what will happen? Can we improve from last season? Hell yeah......at least thats wat I think assuming no injuries to key players and we get just a back-up center for yao. no need of anything just that. We will not contend for the championship next year unless Yao does a hakeem of 94. All we we want is to improve from 7 to at least 5 in the west. Our current lineup is C- Yao/Anybody who has played center in the nba and can still play PF-taylor/howard/weatherspoon SF-jackson/nachbar/griffin sg-t-mac/pike pg-lue/gaines This is not a bad lineup but not a great one. But definitely a better lineup than last year. Our weakness last year was turnovers and dumb plays. It was not pf problem although it did hurt us when we play duncan/kg but so do the other teams. I think we can get away with taylor and howard as our pf. Howard has never played with a team that has a dominating center and never become the third option. I think him being the third guy for us and yao beside him will do wonders for him and our team. Taylor....well is a good guy to have on the bench thou over paid. I see him having the same role like last year but doing it better. Jackson barring any injuries will have the same impact like last year and boki has a better chance to improve next year than have a lousy season than last year. I will be partial and say he will improve a little so i see no difference here in our sf rotation. Tmac is way way way better than mobley period. Pike will be healthy and will help so we will have a better 2 spot than last year. Point guard...well francis played that position last year but now we have lue. We loose here but not that much. We lost a player that does not fit our team. You lose in scoring, and highlight reels. In lue you get a past first point who plays a little bit better defense and most importantly who will listen to the coach. He also played with shaq and kobe before so no need for adjusments here. Gaines if he plays like how he was hype in college then were set. If not then just play him as a back up. He wont be as bad as moochie a more accustomed yao and a decent center as a back up is better than last years yao and cato howard and a more accustome taylor is better than cato and last years taylor jackson and an improve boki is better than last years jackson and boki Tmac and a healthy pike is better than mobley and coming of and injury pike a better fit lue/and a revaitalize gaines is i think equal to a low iq turnover prone poor shot selection does not fit system high scoring francis West teams did improve last year but by how much? Spurs Denver and Utah did improve but the rest well just the same if not less. Lakers will never be d same again without shaq and fisher. Sacramento might loose divac. Minesotta is just the same. Dallas just lost jamison and nash. Memphis added cardinal but in danger of loosing swift. Sonics has done nothing yet same with portland. Clippers might loose quentin but might stick with him also. Warrior will lose dampier. Suns got nash so what? My prediction is: Spurs Wolves Kings rockets lakers utah memphis dallas What do you think
I think you value Mehmet Okur and Carlos Boozer alot more that you value Kenyon Martin. And I think we'll use the MLE because you can't roll it over into next summer.
I feel we will be fine staying put. Lue is a decent PG and has been a starter and should do fine.. We may be looking at PG's because this is the last year of Lue's contract and we dont want to be without a PG next year.. Ive mentioned I think the standings will be as follows. Kings - just because they are in an easier division Spurs Minnesota - its hard for me to believe SamIam will have the same type of season next year. Houston - Teams have gotten better but we still have a great team. Dallas - This team has too much talent to slip too much. Denver - Tasted the playoffs and made some great FA moves. JKmart will not be as much of a factor in the West but still a talent. Utah - Nice FA acquistions no one player stands out but similar to the Grizzlies have alot of depth. Memphis - I think played out of their mind last year.. Hubie was able to help them overachieve but too many redundant players. Lakers will miss the playoffs without Shaq. Kobe and Shaq carried this team of no names (minus last years GP/KMalone) but with Malone taking off and GP losing a step.. I think the Lakers are out of the playoffs. J
I could easily see us picking Charlie Ward and a smart frontcourt veteran type of player like Robert Horry. Now that the Diesel plays for Miami I think the backup to Yao should be able to cover faster power forwards and smaller centers.
Whatever we do I hope it's small. No more bad untradable contracts. There is not really anything big we could do now. Find a sucker to take MoT's 9mil/yr contract(I forgot it was THAT bad until it was posted in another thread.) Considering the awful contracts given out to players this offseason, I don't guess it really is. I think 9mil+6mil?(and long)+however much Spoon is making is terrible for just being decent at the 4. How much is Spoon making anyway?
Just what I was thinking. We're less than a week into the real offseason and there's already assumptions that we're standing pat. They've still got two months.
unless we get a good rebounder and defender in the post, someone who can be a solid backup to Yao , we have the Rockets rated way to high. Until they can get some muscle behind Yao they risk being about where they were last year. TMac will be a huge upgrade over Cat, but overall replacing Steve, Cat and Cato as a unit is harder. J Howard is = to Mo Tay as far as creating mismatches and production. He is a little better rebounder but not a tough defender or shot blocker.
