First off I would like to introduce myself, this is my first post. I am in LA, I have been a die hard Houston Rockets Fan since I fell in love with the sport in the year 2000. I enjoy intelligent debates and discussions, feel free to let me know your thoughts. After last nights game horrible game, I believe McHale needs to adjust the line up. No elite team in the league has a 3rd string and 2nd string( Dorsey and Beverly ) in the starting lineup which is why we really struggle against "good" and elite teams. This is the line up I believe would succeed, nothing special and has been brought up in the past until we get some upgrades or trades(for a real starting point guard). Harden Brewer Ariza J-smoove Dmo Reasoning: Catch teams off guard in the first quarter. This line up can be lightening quick or slow down and feed Big Mo or J-Smoove. We have 3 point shooting at every position if need be to jack one up. Our defense will be spectacular. We need more 3 balls to go in plain and simple. If you have not noticed, almost every team in the NBA lives or dies by the 3 ball. Having Beverly and Dorsey in the line up does not do us any favors. As we all know, Beverly is not the same player he was. His man to man defense is aggressive but it is still considered average to me, cannot shoot the 3 at all, cannot be a playmaker, honestly his skill set as it is should be the reason why harden should play point until we get an upgrade to Bev. I like Bev, I admire that he plays hard for us, but I tell it how it is. I know a lot of my fellow fans say J smoove is excelling on the bench but ladies and gentleman he is a starter. At this point he will put up the same numbers or will excel more if he becomes a starter. At this time of their careers, Terrence Jones is better coming off the bench as he is more athletic and explosive. By the way, is any else really impressed with Jones? He was out for at least 3 months and comes back exactly where he left off. Let me know your thoughts ClutchFans. Thanks.
Already been discussed and agreed that Brewer, Harden, Ariza, DMo, Smith is our best 5 guys as long as Dwight is out. You're late to the party.
Welcome. You're in good company here. As to your post.... Nope. If you do that, here's your bench.... Beverley Terry Papanikolaou TJones Dorsey That lineup would get destroyed. Any lead the starters would've built would disappear in a matter of minutes.
I agree with this and have wondered why this has not been the starting line-up. Right when Dwight went out that was the line-up that I thought would work best.
Not everyone reads 100% of everything within the board. There also isn't a reliable way to search that. Cut him a break and contribute your opinions toward the conversation. I actually really do like that lineup and think it could run the starting group ragged. I'm still a fan of Beverley but he definitely hasn't been showing up offensively lately. Would Beverley be more comfortable offensively off the bench?
I like that line-up but our bench would be terrible. I'd love to see Harden at the 1 and Brewer starting at the 2, though. Leave Smoov on the bench so he'll be used to having the 2nd unit run through him come playoffs.
That lineup is very good. I would keep the starting lineup as it, but would strongly think about CLOSING with the Harden/Brewer/Ariza/Smith/Dmo lineup.
I'm with the majority here - it's a nice lineup, but the bench would get ravaged every night without Brewer and Smith. Might be a good closer lineup.
Very rarely do you see the bench emptied like that. You would most likely have beverley, Harden, Dorsey, Jones, maybe papa or terry
No need to be a jerk about it. I have not seen this discussed yet, chances are others haven't either.
That doesn't look that bad. Also, you make it sound like they will all sub in at the same time, that is never the case.
Josh Smith with his high usage and low TS% shouldn't be in the starting lineup. Also, that lineup would struggle on the defensive boards.
Good first post and welcome! I think is is generally agreed that the starting lineup must be changed and depending on whom we get next week, your starting 5 may become a possible option. However, if Morey trades for a starting pg and a decent center, then we must keep Smith and Brewer as part of headband brigade.
If Tjones was healthy and playing the way he was at the beginning of the season I would do the same lineup but have Tjones for Smith. Smith is just much better coming off the bench. Plain and simple
1st off: That lineup (or slight variations) has played together in the 4th Q a lot. In fact, they started the 4th Q last night. Coach just disagrees upon the importance of who starts vs who finishes. Dorsey and Bev played very few 4th Q minutes in the last two games. Secondly: We lost because it was two, back-to-back away games. The NBA league average winning both is 20%. Harden was clearly tired after his 20 pt 4th Q performance in PHO Lastly: Isn't that lineup going to make Harden cover PGs? You want him covering guys like Chris Paul? I'm not convinced Brewer can cover PGs either. And finally: That lineup does not prevent you from playing Dorsey, so just freaking start him, get it over with, and keep as much other lineups as normal as possible. Dorsey is going to get 15 mpg somehow, we are too thin at Center. 6) Juggling lineups when anything bad happens is a fan fallacy. Players prepare for their roles and when they come in. Don't mess with that chemistry and have to redo it all over again when Howard comes back.
Thank you to those who welcomed me, and thank you all ( except the anti social troll who posted first ) for your discussion and analysis. You guys kept it very professional and polite, you all had interesting points keep them coming!
What I mean was using this lineup to start and close games. Bev can come in full of energy and tire out who ever harden would guard. Our perimeter defense will be pretty solid with Harden, Brewer and Ariza as they can as switch when needed. Ariza and Brewer can definitely guard PGs at least better then average, Harden perhaps not. Overall Bev will produce better results coming off the bench then starting and thus helping the team over all.
