Game 4 is why the Rockets did not invest in a backup C

Oh my, Isn't that exactly the point? Adelman has the choice, he doesn't. However minutes Yao was playing, Deke was the first up for YAO, not others. Meaning, a legit backup big gives him more flexibility.

I'll leave the other stuff out. I don't claim to know the inner thinking of Rockets management. Not do I see much need to speculate. It's my opinion that they need a backup center.

 

Actually I don't try to get bbs rep or be "heart warming", but I don't try to be impolite or tacky either. This is really baffling. You mean, you can claim your logic with this "recipe" of small ball, but I can't call that "recipe" a formula - something they particularly aimed to do? It doesn't make sense. Oh, well. I'll stop trying to make sense.

 

Game 4 may have been a good exhibit for why we did not invest in a backup Center but this whole season is an exhibit of why we SHOULD invest in a backup center. I think the latest Yao foot injury is where we draw the line...if we plan on keeping Yao (which we should) for the future we MUST cut his minutes throughout the year and protect our big guy. The less wear and tear we put on his body during the season (primarily his legs and feet) the greater the percentage his body doesnt literally crack on us at the end of the year. Deke was a good situational backup center, his game is everything you can ask for (height, defense, rebounding) but there were way too many miles on that body to succesfully fill the role of a guy who can play decently heavy minutes game in and game out. If we can find a guy like Deke but younger who can play enough minutes to have Yao play only about 25-30 QUALITY minutes a game then im all for it. That might seem pretty short for a superstar but its an adjustment that needs to be made if we want Yao to be around for a deep playoff run. I think the upcoming matchup with Denver will truly expose our need for another shot blocker besides Yao. The Nuggets are full of guys that constantly attack the rim (K-Mart, Melo, Nene, Birdman, Jones) and without a guy in the middle to stop let alone intimidate them...its gonna be tough to stop those high flyers...

 

It's kinda difficult getting through with this. Yes, they prioritized Barry. That's much is given. Since it's what happened. As to why, and is it because of the small ball lineup like yesterday, like many others have pointed out, it's unlikely, given:
1. The small ball lineup wasn't heavily used during the season.
2. Yao Ming's +/- was big. Meaning, it generally wasn't successful.
3. We have a very different available roster at the beginning of the season compare to now.

If they did. They were mistaken.

 

Durvasa, I just think if u look at the situation with a realistic eye, the rockets had problems in the playoffs because they lacked a true 3rd scorer and size behind Yao. Barry fit none of the above. Let me ask anyone this, take ron away and tracy goes down. What has barry shown the last 3yrs that he could play 35 mins a night effectively? Lets say ron is still not here, Yao goes down, but the rox have either magloire,ratliff,anderson,elso and plus deke. Which team has the most potential to be successful? All those guys signed for less than what barry signed for. You could also throw mbenga in there also. Not only that, if I am going to get a backup wing player, i'm going to push some of the small combo guards off the roster and get a guy that can play against any team, a rotation type of guy. Barry hasn't been a rotation guy in some years now. Sa have been trying to get rid of him since they signed him because he's soft and doesn't defend. If I was going to get a wing, I wouldve prefered someone like barnes over barry. Barry did nothing to help solve the playoff problems.

 

With two max players *and* adding Artest, along with Scola and Landry, do you really think it is realistic to add a "third scorer" on the team assuming the top max players go down? May I introduce you to the salary cap, Lee? Have you ever heard of the luxury tax? Credit Morey for finding a reasonable facsimile of a third scorer at value with Von Wafer.

For the record, Barry has performed well as a vet role player with the Spurs and put up numbers in the playoffs. His salary is commensurate with that. It's not like he cost a huge amount.

 

At the end of last season, morey said specifically he needed to get a 3rd guy. That 3rd guy was artest which is cool by me. We were having conversations as to why they wasted money on barry vs a backup to yao. I made the point about barry made no sense when he was signed. Barry had been fazed out of the rotation of a older,slower spurs team. He stayed in pop's doghouse because of his lack of toughness and inability to defend his position. He has been a situational guy for the last couple of years. Now, looking at how we've had problems against Utah with their size and length at the 2/3 spots when tracy goes to the bench, how does barry help. Not to mention the fact you're starting center has missed 90 games the last 3 seasons, I think Barry was a waste and I said so when they started the pursuit. All those centers I mentioned signed for less than barry. All of those guys would have been solid 18 min backups to yao. Not to mention, once u got rid of some of those undersized combo's, they couldve had deke as the 3rd center. Go and look at what houston had on the bench during the ring years. Even though dream didn't miss a lot of games, they had size behind him. Thorpe backed yao up for some minutes, but they had eric riley who was a 7ft er as well as zan tabak. During those stretch runs, they even picked up old guys like cureton and jones.

