[Controversial] I feel McGrady should be our 3rd Option

you said he "sucked." he scored 16 pts on 10 shots with 7 assists. he did that in 29 minutes.

and yes, he does have to play better. and yes, this is his 2nd reg. season game back from surgery. he drove more tonight that the last game. he's getting there. at one stretch, he scored 8 straight pts and got to the line and inside the pain with relative ease.

 

and the reason tmac wasn't out there in the 4th was for defensive purpose. he was in no way able to guard anybody out there in the 4th in a close game. had we needed buckets, tmac would have been out there. but his defense was TERRIBLE all game.

offensively, tmac looked decent.

 

i don't think it's important
just get the victory

 

First, I don't believe this first option or second option system of offense. The offense should run the play for whoever has the best matchup, which gives up the best probability of a bucket. For example, I'd rather go to Hayes in the post if he has Nate Robinson on him than Tmac double teamed. However, for the game winning shot, I would run a play for Tmac iso, b/c he is the best at creating his own shot one on one.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5p-2uFOJMA

Artest doesn't run it . Hey Test dont run it. Cause mcgrady is coming back baby... Trust me...


Rockets . Watch out of Brooks... Peace...

 

happy haloween rocketeers

 

how did i kno this thread would work its way back up the list after tonights game....

 

McGrady knows he isn't 100 percent and probably won't be for another six weeks or so, but he's giving us exactly what we need out of him. He's still so talented that he may have his nights here and there. Once he's good-to-go and shanes back, it really is going to be scary. I don't know if there is a team that can guard us when we're right. Besides everyone on this team is a second option behind Brooks these days anyways.

 

After tonight's great performance by artest and yao, the poll is skewing over to their favor.

 

i don't think T-Mac can take over a game like Ron did tonight. in fact, i think Ron is a better scorer than T-Mac now.

 

wow you're just plain dumb, based off of what 1 or 2 games you say Ron is a better scorer? T-Mac is still getting into the flow of things, this stuff takes time dude, i know t-mac isn't as good as many think, but i'm sure he'll be playing more in his groove in like a week or so.

Yao Ming is the man.

 

we are stacked plain and simple. It really doesn't matter who's 1-3, I think this team can compete with anyone!!!!!

 

I agree. T-Mac played within his limits. His shot wasn't falling so he didn't take too many. He got to the line, and he did drive in. He was almost 'fierce' this game. + his FT shooting was great.

This is with a bum knee and shoulder. Not bad. He was fairly efficient. Of course his D was terrible but he was out there hobbling around.

What more does someone want of him? He's got Yao Ming and Ron Artest to shoulder the load, and to cary this team when he can't. 30/13 for the big fella and 29 points for Ron!!!

T-Mac will be more than happy to play a fairly small role until he's 100% or until it really counts. But he still runs s***.

 

After watching today's game, I definitely feel that McGrady should be our third option.

He is no longer the super star that this team needs. He can still do well as the team's third option though. He can no longer score whenever needed bricking too many jumpers nowadays. =/

Let's just hope that we continue playing well even with McGrady as the third option.

 

The #1 option for the Rockets since 2003-2004 season has always been Yao Ming.JVG made sure Steve Francis knew it and Tmac knew it before he came here. There is no reason why that should change. He shoots at a very high percentage, he is almost always going to draw double or triple teams and teams will front him, and most importantly he is an excellent free throw shooter. Most championship teams have a dominant post player (even MJ was a solid post up option when he won titles).

With that being said, I still believe Tmac is by far the best playmaker on this team. He is hurt right now, and he may not be better than 85-90% this season as far as health goes, but he is our best passer, and is still a threat to put up 30-45 points on any given night if relatively healthy or if his jumper is falling. Tmac must still get his touches. He is too talented offensively not to have the ball.

Ron Artest is our spark plug, our instant offense almost. He is a nightmare matchup to deal with for the opposition. He can post up, drive, shoot 3's, and has a decent mid range game. He is what Adrian Dantley, Mark Agguire, and Vinny Johnson were to the Pistons. He is there to exploit matchups, and do whatever is necessary in order for the team to win.

Tonight against Dallas, Yao was solid all throughout the game. They had no answer for him except double teams, which got us open shots. He only missed 4 shots and made all 8 of his free throws over 40 minutes. You can't be much more efficient in that. This is why he should be our number one option.

