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[BleacherReport] Marcus Camby Subtly Changes Rockets Complexion

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by durvasa, Mar 16, 2012.

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  1. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    I wouldn't normally create a thread from a bleacherrport article, but this is by one of their "NBA Lead" writers, Rob Mohoney, who is also a regular contributor to NYT and ESPN.com. He has a good take, IMO.

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...changes-the-complexion-of-the-houston-rockets

    [rquoter]
    Marcus Camby Subtly Changes the Complexion of the Houston Rockets

    by Rob Mohoney

    This year's trade deadline bore witness to buyer's remorse, last-ditch efforts, and demolition jobs alike, but amidst the flurry were a few teams able to secure players of value at virtually no cost. Among them were the Houston Rockets, who somehow managed to acquire a first-round pick in exchange for the seldom-used Jordan Hill while turning two complete non-factors (Jonny Flynn and Hasheem Thabeet) into a strong rebounder and help-side defender in Marcus Camby. Say what you will of Daryl Morey's inability to catapult the Rockets into the league's elite, but in this arena he's always thrived; there are few GMs so consistently capable of creating assets and redeeming supposedly marginal value.

    In Camby, Morey has given head coach Kevin McHale a fitting substitute for Samuel Dalembert, and a far more natural back-line defender than any other big on the roster. Houston was forced to play Luis Scola and Patrick Patterson "out of position," in order to accommodate for their lack of proper depth, but it's more accurate to simply say that Scola, Patterson, et al were simply out of their element; the issue was not that Houston was masquerading power forwards as centers, but that none of Dalembert's teammates could provide a remotely similar skill set in defensive rotation. Dalembert isn't some profoundly unique talent, but in the context of this team, his contributions proved relatively irreplaceable.

    Camby changes that picture significantly — Dalembert will still prove incredibly valuable as a defensive deterrent, but he'll now serve as a part of a crucial tandem able to anchor Houston's defense for an entire game. Camby won't have any kind of transformational effect on the Rockets' defensive performance, but merely by offering a closer facsimile to Dalembert, he'll better equip McHale to coach the team toward defensive sufficiency.

    The Rockets are, in all likelihood, destined for one of the Western Conference's lower playoff seeds. Kyle Lowry's injury puts the team at even greater mercy to the schedule than normal, and even with the addition of Camby, the Rockets' play is still problematic in many regards. But even without being a "team on the brink," this deal does make the Rockets notably dangerous, if only in the right matchup.

    Houston has repeatedly played Oklahoma City to a virtual draw, and consistently traded punches with San Antonio. How much will those efforts be fueled by having another big to contest Russell Westbrook at the rim and another smart defender hedging (or rotating to help) against the Spurs' pick and roll? Camby doesn't give Houston the star that Morey has so desperately craved, but he's a no-strings-attached upgrade; he hedges the entire rotation of bigs into a more proper formation, giving the entire roster a greater rotational stability.

    Houston's long game is still a bit of a mess, but it's hard to go wrong with acquiring one of the league's most prolific rebounders and shot blockers at no operational cost whatsoever. It doesn't shift the direction of the franchise or dramatically change the Rockets' on-court brand, but a move like this one should be just enough to give a playoff opponent a legitimate scare.
    [/rquoter]
     
    #1 durvasa, Mar 16, 2012
  2. DonnyMost

    DonnyMost be kind. be brave.
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    Good take.
     
    #2 DonnyMost, Mar 16, 2012
  3. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    LOL ... I like the "cool! oh wait ... its bleacherreport" auto-tag. :)
     
    #3 durvasa, Mar 16, 2012
  4. finsraider

    finsraider Member

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    Good post, and agree that this does change the nature of the front court. I imagine usage will normalize a little, allowing everyone to play in their natural spots.
     
    #4 finsraider, Mar 16, 2012
  5. Ziggy

    Ziggy QUEEN ANON

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    Solid piece, but I could have covered all of that in 3 sentences max.
     
    #5 Ziggy, Mar 16, 2012
  6. arjun

    arjun Member

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    playing the spurs would be the most interesting.
     
    #6 arjun, Mar 16, 2012
  7. Fyreball

    Fyreball Contributing Member

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    I've noticed that you've become increasingly ornery as the year as gone on. I'm not hating....just pointing out an observation. Carry on, my friend. :)

    And it was a good take on a pretty cut-and-dry situation. We needed a bigger inside presence at the rim, and when it became clear we weren't going to get Dwight Howard, we changed directions and went with a low-risk medium-reward deal that doesn't derail our future plans. It's a move that's very hard to criticize, and pretty savvy to boot.
     