 

Sensitive much? There's nothing suggestive of numbers, it's a word as in "a way to win". Sorry if you feel that way.

 

It's no different than saying:

"This whole go smaller/quicker approach is paying some dividends in the short term and it's nice having that option, but let's not kid ourselves here:" -post12

or "The Rockets would be fooling themselves if they think they do not need to invest on a back up center. Our Center by committee can not hold the fort for that long." - post 23.

or
"Just because they got away with it in Game 4 is not the real reason for it at all. "- post 30

or numerous others. I didn't even reply to your original quote.

again, I'm sorry if you feel that way.

 

Frankly, I don't see how Dorsey is not our backup Center come next year.

I mean unless behind the scenes he is pissing off the wrong people, the main issue with him this year was his rawness (committing too many fouls to quickly, see Bynum and Oden), his foot injury and the fact that since before the season started, the Rockets wanted Deke back.

So basically we have our backup of the future, for next season, but right now the kid would be more of liability then an asset if we put him on the court, since he has been bench warming for so long.

 

I think you are taking way too personal here by calling others names.

Rockets can make any business/sports decision by going any direction. Fans can always question whatever decision of the organization.

But we are not really discussing the direction Rockets chose to go, but rather your interpretation of the direction based on your observation of one game. I think once you start a thread in the forum, it's open for discussion.

Game 4 was a great game for the whole team, especially AB, but it didn't have much to do with Barry. So you can't say signing Barry over a big backup C/PF paid off. Rockets signed Deke in the middle of the season when everything looked awful with TMac/Ron on and off games, locker room rumors, terrible losses etc. Deke provided more leadership than actual playing. So we never had a solid big man backup.

Game 4 win was because of talent, not the genius signing of Barry. The first round win and second round fight was because of team play and talent. Who had Wafer stepped up, we had Lowry provided energy and offense, we had Landry scoring 15 points in a quarter. Adelman has the luxury of talent on the bench, which JVG never had. Bogans or Bowen can't score 15 points in a quarter, not even in a regular season game, no matter how bad they want it.

With current roster, when Yao is on the bench, we can only play one style - small and quick. That's not some genius move, but using the hands you are dealt. We could win because we still have very solid players in the line up, while JVG didn't have anything except for TMac and Yao.

If you signed some quality backup big, instead of Barry, we could still win game 4, and even game 3.

Nowadays, everyone is trying so hard to over-analyze everything based on very little data pool. We tend to find out deep meanings of simple things.

People are so excited about a "changed" Nuggets team. They got Mr. Big Shot, who has the ball in the hands and who can lead. They have both Nene and Martin healthy. Of course they are going to do much better.

People are so excited how Kobe led the new team to play great ball. They got Pau Gasol for free. What should happen when a playoff team with one of the best players and one of the best coaches adding an all-star?

It's accumulating whatever talent you can get, and then play the strength of your talents, not a predefined style or direction.

 

Brent Barry? Did he even play in game 4?

 

we really need a backup C ,but we can go small when yao is out .like Aldridge
or Miller,is a good choice of our second crew on court as a C to play princeton ,when yao gets back from bench ,we play inside out .Don't you think ?

 

I think next year might be too early for him to secure a role like backup center. Like you said, one thing holding him back is how raw he is. Next year with everyone back, we should be primed for another playoff run and ever game during the regular season is important. As much as I would like to see it happen, I don't see him drastically improving that much in one offseason enough to point where we count on him each game to log quality minutes. I would rather sign another vet to backup Yao and give some more time for Dorsey to develop. I hope the Rockets keep Deke around as a coach,kinda like what Ewing was to continue to work with Yao and help the younger guys.

 

nobody here is worthy Tmac and his expiring contract.