Tmac was visibly limited on a back to back situation, but he still got to the line and made most of his free throws and got 7 assists, in 30 minutes. He had a bad shooting game and had some turnovers, but while he was on the court, he was able to attack the basket, set players up for lay ups, and get free throws, shooting 10-11 from the line.

Artest is not much of a playmaker, but he knows how to put the ball in the basket. He came up big with 29 points, and helped spark some runs with our 2nd unit. He also closed the game out for the Rockets with clutch buckets, including the 3 to seal the deal. He knew we needed scoring and defense today, and he did both of those things very well today. He gave us the luxury of letting a limited Tmac rest in the 4th, while he, Yao, and Brooks, took over the 4th quarter. Its great to know that incase Yao doesn't have his normal efficient night or if Tmac is hurt or not shooting well, we have a guy who can get it done and can come up big when it counts.


I'm not saying we should force feed Yao, or that we should wait for Yao and Tmac to have a bad game, before making Artest the number one option, but the goal of the half court offense should be to get the ball to Yao when he's in the game.

Tmac should be creating the offense either with scoring or passing, depending on whatever the defense gives up.

Artest should have mismatches most nights, and he does become a first option in the early parts of the 2nd and 4th quarters when he is in there with the 2nd unit. He'll get his touches, and he'll make the most of it.

Rick Adelman knows what he's doing, and this is a good problem to have. Its nice when you can debate over 3 poetential first options.

The Celtics realized early last year that KG isn't the MVP scorer he once was, or that Ray Allen isn't the same player as he was in Seattle. But they knew Paul Pierce was their best all around scorer, and they let Ray Allen come off picks and spot up for 3's and let KG anchor the defense and the boards, and let him spot up for top of the key jumpers, while Pierce created and that formula got them a ring. The Rockets will figure this out in time, as we get our pieces back, and our chemistry going.

 

Throughout the past 3 seasons, T-Mac and Yao have never had good games together. It was either T-Mac had a good game and Yao didn't, or Yao had a good game and T-Mac didn't. In only the 2nd game, Ron and Yao put up practically 30 points a piece. Ron gives you buckets plain and simple, and he's efficient, while T-Mac will give you buckets at a 35% clip. This is slowly turning into the Yao and Ron show with hope that T-Mac doesn't mess it up.

I'll give T-Mac the benefit of the doubt though as I know he's not 100%. But you're with Yao 3 seasons and never had a good game together.

 

Bizarre thread to start so early in the season, with all due respect to the OP. Let's get some games under our belts, and a healthy McGrady, and then return to this conversation.

 

Yao then Artest, than whomever is open

Kinda like Dream and Drexler, both with strong post games

Tmac can be Horry

 

That hits the nail on the head. It's always been Yao OR T-Mac coming up big, never both in the same game. Now the question becomes whether or not Yao and Artest can both have monster nights in the same game.

 

They had plenty of good games together in 06-07 and when healthy a few in 07-08.

In 04-05 Tmac was coming off of back-to-back scoring titles and Yao was still somewhat inconsistent.

In 05-06 that was a nightmare season for the entire team with injuries and bad management decisions.

06-07 Yao got into his prime and Tmac became a much better playmaker and played withint the offense, rather than playing like the 04-05 Tmac who was expected to average 30 ppg. When Yao came back from his injury, they had some very good games together, and vs. Utah in the Playoffs, they both had to have great games in order for the Rockets to have a chance to win, since their bench suddenly disappeared.

07-08 Yao was hurt most of the year, but tried to play through the pain, and we had much more scoring options. That resulted in declining numbers and efficiency. Tmac started out the year great, but then got all kinds of injuries throughout the year, but when the Rockets started winning in February and March, they both had some great games together, including the 1st 12 games of the 22 game win streak.

The Rockets are 130-60 when Yao and Tmac both play. That says it all right there. In 4 years they've only played 180 games together, only 1 full season. Tmac's game is declining due to injury but he is still the most talented player on the team overall. Yao is our most consistent and dominating player and Ron Artest is great at scoring and exploiting mismatches. Whoever is on during a game, is where the ball will end up. Most nights Yao will be one of those guys, but today Artest and Brooks happened to be on as well. Once tmac is healthy, this team will be scary good and a force to be reckoned with.