Great post R4L11, Yao's efficiency is great, but he also gives us an identity and lets everyone get familiar with the roles they are suppose to play which is huge. Still, even when everyone starts clicking he goes down with another injury and everyone is forced (again) to play a different type of game...there's no continuity with Yao on this team, but hopefully that will change with surgery THIS time...because it didn't change last time...or the time before...or... This crap we're going to roll out on Oct 27 is going to be a cluster hump of helter skelter offense and bad defense. I wonder how long its going to be before Ariza starts whinning about his role on a losing team. We're in for a long season...
we're not going to have a great season and we're nowhere close to championship contenders. but we will fight for one of those playoff spots. do you know how bad your team is + bad team chemistry to lose 55 games? the only way we are going to lose 50 games is tracy sucks as much as last year and mess up the team chemistry ala starbury status.
Oh I agree with ya. We'll be good enough to be in the 'hunt' for the last playoff spot, if you can call that 'good'. 40 wins will be pretty good for us and depending when Tmac comes back we may win a few more...but Yao is our most efficient scorer and a huge reason why our D was so good...without him we're a scrappy, borderline lottery team.
look we'll miss yao A LOT when we play teams who have some good big men (lakers/boston/denver...). we'll probably get destroyed in the paint. but for the most part, we're going to be fine defensively i believe. even if tmac doesn't return, we'll win 40 games. that's how good i think our role players are. whether we can go up to around 48-50 wins depend on when tracy returns and how good he'll be when he does return. if he's as good as last year, that means his career is over. and we're not gonna sniff the playoffs. if he regains some semblance of 06-08, we WILL be in the playoffs. (that's assuming he returns by december and regain his form; it's not hard to regain his 06-08 form since he was injured those years too)
Look.. you said Yao isn't valuable. I gave you reasons why he is valuable. Instead of answering you want to dance around the question. Let me ask you again.. Is someone averaging 20 10 valuable??? Stop beating around the bush with this MVP and playoffs crap. You said Yao isn't valuable, stick to the freakin subject. Since you want to bring up the playoffs, at least Yao has been to the second round. I think your're garbage for thinking Yao isn't valuable. Now answer my question.
i did answer your question before. so read the post. i said taking yao off will hurt us v. some teams, but we'll be fine. it's not like we haven't lost 20 and 10 before for a long period of time. and did we suck before? did we look like a 55 loss team before? i'm sorry, but please refresh my memory.
What many of you forget to factor is how good the other teams got. The Spurs, Blazers, and Mavs all got better in the off season. It's not unthinkable that we could lose that many games. Especially if our team doesn't get healthy.
Is someone averaging 20 10 valuable? Just answer Yes or No or type 1 for Yes 2 for No. If you say no, you are a Tracy apologist.
If Mcgrady returns on schedule, I honestly think we're fielding a better team than the one that won 22 in a row. The problem is without Deke and Rafer (yeah I said it) we have lost a lot of our defensive identity. If between Hayes, Battier, and Ariza we can maintain our ability to lockdown teams defensively this team has a chance to be above average. If not we're in for a long season. Our ability to put up points is the least of our worries.
do you guys even read my posts? where di i say we don't need yao? i said we'll MISS yao (esp. teams with big men). i thought i made that clear. so if we had yao, we'll be a much better team than without him. jesus. but the OP said without yao, we'll lsoe 55 games. if the lakers lose kobe, they're still a guaranteed playoff team in the west. without yao, we'll struggle to make the playoffs but we'll be in the hunt. losing 55 games mean YOU SUCK.
Thanks SRF, I believe Yao will be more durable after the last surgery but only time will tell. I don't think Ariza is a whinner, but watching him in the preseason is very discouraging. You're right it'll be long scrappy season, but I'm excited to see what the young guys can bring to the table while building an identity.
yes it is valuable. didn't i say yao was key to our team and we'll miss him? am i talking to a wall here?
The primary reason I think we have a shot at about a .500 record is our bench. It's possible that our backups at multiple positions will be superior to our starters and because of the fact that we lack star players, it's likely that Adelman will be quick to turn to the bench when starters are underperforming.
With out Brent Barry's veteran leadership we will be lucky to get 10 wins What ever happened to In Morey we trust? Did you guys not watch the rockets last year, Yao was no 30+ point offensive powerhouse. even without Yao and Mcgrady we gave the lakers a good run. We will not win the championship but we will not be in the NBA's worst either. 27 wins....good luck on that.
50 losses is not beyond the realm of possibility. It's actually a best case scenario longterm... a la the John Wall lottery. Worst case is limping into the playoffs and getting swept and ending up next year at the same place There's no point on jumping on the OP's back. There's no way to know how factors such as Tmac's health will shake out which will have a direct impact on the number of wins and losses 50 is not unthinkable. 40 is more likely. Either is possible depending on many other factors including the health and chemistry of other teams in the league will only develop throughout the course of the season
