This will be old hat to those of you who already saw it this way, but I'm slowly coming around to the sad idea that the Rockets can't be built like the pre-crash Lakers. The Lakers had 2 superstars in Shaq and Kobe. They had strong, serviceable role players in Fisher, Fox, Horry, et al. But Shaq and Kobe were so dominant that members of the supporting cast could come and go, and still the Lakers won rings. Yao and McGrady will never be that. They'll never be powerful enough, as a duo, to carry a team with a Battier and a few solid but unspectacular role players. They're more like a couple of guys from one of those teams that were built around 4 offensive contributors, like the Pistons or the old Kings squad. Some nights, guys A and B carried the team. Other nights, guys C and D did it. I'm not saying our role players are as good as the Lakers' guys were. I'm saying that if you put our role players on the court with the old Shaq and Kobe, they'd easily get through the first round. And if you put the Lakers' old role players around Yao and McGrady, they're still a coin flip to get past this year's Jazz. You can build a winner around guys like Yao and McGrady, but you have to do it the way the Kings did, with 2 more guys on the floor who can give you offensive game when the other 2 are stymied. And that's a very hard thing to find. I love Shane Battier. I think we'd be insane to trade him. But I'm sad about Bonzi Wells, pining for Brandon Roy, and wondering where we can find firepower in the next couple of years. Because 3 "effort" guys in the Van Gundy mold, wrapped around Yao and McGrady, just will not cut it.
Wasn't Bonzi supposed to be that 3rd guy? I think with a dependable 3rd scorer and Battier we can make a run. But we need that 3rd guy, or at least someone more dependable than Rafer taking the lion's share of our open 3's.
True. The idea of putting together Shaq-Kobe type of team? A few problems with that. Neither Yao nor Tracy has that indomitable will to win. Talent? Yes. Fire? No. And they have no 3rd scoring option. But even Ko-shaq didn't win it all until they had the right coach.
Ya... I have said it before, Shaq was the most dominant inside force, Kobe was the most dominant perimeter force. They were arguably the best and 2nd best player in the league. Yao and T-Mac can be great, but to reach that level... Unlikely. A 3rd guy will not be that hard to come by. Bonzi fell into our laps, he could have been that guy. It just didnt work out. I dont like the gloomy tone of this post. Look at it in a positive light. The Rockets are 1 free agent away from gaining that 3rd guy. Hopefully he comes in the form of a point guard with attitude, passion, and flair. Draft is an outside possibility if we move up into the Law/Conley area, or maybe Afflalo, Tucker, or (yalls boy) Almond may have some legit potential. But like I said. Make our 3rd missing link a positive rather than a negative.
No, we got the 2 supers. The bottom line is you need multidimensional role players like Derek Fisher to make the two superstar model work. You could not surround Kobe and Shaq with guys that could neither shoot well or defend well or could only do one skill and expect them to win. You can't possibly compare Rafer, Luther, Shane, Chuckie, and Juwan to Rick Fox, Robert Horry, Ron Harper, Derek Fisher, Devean George, Glen Rice, etc...? The only realistic comparison is Shane and Rick Fox. They are about equivalent. Rafer vs. Derek Fisher or Ron Harper???? LOL Luther vs. Glen Rice??? Juwan vs. Robert Horry???? LOL Hayes vs. A.C. Green or Horace Grant??? Come on man. Kirk Snyder vs. Devean George???? Get real. A whole different level of supporting cast.
Our "superstars" were single coverd vs. the Jazz. What would Hakeem or Shaq have done to single coverage (by a guy like Mehmet Okur) back in the day? If you answered the kind of performance that yao (or tracy) put on - you need to fire up the betamax machine at tinman's place.
This year's Rockets are inferior to the Lakers championship teams in every way. Our stars are inferior, the roll players and bench are inferior and the coaching is inferior. You can't seriously believe Tracy = Kobe; if so, please buy my bridge in Brooklyn. Same for Yao = Shaq; ain't no way in the world. Shaq would have fouled out 5 Jazz players each game. Yao couldn't hit 50% of his shots and didn't get key rebounds that came right to him.
Exactly. Tracy might be considered one and that might be debatable. Yao is nowhere close. The way he got out classed by Carlos Boozer was startling. Will's original point is dead on. T-Mac and Yao are not good enough to overcome the weak supporting cast. Battier is the only tradeable asset other than T-Mac and Yao. Tracy is the only perimeter player on the team who can create his own shot or a shot for somebody else. This team is alot further away from being a championship contender than people want to admit. And the rockets have few resources to try and get better this offseason.
I've pondered this while wandering the Earth meeting new people and solving mysteries after the disappointing 1st round exit. Right now it's either the 3 star+superstar system or 5 star balanced team. Look at who the top contenders going into the post-season were: Pho, Dal, SA (3 stars/superstars), Utah, Det (5 balanced stars). Yeah, Utah is pushing it, but they're close. We were the only team w/ 2 superstars, although I'll admit I don't know if either have the 'takeover' ability of some others. Look at Denver, they've got AI and Melo, the top 2 scorers in the league, and despite their success near the end I don't think they'll ever win a championship until they get a star or superstar center or pf. Which brings up an addendum: At minimum a star (not superstar) big man (c or pf) is also necessary to win a championship. The only time in recent history a team didn't have one, they had a guy known as MJ.
You're kidding yourself if you think Yao and T-Mac are superstars (in the mold of Shaq and Kobe in the context of this conversation). T-Mac is a "great" player and Yao is a "very good" player, maybe even a "great" player (I have my doubts after that embarrassing performance against Okur single coverage). They are both probably top 15 talents, but neither is nowhere near the level of a Shaq and Kobe. That's not an insult - that Lakers team had the two best players in the NBA playing together. There's no shame in not being able to measure up to those guys, but those were two cold blooded, heartless assasins playing together on the same team who would have ripped the Jazz apart with our role players. Will is dead on but it's hard to accept because it's hard seeing this team get two more quality players.
No, I'm not kidding myself. You guys are blaming the wrong guys. Yao and McGrady busted .... for us all season. They are legit superstars. Yao is the best center in the league. There is no one else even close. And both of them are in the top 10 best players in this league. They are legit superstars. The offense needs adjustment and we need a playmaker.
This was my biggest fear/concerns after monitoring this team (and these two "superstars") extremely closely for 7 games. This also concerned me MUCH more than who's going to be the coach next year. Keep this in mind... Kobe and Shaq showed signs of GREATNESS well before Phil Jackson came on the scene. He merely got them to play with more focus/composure/consistency. But really, Shaq had MVP calibur seasons well before Jackson came on the scene.
Tim Duncan is the best center... not even close. Especially in today's NBA where teams like to put non-STIFF guys out there, for the sake of versatility. Yao is a highly skilled player... has a great shot, which he can get off b/c of his size, and generally makes smart decisions with passing. He's also a great teammate. But, he'll never be the defender Duncan is, he'll never be the rebounder Duncan is, and he's yet to develop the killer instinct to dominate an opponent (rip their hearts out) that Duncan has always had... despite his nice-guy persona. Also, if they were truly as dominant of a superstar as you claimed they are... you wouldn't be saying, "they need a playmaker." You'd be saying they simply need guys who can hit an open shot. I feel if they have guys who can hit the 3, they'll win some playoff series... but to win it all, they may need more. One things for sure... one more year isn't going to help either of them physically.
