Deke closes out and contests shots better than Yao. Hayes is a better defender on the blks against a gut like Boozer. So when people pose the question, i'll give u the answer. Against Utah, its a bad matchup with Yao and we have scoring problems without him.
Yes you are. You convieniently forgot the fact that Hayes played limited minutes against Jazz last year. Say we give the mins to Scola/Landry, I believe that would make a huge difference plus Boozer stop making those jumpshots. Oh btw, didnt we take it to game 7 last year?
The 22 win streak Rockets are not the Rockets in the previous years. With a healthy full squad they would've beaten the Jazz and face a toss up with the Lakers.
Healthy or not, once in the playoffs, we will have a fatigue Yao after the 82 games seasons. Fatigue yao will be slow and clumsy. I seriously dount the rockets can go far in the playoffs without a legit 3rd soccer!
If Yao didn't have the injury, we would've gotten the first seed (remember we were two wins away from first seed at one point, although it was on the road against Jazz and a desperate Nuggets) and probably gone to WCF at the least
Honestly, I thought they had a chance to get to the Finals with Yao. But definitely into the 2nd round!!
Not a fair statement. Both teams were distinctly different. They had Fisher, which in my opinion, was huge. We had matchup problems at the four and a hobbled Yao.
I will grant you Fisher made a difference, but, man for man, the Jazz could still put more talent on the floor than the Rockets. Didn't they shoot 50% for the entire season, and wasn't their free throw % very high as a team? Yao would have helped, but I think the outcome would have been the same. Bigger, stronger, quicker, better. The Jazz are a especially bad match up for the Rockets, and that "thin" air would have still been "thin." My statement is not "unfair," it is just a difference of opinion.
I don't know, my gut tells me that Yao was hobbled and horribly slow on both the offense and defensive end the year before. We were outmanned at the four and that further exposed Yao's weakness coming off of surgery. Fisher was a nightmare player against us, and with that said, we lost in 7. If it were rewound and Yao & Rafer weren't injured this year, we had an answer for Boozer, Fisher was no longer a problem, and we would have probably won it in 7. Guess what, injuries happen so it's all just a pipedream. Reality is that we lost and have to look to improve. I just don't think we have to make the drastic adjustments you and Gater do. Look at what the athletic horses got the Suns. Look at what it's getting the Lakers. It's not trying to get a team that's fun to watch and can almost win it all. It's trying to put together a model that can win it all. Of course, I'm a Van Gundy fan, so I obviously like players like Battier and Value the ability of a repeatable action over a fast break highlight play.
A civil, reasoned response! I wish the whole board was like this. As to your above statement, that is the question I have, is Les really willing to go all out to get a premier team in here, a true contender, OR is he seeing the "fun to watch" option as more profitable? I think he has "overvalued" the TMac/Yao combo. What I don't understand is that he doesn't seem to be realistically facing their injury histories and rapidly closing window of opportunity. Without an "Artest" level player in here quickly, this door is about to shut. The "physics" of Yao's feet alone is a serious questionmark.
With as spectacularly close as the seeding in the West was, if Yao had stayed healthy, its extremely possible that we could have been the #1 or 2 seed and not played the Jazz at all.
If any 2 of 3 of Hayes, Battier and Alston are playing starter minutes, you're a 1st Round exit waiting to happen. It was true in the '07 Playoffs, it would have been true in the '08 Playoffs and it will be true next Playoffs. The Jazz have more talent, Harpring was a little banged up and the improvement of Brewer and the addition of Giricek more than make up for losing Fisher. For next season, the Jazz have the D-Leagues' highest scorer Morris Almond waiting in the wings.
So who's minutes does Morris eat into? You only have so many slots. I'll give you the Harpring aspect, but I'm not all that impressed with Brewer. And yes Korver (not Giricek) was a great fit for the team. As for the rox composition, I think everyone agrees with the Hayes aspect. But the team was appreciably better with Alston on the court and when Battier (oh yeah, did you forget how hobbled he was? I didn't) is full strength, he adds a tremendous defensive presence that can space the floor for Yao. I get that injuries have plagued us and that we have an injury prone team. I just think we've hit the all in mode, where we have to ride the Yao/McGrady tandem and anticipate a healthy playoffs. That may not be realistic, but we are not getting value back and therefore, breaking up the team means rebuilding now.
--We had 3 of Hayes, Battier, and Alston playing starters minutes and went to the final minutes of game 7. --Giricek wasn't added; he was cut. --Seriously, you're using the D-League? Almond scored 25 ppg on just below 45% shooting (and below 36% 3P shooting). Brooks only spent 2 games down there, but put up 23 a game on 47% shooting. Steve Novak was putting up 18 points and 7 rebounds a game. Your favorite player, Chuck Hayes, used to average almost 12 points a game in the D-League. The great Keith Langford was close on Almond's tail for the scoring title, with much better efficiency. It's not exactly primo competition.
Hayes was replaced this year by Scola and Landry. If Yao was with this year's team I feel we might have made it in 7 games against the Jazz even with a healthy Rafer. We still need an upgrade at the PG, an additional SG/SF and a younger backup C to come close to an elite team IMO.
Puh-leeeezzz...The final minutes of Game 7 is your strategic argument? Why not look at the Rockets mediocre record against the WC that season? Anyone with an ounce of obectivity would have seen the Jazz should have been favored in the series. The point isn't that they "lost in the minutes"...the point is "how did they get that far"? Oh...that's right...by playing GREAT defense for one of the greatest defensive minds to ever coach an NBA game while they used 2 of 5 starters who can barely score in a gym all alone. That's real talent and balance. Or has your high-level of analytical ability gone on auto-pilot as you glide through the euphoria of Streak 22? Got Giricek mixed with Korver. The logic still stands Brewer + Korver >> Fisher. D-League? The place where the Rockets find starters and other teams find rotational players? That D-League? Overall and player for player, the Jazz are taller, quicker and more athletic. Same teams, same results.
