The new rules in the NBA have changed the league into a more guard friendly environment. No longer can you impede the progress of the opposition guards by placing 2 hands on them and holding them out...ala Derek Harper. The new rules make penetration and passing more important, and right now, the Rockets guards are horrible at this facet of the game. There is only one guard on the squad that should be in the regular rotation....Luther Head.... The rest are all too slow footed, and seemingly can not beat their man off of the dribble. I liked the Rafer trade....but this team could use Mike James quickness on the ball, Rafer seems timid out there....he should be penetrating and dishing....but he seems lost. Wesley is just old, and uses his hands for ticky tack fouls way too much...Derek Anderson seems washed up....it is clear he has lost several steps. Either we need to acquire at least one more QUICK penetrating and passing guard, or a similar small forward and move Tmac back to the 2 spot...or this is going to be a long year. JVG could help mask our defiencies by mixing in a little zone defense to protect our slow of foot guards.......but he stubbornly refuses to do this.... Look at the Spurs tonight, they are BEAUTIFUL to watch.....they move the ball, work inside out and outside in....and penetrate and dish....man, they are good. The Rockets frontline is comparible, but our backcourt is horrible. Any quick guards or SF's available? Because we need one STAT !! What is the deal with Glover, we could use his quickness...... DD
I have been advocating a trade for Darius Miles since the offseason. Looks like it might be too late now. He's playing himself out of our reach. Now we'll have to watch him become part of some big blockbuster probably involving Paul Pierce. Spreewell is still out there.
Head is a better shooter, but made quite a few bad decisions. Well, he's a rookie, so he can learn a lot from his mistakes.
i think it's time to trade wesley and/or anderson for an taller (6'5+) SG, who can hit open jumpers, defend, and rebound. doesn't need to be able to score 20, just hit open jumpers, defend an rebound. these guys aren't getting it done, it's time to make a change there. luther head needs to see at least 20 min. a night, he brings a lot athleticism and shooting to this team. play him instead of wesley.
Our guards are too slow to effectively penetrate... we got out-scored in the paint 52 to 22 tonight. Our only reliable inside scorer is Yao, thus we basically win or loose depending on our pathetic out-side shooting (T-Mac aside). -G'day-
Wesley and Anderson are sorta old. If we want to be able to beat the Spurs, we need to improve our backcourt. We need shooting defense offense..our guards are OK. we need better than average. I like ALston, Head, and Barry. Wesley and Anderson are doing OK..but we need good.
Except in the 4th quarter when they suddenly went stagnant and blew their big ass lead, only to have freaking Luther Head nail a 3 at the end, causing me to lose my first ever sports bet. I took the Spurs -7.5 I can't believe Tony Parker missed those two FTs. UGH!!! A cruel introduction to sports gambling.
Sorry you lost your bet...... The Spurs lost interest....they were really never threatened....our guards (Luther leading the way on Parker) did a much better job in the 4th quarter.... However, with the exception of Luther Head, our guards or too slow to be really effective. Our perimeter team speed is just as bad this year as last, and you saw how that ended up in Dallas, as soon as a team goes small...Yao gets into foul trouble trying to close up the gaps, and it becomes a layup fest for the other team. JVG really should mix in some zone to alleviate some of the pressure off of the guards....I don't know why he won't recognize and mask his team's deficiencies..... DD
I really don't like the mix of starters we have right now. Especially the backcourt of Alston and Anderson. Just a bad combination. It seems like their weaknesses compound each other. I thought the combo of Yao and McGrady with the second unit was much more effective: Yao Swift McGrady Wesley Head Wesley's been taking a lot of flak here lately, but in my opinion DA has been worse. Wesley at least seems stable and under control. Wesley also seems like a much better decision maker. DA really did nothing particulary well when he was in the game and seems to resort to long jumpers taken outside the flow of the offense (usually missing, of course).
Man, Rafer was terrible tonight...he seems lost and playing with no confidence. Wesley has lost a step but is recovering from knee surgery, i am confident he will get his shot back. It's not time to panic...the team just hasn't jelled yet, T-Mac still not 100% and the role players aren't hitting shots. Things will start to click again, it will just take some more time. I think we had far too great expectations coming off of last season and the slow start has alot of people frustrated but be patient. This team was worse than this to start last season and finished with 50+ wins. We do NOT need to trade half the roster as advocated in other threads. Be PATIENT!
Pick and roll. Yao comes out to help. They cross over dribble past him. I don't like that. Yao is too slow to guard a guard.. Yes I know Tmac and Yao can score..but we need other guys to help score too. Like I remember when we had Mo off the bench to come score 12 ppg. And we used to have Steve and Mobley capable of scoring an easy 25. And we'd have a 3 who'd knock down open shots. And at 4 we've always been mediocre..in past 6 seasons or whatever.
Rivaldo 35 year old smallish guards coming off of knee surgery do not get faster....... That is our problem, our guards lack of lateral quickness allows too much penetration and Yao is also too slow to cover it up quicly without fouling. I think we will win our share, but we are NOT a threat to go deep into the playoffs with these guards as our main players....they are simply too slow. DD
Its called pride and he has a lot of it considering his offensive sets are about as creative as the ones run by junior high bball team.
Our guards can't even pass over the head of their defender into the paint! Here you go Yao, take a shot big fella.....oops, sorry, I didn't throw the ball high enough, shucks, maybe next time.........talk to you in the second half big guy, if we get down by 20 pts we may need you, so be ready, and good job setting those picks for me, maybe one day I'll hit a shot off of one...... I gotta go play defense now....
Yeah, I'm wondering how many times we're going to let Manu and TP split our little trap and go right to the rim before we figure out that's what they want to do? Manu did it every single time, and we couldn't adjust. Very painful when everyone can see it coming but the players.
Glad I'm not the only one witnessing all this crap.....sometimes you get to thinking maybe it's all just hallucination....maybe Yao really wasn't open in the paint calling for the ball when the guard who was supposed to make an entry pass decided instead to take the offense in a different direction all of a sudden
Alston/Anderson starting combo is living death: this team can't take too much more of them. They are simply horrible, worse than I ever imagined. This team has taken a big leap backwards so far as the guards are concerned. To compound the situation Wesley and Barry may be running out of gas. Head, a rookie, and despite some rookie mistakes, looks like our best guard, and that is ridiculous. The Rockets were supposed to get MORE talent, to become MORE athletic, to become quicker and better outside shooters. I have been telling you guys for the last two weeks, the Rockets have big problems. I liked the scrappy comeback tonight, but the quard situation is bleak. Yeah, and I know the routine, "relax, it's early, things are great, they will get their shots back, the'll come around, all is well, no worries.........
