Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Chase Budinger? All soft

Unless my sarcasm meter is malfunctioning, you just lost all credibility. Comic genius or most moronic post on this site since T-Mac was a Rocket, and that is saying a lot.

 

i thought bud played pretty well tonight. you could tell he was pissed off/playing with fire in the belly. he was guarding kobe pretty decently tonight and we are talking about kobe. if budinger plays with that kind of fire every night i wouldn't mind him so much. sure he needs to work on controlling his dribble but so does k-mart, terrence williams, and dragic.

 

No, Scola is not soft. But he is very ineffective defensively. But we don't have enough skilled offensive players so he has to play to provide the one or two option on offense. He's a totally one-sided player. For him to be effective, he needs to be playing next to the best center in the universe, Dwight Howard. Then, Scola would look sensational. But not playing alongside Jordan Hill, probably one of the worst centers in the NBA with the other center being a pedestrian backup (Dally). Scola is not soft. He's just like water defensively.

 

Chase isn't soft, he just doesn't do much when he isn't making shots.


We need pitbulls that can play well even If their shot is not falling... That's how you win in the playoffs...

 

Agreed. Pit bulls and knife fighters as Van Gundy would say.

 

Man they are so soft in defense. Add Jordan Hill tot hat line up. Is it any wonder teams always without fail shoot over .500?

 

Scola played 30 mins a game on the 08-09 team that was one of the best defensive teams in the league. He's a subpar defender, but not a significant liability. His consistent offense more than makes up for it. He most certainly isn't soft, anyone that remembers the Lakers series can tell you that.

Budinger is also an adequate defender. He only struggles when he guards explosive SG. His offense is the problem now. When his shots don't fall, he doesn't help you offensively, and he needs to be a plus offensively to make up for his mediocre defense, but he like Scola isn't a major liabilty defensively either.

If he had a more determined attitude, he could be a borderline star, but after 3 years, I'm still not seeing it. I think he's got Toni Kukoc like ability, but you have to wanna attack the basket and make things happen, he doesn't, sadly he is soft, the worst kinda soft.


Kevin Martin is the problem. He needs to be a major plus offensively to make up for his abysmal defense. He is one of the worst rotation defenders you'll see (an area where Bud is actually pretty good) to go along with his bad man defense. If he doesn't have a monster offensive game, he kills the team.


I have never been a Martin fan. I want him gone, have for quite some time. I'd rather start Lee, and trade his overpaid soft ass. He's an average player that gets payed like a great player. He's the anti-Battier, great numbers, but little impact.

 

Done.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=7ntf6y7

 

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/blog...rry-jones-harrison-barnes-andre-drummond-no-2

Stock check

In our first Top 100 of the year in late June, we had Kentucky's Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Top 100 Rank: 7) at No. 5 on our Big Board. A number of scouts and many more media members scoffed at the high placement. Although everyone acknowledged that Kidd-Gilchrist had the right physical profile and boundless energy on the court, folks questioned his ability to be a consistent scorer at the next level. We relented and pushed Kidd-Gilchrist into the late lottery.

That was a mistake, too. Not only has Kidd-Gilchrist proved he has the athletic ability and motor to compete but he also has shown two things scouts didn't expect: scoring acumen and freshman leadership. First, he's been a much more consistent offensive threat than anyone imagined. On a team loaded with guys who can score, Kidd-Gilchrist is Kentucky's leading scorer and, more importantly, its most consistent option. Everyone from Davis to Terrence Jones (Top 100 Rank: 13) to Marquis Teague (Top 100 Rank: 23) to Doron Lamb (Top 100 Rank: 33) has had his ups and downs, but when the Wildcats need a bucket, somehow Kidd-Gilchrist is involved.

In a huge game against Louisville on Saturday, Kidd-Gilchrist put on the performance of his life, scoring 24 points and grabbing 19 rebounds. Yet somehow, even that terrific box score couldn't totally capture how important Kidd-Gilchrist was to the Wildcats on both ends of the floor. He is, unquestionably, the team's leader.

