Interestingly, the Clippers announcers said last night something that is apparently common knowledge around the league, it certainly is around here. They said that the Rockets are the most unathletic team in the entire NBA. Then they added that the Rockets win ugly and lose ugly, in other words, they play ugly. It is indisputable that the Rockets organization tends to go for "workhorses" over "racehorses," because they are obviously cheaper. This approach seems more appropriate for a JVG system than a Adleman system. The league is filling up with young dynamic athletes who can jump and run like the wind. The Rockets have some heady players, but few could be called "racehorse" athletes. Where is this approach going to end up?
First of all, those are the biggest idiots in the entire NBA. Dumb people. I remember McGrady knocking down a jumper and after that they of course said 'ugly'. Yeah Rockers are UGLY. Clippers are amazing for sure. 6-17 is GREAT. They are behaving like they are already in the playoffs...
Win ugly? When the Rockets win, they are normally up by a good 10 points every time, how can someone say that is winning ugly? I guess since the Clippers don't win a lot, every time a team wins it must be ugly to them.
i believe what they said is true because we do have unexciting and unathletic players. Rafer - not your conventional PG. looks goofy when he dribbles. awkward shooting form which leads to ugly misses. rarely hits floaters. T-Mac - supposed to be our most exciting and most athletic player, but he's a fraction of his former self. once saw him walk up and down the court 5 times during plays. he'll never run down court for a fast break. as a result, you get a SG who never moves and jacks up 20 footers whenever he gets the ball. Artest - gritty guy who's strength masks his lack of athleticism. artest has above average athleticism, but he isn't the most graceful player out there. Battier - a very fundamental player also equals a very boring player. great defense but very limited offensively. Scola - also looks goofy with the ball. when attemping to drive he dribbles to his shoulders yet still has possesion. goes up and tries to corkscrew shots in. Yao - obviously his size makes him the slowest and probably the least athletic player in the league. our most exciting players are Aaron Brooks, Von Wafer, and Landry.
WTF...most unathletic team in the league? Tell that to Landry and Brooks. McGrady's one of the most explosive players in the league despite his injuries. Yao is freakishly quick for a 7'6 goliath. Hell, even Von Wafer has a spring in his step and Artest is possibly the strongest player to man his position with freakish agility as well. Battier might not be the quickest guy, but he has enough lateral quickness, length and hops to stuff 6'10+ players repeatedly and to shut down the top players in the league night in and night out.
That's what I was trying to get at with this thread: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=156933 Not that the Clippers' announcers opinions mean that much but it's undeniable that we are relatively undersized and unathletic. You don't need to be the most athletic team in the league but you don't want to be the least athletic either. I can't understand how anybody can deny that our starting 5 is the least athletic in the league, including a healthy McGrady (he lost his relative athleticism years ago, especially when compared to other SGs). Athleticism is not the most important characteristic of a good team but it certainly isn't a non-factor either. Just like you don't want have a team without any good shooters, you don't want to have a team where none of your top players are even league-average athletes. The lack of athleticism hurts us offensively and defensively. We compensate defensively by playing extremely smart. Offensively, our athleticism never bails us out. We don't have any starter that can beat his man off the dribble consistently in 1-on-1 situations. No matter how well you run an offense, there are a number of plays each game where you need to beat your man 1-on-1, for both perimeter players and big men. Last night, I heard Bullard say something to the effect of Thornton created that shot purely using his athleticism. We don't have a single starter that you can count to beat his man with his athleticism. McGrady can not do that like he used to. On top of having lost his quickness and agility, he isn't a good finisher in traffic. His touch around the basket is bad, especially when there is contact. We don't have a single key player like Thornton or Davis or Randolph (even though he doesn't look quick, he has at least average quickness for his position on top of being a skilled player, a great shooter with great touch around the basket). Davis has a quick first step and is a bull of a PG. Those guys can all get the ball and create shots if the offense breaks down. We don't have a single starter that has that ability so if we don't execute well, we don't get off a good shot. This is one of the reasons we are one of the least efficient offensive teams season after season. Teams like the Spurs have players like Parker, Ginobili, Terry and Nowitzki who can get the ball in their hands and make something happen when the shot clock is running out or it is a key point in the game. Great defense is a good thing but complimenting that with a terrible offense won't get it done when it matters most. We don't just need a good athlete or two. We need a good athlete or two that is also a starting-caliber player or this team will continue to play "ugly" basketball on the offensive end. A coach can only do so much.
