http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=7510 couple of Rockets items - thought the comments to Nugget Fan were pretty good, but I don't agree with the Sura James comment _______ Sam, Rochester, MN: Hey John, with Sura coming back who should start...Sura or James?? James has been playing really well lately, but we all know the energy that Sura brings. If you were the coach who would you start? and with a PG rotation of Sura and James, does this help make the Rockets more of a contender?? John Hollinger: (2:25 PM ET ) Sam, I think they have at least look at starting both of them and bringing David Wesley off the bench. Wesley's their best perimeter defender but James is real good too and he packs more offensive punch. Meanwhile, Sura gives them the rebounding they're missing from the frontcout. That said, my guess is JVG takes the path of least resistance and brings Sura off the bench as a combo guard. ***** Charlie (Denver, CO): Is Marcus Camby the second best center in the league (Yes, better than Yao)? John Hollinger: (2:58 PM ET ) Charlie, I can't sign off on that one. Yao's scoring average is nearly double and his shooting percentage is almost ten points higher. Plus, he doesn't need three stays on the injured list to get through the season (OK, I know he's "only" missed 10 games so far, but we've still got a month-plus left). No, I'd put Camby behind Shaq, Yao, Z and Ben Wallace.
ESPN insider becomes more and more clueless. There is no way a defensive coach like GJV would leave Wesley on the bench. With Tmac, Yao, Wesley,Howard on the court, Rockets have more than enough offensive weapons, they need a PG who can run the team and rebound more than a PG who can create shots for himself.
Sura off the bench? I think that would be a bad idea. We need his floor general ability and rebounding. James off the bench would give us the scoring power we need when we need it.
Yep. PLUS, when he comes in as 6th man, he can spell either Sura at the 1 or Wesley and Sura slides to the 2. I think we'll basically only play Sura, James & Wesley in the backcourt, but I think the starting lineup that went on an 8 game winning streak before the All Star break was a pretty good one.
I also hope that Sura can go out in the first, then come back in the second and play with James and Barry to give Tmac a spell remember Sura is a true wing player (6'5") so he can play D on most of the small forwards in the league (other than the Rashard Lewis' of the world)
Agreed. Of the 3, I can't understand why you would choose Sura to come off the bench, or how that makes it the path of least resistance. To me, it's a coin flip between James and Wesley. I like James' game, but I'm still not sold on him as a distributor. Everytime I see him with the ball it seems like he takes that extra second to make the next pass. You can't fault his % since coming over, or his average, but I just think that it may be more suited for a Bobby Jackson type role off the bench. Alternatively, Welsey has long stretches of time out there when he really just sucks, then he'll hit all sorts of shots.
Hollinger's statement would make sense if we don't have so many rebounding problems up front. But since we do, Sura's simply too important not to share most of his minutes with Yao. A James/Wesley backcourt makes more sense when Mutumbo plays, since he's a much better rebounder than Yao and won't rely on guards to help him out.
my favorite part is the "yes, better than Yao" that the Denver fan felt the need to include its like he KNEW the answer was "No" Camby is not number 2 - but he WANTED TO BELIEVE !!!
Why would James have any claim to coming off the bench? (his "least-resistance" mention above) My thinking is that we go with the team with the most chemistry, the team that won 8-straight... and that was Sura, Wesley, and JHo surrounding Yao and T_mac. As NWO mentioned, he'll provide a huge offensive spark and will still get tons of minutes backing up Sura and Wesley. Stuart