"You get what you deserve in life and in basketball," UK coach John Calipari said after the game. "You want to spend the extra time, do more, get out and do extra things. It's going to start showing. Something is going to happen good for you, those guys who do that.

"[Kidd-Gilchrist] was vicious today. He was vicious."

Over the past week, stories have emerged about the "Breakfast Club" Kidd-Gilchrist started to encourage teammates to work out and eat breakfast together. He has forged a special bond with his teammates that very few freshmen can achieve.

"He's a winner," one GM said. "He always has been. He cares about the game. Every game. He loves to play, and it's infectious. The NBA desperately needs guys like this. My team needs them. He makes everyone better."

Davis might be Kentucky's best NBA prospect, but Kidd-Gilchrist is its best player and has all the makings of being one of those intangible greats at the next level, as well.

This is just a small article from espn insider on the draft. This is the guy that we seriously should go after in the draft. I believe that Martin, Bud, Scola and Hill are soft even though Scola plays his heart out and Hill being a PF forced to play center. But they just won't cut it. The only true starter we have is Lowry. Kidd-Gilchrist would solidify our SF position for the future. Everybody is tradeable except for Lowry. We desperately need help. He has exactly what this team needs and that's a player that contributes on both ends of the floor. He and Lowry could take this team to the next level as long as we can get a center to go along with them. :grin:

 

I think you pretty much nailed this down to their strengths and weaknesses. I would rep you if I had any left. Very good post.

 

this....... Scola is the only low post threat and is being forced to go against monsters and getting little help... Scola is tough.. he might lack quickness compared to other players in the NBA but he makes it up with craftiness and very high basketball IQ... The reason this team is where it is is bc Yao and Tmac were made of glass.. dont blame Scola for that.. Trade the back court but keep Scola and give him some help.

 

I want to see Thabeet get some burn, I am a bit tired of JHill at center against teams with true bigs.

DD

 

LMAO @ the panic.

You people are serious???

IT'S KOBE EFFIN BRYANT!!!!!

At 80 y/o with a broken wrist, he is still the best SG in the league.

So because he was torchin' chase and K-Mart, they soft?

He does that to EVERYONE HE PLAYS.

Get over it.

 

Scola, Martin, and Lowry need a defensive-minded center to become even better players. That's why were getting killed. This isn't breaking news, I know, but people seem to forget that. Good offensive teams know to attack the basket and play with their bigs, that's how you win against the rockets. The entire league know this.

Unfortunately, we have no solution to that problem. Thabeet is definitely not the answer. Why isn't he on the court? One can only speculate that he isn't ready to play at high-level, but damn, how many more years do the rockets need as proof that this man has the mobility and skill of an 90 yr old? "Give him a chance", people say, "7 footers are hard to come by". Yes, they are but look at his mobility on the post, it's awful. He's had years in the NBA, D-league, summer sessions with Hakeems, and other summers to work on his game...and this is what we have. A player that provides height and 5 fouls, that's not going to cut it. If we need height we have Dalembert (at a much cheaper price) and if we need an athletic player who can possibly play the 5 it's Jordan Hill (can also provide 5 fouls). At this point, Thabeet is expendable. Trade him for another Center. Let another team deal with his development.

Ultimately, this all falls on Daryl Morey. Don't get me wrong, I like Daryl Morey. If there is any GM out there that can get us out of this funk, it's Daryl Morey, but look at the moves that he made or didn't make this year. This roster is a result of Daryl Morey, whether you'd like to admit it or not.

...And Mchale, playing Scola at the 5? Really? We should playing these players at their strengths, not weaknesses. How many more games should Jordan Hill play center to convince the rockets that he is not a center?

I've been a long time rocket fan and will continue to be. This roster is just frustrating to watch at times.

That's my two cents...take it or leave it.

 

I argue that he is the most consistent shooter we have, that's why he is "overpaid". Nonetheless, we he is bad, he is really bad.

 

Racist thread.

 

McHale went small last night to create a mismatch on the other end and hurt the Lakers with speed. Guess what?, it worked for a bit.

