rockets defensive system is designed for guards to funnel everything to a specific spot going into the paint where there is big man help. so as long as you have weak side def help we should be fine. this is why ward could be great. he knows where everyone should be defensively and where jvg would want him to funnel his man. it might look like he is getting beat, but really they are playing into our hands. it would take a spectacular pass or very difficult shot to score on such a possesion. or broken down weakside D.
Ward is not here to score, to drive, but for one reason: get the ball to T-Mac and/or Yao with time to execute. Plain and simple.
But if you can't score or won't score, teams leave you to double up on someone else making their O game more difficult and tiring. See Cato for an example.
There's really nothing Ward can do that Lue can't. Lue had a better season last season and his career is on the upswing, while Ward's is on the downswing.
like he always got shut down by shaq and kobe. and on the note of shaq and kobe, those are what win titles phil my man, not "men." kobe was 22-24 during the title years and shaq is about as far from mature as you can get. we'll win because of the 23 and 25 year old, not the 30 year olds. they'll fill in until they get old and then we'll get some more. i don't see how ward can start over lue really. lue does the thing we like in ward, shoot the 3, and he is much faster for defensive purposes. his defense is far overrated for that one iverson series (where he actually didn't stop him at all) but he at least plays decent defense and will be better for all the fast pg's out there. ward is nice to have hit some 3's and know the system as a backup, not as a starter. sura is solid for backing up 3 positions. let them do what they do. at some point, knowing the system doesn't win out over talent and i would say lue has more at this point.
I was actually trying to separte the two thoughts. Sura and Ward are humble - T-mac is hungry. This was not a swipe at SF3 or Cat - I really don't care where they practiced during the sumeer (practice??!?!) and I don't fault them for not staying in town. I point was that JVG DID fault them for not being here (for whatever reason) - so there needed to be a change to guys that he is more comfortable with. There are a few Knicks on this squad, but they will see very few minutes over the long haul - and in end this personnel make up is NOT even close to what the Knicks had
Cato also had trouble catching the ball and to a lesser extent throwing the ball. Bad example. He could do major damage within dunking distance, though.
The fact that the other team yelled shoot it still proves my point. Besides, what coach or player in his right mind would guard someone who doesn't or can't shoot. Would they guard me? I think not.
This "bold" approach is very "Good to Great"-esque. That book ought to be required reading for all Rockets fans. Our coach swears by it. Frankly, it's the best management book I've ever read. Very entertaining. The author is Jim Collins...pick it up!
I bet he will turn the ball over 10 times and the magic will lose! But at least he will have scored 50 points.
IMO, That's not exactly how it worked. All dribble penetration was met with a soft trap and the dribbler was funneled baseline. The dribbler was forced to make a decision to continue against the soft trap backed by Yao or reverse the ball to the weakside which was generally defended by Cato and Mobley. I didn't watch too closely but my hunch is that the Spurs did the same thing except it was Duncan and Nesterovic as opposed to Yao and Cato. Again, just my opinion but Ward's lack of PT at SA was more related to what he didn't do on offense as opposed to what he didn't/couldn't do on defense.
