In an ideal world, JJ would come off the bench, and Boki would start, but only because he deserves it. I'm a Boki fan, but I'm a Rockets fan first. However a flourishing Boki would be great especially in a starters role. I honestly think the biggest problem with him is confidence, and if he performs well enough to deserve a starters role, I think he would flourish because of his confidence. Plus having JJ come off the bench would add more depth with a calm veteran leadership during those games when MoT is clanging and won't stop jacking shots up. Honestly as good an offensive force as MoT can be, when he's off like the streaky shooter he can be, he's a black hole that doesn't know when to stop shooting. Atleast having JJ coming off the bench with him would minimize that effect since he would probably be one of the main ballhandlers coming up the court. But I truly think letting Boki start and giving him a solid 12-15 minutes a game as a starter would give him some confidence, and he would flourish in that role. He would inevitably still have bench playing minutes, but just the fact that he would start off the game would give him a tremendous confidence boost I think. It could work sort of in the way that the Spurs had it last season. Hedo started for them, and Manu came off the bench. Talent wise, Manu should have been a starter, but he had a much bigger impact on the game as an instant spark coming off the bench. In turn though Hedo's confidence shot up because he started, and played really well because of it. I see the same effect happening with Boki if JVG would give it a shot for a little while. So ideally our starting roster would be Ward T-mac Boki Howard Yao With MoT and JJ providing that offensive spark off the bench giving us more depth.
I think it was when he was playing a friendly for his national team, he was saying that he heard the Rockets are looking for a backup SG after they got T-Mac and that it would mean even less minutes for him. Can anyone dig this up? I don't have the search function.
Did anyone else hear Van Gundy say that Sura is working through some problems with his back? I thought I heard him say that after he was asked what the pecking order at PG was going to be, but no one has mentioned it.
It was an interview for a Slovenian paper that a Slovenian poster brought for us. He said his playing time would depend on what sort of guards the Rockets pick up. Point guards wouldn't affect him, but a good SG would give T-Mac more minutes at the 3 and leave Boki on the bench. I think Sura counts in that regard.
This was a quote from JVG on Mutumbo. "We know he is old, and we probably don't even know how old.... " aww man that is funny.
It's hilarious that everyone's sweatin' Boki's minutes. I'm rooting for the guy, too, but there's no way he gets minutes ahead of... um... ANYONE on the roster at this point.
reports have been saying that he has the inside track on starting. even though he didnt get PT in SA that doesnt mean he can't still play. he joined them in the middle of the year after starting for the knicks and averaging over 20 MPG less than a year ago. i too think that there will be one more move: yao-deke jh-mo-spoon-padgett mac-boki jj-sura ward-lue-gaines i believe we will, at the least, sign a 3rd center. either after camp/preseason or a few months into the season, a PF will be traded. who knows for what? a PG? a C? a F/C with a jumper?
Heck, I'd like to see Boki start too. That would mean we have an early 20 year old SF/SG who is better than Jim Jackson or Tmac. But you don't need heavy real game minutes to figure this out. Boki needs to earn his time in camp, exhibition, practice and with whatever minutes he does earn on the floor. That is plenty of opportunity to show whether he does or does not have a place in the NBA. This is his year to find out, I hope he makes it but honestly don't know. As for our PG situation, I think people completely overlook Lue. The guy is in his prime (27) and has started over 90 games the last 2 years, playing about 28MPG over that period. Yes he was on bad teams, but that is largely a product of others around him. He provided solid shooter from the field for a PG (43%), 3 point line (38% last year) and FT, and also has good A/TO numbers. He won't win many individual match-ups with opponents starting 1s I admit, but he won't hurt you that bad playing him 30 MPG. We only need Ward or Sura to play another solid 18 MPG or so in the 1 spot to be in OK shape there. If those guys (Ward/Sura) earn even more 1 minutes, great, it means they are even more effective than Lue and Lue's minutes are down to a more ideal 20-24, but if this does not happen we are far from screwed. As for Gaines, aside from shooting, running the offense, gambling team defense, individual defense, and taking care of the ball, I guess you could say he is a strong player. In all honesty while I am cautiously optimistic Boki can contribute, I am cautiously pessimistic Gaines will ever amount to anything. Dude is also 23.5--no spring chicken. I like to see him become a decent NBA player, but it is less than 1/10 I'd say. And we certainly don't want to plan on him getting any real minutes unless he shows miraculous improvement this offseason.
I agree with you Desert Scar about people overlooking Lue. I think he is going to surprise alot of people and I easily see him as part of the rockets 4th quarter closing lineup. At 27 yrs old he is in his athletic prime and I think this is his final year on his contract so he is going to be playing for a shot at a final big contract in the 2005 offseason.
I know that sounds funny, but there is some truth to it. A co-worker of mine, who is from Africa, told me most of the young people from Africa countries have to change their birthday in order to be able to immigrate to the States. The young soccer play for MLS, Freddie Adu(sp)? is at least three years older than what the papers say, according to this guy.
Dirk is a PF, you let the 3 headed monster of Howard, Spoon, and Mo T cover him - with a double team from JJ T-mac stays on the slower, older Finley Dirk will still get his points, but considering he plays no D - Howard and Mo T will put up career numbers against him
I don't think so. They never put up career numbers against him before. Just give it to Yao, he's still got the best matchup. Although maybe T-Mac might be even rougher against them.
