Thoughts over a post game celebratory Bud Light: Adelman is a hell of a coach. Our guys are really picking up his system well. Pardon what is probably a pretty foreign analogy to Texans, but the Rockets remind me a lot of the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Dungy installed killer defensive scheming and personnel; Gruden brings along some offensive know-how when he takes over and they're champions. I'm not sure the Rockets are poised to win a championship this year, but you've got to think that they're strong contenders in 2009 with Yao back. I'm trying to think about how they improve going forward. Aside from becoming more comfortable in the new system and maintaining their defensive minded upbringing as a squad, I'm not sure what they need to add. I absolutely love this roster! I haven't felt this way since the championship years. If Rafer continues his level of play then he's the guy we want at the point. Yao and Tracy obviously mesh great in the scheme given their raw talent, bball IQ, and ability to make their teammates better (regardless of what Chuck thinks). Scola, Battier, and Landry are great. Locking Landry up long term is certainly our biggest priority of the offseason. Hayes, Jackson, Head, and Mutumbo are pretty good bench role guys. Brooks and Novak actually look like they might have a future on Adelman's squad. So we resign Landry. We possibly upgrade Jackson and/or Hayes. We find a replacement for Mutumbo, who can't possibly have much left in the tank. We place a premium on bball I-Q, team players, defenders, and guys that can hit an open jumper. We probably need a shot blocker or two off the bench. That's it! This is really freakin exciting! Any idea who's available in free agency next year?
I thought about the Bucs analogy when the team was 6-1. I mean, even before the season, it was easy to do: Defensive minded coach that was unable to advance in the postseason let go for a more offensive minded guy. Defensive keys are kept(Kiffin and crew) and mixed with the new offensive focus(Gruden, Jurevicius, McCardell). Lots of fans liked the old coach and felt the team made a big mistake. But imagine that team losing Brad Johnson or Derrick Brooks.
Unfortunately this biggest improvement going forward will be stay healthy. Who knows what this team can do being healthy all season long. We will definitely need some help to replace Deke, that will be tougher than some may think.
Hopefully, Steve Francis can come back from the injury. I expect him to replace BJax next year and possibly even challenge Rafer for the starter job. Also, the rookies and Novak should all continue to improve.
Couple quick notes: -I loved and still love JVG because I personally love a team that plays great defense. But I am becoming a huge Rick Aldeman fan! The y can out-coach ANYBODY! He creates match-ups that are in our favor every game (ie putting Novak in for a long stretch in tonight's game!) -With the development of Scola and Landry and the demotion of Hayes, I (like many) had started to go on ESPN and see what we could give to get some like Artest or Mike Miller. Among the people I constently included was Chuck Hayes because of his defense (other teams would want him) and his contract. But I have to apologize for the Chuckwagon because any other player that gets demoted like that from starter to third string would have one hell of a time trying to see the upside. But Chuck has worked on his offense and it is showing in his game. -Rafer Alston is the heart of this team. He is playing great (except the one or two bad shots) but those can easily be overlooked. The guy played good defense on an amazing point guard tonight and still contributed on offense. Glad to have Alston on this team. -T-Mac is playing out of his mind right now. The guy shot 63% for tonights game! WOW! And here we were just two months ago with threads about how he had lost his game, his jumper, his desire, etc, etc etc. And I love the fact that in the last 2 minutes of the game, he didn't settle for a jumper and drove it to the basket through 2 or 3 players while getting hit!
1) stay healthy is #1. landry will be missed. sikma is right. when tmac gets doubled in the high post, u can have scola swings to the ft line for a J or landry to the baseline for a dunk. landry is huge for us. 2) put scola in the post more. the way the hornets doubled tmac tonight, it's best if we can use the weakside and post scola up. we really didn't look for scola tonight and we could have. 3) continue to put tmac at the high post. we're starting to do that more and more as we go along and it's paying HUGE dividends. it's easier for tmac to the rack when he's near the ft line. 4) def. rebounding. we slipped a lil bit the past 2 games as mavs and hornets both got very high off. rebounding #s. that can come back to haunt us.
Next three games see what Mike Harris and Justin Williams can do. If Harris is the goods lock him up for 3 years starting at the min.
get someone that can produce offense off the bench without relying on tmac so the man can get some rest. as it is, everyone we have coming off the bench relies on tmac to get them open shots. the supporting cast has got to do a better job of being able to maintain and fend for themselves without tracy on the floor spoon feeding them shots. figure out a way to get something other than a long range shots with the shotclock winding down. if we can comfortably sit tmac a couple minutes to end the 1st and 3rd and start the 2nd and 4th we'll be solid, this year and next.
Oops I was so caught up in the joy of 18 in a row that I forgot to mention what I thought we needed to improve on. The most important aspect of our game right now is our rebounding. We need to rebound better because teams are getting too many offensive rebounds with Yao out.
Thats probably the one thing I forgot about when I started this thread in a beer and Rockets induced euphoria. Somebody mentioned Mike Miller. Thats exactly the type of guy we need. We don't need a point/shooting guard hybrid. Thats what got Mike James shipped out and will probably leave no place for Steve Francis when he gets healthy. We need an athletic swingman off the bench who can penetrate, shoot well, and create his own shot.
Free Throw shooting for sure. And I am sure defending the pick and roll - looks like we were burned for a lot of dunks by NO and of course Utah gives us fits with this.