At this point, I don't really care if the Rockets stand pat. Next year is basically just going to be a learning experience for Yao and Mcgrady. Whoever we have as a supporting cast next season, I don't consider to be extremely important. I think the role players playing for the Rockets next season are going to look completely different from the role players the Rockets have 2 seasons from now when Yao and Mcgrady are ready to turn the Rockets into contenders. The only priority next season is that Yao and Mcgrady learn how to play together and that they learn how to carry a team. Next offseason will be the time for the Rockets to make moves and find role players to surround Yao and Mcgrady.
ok lets break this down. SF > Lue - SF3 was way better than Lue in terms on offense but Lue can run the offense and may be more willing to give up the ball. Cat < TMac - Tmac is way better than Cat (sorry to say) and should make up for the hit we took with the PG spot. so far even right? JJackson - should still be himself and we have a more experienced Boki playing behind him which is a plus. Cato < JHoward - You may not think his defense is all that but Jhoward is the more complete player. Plays solid offense/defense and this was what we were looking for last year. Yao - should be a year wiser and more experienced so the way I look at things we are in pretty good shape. I know the team needs some time to gel but even with the holes (backup C and PG) we have enough talent with our starters to compete. Our backups are pretty much the same .. Mark Jackson > Gaines - I give Mark the nod just because Gaines doesnt have the experience yet but I consider it close. Mark may have ran the offense but his poor shooting and poor defense were a liability. Pike/Boki/Padgett are all still on the roster but we dont have a decent backup C which concerns more than the PG position. Since we all know Yao may end up in foul trouble early and often. if we stay put I think we still have a scary team much more balanced and hopefully we take care of the ball better. If we could get back the games we gave away we would have been a 50 win team last season (gave away last minutes mental mistakes/turnovers) .. thats my 2 cents. J
Lue was better than SF3 last season offensively, is more consistent offensively, cun run the offense, isn't turnover prone and IS more willing to give up the ball, simply because he doesn't need to dribble to shoot the ball. So, in terms of offense, and whats a better fit for this team. Lue is already a great improvement over SF3 at the pg spot. The only complaint people have is his lack of height. I swear if he were 3 inches taller, we'd all be content with him starting.
Howard will start. Not because Taylor can't. But because we need Howard's balance in the PF spot (offense/rebounding/defense). He's no shot-blocker. But neither was Taylor. Taylor will be a nice spark coming off the bench. Remember, he's an ISO-based PF. So, he'll offer us more coming off the bench; scoring option. He loves the ball on clearouts. We need Howard to be Yao's "enforcer." Tough guy, blue-collar work.
If we stay put, we will miss playoff. Yao has not been able to dominate consistenly; T-Mac plus TYron "bette than SF" Lue won 23 games in the Least. This team is going to surprise a lot of people in the wrong way.
The T-mac and Lue who won 23 games, were unmotivated, were in a horrible team with horrible chemistry, excluding T-mac and Juwan, and didn't have JJ, and Yao, two of the major reasons that got us into the playoffs by great regular season play. Third was Cato and his D. However, we replaced streaky Cato and his D with Juwan Howard, a better Mo Taylor in the starting line up, with an overall more balanced consistent game who'll get you more rebounds than Cato or Mo. Who'll give opponents and Yao something that Cato couldn't do, a gauranteed scoring threat that can spread the floor for our big guy. Cat was also a reason for our regular season success, thanks to his improved play, but you replace him with a 5 top player like T-mac and enough is said. Steve? Aside from having the worst season of his career, is replaced by Lue. Who yes, is better offensively in this current Rocket's team. He's a good jumpshooter, is a good 3pt shooter, more important doesn't need to dribble to make his shots, and a decent ball handler that doesn't turnover the ball. All that, DOES make him an improvement over Steve as far as the PG position goes, and this current Rocket's roster goes. Nonetheless, I don't want us to stay put, we still need a starting PG, since the importance of Lue's height surpasses the offensive game and sufficient ball handling skills he has and we so much need from our starting PG. Not saying Lue should be our starter no matter what, but I really think some people here really exaggerate their dismay over Lue starting if there's no other choice, just because he's 6'0. We also need a compitent backup center. On a side note, for the comment of Mo Taylor. If Mo were 7'0", we would be trading away Yao Ming? As good a shooter Mo is, Yao's even better and more effecient, Yao actually has defensive skills, and defensive desire. Why am I even going on about it? Yao has more skills than Mo, period, and 7'6>7'0 And before I get labeled as "blind" by the T-mac aquisition. Let me make clear, I don't think we'll be a title contender next year, nor do I t hink we'll have it easy next year with our current starting line up. But, I also don't think it's the end of the world, nor that we'll be "surprised in a wrong way" with our starters. People really should've watched these players through their career and be knowledgeable of them, stats don't tell all the tale. T-mac, Lue and Juwan in Orlando does not= T-mac, Lue and Juwan in Houston.
Good points about "lack of motivation in Orldando" and "Howard spreading the floor" when Yao is doubled. That's going to open up the court very well. All we need is Howard to hit those 10 - 15ft jumpers on the Yao double-teamed. I would love it if Howard could average 12/10 (more boards!). That would be perfect for our team.
