http://www.clutchfans.net/news/1397/on_t-mac_this_ones_on_everyone/ What do you guys think? Battier not mentioned... I dont think tmac played anywhere close to his best basketball. In Utah, the guy played lazy and heartless. Tmac should have averaged 10 boards a game with all the bricks in this series. Sure Rafer is not a great scorer, but atleast he plays hard. Rafer 11pts 7rebs 5asts 2stls 2.4t/o 34%from2 32%from3 Deron 16pts 5rebs 8asts 1stl 3.5t/o 43%from2 14%from3 If someone gave me these numbers before the series, I would think the rockets would win for sure. And by the way, that barrage of steals and bank 3 was the only reason we were able to come back in game 7. Its no question that Luther and Juwan choked. Juwan needs to be off the roster as soon as possible. Yao got his 25 and 10 average, but had to turn the ball over 5 times a game to do it. All im saying is that if a guy plays to the best of his abilities, thats all you can ask for. Now ask yourself, Who played to the best of their abilities? Shane,Rafer maybe Chuck? I guess Deke if Gundy would have put him in more... What about Tmac....Yao....Luther.....Juwan... I have a hard time beliving those guys did everything they could in order for us to win this series.
Yes, Rafer works hard on the floor and plays to the best of his abilities.... but that's the problem: We're seeing the best of his abilities. He's just not very good. At this point it's not on Rafer... it's on the heads of those who put him out there for 44+ minutes and refused to get help.
That line will never get old to me, Sam I will never, ever be able to see a John P. Lopez article again and not laugh thinking about it.
Mcgrady and Yao played well, of course they are going to make mistakes here and there but our team as a whole just isn't that good. We did not have a power forward to contend with Boozer this whole series. If you cut his production down to half we would have won.
I loved the article and feel like it was 100% accurate. Couldn't have said it better myself. I love Tmac but think he could have done more. I think Alston is a joke and I think Deke should play more minutes than Yao because Yao's defensive and rebounding is just so poor. If Deke played 10 more minutes and Yao played 10 less, especially in crunch time, we win that game. I saw a TNT stat that summed it up, it showed our point differential with Yao on the court and Yao on the bench.
Yao was guarding Boozer, our PF was guarding Okur. If your problem was the defense of Boozer, that was on Yao.
The article is great. This one is on everyone from the coach on down. Everyone underperformed except maybe for Battier. I do want to say a few words for Tmac and Yao: 1) Tmac has done everything he could. He tried but sadly his body is just not up to taking control of the game on every play any more. That was asked of him on the offensive end. He tried but the Jazz bodied him up on every play while got called for maybe half. Tmac stood and watched sometimes only because he was hoping someone else on the team would just run a play without him. The only thing they knew is to toss the ball into Yao. When Yao failed, the team looked bad. On defense, a super star is usually allowed to coast by the coach hiding him in the defense. Not in ours. Tmac had to chase Fischer, Harpring, Kirilinko, Giricek, all guys with high energy. 2) Yao fell short. He did not perform as a super star should. Like Tmac, he tried, he is a big man with great skills but the fact is he is slow and can't jump. He was asked to do more than any big man in the game. On defense, he guarded their best player and the paint. On offense, he was asked to score against a defense that knew everything about his moves. When he was not asked to score, he had to set picks on most every play, some 30 ft out. No big man in this game, including the most athletic ones, were asked to do more. Yao could not do all of those things. We depended on 2 stars to carry us thru out the season. In the playoffs, we asked them to do even more. When they fell short, no one stepped up. Some didn't even have a chance. In the end, what does it mean? JVG. I think he did not put his players in the best position to to their jobs. Everything the Jazz did seems effortless. Everything the Rockets got was pure blood and sweat. What we could or could not do was entirely Jeff's design. He has had the chance to do everything his way. When his way falls short, it has to be on him.
That would be on JVG. Yao played Booozer very well, IMO - especially considering how totally unsuited Yao is to guarding someone like Boozer. It was JVG's responsibility to adjust the defensive scheme accordingly, and he made a concious decision to keep Yao on Boozer rather than risk the threes from Okur or give Yao help on the post up. I don't think that was a bad strategy from JVG per say - seriously, I don't. I would rather have Yao get owned in the paint than owned from the outside. But to imply that Yao was "the problem" is bogus - he played the best D he could on Boozer, given his lack of athleticism and Boozer's incredible ability to hit that high-arching 12 footer.
