If it's posted, lock it up! http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2007/10/adelman_starts_naming_starters.html It hardly seems fair. With all the questions about the Rockets, all that must be determined, Rockets coach Rick Adelman already has some pretty firm ideas about who will start. And they were not even there on Monday. "I will say for sure," Adelman has already announced, "Tracy and Yao will start." After that, however, he said to assume nothing, least of all from the clues that might be found in the few minutes practices will be open to the media, the open practice on Monday or the preseason games scheduled to begin on Tuesday. "One of the things I will tell the team is 'Don't get caught up with who's playing with who right now,' " Adelman said. "That's not an issue with me. Different people are going to play with different guys in different scrimmages and times of the camp. That's just so we can figure it out." That's the way the preseason goes. After months waiting for evidence to justify the optimism with which teams and fans enter the season, any glimpse can draw conclusions. That can be a foolish way to view things, particularly this season, with Adelman holding much longer practices than the Rockets have seen in recent years. With 3 1/2 hours on the court each day, it would be wrong to assume anything from the five or 10 minutes we're likely to see. With that out of the way, however, there is a rush to get things together. If the Rockets had many new players or a had new coach and system, the challenge of the preseason would be daunting enough. They have both. So who should play? That might be about who adopts most quickly. After Yao and McGrady, the Rockets will rely on players that can make this new offense click, who can run it smoothly and instinctively, and take advantage of the improvisational opportunities that will bring. Bonzi Wells might have been a likely candidate to do that, but and will miss the seven Austin practices. Wells has spent a season with Adelman and is a smart player so he should adjust quickly, but having him run things smoothly will not help others, at least not early, as it could have. The summer league guys should be helpful in that regard, though the contract impasse with Carl Landry kept him out of town during the three-on-three summer workouts. Mike Harris, Aaron Brooks and Steve Novak, who struggled with the new system in Las Vegas, should be ready to run from the first practices. The big minutes, however, were not expected to go to the summer league team. Mike James and Steve Francis were often at Toyota Center this summer (Steve not as much after the birth of his second child about two weeks ago) and should have a good head start on things. The frontcourt guys - Yao, Shane Battier and Luis Scola - seem well-suited for the system, and as always, Chuck Hayes was a fixture at Toyota Center and should be used to things. So maybe the adjustment will not be so rocky, after all. Then again, the Spurs, Mavericks and Suns don't have to adjust to much of anything. For the Rockets, a team filled with change and players with something to prove, the first thing to see might be who adjusts most quickly. With that in mind, it might be time to head to practice and draw conclusions from those last five minutes.
^^ That is an example of Adelman's wry sense of humor in answering the media's questions. You'll get used to it.
Don't worry. It's just a matter of time. It's pretty sure we don't have better option to start as SF than Battier.
Like Artest said, people are often surprized at how well Bonzi can play D to me that would be perfect as to move T-mac back to the SF position and have Battier relieve him off the bench. Something else i've noticed thru alot of the reports we've gotten recently there are few to no references of luther head
There is noway bonzi is starting. the most logical thing with bonzi is to bring him off the bench and let him inject some offense when tracy and in particular yao who is a post player like him are resting. bonzi and yao on the court at the sametime makes nosense. Bonzi's strength is he's postup game. with yao in there, it makes it difficult for bonzi to be effective.vice versa with yao. also battier brings nothing off the bench. he's game is about the little things. he's game is to take charges, creat steals. hustle. we need him in there to complement yao on defense. Francis starting also makes nosense. francis is the type of player who needs to dominate the ball to be effective due to he's lack of primeter range. with Tracy and in particular yao, mike james who can bury the tray from anywhere makes more sense. james dosent need to dominate the ball to be effective. Francis and bonzi are tailor made to be our 2nd unit leaders.
Battiers game might be to do the little things but also thats primarily what Scola's game is except he has more of an interior presence. With a motion offense Bonzi can play in the post also and Yao can play some in the high post similar to how Rudy used him creating space for Bonzi to work his man down low. I dont think Steve starting is a good idea also but thats why Rick is the coach and none of us are... 6 more days till the 1st preseason game .
Yao won't always be in the post in Adelmans system so I don't see how that prohibits them from starting together.
Wow. I'm really surprised that the Chronicle is able to write an entire article that has absolutely nothing to say. Amazing.
