1. Duncan is not a center. He's a PF. He doesn't even like to play center....because he gets banged around and he can't defend a guy like Yao. 2. I'll take Yao at center over Duncan any day. Yao wins that matchup if they have to defend one another. Now, if you are going to let Duncan play PF, like Boozer, and you are going to force Yao to have to defend against him, then Duncan obviously has the advantage because he can take Yao up to the high block. But in the pivot, it's no contest. Before his injury, Yao was the leader in the MVP race. He was mashing on everybody.
It's very very hard to build a championship team... there were some extremely talented teams: Clyde's Blazers, Webber's Kings, that never won one. The Rockets, as presently constituted, isn't enough to get one... and, like most teams out there, will have do be very lucky to get enough talent to get there. They are, however, in a better position than most of the other teams (which means that they have a, say, 7% chance of getting enough players and winning one, instead of 0.1% for some of the other teams, within the next 2-3 years). The question is whether you keeps building on this, trying for the 7% chance or you blow it up-- knowing that you might not even get back to the 7% chance for years and years.
All you guys are still thinking as though Van Gundy will be the cOach?? From my observation of our team and all the other teams in the playoffs, I have come to the conclusion that the idea of having a third scorer might have been effective two or three seasons ago, we now need to have four or five players who can score when called upon to do so. Otherwise we just won't match up with the top teams-Spurs, Suns. Dallas, GS, Utah, Chicago and Detroit. to get to this level means a development programme of getting us a roster, which might take two to three offseasons. We need to develop draft picks and our trades which is going to require a coach who is looking to the plan and not one who is focused on 'Win Now'.
Show me where Duncan says he doesn't "like to play center." Maybe he'd be equalized in the days of Ewing, Shaq, Olajuwon, Robinson... but those day are LONG gone, my friend. Duncan is a big man... he plays the post, he guards the paint, he rebounds everything in sight, and he'll guard the opposing team's best-scoring big-man. And, oh btw, he's a 7 footer (and not some pansy-ass like Dirk). Yao is a throwback... the last remnant of an era of skilled big-men. And to say Duncan would "want no part of Yao" is homerism at its best. If Boozer can demolish Yao, Duncan would have a field day. And if you're simply going to use his injury as an excuse, so be it... do you think he'll ever be the same again? You hear he's having another procedure on his toe? You think Yao was some speed-demon who would have been able to guard this version of Boozer before the injury? I'm taking Duncan over Yao.
"The NBA has become a drive and dish game." "Point guards have become so important in the playoffs." ....Doug Collins 05/13/2007
Which is exactly Will's point... the Rockets, if they are to construct their team with adequate PG's/swingmen who can keep up with these teams, may not be able to follow the stagnant 2-superstar max-money model. Where are the Barron Davis' and Steve Nash's that you think are available? Either the Rockets hope to get LUCKY and acquire a Tony Parker in the draft, or they may have to blow up the ship.
Nick, does Rafer have a chance to be that????????????? That's my point. We know Rafer isn't it. Why haven't we been finding out if VSpan is it? My point is not that VSpan is it. My point is we know Rafer isn't, and we've known this, even those of us that really like Rafer (which I happen to like Rafer) and felt like he could be functional had to admit by the halfway point this season that Rafer wasn't it, that he wasn't going to get us there. So, why not find out if VSpan was?????? That's my point.
These playoffs showed us that the talent is not there, the leadership is not there, and the coaching was not there to win a championship. Can they grow? I don't know. Something seems to have happened behind the scenes that we don't know about. How in the world could Yao have played so badly? Why didn't JVG motivate his team or make adjustments. TMac never had a super game. Rafer was Rafer. Chuck was Chuck. But Head sucked. Utah was great, and that was part of it, and we only came 4 points from winning the series, but bottom line, we didn't have the talent to go all the way ... and it wasn't because we didn't play VSpan. We're not just one key player away. We're 3 or 4, and when we give 2 pieces to get one in the Battier trade, when we let a trade kicker kill a signing for a player we needed and who wanted to be here, or trade our 1st round pick to get Rice off the payroll, that was stupid GMing. CD swings. One time he doesn't give enough to get the trade done, the next time he gives too much. The real culprit here is not JVG, it's CD and Les, for not doing what it takes to get the players we need. I'm sure Morey will be more consistent. I just hope Morey knows what has to be done, and Les realizes he's got to empower him so we get the players we need, or the window will close on McGrady/Yao, and everyone will lose. Yeah, and as much as I like Yao, he's NOT dominant or a leader like Shaq, and McGrady doesn't have the drive of Kobe. I like JVG, but he's not Jackson. We need a leader ... and we don't have one.
I completely agree with this analysis. We have to come to terms with the fact that we are only at 7% right now, not twice that, which is what many of us thought. And we have to stop thinking that (a) a new coach will help much, as the Gundy haters imagine, or (b) a couple more "role players" will help much, as Gundy himself seems to imagine. For my money, blowing up our 7% team is far more likely to put us below 3% than to get us above 7% anytime soon. Which sucks, but that's where we are.
I think we already found out VSpan is not it. Rafer at least gave this team a chance... they certainly had a good chance in game 7. When you had a 50-50 shot to win a series, do you sit the guy who gave you that shot to "find out whether VSPan is it" and pretty much guarantee defeat?
Even JVG knows Rafer isn't "it"... and if he believed he had an adequate backup, he'd be splitting the minutes. Fran's article says JVG feels they need MAJOR upgrades at PG and PF. Morey feels they only need tweaks. I feel they need major uprgrades REGARDLESS of who's the coach. Even if V-Span is slightly better than he was this year, who cares... if you honestly think he has the tools to matchup with the PG's left in these playoffs (D. Williams, Nash, Parker, B.Davis)... that's more comical homerism. The best I hope for V-span is to be Lindsay Hunter... and that's also figuring pretty optimistically. He's not a future HOFer sitting on the bench... we're lucky if he sticks as a contributing role player.
LOL, what? Dirk busted ass for the Mavericks too, all season in fact- where are they now? Anyway, Yao and Tracy were single covered all series. SINGLE COVERED. The Best center in the league - covered by a defensive light weight like Okur. I ask you again - what would Hakeem and Shaq, or even a Ewing or Robinson have done to that? Okur would have been mentally and physically dismembered and destroyed for life. Would you have seen Hakeem or Shaq doing the "hit myself on the head and curse at the floor as I fumble the ball away?" I doubt it. Man. I can't believe people are still banging the "we need a playmaking PG" drum. Last time people did that the result was Rafer. As I said then, and I'll say now - we have TWO playmakers. Who decided not to make plays in the playoffs. Which is why they're not up to the task like a Hakeem, Shaq, a Kobe - hell even Dwayne Wade or Baron Davis or Charles Barkley or David Robinson. They're not superstars
They still got it to a game 7. And they didn't ultimately lose that game because of a lack of offense.