Hayes is conspicuously not mentioned on the list. I know he is not a star player on our team, but as a starter nonetheless he has been the most disappointing Rocket since Game 5. The man he was supposed to guard, Okur, had two superb offensive games back to back toward the end of the series, while Hayes was a MIA.
If JVG really wanted to mix it up..or whatever.. a Good lineup to keep boozer under chains and okur behind a wall would be a lineup like this: Alston on deron Tmac on whoever sloan puts on him Battier on kirilenko or whoever is at that position. Chuck on boozer. Now you ask whos gonna watch okur on the perimeter? Juwan howard. Juwan can match okurs slow movement while chuck can keep boozer in very difficult situations. I dont know why Jvg never thought of this. my goodness. Anyways it's kinda too late for this now.
We shouldn't really trade hear nor should we trade chuck. both have significant space to produce and develop. Especially luther. I'm not sure what chuck can improve on..porbably putting it on the floor and driving.
You Ming did not play well. Even when he put up decent numbers he did it with a horrible (for him) shooting percentage and a high number of tunrovers (yes, not all were his fault). McGrady only played well in spurts. The way he was playing at the end of the season Clutch very easily could have called his dropoff the biggest. I really agree with Clutch - I cannot remember the last time I saw the Rockets or any team play this poorly top to bottom for a whole series. The Jazz are good, but not good enough to take everyone out of their game. This was not the team that I was actually excited about a few months ago - that was not the most talented every night but was always the best team on the floor. Two months ago the Jazz series would have easily ended in 5 or 6 games. I don't know what it is. I suppose Yao Ming was not 100% back but JVG was still often tryng to use him as when he was dominant? Luther was really confusing. This guy has been nails in pressure situations but was almost completely useless for seven games? My guess is that Deke was mostly out of gas after his brilliant run with Yao Ming out (which is why JVG should have used Tsak more during the reg season and even in this series. He is a brute, why not send him out against the Jazz brutes - he is no worse than Collins?). EDIT - after seeing his interview it is clear Deke (or his health) was not behind his reduced role. Certainly the team played well with him in game 7. So that s all on JVG. I have been unable to talk or write about this series because I am offended and disgusted. I need to find my happl place and hide there for a while after even writing this much.
I agree and I'm probably stating the obvious...it’s a combination of the system and our non-elite roster. You look at our roster 1-12. It's top heavy at 1-3. Even Battier at 3 although solid is questionable. After that there is a big big drop off. Our roster just isn’t as deep/talented/athletic as the big guns (SUNS, MAVS, SPURS, CHI, even GS) We need to seriously rebuild our roster. I would move everyone except, MAC,YAO,BATTIER,HEAD,SYNDER, HOWARD (no one wants him), NOVAK,VSPAN that really leaves us very little to work with as far as assets to trade. Most pressing issue are #1) ball handling/3pt shooting pure point guard. We're not getting Billups. I'll settle for Steve Blake. #2) An athetic/rebounding/shotblocker - Chris Wilcox (he can play the 4 and 5) #3) A physical combo/guard 6'6''+ who can penetrate. This all a reach, but we need to do something. Either MLE, trade, or draft....Also develop NOVAK and VSPAN. All in all, we're just not that good.
Article was dead on, aside from the usual over-blowing of Rafer-hate. I more blame JVG for continuing to give him a green light to shot. It's not like he's breaking plays to let his inner Antoine Walker out. If he were explicitly told to cool it with the runners and just stick to distributing, I'd be ecstatic. No one gives him enough credit for his low turnovers and strong passing. I don't want a PG that's a scorer, I want one that can facilitate the offense. There's a reason you'll never see the Wizards contend for the title with Arenas at the 1. Evan
The PG is Tmac. TMAC is facilitating the offense. TMAC is running the PNRs. Rafer is more of a "care-taker." He brings up the ball and hands it to Tmac. In JVG's offense, Rafer is a SG that brings up the ball. Is this optimal? One can argue this. Do we want Tmac being the PG and our scorer at the same time? I don't think that's optimal. But the FACTS are, in "JVG's system", the PG is going to shoot and be a scorer. So why not get a player that best suits the skillset required?
