The Rockets GM and coach have to be on the same page. For us to sign these guys and for JVG not to play them is a waste. I am not blaming either the GM or the Coach seperately but them as a unit. This team continues to fail in adding a SOLID rotational piece to the Yao+Tmac core. They can do it in trades (Mike James, Shane Battier etc) but in the Free Agent market they have failed. Sura has been the only good FA addition. It is not about quantity, but quality. They have to hit BIG this summer on a FA. Clutch, you know I am with you on Mike James. He is a good fit under JVG and is a player that can create his own shot. We need that. This summer, we need to find a player that can create their own shot, show some speed. Quality.
Worth quoting again. Totally agree jopatmc. This team is good enough defensively. We just need more efficient offense. And we can't be expected to ONLY get halfcourt scoring. We need to up the FG% and to do that is get guys that are fast, can finish on the break and give us easy points.
I know exactly what you're saying Doc, but I've learned that we really shouldn't be too shocked. Mike James is such a polarizing figure that some of the posters here will never concede a thing to him. Ever. No matter how obvious the reality is, they just can't forgive him for media comments or passing on signing with us, so they bask in all of his failures. Bench player or starter, who cares: What he brings to the table clearly could have helped us in this series.
What people have to relaize is the "skillset" that we need added to this team. Tmac, Yao, Battier. They are fine! We just need to add some scorers. Guys that can create shots themselves or for others. Enough with the "house of cards, live in a vaccum" type team. Yao+Tmac+Shooters is just too fragile. If the shooers are cold we are sunk. We have no fast break. There are no easy points. The stars have to align for us to move on. We need a wider range here. If something doesn't work, we need to have other facets to fall back on. We dont have that. BTW, one player to think about this summer if the Rockets want to go "all in" with their MLE is a guy like Mo Williams of tbe Bucks. If we are looking for a "younger" Mike James type player, Williams is it. He is only 25 and has proved he can run a team, score on the move and hit jump shots.
Mike James isn't, never was or will be a superstar. But, he plays good D, is quick/physical for a pg, and can hit an outside shot with more regularity than alston. He can start the offense when t-mac needs a break and he adds some desperately needed fire/passion to a team of nice guys. Yes, he makes a difference here. You have to surround yao-tracy with guys capable of hitting shots and attacking off double teams. Battier is one(he at least knocks down open looks with regularity). Alston and hayes can't, so it's like playing 3 on 5 offensively. not gonna work.
No doubt Mike James would have helped in this series. Of course, Snyder or V-Span might have helped too...... DD
Man did I miss Bob Sura, Jon Barry, Scott Padgett, David Wesley.....list goes on and on int this years playoffs. Mainly missed JB and BS. They had HEART...and FIRE. Something NONE of the current Rockets have. EIDT: Also, I really thought Snyder would be part of this team when we got him. Perfect guy to throw on Dirk if we played them again etc. But nope, he saw nothing more than the bench. Same with our European Savior.
I'm glad we had Rafer tonight. He kept us in the game with his ability to get steals when we needed it. He also hit a clutch 3 that helped along the way. He was able to set up our offense quickly. I don't blame Rafer for allowing the Jazz to get all those offensive rebounds.
lololol.... and the award for the most egregious asskissing of clutch in this bbs's history goes to....tinman! man, that's just sad. and it doesnt even make sense.
Our bench was exposed, we had no counter for Boozer, or at least no counter from the coaching staff (is it their fault? look at our bench... did they use what we had in a way that allowed us to win? look at the results), and we were exposed at the point, a big weakness all season long. Out coached, out benched, overwhelmed at the point. We were exposed by a team we should have beat, despite our weaknesses. We were exposed. Someone hand me a towel.
Certainly Mike could have gotten us out of the first round. JVG isl always at his best being praised for overachieving with teams short of talent. People forget that Rudy always got his players to play in the end at least as hard as JVG did.
After watching these playoffs, I’m more convinced now than ever that success in the playoffs is not going to come unless you have an all-star level or near all-star level point guard. The team with the better starting point guard has won in every single series so far in the playoffs. Larry Hughes > Antonio Daniels Jason Kidd > TJ Ford Chauncy Billups>Jameer Nelson Kirk Hinrich>Jason Williams Tony Parker>Steve Blake Steve Nash>Jordan Farmar Baron Davis>Jason Terry Deron Williams>Rafer Alston Mike James is not a bad player, but he’s a backup. We need to aim higher. I don’t care if it takes packaging Battier, Head, Hayes, or even splitting up Yao/Mcgrady, the Rockets need to find a way to get themselves a vastly improved starting point guard, and Mike James doesn’t fit the bill.
Larry Hughes over Daniels? For one, Daniels had to start because Arenas was injured. And I highly doubt that the Cavaliers would have beaten the Wiz so easily if Arenas and Butler weren't injured. Jason Kidd over TJ Ford. It's definitely a HOFer against a playoff-inexperienced point guard. Billups over Nelson. Billups is the better player no doubt, but something about having Prince/Sheed/Rip might tip the scales a bit. Just a bit. I would go on but you can probably see the picture. You don't need an all-star level point guard when you have McGrady and Yao. You just need a COMPETENT point guard that can knock down jumpers on a consistent basis. Who is that player? I don't know but with the two stars we have right now, consistency and efficiency is what we need...not necessarily an all-star level point.
That’s my point. With Arenas (a superstar level point guard) the Wizards go from being swept, to probably winning that series. That is how important the point guard position has become. If your team wins the point guard matchup, the chances of your team winning go up 10 fold.
Arenas is their best player and their best scorer. BIG difference. When Dream won it all, our point guards were no where near all-star level. Same goes for the Three-Peat Lakers and the Spurs (Tony Parker was pretty good but nowhere near as good as he is now). Sure Detroit and Miami won with good point guards but on both of those teams, the point guard was arguably their best player or most clutch. We have our best in Tracy and Yao. You just need someone that can steer the ship without crashing into an iceberg.
You’re talking about a league that is so different from what it is today. That was a league where the team with the most dominant center always won. That's obviously not the case anymore, or else teams like Orlando (Dwight Howard), Miami (Shaq), and Houston (Yao) would not be out of the first round. This is a guards league, particularly a point guard’s league. Without a talented point guard that is an outstanding playmaker that can break down defenses, create for their teammates, run the fast break and hit outside shots, you’re not going to win, as these playoffs have shown.
A fascinating thought experiment: Where would the team be if we agreed to the trade-kicker and signed Mike James (a move that I was in favor of and something I criticized the team for not doing)? No reasonable person could dispute that if we had an effective Mike James in this series we would have won hands down. But if we agreed to the trade-kicker and had an effective Mike James all season, that puts into motion a series of events that change our entire season. Maybe we're not facing Utah in the first round. Maybe we're a two or three seed. Maybe we draw the Fakers or Nuggets. There are too many variables to say really. But unless Yao doesn't get injured and plays at his pre-injury level throughout the playoffs, JVG + TMac + Yao + Mike James, et al, still do not not amount to a championship team. So trade-kicker or not, we would still find ourselves searching for answers to the Rockets' woes, albeit maybe after a loss in a later round of the playoffs.