1. Ugly and atheleticism don't necessarily correlacte. Adelman's SAC teams were not "ugly" but they were also not atheletic. Webber was their only great athelete. Vlade, Miller, Peja, Bibby, etc. didn't burn you with their hops or speed. They were great passers and shooters and that's how they played the high scoring "pretty" game. 2. This team has been ugly grinders way before Morey's arrival. Morey merely continued the tradition at the most. The reason why this team plays a "ugly" grinding game? These guys: Neither of their talents fit within either the fast-breaking D'Antoni style, or the crisp-passing Kings style. And it's not just because McGrady is old and injured, either... even when he was dunking over Shawn Bradley he was a "ball stopper." So, I don't know how this team is going to be that much prettier. And just adding atheles won't help, either... Landry and Head can fly... so could Stromile Swift. Helluva lot of good that did to make us anything different... you got a few nice looking drives or dunks, and that's about all.
You've got to be kidding me. We don't have players who can create? This is NONSENSE. How can you say anything like that? McGrady is one of the best when it comes down to creating for himself or teammates. Artest can also creat a shot for himself.
last night, they certainly played like the ugliest team in the NBA. and what the hell was that crazy flop by Yao in the 2nd quarter? he acted like he got punched in the face but the slow mo very clearly revealed no one even laid a hand on him. any momentum they had ground to a halt after that. I swear, the so-called stars on this team are a bunch of damn p *ssies.
If you take off the Rocket colored glasses, you would see that this is true in my opinion. I actually came to this conclusion a couple of weeks ago examining our roster. Our two best athletes are Von Wafer and Carl Landry. The Rockets are full of guys that are not explosive or quick, and the Rockets do not play an exciting brand of basketball. That doesn't mean they aren't a good team, it just is what it is. I think this is another reason why our homecourt isn't that exciting, because if you really examine how the Rockets play, they don't play a very entertaining brand of basketball. Again, that doesn't mean this team sucks, but they just are what they are.
Those teams with "racehorses" aren't winning championships. Spurs, Celtics and even the Lakers are filled with vets. Even looking at past champs like the Ben Wallace Pistons, those all did not play fastbreak, run-n-gun type offenses. They won games in the half court and with defense. Those fast, young guys may be fun and exciting to watch, but history has shown that those teams don't come home with the championship.
The Lakers have alot of height, this makes their passing alot easier and crisper. You could also call guys like Bynum, Ariza and Kobe pure athletes. The Spurs have two very creative guards in Parker and Ginobili. Yao is fun to watch in a JVG offense, where he isolates while everyone else stands on the perimeter. McGrady is going to be fun to watch in the playoffs when he rounds into form. Landry is NOT athletic enough for his size, he's more of a bulldog type. He routinely gets blocked when he takes it up to the basket. Wafer and Brooks are the only real "athletes" on this team. Everyone else is definitely more suited for a JVG system, but remember, it takes 2-3 years for most players to adapt to an Adelman system. The only thing that worries me is the number of offensive specialists and size missing on this team, remember that Sacramento team had Bibby, Peja, Corlis Williamson, Webber and Hedo who were all pure scorers. Then they added a few defensive specialists around them in Christie and Pollard (both who had size).
Even Morey said he was in favor of keeping JVG. It's pretty clear Alexander dropped the ball on that one. Thankfully the guy he wanted happens to be pretty good, but still not as good as a fit as JVG was for these players. And a lot of them are playing on crappy teams.
