape and Scola does become our starting PF by the end of the season, which lineup Adelman is more likely to run: One: Yao Scola Tmac Bonzi James or Two: Yao Scola Battier Tmac James
i think tmac should be at the sg position and shane at the 3. shane's weakness may be his scoring ability but he can shoot a good %. i don't think sticking shane on the bench and having tmac at the 3 would help. Mike james is a player known more for the way he scores and gets to the line not really known for distributing the ball and getting others involved. why would you ever want james and head playing at the same time unless it was to rest the starters? head doesn't distribute well and james is really out there to score. what ever RA decides to do, please don't have rafer playing more than 20mpg and shooting more than yao or tmac. thanks
Shane makes it damn difficult for the other side's star player to rack up points. Yeah, they will get their points, but they will have to take heck of alot shots to achieve it. Just ask Vince Carter, Carmelo Anthony, Rashard Lewis, Andre Iguadola and yes, Kobe Bryant in the last LA game (had to take 41 shots remember?).
Honestly, I thought we were second round bound this season. We were up 2-0 but it didn't exactly go our way.
You missed the point on Luther Head - He is not an NBA starter for any team in the the West. He may be able to start for a couple of teams on the east. LUTHER PLAYS NO DEFENSE IN THE POST OR PERIMETER. For every point he scores, he gives up 3. Check the Utah tapes, as soon as he checked in, Jerry Sloan would check in Harpring at the 2 spot and murder Luther. Trust, other teams picked up on his lack luster efforts in the post.
That recent Chronicle article suggested they plan on having Alston start at PG, if that is really the case, then I still think the Rockets have a good chance to not get past the first round.
... said the guy who just showed up last week to the guy who's been posting about the team here for 5 years. Maybe ease up on the smack throttle there a bit?
Regarding Battier -- I still hope he's traded I like the guy, and think he's a solid player, but he is very one dimensional in terms of position and it greatly reduces our flexibility imo. I think we are best served with a strong defensive 2/3 with at least some offensive game. T-Mac needs to play his starters minutes primarily at the three at this point, and we have a glut of talented players that can play minutes at the two (I'm optomistic about Bonzi). I hate to think about it still, since it really seems out of the question at this point, but Artest would be perfect. Better defense, better offense, better rebounding, and can find a ton of minutes in very different fashions on our team. Aside from Battier, I still feel that, while improved, PG and PF are our weakest points. I love the addition of Scola and feel that adding James at least gives us a solid duo at the point, but neither Rafer nor James are legitimate starters and it remains to be seen what we get out of Scola. I'm not jumping on the "Brooks for starter" bandwagon -- he's had a good summerleague, but that is crazy imo... Unfortunately, I don't see many options to upgrade without doing some radical (not a good idea imo). At point guard, I think the best we can do is Jarrett Jack, and that could hardly be considered an upgrade. At power forward, we certainly can't afford the J.O'neals/Gasols that have been in rumors, but perhaps a Sean May? Still not much of an improvement. Regarding the second round -- I don't think its ever fair to say its a safe bet. The West is just too stacked. I think we have a good chance if Adelman's plans mesh well with our players. Potentially, we can stack up against the NBA's giants quite well. There's just too many questions (new coach, new system, new players, etc) to really answer that now.
I think that some people have been blinded on what everyone did last year offensively. Battier was asked in the offense to cut and spread. He would make one cut through the offense then stand on the outside and "spread the floor". When he did have the go ahead to post up inside, he made a lot of those little baby hooks and looked pretty decent. Also, he has huge BBall IQ. Meaning, that he is going to pick up a new offense quickly and use it to his advantage. Going back to the original question of the thread... are we second round bound? First of all, I would have to say, we should have been last year. As much as we all hated losing to the Jazz, it could have gone either way. Suppose that last rebounded ball had bounced to one of our players instead. Then we could have been the ones playing Golden State and possibly moving even farther. So do I think this years team will make it to the second round? I think the only problem will be how long it takes to accustom themselves to a new mindset and on court presence. With the current roster, on paper we look even deeper than Utah. So should we match up with them again, it should be a shorter series. However, as we gain more players that have talent we lose a little of the chemistry that last years team had. As long as this doesn't become a problem, and the player develop a new rapport with one another, I would say 2nd round is the minimum that we reach this year oh and the requisite... and no one gets hurt... knock on wood.
Just watch Battier and keep your eye on him, he truly is like Robert Horry, players that do so much that don't show up in the box score. Now he's not Robert Horry, possibly the best role player ever, but he is one of the very best role players in the NBA, and he really helps McGrady and Yao a lot, he's a very good fit with both of them, especially McGrady. If the Rockets management can make the team better by trading Battier, then you always want to make the team better. But Battier does a lot for the Rockets team. As of right now he's the 3rd or 4th best player on the team, depending on how quickly Scola adjusts to the NBA.
I can't believe no one else responded to your post. I think this sums up everything thats being discussed in this thread. I agree with you 100% on all three points. Very good post BMoney.
Prove is a bit tough - but I will give my case. 2's are faster then 3's. Not every 2 is faster then every 3, but on any given night, that's the case. I love battier - his attitude, ethic, sportsmanship, energy, and intangibles. If he was a young Robert Horry, I'd say keep him in the game. But he's not. He's not as strong defensively as everyone thinks. Yes, he is a solid defensive player, and his effort is consistent. That accounts for a lot. But he's not going to shut down premier players. He's undersized and not the fastest guy out there. If he was quicker, he would probably be a defensive all-team member, but he's not. If you want to take the defensive pressure off of T-mac, you move him to the 3 where he doesn't have to chase around the opposing two-guard. Let him save his energy for offense. Maybe he will start knocking down some more 3's with fresher legs. Since we don't have a deep shooting two (and you have to have one really if you are going to use Yao Ming effectively in the post and give prevent too many traps against T-mac), you need to insert Head there. The point doesn't have the 3 point shooting, and T-mac isn't a great catch and shoot player - he's actually better off the dribble. Head is the only guy who fits there. I don't know about head's defense, but the Utah series shouldn't define a player....that was after all Head's first playoff series of his career. He'll adjust. Also, head was forced to play point last year which didn't suit him at all. He was more effective the first half of the season when his role was to be a shooter. And also keep in mind that Head is still growing and getting better - Shane is a known commodity - his game will like not improve any further. I'd love to see Shane become more aggressive offensively and contribute more there - if he did...I'd still say move T-mac over. But if we had signed say Rashard Lewis, I'd obviously want to keep T-mac at the 2.
