I've been babbling all this time against New Yorker? Some of these newbier posters are basically previously banned posters? Did Creepy Floyd come back?
When you are starting Ron and Shane you are missing efficient scoring from the SG/SF position, and it is difficult to keep up. They are redundant in what they do defensively, and offensively, while Ron is better, he is very inefficient......shoots too much, stops the ball etc... So, IMO, you replace one of them in the starting lineup, either Shane or Ron with a more efficient scoring wing. Kevin Martin, Danny Granger, Corey Maggette, Rip Hamilton, Ray Allen...so many different directions and players.....but all efficient scorers......and I am not saying you get one of them, but they all make the team better overall by their style of play, especially offensively. DD
Actually i do not over rate Wafer because from day 1 I've been calling him a bum and i still do till this day but give a guy when credits due. He made a believe out of a lot of people including me. His first step is something else but his problem is his defense. Ron Artest can do it. The Ron Artest that played for Houston this season was not the real Ron Artest. Mark my words. If the Rockets do resign him then you will see the real Artest.
Wafer is really good cutting from the wings around picks and getting the ball when he has momentum, especially when Yao is being fronted. He is also really good in the open court on fast breaks, etc. Other than that he is pretty mediocre.
Man, I really don't know, players do not get quicker with age, and Ron looked noticably slower this year, even at the beginning of the year. I think his best days are behind him. As for Wafer, he is electric with his first step and played AWESOME as a starter, but he is very emotional and needs to get those in check before he makes that stride to starter type of minutes. Both Ron and Tmac give me serious doubts going forward, I think you can only keep one, and IMO, you keep the guy who competes hard night in and night out... DD
Actually, like I said before, his major problem is his lack of ball-handling skills. Its impossible to effectively attack the basket if you can't control the ball. Artest might be able to occasionally power his way to the rim, but it would be a stretch to describe him as a guy who "attacks the basket." Although he's stronger than opposing SF's, he's slower and has a shorter vertical.
Kevin Martin and Danny Granger are not going anywhere. Those 2 are pipe dreams. Corey Maggette is another ball stopper as you call Artest and McGrady. Rip isn't going anywhere either. So is Ray Allen. Kevin Martin to me is another overrated player. The guy basically has the green light on a bad team. There is a saying though. "If its not broken then don't fix it". I've been saying this over and over again. The Rockets have won 50+ games the 4 of the last 5 seasons. The only thing that's haunting them are injuries. No need to rebuild a team or change the pieces when they don't need 2 be. Guys are coming back healthy( hopefully ) and there is no need to change things.
He was blocked a TON this year at the rim, Ron's finishing percentage at the basket was not all that great...less than 50%..... Ron can do it against certain teams but not consistently...I would much prefer a slashing player with good midrange to take advantage of all the attention Yao gets. DD
You'll see the real Ron Artest when Adelman forces him to play off the block when Yao's sitting and being a spot up shooter when Yao's in the game. For some reason in both Game1s against Portland and LA, Ron was very focused in posting up and using his strength to attack the rim. Thats the real Ron Artest the rockets need to see.
But you can't sit idle and hope for two injured star players to suddenly get healthy. You can make incremental improvements which dramatically alter the overall team. Winning 50 games is nice, if all you want to do is win 50 games.....you have to take some modicum of risk if you want to win the brass ring. This team is close, it is up to Morey to get it over the hump, he has two big chips to play with...in Tmac's contract and Ron in a S&T situation. Slowly but surely Morey has been remaking the team into one that favors Rick Adelman's style.....this is year 3....I think it is the key year. DD
And just to think guys were calling me crazy on here when I made the Thread "Why not Von instead of Ron" as for starting. There is nothing wrong with being an emotional player. Those players somehow bring life into the games. It works.
LOL - no malice? Saying I am on meds is no malice? Do you believe that? Do you know why I was banned? It's for making those kinds of comments. That's the only reason. I love how you try to dig it up at every turn and then say I am insulting you????? This is b.s. dada. You know it. I don't think you know what you are talking about. His contract is valuable only as an expiring contract - which means it's value peaks the day before the trade deadline. So if you want to sell high, you wait until that date appoaches. Why do you ignore this very basic fact? An intriguing new angle you are proposing....but the Clyde Drexler trade is a great example of that not being the case. Also Pau Gasol last year propelled the lakers to the finals. Both of those deals were trade deadline deals... So was Rafer Alston to the magic. I don't agree with this as I don't think it takes a full year to build chemistry when you are talking about only one player. I don't think I am insulting you. I am critiquing your posts. I am not calling you "Sweet Lou Yorker" clearly meant as an insult. Nor do I say you "take medication" which is what you did above. Those are insults or attempts at one. If calling out your cred, or pointing out your biases is an insult, then I encourage to be less sensitive. My goal is not to hurt you. My goal is to point out the flaws in your thinking and why you are wrong. Me - T-mac's value (both as a contract and a player) is low right now You - Fire-sale t-mac now, come up with any rationale to justify it. If more of your posts were along this line, I wouldn't take issue with you. I disagree what you wrote, but this is a lot more honest and fair then anything you have written in this entire thread.
But it doesn't work against everyone...it worked against Ariza too for a time, but as soon as LA closed the lane down and put some length in there, Artest struggled. Ron is a good complimentary player, he is not a great player, and his mindset is his strength and his weakness. Ron is an enigma, I just wish his offense was more consistent. DD
Brad Miller and Vlade were able to play without being under the basket. IDK what happened but when Yao 1st came he was able to knock down those shots Landry constantly hits. Now Yao shoots bricks everytime so I don't see how this team is slowly turning into a Rick Adelman's style. Aaron Brooks is not a Mike Bibby. We don't have a Doug Christie. Our Peja was traded to the Clippers. Scola is not a Chris Webber. He is more of a scorer than a passer. We are far away from seeing the old Adelman's team here.
Clearly there is a ways to go, don't compare player to player, rather look for the way the players are moving off the ball, this Rockets team would be more like the Portland teams than the Sacremento teams... Actually, check that a mix of both.... Yao does need some more high post action, but we need players that can take advantage of that....our biggest weakness IMO, is in our wing play...we need an efficient scorer to compliment one of our two defensive wings. DD
A great coach doesn't try to force his players to adopt to a cookie-cutter approach. You are right here in that Adelman isn't trying to re-create Sac-town. At the end of the day, all great coaches know that winning in a 7-game series is about exploiting match-ups discrepancies. Adelman did this with Yao and Brooks very well. And he tried to make up for it against Kobe by putting his best defensive guy on him, but it was not enough to contain the problems with the Lakers interior advantage. Ultimately, you look at your players strengths and you see how you can make them work for you. Scola was a force when Adelman recognized LA was over playing the perimeter. But once they locked down on Brooks and Scola, there wasn't enough of anyone else to do anything. Von Wafer, ARtest, Hayes, Landry, and Battier just weren't enough. To get past the Lakers and Nuggets, we will need our stars back, or two stars (if T-mac does get traded for a star player). You don't have to do much with this team...it's almost there. A back-up center is the real need, but hey, if you find a chance to improve that will make us a better team for 3 or 4 years, you do it. But right now, i say we are looking pretty good if we can find that back-up center to replace Deke.