I'm not that worried about size, but I am worried about the lack of shooters (particularly 3pt bombers) on this team. As it is, we have no one we can depend on to score efficiently and consistently. Shane Battier and Brent Barry are supposed to be our ultra efficient long range snipers but so far they have produced squat this season, leaving us to depend on guys like Rafer Alston, Von Wafer and Luther Head lol. Artest and Tmac and jack up shots with the best of them, but we all know they are both streaky shooters at best. Those guys would be better served driving and dishing, but they can't do that because our spot up shooters can't score consistently. If we had guys like Kyle Korver or Mike Miller who can shoot 3 pts consistently when left open we'd have the proper spacing to not only get our big 3 to work their magic, but also execute the Adelman offense properly. It's really hard to cut inside and look for seams in the defense when the opponents are collapsed in the paint because your team has no one they fear at the 3 pt line.
I've been b****ing awhile about this and its the same pink elephant in the corner. No size, speed or atheleticism. The gm is crunches numbers instead of looking at ball players. After the playoffs exit in which size and quickness has been a issue, his free agent signing was brent freekin barry. His 2nd rd pick was a nother 6'6 pf. For the same money they signed Barry, they coulve signed matt barnes for 1.2m and chris anderson for 900k. They couldve traded hayes, head and francis for cap relief if needed. Basketball unlike baseball where atheleticism does count. We want to run a hybrid of adelmans offense, but other than brooks, wafer, and landry, who else can attack and finish at the rim? When they get the rebound or steal, who can turn and run? I catch a lot of heat for criticizing morey, but not taking advantage in this 2 yr window is going to hurt this team.
Let's see all the players we have gained and lost with Morey... LOST J. Howard Old, nonathletic, the term "ugly" could fit with him. And we traded him for a player that was expected to be productive in offense. Mike James ... no comments ... Bobby Jackson Old, nonathletic, but has helped us for one season. Bonzi Wells Not old, but in the heavy side. Helped us for a half a season. Justin Reed Young and athletic... no define talent. Sean Singletery and D.J. Strawberry Young but not enough talent for a team like us. GAIN Aaron Brooks Young and pretty athletic. A pretty decent contributor. Brent Barry Old and nonathletic... Hasn't been helping much. Carl Landry Young and very athletic. A decent contributor. Steve Francis From recent reports, rehab went well and his athleticism is back... hasn't been in game shape, only time will tell if he'll be a contributor or not. (I can't tell if he will be a contributor, neither can any other fans, so don't come with a response saying, "He's done.") Joey Dorsey Definitely a Morey move. Supposedly that kid is raw. Raw enough to the point where we sign him to a 4 year contract. Ron Artest Not athletic in the sense of jumping out of the building, but stronger than most of the NBA players. Not fast as well, but his strength is just amazing. And his talent is great. Von Wafer Who? Came out of nowhere, and contributed very nicely in some games. Not very consistent with his shot or his game overall, but he is only 23 and is very very athletic. He still has room to grow. Luis Scola No comment because this was just the easiest trade any GM could make. Isaiah Thomas couldn't screw up on this trade. Overall I'll say most of our newcomers are in the athletic side. We may play ugly ball because there are some of our main players that are not athletic like Yao, Tracy (when he feels like he has to shoot), Artest, and Battier.
Brooks is one of the 5 quickest players in the league. He also leaps quite well but nobody notices since he is only 5'10". Wafer, to me, looks like he could compete in the dunk contest and hold his own. He is also one of the fastest 6'6" guys I have seen. Shades of Michael Dickerson. Landry has poster worthy dunks every game. He has shown the ability to blow by most PFs who guard him on the perimeter. Tmac, when healthy, is still as athletic as 80% of the SG/SF in the league. Rafer has average athleticism and quicker hands than the average PG. I think the problem is that the guys who are not athletic are REALLY not athletic. Yao is the slowing guy in the NBA (until Deke comes back), Battier has horrible explosiveness and Scola might be the least athletic PF in the game.
This is so true. That's why when Rudy Gay fell into Houston's lap miraculously, the Rockets should've him signed right there on the spot instead of trading him for an aging, unathletic player. This was especially important since T-Mac has lost so much and is often injured and not playing. This was a horrible move by the Rockets. You need at least one athletic player who can contribute. Look at all the work the young Robert Horry did when Houston won their first two championships.
