Our entire team needs to do that, I am hoping that adding Yao and a bigger emphasis on it gets us back to the top 5 in defense like usual. I think we were top 3 with yao the year before......he does make a BIG difference. DD
I was thinking about the Rockets philosophy at times in the past whereby their starting team was a defensively minded one that got their opponent off balance from the get go, and then inserted offensive players in a situational way to pull away. If we started: Lowry Lee Battier Scola (could put JJ here, but then their would tooo little offense) Yao Then, having guys like Martin, AB & Bud come off the bench. Could this work?
No, because we would be behind every single game. We started a defensive lineup most of last year. Brooks Trevor Shane Hayes Scola Only Brooks and Scola were true offensive threats, and the team struggled out of the gate. What we need is a better committment for team oriented defense and a 7'6" guy at the rim. You have a much more balanced team then.... DD
Offensively: Brooks > Lowry Trevor < Lee Shane = Shane Hayes < Yao (Huge improvement) Scola = Scola It would seem to me that this group IS more offensively productive than last years pre-Martin starters.
I hope so, but the starters will be: Brooks Martin Shane Scola Yao This is a better offensive and defensive team from last year.....and could be special. DD
I'm not entirely sold on Kevin Martin and his efficiency. Do you even remember what he did on the Kings besides that playoff series against the Spurs which they still lost anyways? He didn't do jack while he was there except get constantly injured.
While you are almost certainly right concerning who the starters WILL be, barring something unforeseeable, im not as optimistic as you that AB and Martin together will establish the needed defensive presence. At least one of our guards needs to be a stopper, imo. Opponents with high scoring slashing guards will force help from the 3,4 & 5, further diminishing our inside defense as they must leave their man. Of course, this is Houstons hope to do onto other teams as well, with Martin & AB being those kinds of guards themselves. In this scenario, the better team will be the one who executes better I suppose.
In what sense did the Rockets "almost" get into the playoffs? They finished 8 games out of the playoffs last season.
What of them? They're not part of my argument, I'm just saying that I'm not totally sold on the hype around here about Martin. He doesn't even shoot at a higher percentage than Kobe freaking Bryant.
The Rockets were in the playoff hunt. They dominated a difficult early schedule and were on pace to win 50 games going into the easy part of the schedule. We got hit with injuries. Losing Lowry was really bad, Ariza/Shane missed some time and we faltered on th easy part of our schedule. Thats what "sense" they were in the playoff hunt.
I don't think there is such a thing as a defensive stopper on the perimeter any more. With the new rules against hand checking and the refs letting players carry the ball all over the court it is impossible to stay in front of your man all the time. Therefore, I think it is more important to have defense at the basket and force perimeter players to shoot outside, which you can get a hand up.... So, for me, if we outscore their first units and play decent defense, I think we win most nights. DD
i am an old school guy. i believe our current roster has enough offense to prevail like some ppl pointed out. ab, martin, scola..., they have skills to score. the defense is what i am worry about, especially our backcourt. i am not talking about their size. i am talking about whether they can stay in front of their opponents and force their opponents to shoot over them. making the opponent a jump shooting team is the fundemental defense. martin likes ariza relies on his quickness to try to make a steal. steal is a good but it won't happen every time. staying in front of your opponents is the routine each time you are on the defense end.
Yep, agreed, got to try to stay in front....but with the new rules that is danged near impossible. So, you need to have a big at the rim, a shot blocking presence.....thus...Yao Ming.... DD
He was a near all-star while with the kings. On a team that didn't have much talent. He had one of the highest true shooting percentages in the league. He is not a Kobe or D Wade type SG, where he dominates the ball. He gets his 20 pts per game within the flow of the offense. He takes good shots and draws a lot of fouls and makes his FTs. Hitman if you expect him to be a Kobe or Wade type then you will be dissapointed. We just need a SG that can score consistently and fit in the offense around Yao. When was he last time we had a SG that could score 20+ on any given night? So lets give this group a chance to play together and see what happens before we pass judgement on them.
defintely a big under the basket is help. but if our backcourt is easy to be beaten by their opponent (i mean they don't put enough resistence to refuse, slow, and interrupt their opponent penetration), it's tough for bigs to cover up for them, especially yao. it will take time for him to position himself to detour any attack. if our backcourt does their best to stay in front of their opponents, even at the end they will be beaten, yao can very well position himself to be a last stop.
Oh yeah and Lee was brought in to backup Martin in case of injuries. Yes, that is one of the knocks on Martin, so Morey got a good backup plan.
Hmm, on what planet is this Western Conference of which you speak? If I understand you correctly: A team that finished 42-40 and missed the playoffs last season vaults to the 2nd or 3rd seed in the NBA West simply by bringing back (yet again) Yao Ming from injury, adding Brad Miller and replacing Trevor Ariza with Courtney Lee. These moves magically make them better than Dallas, Utah, SA, Portland, Denver, OKC to the point that they can be considered a potential championship contender. I don't know DD. Sometimes your hyperbole is a little hard to follow.
lakers are #1. it's not debatable. mavs is always a regular season team. they maybe stay at #2. from 3 to 6 or even 7, the race is tight. i believe rox should be in that pack if yao stays healthy. in this sense, DD is not off the target too much. rox can still be considered #3 :grin:
