We will be a 4 or 5 seed next year. There. I said it. The roster shake up (and yes, I'm counting my chickens before they hatch) is going to improve us across the board. 1. TMac is our closer. The Rockets still struggled to win close games because they did not have a closer. Yao was not ready and we didn't get him the ball enough on a consistent basis. Francis could not get good final shots. TMac can shoot over the defense, pass over the defense, penetrate and kick, dump the ball to Yao. This will help the team learn how to win. 2. Overall defense. I pray that Fisher's knee checks out. If so, we should sign him and will be a top 5 defense. JVG will make Tmac and Fisher an elite perimeter defense combo. Tmac and Dfish is far better than Francis and Mobley. Bank on it. tmac is athletic, long and fast. Rip Hamilton became a good defender b/c L. Brown got him to buy in. Tmac has far greater potential to be a legitimate stopper. We may be a little softer inside without Cato, but he did not command huge minutes and JVG should be able to patch together some interior toughness with DeClerc and Spoon. 3. transition baskets. How could we be worse? Tmac is a 1 man fast break ala clyde drexler. He and Fisher (or Bbarry) couldn't possibly screw up a fast break any worse than Francis and Mobley. We can only go up in this area. 4. Decision making. See above, on transition baskets. how could we be worse? Fisher alone will be an upgrade in feeding the post. Tmac is coming to Houston b/c of Yao. I seriously doubt he will just ignore the big fella. Sure, there will be some adjustments that Tmac has to make, but he will be willing. 5. Turnovers: see transition baskets and decision making. 6. Offense. Efficiency is the key. we will score about the same, but be far more efficient. I see Yao approaching the 20 ppg mark and Tmac at around 25 ppg. JJ, MoTay and Howard will each provide 10-12 ppg. 7. Rebounding: As much as it would be nice to keep Cato, Howard is an actual upgrade. His numbers will decrease in the West, but he is not allergic to rebounds. This is my greatest area of concern. 8. Boki: I actually see Boki getting 15 mpg this year. Fish or BBarry will start, with Lue as backup pg. Tmac, JJ and Boki will eat up most of the minutes at the 2 and 3. Boki can provide a energy spark off the bench and i see him finally getting comfortable with his offensive game and making some shots regularly. I'd like to see us add an Anthony Peeler that can swing between 1 and 2 and be a sniper off the bench. On balance, we will be a pretty damn good team and will push for home court advantage.
anyone hear any confirmation about the Pike for Ollie trade? I have not heard boo since it was initially reported, and the Cavaliers have addressed their outside shooting needs with Luke Jackson. I'd prefer not to take on Ollies contract.
