I think you're selling that Kings team a little short. Firstly, remember that RA rarely goes with a heavy rotation in the playoffs. We were going with an 8-man rotation virtually the whole 2008-2009 playoffs as Lowry, Landry, and Wafer were the only guys coming off the bench before Yao got hurt against the Lakers. Secondly, I dont think any of the players you mentioned aside from Peja were one dimensional players. Divac did an admirable job defending Shaq and got Shaq in foul trouble a few times in the series. He also did a good job scoring and was an excellent passer. Bibby was incredible the entire series and it will likely stand as the best performance of his career. He single handedly kept the Kings afloat and took over late in games. Christie played well offensively that entire series until the last two games, and I think it was a HUGE error on RA's part to play him and bench Bobby Jackson late in game 7 when he was such a spark and was playing much more assertively on offense. I personally feel that this is one of the reasons they lost the game; If you go back and watch that game, there were many points late in the game where Christie's defender was nowhere near him, asking him to shoot, and he either missed the shot or passed it. Peja also played horrendous towards the end of the series as he couldnt handle the pressure. Lastly, there's no way you can argue that Scola right now is better than Webber was that season. Yao is not going to be able to contribute to this team as much as Divac did to that team. Brooks is not better than Bibby was at that time. And Peja averaged over 20 a game, shooting 48% from the field and 42% from 3 point range, both numbers that will be difficult for Martin to compete with. As much as we try and compare, this team is not like the 2001/02 Kings. They were much stronger in certain respects, and we are stronger in others. That team won 61 games and was championship ready....ours is not there yet. Our success cant be predicated on mimicking their playing style, but rather finding our own.
Yes I have, and he's a good passer, not great. He passes because he cant score, and its why RA didnt play him in the 2008-09 playoffs until he literally he was forced to. Dont get me wrong, I love Chucks game. He's an elite defender, non stop hustle, and embodies the 22-win streak unlike any other player on this team. But he's been dreadful offensively. As for quality winning in the playoffs, there's simply no evidence to back up the claim that Yao distributing the ball contributed to our winning in the playoffs. Yao contributed heavily against Portland defensively and scoring. Against LA, have you forgotten how flustered he was getting with the double teams? He reacted very slowly to weak side defenders which led to a number of fast break points for the Lakers off of bad passes and steals. There were also a number of possessions where the Lakers fronted him defensively which literally stagnated our offense as we waited deep into the shot clock trying to get the ball into Yao, and when that wasnt possible, were forced into misguided drives and contested jumpers.
That forum looks the same as our NBA Dish, so other teams are open for discussion there. With that said, Luck the Fakers!
You're obviously thinking of Chuck Hayes v1.0. I think you'll find this year's v2.0 model more to your liking.
Chuck Hayes was an elite passer especially from the elbow even in past seasons. The comment about "good passer, not great" is off, IMO. You seem to be confusing shooting and other aspects of offense as having something to do with passing ability.
I sure hope so. He looked nice on the youtube clips, but he might have more difficulty seeing the court this season if Miller plays well (I'm assuming BM will start when Yao's out and serve as his backup when Yao's playing) and RA commits more minutes to Hill. I believe that CH's strongest offensive attribute in years past has been his ability to be a 'glue guy' in the scheme. He sets excellent screens, get's rebounds, doesnt require shots, and finishes near the basket when guys rotate off of him. Overall, he hasnt been a total liability on that front. I think he's one of the best outlet passers on the team, but in the flow of the game he rarely collects assists which is an absolute necessity for anyone considered 'elite.' IMHO, Webber was an elite passing PF with the Kings back in the day, Hakeem was an elite passing C, many PG's in the league today are elite passers including Nash and D-Will, but Chuck isnt in that league. It may just be that we're differing on what constitutes elite, which is fine, but objectively I think its a tough sell to say that CH is an elite passer based on past performance.
Some statistics to backup this claim: Career MPG: 18.4 Career APG: 1.0 Last season: dished out more than 3 assists 5 times all season. That means in 77 of the 82 games he had 3 assists or less, and went 13 games without recording a single assist. In 2008-09 (Our playoff year v. Lakers): did not record more than 3 assists all season. Recorded 3 assists 3 times all year. Recorded 2 assists 5 times. Recorded 1 assist 23 times. Recorded no assists in 39 games. In 2007-08: Recorded more than 3 assists in 7 games (high of 5 assists). Went 28 games without a single assist.
lol, not even gonna try to go there I dont believe stats tell everything, but do believe they tell something...as in, if you are an elite passer, it should reflect somewhat on your assist count.
I love this current team but without even playing a single regular season game yet, no way I can even put them on the same level as that 2002 Kings team To me, that was one of the greatest teams ever assembled never to make it to the Finals (and in my opinion they were either a few free throws or a few questionable calls away from beating the Lakers in Game 7 and most likely winning it all against the Nets) Webber and Divac were two of the most diverse and best passing big men of their time, add to that a sharp shooter like Peja, a defensive specialist in Christie, and a big-time clutch playoff performer in Bibby and you really had it all. The only thing i'll give to this Rockets team is we have a better bench than them. Bobby Jackson and a young Turkoglu were probably the only impact players they had coming off their bench. I would say we are definitely deeper
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Well they're right. Every position is solid. We can sustain through our inevitable injury. We have a top 5 coach. Maybe the best GM in the league and plenty of assets to fix our weaknesses once they become apparent. No ego's to **** up the locker room. Yao freakin' Ming patrolling the middle, hopefully more aggressive knowing he doesn't have to pace himself. A backcourt willing to attack the middle and that can also shoot the 3 around 40%. Yeah we're short and weak in the backcourt defensively, but I think our frontcourt players and overall team defense are smart enough to put the team in the Top 10 for defensive FG% against. I predict a slow start the first 15 games. 6-9. The BBS will want Brooks benched and traded. We'll have the annual trade Battier, I wish we had Gay BS. There will be no fewer than 10 Yao Ming's career is over related threads. McGrady will be averaging 17-5-4 on 44% in 32 MPG and the Tracy fans will make a brief comeback. Then we'll start rolling and finish with 52 wins with an average margin of victory of 3.9 PPG, good enough for 2nd in the SW division and 4th seed overall.
You need to account for usage rate. Chuck doesn't have nearly as many touches as Yao and Miller on offense, simply because he is not a scoring threat like the other two. But for the few times he has the ball in position, he has made great pass after great pass to cutters. Hayes has great court vision. If only he could shoot...
Well thats nice to hear, but the other laker forum... Lakerground is the worst forum ever and its probably where Goodbug and the Macster go to jack off to Kobe. I remember in one post The Macster copy and pasted a whole topic off of their
anyone with a brain paying attention will say "don't sleep on Houston." unfortunately 90% of NBA fans don't think about Houston ever but generally Laker fans are keenly aware of us because it hurts their pride to think that a bunch of no-name scrubs almost beat their championship team last year. so they tend to think highly of scola, battier, brooks etc. I go to LA several times a year and honestly probably the market in the US after Houston that gives the most credit to the Rockets, at least since the 2009 playoffs is Los Angeles
