I like to see Artest at the 4 as well...this is the best way to get both him and Battier on the court at the same time. So this mean Scola will come off the bench. And Scola will replace Yao off the bench since Scola have play Center before....so it's not a problem.
I would rather he stay at the 3 and Tracy move to the 2. We have solid PFs in Scola, Landry, Hayes and Dorsey. I consider Battier expendable now. We need to upgrade our pg position or at least the backup pg if nothing else.
Yeah - whatever the minute allocation, clearly Artest doesn't NEED to play the 4 for us to have a succesful lineup on the court. Imagine trying to play small ball against the Rockets now! Battier/ Artest/ McGrady out there.... ouch! Fair bit harder to try and get Ming out of the game by going small now!!
Of course you are going to see him at the 4 sometimes. Artest is a match up nightmare. He stronger than all but the best power forwards but quick enough and has the handles to play the 2. Any one strong to cover him on the block and can't keep up with on the outside. The only players in the league that have the physical ability to cover him is Garnett and Odom.
i think Scola, Artest, Battier all deserve 30+ minutes a night, if we get Landry back, he also belongs in that conversation. not comfortable with Dorsey backing up Yao.
I hope Carl Landry is paying attention If Artest essentially replaces Scola in the starting unit and Scola essentially replaces Landry in our 2nd unit, what does that mean? You want the MLE? See ya!
[espn] Hollinger: Artest at PF? "My spies in Houston tell me the idea is to line up Artest at power forward, where he has the muscle to bang with 4s in the post, and then dare bigger opponents to match up with him at the other end. He was extremely effective doing this in Sacramento, and will have a lot more opportunity to do so in Houston since a big chunk of his minutes figure to come at the 4." http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=artestdeal-080730 Does that move Scola to the pine?...
no, it doesn`t move Scola to the pine, he`ll start, either battier or artest will come off the bench, i`m hoping battier.
I doubt that , our rebounding will suffer and with Yao on the court we are playing an halfcourt game anyway. A better idea imo is to run a small lineup with Artest at the 4 and Scola at center and run a lot when Yao rests.
Artest is a very good power forward, and will play there a lot. Also, the starting 5 with the most talent would have Battier on the floor. The most talented would be Yao, Scola, Artest, Battier, McGrady. Second-most talented would be Yao, Artest, Battier, McGrady, Alston. However, both of those line-ups have someone playing in a position where they're not at their best, so I would expect that neither is the starting line-up, and Battier comes off the bench, but expect to see major minutes with both of those.
C: Yao/Deke/Dorsey PF: Scola/Landry/Hayes SF: Artest/Battier/Novak SG: Tmac/Barry/Head PG: Alston/Francis/Brooks I got a feeling that is going to be our final roster. I get the feeling Landry will take 3.5 million a year leaving none of the MLE. Morey will decide to not spend the cash.
I think RickAd has to experiment some to find a starting lineup. If he had real imagination, he would put a flexible starting lineup out there depending on the opponent. I"d like to see Battier/Artest out there together, but not at the expense of not starting Scola. The Scola/Yao starting combo was undefeated. Does sound like Artest will see time at the 4 with the 2nd unit, whether he starts at the 3 or not. Again, I'd like to see Rick use a flexible lineup.
Agreed. I'm thinking that we'll start Alston McGrady Artest Scola Yao And our main three subs will be Battier, Barry and Brooks. Battier will come in for Yao, moving Artest to PF and Scola to Center. Barry will come in for T-Mac, and Brooks will sub in for Alston. Assuming our roster doesn't change that much, the only x-factors could be: Francis actually stays healthy/is good enough that we are forced to give him minutes (probably won't happen, but it's at least a possibility) We resign Landry and he continues to improve so quick that we have to start playing him instead of Scola (I would love for this to happen, but considering that players don't train much in the offseason when holding out for a contract because they don't want to get hurt, I'd be surprised if Landry reported into camp in good shape). Barry gets hurt Brooks isn't ready for backup pg minutes. And, of course, that Yao or Tracy gets hurt, but I don't like to think of those possibilities.
Looks about right - I'm liking that squad. Sentimentality shouldn't leave Battier in the starting lineup, unless it's neccessary. (You know JVG would keep Batman in the starting 5!)
I think Barry will be playing a good amount of time at PG to start the season off, and then Brooks will slowly work his way into more minutes as he continues to improve.
