Bigger Need: Clutch Bucket-Getter or Imposing Rim-Protector?

Deke any day, defense always win.

 

Man I miss that finger wag.

 

W22_STREAK for some reason lately has been trying to be the new carl herrera, but with no luck :grin:

 

I'll echo most of the people's view here, we have enough scorers, and zero rim protection.

I think the choice is fairly simple, id rather have someone protecting the rim for 4 quarters than a guy being clutch for 3 minutes.

 

You can always fill the void for a rim protector with a role player like sean williams but it's not as easy too fill the void for a superstar, so if you have a chance to get one you take it.

 

what's my end goal? to simply replace 1 person and improve the current roster all else being equal?

or to actually win anything outside the regular season eventually?

the former, rim protection, the latter, star clutch scorer

 

For the love of god, a shot challenging center! Same need as the last ten years when we failed to get a reliable quality backup center for Yao.

 

where did you see the Lakers constructed in the poll question?

Easy pick, read the the poll question

 

Zactly. But neither Melo or Kobe is going to win a Championship if they were plopped on this current team without a significant defensive upgrade in the middle.

The move that makes the most sense is to change out Shane and Scola for Melo and a good, big, long center. You play Hayes and Patterson at the 4 in place of Scola, and you trade Scola and other assets for Anthony. You play out the season, make the playoffs, make some noise, then come back next season with further upgrades.

 

I think some people here don't know who Deke was in his prime. As a long time Rocket fan, give me DEKE.

 

Too much of a reputation/nostalgia pick, I suspect?

 

then why has it been so difficult for us to fill that void?

 

A shot blocking big would win us more games right now.

A clutch performer and perceived "star" (beyond on court production) will help in recruiting other pieces. And, while both are necessary for a championship team, the "star" is probably more rare and if you have the opportunity to acquire one you jump at it and build around him.

But yeah, in the short term we desperately need a big defensive center. But, I really think people are asking for too much if they think just plopping a shot blocker into the lineup will clean up all the blown assignments from every other position. I doubt he would have the impact most here dream of, not with this group.

 

Overwhelming response in favor of defense, in the poll.

By the way, for those who say, "we need both," ok sure, but that's not really the question. That's like responding, saying, "we'd be a better team if we had a lineup of Olajuwon, Malone, LeBron, Jordan, and Magic." so, back to reality, while everyone would love to address both issues simultaneously, the chances of actually being able to do that are slim. so you address the area of greatest need. Do the Texans need to upgrade their offense or fix their secondary? Answer is clear.

The two championship teams that i think of -- Celtics and Spurs. More often than not, they were winning by rather large margins. With Celtics, I think their defense was really anchored by Garnett roaming the paint, along with a clear, disciplined defensive philosophy. They have many shotmakers too but often it wasn't even an issue, as they'd blow the doors off of teams. Secondly the Spurs. While this year is a bit of an exception, they've consistently built their team around a very sound defensive system. I wouldn't consider Duncan a defensive juggernaut but he was tall, mobile and strong enough to handle their interior. But again, the team defensive philosophy was very clear and disciplined. From my perspective that's really been the key for those two teams. Secondarily, it is a necessity to have a fairly large guy on the block to anchor the defense, however, that isn't as hard to fill in when your defensive philosophy is sound.

I'd say even with our current roster, Patterson could potentially fill that kind of role on the Rockets. But I am not sure if our defensive as a whole is aggressive enough.

 

both!

 

This team needs a rim protector. We currently have no problems scoring the ball. We need to play better defense. They currently have the ability to do that, but he is not getting playing time.

 

I just don't think a shot blocker will automatically make us into a top ten defense or make us a championship contender. I mean look at the Suns since they added Gortat -- how good are they now? They had no problems scoring the ball before and then they added a 'shot blocking presence' (whom the Rockets were desperately after) and they still suck.

That said, I may be reading the question wrong now that I further examine it. Deke in his prime was a HOF defender.. that's a bit different than a Camby/Gortat type player. So I guess it's asking which TYPE of superstar would bring us closer to the championship.. in which case I might change my stance to lean toward a defensive superstar. That said, who would qualify in today's NBA as a defensive superstar? Dwight and... I can't really think of any.

 

You might be correct if Anthony were that guy, he isn't. He can barely scrape out of he first round even WITH very good interior defenders and a championship PG.

We specifically are talking about Anthony, not a real star like Lebron.

 

and we're talking about dikembe, not hakeem or dwight here, carmelo is as good a scorer as the nba has, he can be a good defender, but tends to slack a lot, deke could have been a solid scorer but was also pretty much 1 way.

Which is why I said what I did, a one way defensive interior presence would provide immediate help but really provides nothing in the long run to develop around.

 

Where's the vote for false dichotomy? If Morey gets a sniff at the chance to get either, he'll pounce on it. The problem for us isn't choosing which one we want but to get an opportunity to acquire either of them.