As I have said in another thread -- and JVG touching on it in this article -- the Rockets MUST find a way to play McGrady off the ball and have him be the finisher, not the initiator of the offense. As long as McGrady gets the ball that early in a position, defenses will hammer him like that. He has to play without the ball a bit, and may be then we can get him more involved in the offense.
help would help. besides that. how do we make any moves right now? we don't have anything to trade because everyone in injured. even if we made a trade one player won't help us. we need a whole team to compete.
I am in total agreement with this. JVG knows this though. he understands whats going on with Mcgrady and the way teams are defending him. But we got to have another ball handler who is a threat. a player who has the talent and skill to break down defenses and right now we do not have that. The only two players on our roster with those capabilites are Rafer Alston and Sura both of whom are injured. I don't want to start thinking about rumor garbage created on other boards that I don't think are legit but the perfect player who may be available for that role would be Stephon Marbury. I remember how dangerous Minnesota was the two years he was there because of the pick and roll play he ran with Garnett. Mcgrady is twice the offensive player Garnett is and the pick and roll with Marbury and Mcgrady would be a nightmare for opponents. A very skilled/talented playmaker like Marbury would be just what the dr. ordered for the Houston Rockets.
Agreed w/ Texas and Tiger. TMac needs to be coming off of picks ala Rip Hamilton. The pick n roll won't work w/ this team because we aren't hitting the shots and they are completely leaving their man to double TMac. No strategies will work unless we get another scorer on this team. Bowen, Mooch, Baxter, Graham are complete liabilities on the offensive side. Add in the fact that DW cannot hit his shot, you're left w/ a rookie and Juwan Howard as our 2nd and 3rd scorers.
Starbury makes a gazillion dollars and is ME ME ME first, team last. He doesn't play ANY defense. You could probably get him for expirings. But, then what? You'd have a crap team forever. No one would ever take him off your hands. Can you win with Star jacking, no defense, Tmac pissed, and Yao sulking? You still have no four and no two. The only headcase out there with a gambler's chance at a winning plus/minus is Artest. We'd have to three-way to get him, but his contract is good for two more years. Artest works with Tmac and Yao, they offset his crazyness, like Jordan and Pippen with Rodman. Harrington to Indy Artest to Houston Swift and Alston + pick to Atlanta.