If you want to beat the Lakers with size its not gonna happen. No team in the NBA can match that. You have to play to your advantage. McHale, as much as I do like him, did not push the tempo and get out and run nearly enough to be effective playing small ball.

Adelman was great at punishing big teams for being too big. McHale hasnt been able to teach a system like that yet. Its not really the coaches fault that they lost to the Lakers last night due to the shortened training camp and offensive system that he is running that will be effective vs nearly every other team except Orlando, LA, and Memphis who pose a major matchup problem for Houston.

The Rockets players being "soft" is not the case. They just dont matchup well against some teams. Newsflash... Kobe destroys everyone, and played out of his mind last night. Budinger defended him about as well as Battier ever did. Get over it. Martin and Scola are actually being held accountable this year on defense and its great to see them finally getting after it. They are doing things that they never did consistently under Adelman.

McHale and co. will learn how to play to their advantages in the future and use the Rockets talent more effectively on defense and offense. Its just one night with a very very bad matchup for the Rockets this early in the season.

 

I assume the in thread title "soft" means defensively. Martin, Bud, and Luis all will attack the basket, and other than you asking for their bench press max, that's as "tough" offensively as their bodies (Chase and K Mart have thinner frames, Scola is older) can give you.

So "Soft" is really just a characterization of how these guys defend, whether right or wrong. Here's what I think about each one:

Chase: Mentally is coming to the game much sharper than he ever had on this end of the floor. He is focusing and for stretches is playing as good of defense in the impossible 1 on 1 with Kobe as we saw Shane with his hand check to the face, for stretches. The only difference is Battier is a much better team defender and made up for mistakes 3-5 times a game by forcing a turnover or rotating and stopping an easy bucket. Bud isn't doing those things, so we call him soft. Fine.

K-Mart: No discussion needed. At stretches he has looked better but he is as replaceable of an all star level talent as there is in the league because I can always draft a scoring guard, and potentially make up for that drop in offensive efficiency by getting a long and athletic defender at the position for $13 million less. *cough* Courtney Lee *cough* This is why Morey was dead on to move K Mart. Enough said. Make Courtney Lee take 3,000 3's a day during the off season with Lowry and we have room to sign a max FA like Nene in the future again.

Luis Scola: Don't you ever bad mouth this man. He is giving you 100% of what he can give you and frankly this criticism needs to be given to McHale for putting him in situations where the odds are greatly against him. Name more 5 PFs in the West that Scola can't defend reasonably well. Scores like Randolph and even at times a player like David West will go off on anyone on a certain night, but unless you're bringing Aldridge to town, I can't name many PFs that Scola can't match play for play. However, I can name many Centers that will wear him out and that's what we've seen with McHale's small lineup. Lastly, Scola is a great team defender and I don't know what kind of team defense and rotations McHale has them on other than man and the zone they play. There seems to be little post help and that's to be expected with practically no practice time from the lockout and compressed schedule so those things should emerge and get better.

McHale has experimented with this small lineup and it was destined to fail with Scola on Bynum. I assume we won't see it as much anymore.

Once Terrence Williams starts to play better offensively he will make a good tandem with Love in the 2nd unit.


If I were setting the lineups this would be my base going into most games
Starting: Hill/Scola/Bud/Martin/Lowry
Late 1st: Dalembert/Scola/T Will/Lee/Dragic
Full 2nd Unit: Hill/Patterson/Bud/Lee/Lowry or Flynn
Final lineup: Dalembert/Scola/(the hotter of Lee, T Will, Bud)/Martin/Lowry

That wouldn't leave guys on islands. Dragic can make your paint defenders looks terrible with penetration but Scola and Dalembert are better at dealing with that than Jordan Hill and Patterson. McHale may be a good coach for the team, but I don't like his lineup calls. He is asking guys to do things on the defensive end that they simply cannot do yet.

 

I agree with a lot of what you said but I think McHale was brought in to think about our lineups from a defensive point of view, I need him to be held accountable for the positions he puts his players in defensively, let the players work out the offense. I don't know why a mismatch is needed when you can play Lowry with anyone on the court and Luis was never shown to be stoppable when a 4 was defending.