    #7 Fyreball, Mar 16, 2012
  8. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    The deal is fine on its own, but it doesn't improve our future in a significant way which is what the Rockets needed to do at this deadline. That's why I'm frustrated in general with what we did.
     
    #8 durvasa, Mar 16, 2012
  9. Bball_Gill

    Bball_Gill Member

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    Thanks for posting.

    It always bothered me that we were one of those teams you would hear commentators describe as having "no shot blocking" or "cannot protect the rim". Teams will have to prepare for us differently.

    If you combine a couple big defensive minded guys with some fight injected into the psyche of these guys by McHale, we may finally move away from being a soft, fragile team.

    We are nowhere near being where we need to be, but we are moving towards becoming a team that will have more W's, many of them not too pretty, and hopefully a team that other teams won't look forward to playing.
     
    #9 Bball_Gill, Mar 16, 2012
  10. mario713

    mario713 Rookie

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    if they wont deal with you, what can you do???
     
    #10 mario713, Mar 16, 2012
  11. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    Its not about what you can do after the fact, but what you should have done before so that they would deal with you.
     
    #11 durvasa, Mar 16, 2012
  12. Ziggy

    Ziggy QUEEN ANON

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    I'm very moody with my sports teams. If our M.O. is analytics and an objective approach then give me terse content. Bullet points even. When we're in a good place I'll want copy that tugs at my heart strings. But yeah, I'm a grouch right now. Thanks Rockets.
     
    #12 Ziggy, Mar 16, 2012
  13. Clutch

    Clutch Administrator
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    Yeah. May have to change that if they're going to have real writers... but unfortunately, it just will create more confusion about what's legit and what's not. Yahoo!, ESPN and SBNation (BR Report's main competitor) also do stuff like this to become content farms as well.
     
    #13 Clutch, Mar 16, 2012
  14. jtr

    jtr Contributing Member

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    I agree that it could have been condensed down to one paragraph, but the message was spot on. We now will rarely see PPat and Scola being chewed up and spit on on a routine basis.
     
    #14 jtr, Mar 16, 2012
  15. Blaster_333

    Blaster_333 Member

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    Did they really "need' to do it before the deadline. With the shortened season, wide-open western conference and the Dwight debacle, teams would probably be more comfortable making moves in the offseason(which is right around the corner).

    Far as Camby goes, Portland fans seem to think we're not going what we think we're going to get, saying he is lazy on defense etc. I'm hoping it was the situation in Portland.

    Add to the fact that we're the butt of "old people" jokes now, I hope Camby shuts them up and shows he can still be effective for 15-20 minutes, as well as in crunch time.
     
    #15 Blaster_333, Mar 16, 2012
  16. Carl Herrera

    Carl Herrera Contributing Member

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    Man, poor Rob Mahoney is really slumming it. Did he get convicted of child molestation or something?
     
    #16 Carl Herrera, Mar 16, 2012
  17. ThisIsOurCity

    ThisIsOurCity Member

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    Good read
     
    #17 ThisIsOurCity, Mar 16, 2012
  18. HiGHurNAMEis

    HiGHurNAMEis Member

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    Maybe I should become a bleacherreport blogger seeing that I pronounced the same POV yesterday in the following thread.

    http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?p=6703428#post6703428


    Nevertheless, this move is more significant than most "fans" understand. Let me allow Zach Lowe of Si to elaborate further:

    "Dalembert averages just short of 25 minutes per game, and during those 25 minutes, the Rockets grab about 52 percent of available rebounds and defend at the level of about the ninth- or 10th-best defense in the league. For the other 23 minutes, Houston grabs only 48 percent of available rebounds, defends at a bottom-10 level and actually scores less efficiently on offense, per NBA.com‘s stats database." - http://bit.ly/y8062C

    This is a stat that should not go unnoticed it was imperative we make a move of this caliber to solidify our chances of being a real threat come playoff time. Which we will be, ultimately instilling faith throughout the fan base that this team can possibly advance past the first round. From there who knows. ITS ALL ABOUT REVENUE!!! Something we limited ourselves in the past two seasons.
     
    #18 HiGHurNAMEis, Mar 16, 2012
    1 person likes this.
  19. Codman

    Codman Contributing Member

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    The title of article was supposed to be somewhat humorous, I think.


    Marcus Camby and "complexion" are like Chandler Parsons and "complexion". :)
     
    #19 Codman, Mar 16, 2012
  20. HiGHurNAMEis

    HiGHurNAMEis Member

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    What context clue(s) makes you insinuate that? & your analogy isn't validating your thought any clearer. Parsons brings versatile complexity just as Battier once did.
     
    #20 HiGHurNAMEis, Mar 16, 2012
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