The Rockets are not screwed. Every other playoff contender in the West has been dealing with injuries all season. Look at how Memphis has been winning without Pau Gasol, Stromile Swift, and James Posey. The important thing is Juwan will likely be back just in time for the playoffs. In the meantime, Scotty the Body, Spoon, Ryan Bowen, and possibly Vin Baker have to pick up the slack.
Sucks, but it could have been worse. It's just time for someone else to step up. I really think the guys are going to pull together and hopefully not let this effect them too much.
Juwan is a dependable PF, but this is not the end of the world. Spoon/SP/Vin Baker should be able to fill in. And before everyone starts talking about how we shouldn't have traded Mo, remember...the guy just like to isolate, didn't rebound or play defense and committed stupid turnovers. It might hurt a bit, but I think our players can step it up and continue their overdue success
That is our weakest position that got weaker.... This is not good.... We have no depth at the Power forward.... slim pickens out there......... Our banger will be Spoon Our offensive scoring power forward-Padgett-OK Vin Baker is an unknown quantity... This reminds me of 1997 when Brent Price went down with the ACL-Charles BArkley banged the floor with his fist... I am beating my head on the floor now
THANK YOU also, see my post in the other thread contrary to popular belief... Howard was NOT playing great D that is why Bowen played the Suns game, Tmac had to cover Odem on the last play of the LA game, and Spoon got minutes vs. Garnett ...oh yeah, and Troy Murphy looked like the second coming of Bill Lambeer
Well, at least its just Howard. It could be worse. Now, someone is going to need to step it up. Whether it be Spoon, Padget, or Baker. We have an abudance of ROLE power forwards. I think Baker is the logical solution. Let Padgett and Spoon come off the bench like they have been doing all season. Its not the end of the world. Howard will miss 16 games until next month on the 16th of April. He will be back in time for 3 games for a tune up to the playoffs. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Just Maybe, somone will step up and when Howard comes back, we can be stronger. Just MAYBE
It's not Howard's production that the team will miss. It's the potential chemistry problems. The team has been playing like a cohesive unit. Everybody has been on the same page. Now we have to bring in Spoon and Baker, who have both not spent any time playing with these players. It may take some time for the rest of the players to get used to them.
I don't remember Laimbeer EVER shooting as well as Murphy did last night. .326 lifetime 3 point shooting, not even as good as EG.
The upside is if we bring them to the same page, it's going to be a big plus come playoff time when Howard comes back. I think Spoon still can play some servicable minutes. Dont forget Bowen too. I guess we will see how we play without Juwan pretty soon.
If there's a such thing as good timing to an injury at least it came at the tell end of this rugged 4 game West Coast road trip AFTER the Sonics, Suns and Kings games.
And also see my post in the other thread, statistics isn't the only thing you measure in a loss like this. Chemistry, scoring, passing, leadership, experience, etc. There's a reason why Bowen wasn't starting games or playing huge minutes.
Howard was playing pretty well compared to earlier in the year. He had found his spot in the system and was hitting the face-up jumper. But we'll be OK. It's not like we're going to be unable to score without him. He's merely an adequate rebounder. He's not a great defensive player, especially with all the face-up 4s in the West. We'll miss him, but let's not forget that he's not that important. We still have TMac, Yao, Sura, James, Wesley, Mutombo, and Barry. We'll be fine. We might have problems at the 4, but maybe someone will step up. And maybe we can play part of the game with an unconventional lineup, like Phoenix does, and make other teams adjust to us and our best players.
This is devastating. I cannot believe anyone would suggest wasting the talent of one of the two best shooting guards in the NBA at Power Forward where he would get killed and our coach would get laughed out of the league... I do not care to see what Vin Baker has left... This is so bad-the best Rocket team since '99 at least and possibley since '97-all for naught....... You cannot win in the West or at a high level in the East without a servicable power forward... Howard is not an elite NBA league player at the 4, but he is the elite 4 on this squad.... We are in a 9 line bind Missing 4 weeks is the season- he comes back to the playoffs rusty and we are out quickly in the 1st round Plan for next year- find us a 4!!! We are dead as my *ss
What a great story it would be if Baker comes to life. That would have to be the comeback of the milennium. Things happen for a reason.
Wasnt this already covered in this thread? http://bbs2.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92835 I'm just sayin'...
Well at least you're not overreacting. The guy's gonna be back in a month. That'll leave him with a week to get back into playing shape before the postseason. Is it an unfortunate injury? Of course. But the Rockets can win without Juwan Howard. Calm down, people!
