Hey guys, here’s my thread. It’s my opinion of what the starters and rest of the lineups will look like. Feel free to give me your opinion and give me what you think will be the lineups will be. Thanks. Go Rockets!! Starting Lineup 12 Rafer Alston PG 6-2 175 7/24/76 7 Fresno State 31 Shane Battier SF 6-8 220 9/9/78 5 Duke 1 Tracy McGrady GF 6-8 223 5/24/79 9 None 11 Yao Ming C 7-6 310 9/12/80 4 None 42 Bonzi Wells SG 6-5 210 9/28/76 8 Ball State Second Lineup 2 Luther Head G 6-3 185 11/26/82 1 Illinois 5 Juwan Howard F 6-9 253 2/7/73 12 Michigan 99 Kirk Snyder SG 6-6 225 6/5/83 2 Nevada 55 Dikembe Mutombo C 7-2 261 6/25/66 15 Georgetown 13 Steve Novak F 6-10 220 6/13/84 R Marquette Third Crew? 44 Chuck Hayes F 6-6 238 6/11/83 1 Kentucky 10 Vassilis Spanoulis PG 6-4 188 R None 15 John Lucas PG 5-11 165 11/21/82 1 Oklahoma State 40 Ryan Bowen SF 6-9 220 11/20/75 7 Iowa 4 Kelenna Azubuike G 6-5 220 12/16/83 R Kentucky The Rest with ?’s 32 Casey Jacobsen GF 6-6 215 3/19/81 4 Stanford 98 Maciej Lampe F 6-11 275 2/5/85 3 None 3 Bob Sura G 6-5 200 3/25/73 11
Lampe is no longer with the team and its pretty safe to say that Sura, Azubuike and maybe Bowne won't be either pretty soon.
Rafer pg T Mac sg Battier sf (Battier will defend the best sg/sf on the floor) J howard pf Yao c Wells will come of the bench and be our Stackhouse type guy. Lucas Mutombo Snyder Hayes Vspan looks to be the odd man out. I don’t see him making the 12-man roster. Wells took his potential 3rd scoring role and Vspan cant shoot well enough to space the floor for T-Mac and Yao.
What I GUESS it will be. But, my starting lineup of Rafer, Wells, TMac, Battier, Yao in NBA2K7 is killer!! POINT GUARD: Rafer Alston (starter) - 35 mpg Vasilis Spanoulis - 5 mpg John Lucas III - 5 mpg WING POSITIONS (SG, SF): Tracy McGrady (starter) - 40 mpg Shane Battier (starter) - 15 mpg Bonzi Wells - 30 mpg Kirk Snyder - 11 mpg Luther Head (time depending on matchups) Steve Novak (time depending on matchups) POWER FORWARD: Juwon Howard (starter) - 25 mpg Shane Battier - 15 mpg Chuck Hayes - 8 mpg Steve Novak (time depending on matchups) CENTER: Yao Ming (starter) - 38 mpg Dikembe Mutombo - 6 mpg Chuck Hayes - 4 mpg
Thats a pretty good starting lineup but i think that bonzis gonna come off the bench but id rather him start.
Yao Battier T-Mac Snyder Rafer Bonzi comes off the bench to spell snyder and then snyder comes in and T-Mac comes out. He'll be our sixth man.
Starting five: PG - R. Alston (obvious starter but JVG will go with the hot PG in the 4th) SG - B. Wells (he didn't sign here to come off the bench) SF - T. McGrady (needs to regain "T-Mac" form) PF - J. Howard (JVG love affair) C - Yao Ming (best center in the league?) Bench: S. Battier (will be the first off the bench for the 2, 3, and 4 positions) K. Snyder (backup 2/3) J. Lucas (will fight for backup minutes at the 1 with Spanoulis) V. Spanoulis (see above...can also play some 2 but Snyder and Wells get the bulk of those) D. Mutombo (limited at his age and strictly a 5-10 minute guy) C. Hayes (he's a JVG guy and will have to earn his minutes - he either gets buried on the bench or plays a big role as Howard's diminishes) L. Head - (odd man out and trade bait....even when he was getting big minutes lat year he never seemed like a JVG guy) IR/Reserve: S. Novak (he'll play if/when someone goes down with injury) B. Sura (tries to make it back for 2nd half) R. Bowen (there has to be a final roster spot and JVG keeps his guy around)
Lampe is no longer a Rocket, I see Sura retiring, and I also see Jacobsen, Bowen, Haryaz, and Azubuike fighting it out in training camp for spots on the IR. Center: Yao Ming is the obvious lock to start here, and will also have to have the majority of the minutes seeing as how his only true back-up is very old. Expect Dikembe to be the first center off the bench logging about 5-8 minutes per game depending on our needs and how Deke is feeling. Behind him, is Juwan Howard who at this stage in his career is better suited as a back-up 5 anyways. Power Forward: All reports lead to JVG playing it a bit non-traditional and starting Battier. Looking at the other big WC teams, San Antonio is going to start Horry at the 4, Phoenix has Marion, and the Mavs have Dirk (who can be shut down by smaller athletic wing guys). So while starting a good 3 at the 4 spot may seem a bit crazy, it is not unprecedented and seems to be a trend that works for good teams. With Battier starting, I expect Howard to log in the majority of the back-up minutes as our 6th man. Behind Battier and Howard is Chuck Hayes who will play spot minutes at the 4. Expect him to give his all and hustle in the limited time he sees on the floor. Small Forward: Tracy McGrady will be a lock to start unless they start him at the 2, which I do not see at this stage in T-Mac’s career. Tracy will get at least 35 mpg depending on the score. Behind him is going to be Bonzi Wells. While I fully expect Wells to start, I see him getting subbed out early so he can punish second string wings in the post. Behind Wells, I see Kirk Snyder actually logging in some time at the 3. Shooting Guard: Bonzi Wells will start here, but when he is subbed early I expect Snyder to come off the bench. Snyder can probably hit the open J’s that Mac and Yao create better than Bonzi and is athletic enough to run the break w/ mac and rafer. After Snyder I see Head getting spot minutes at the two and in extreme cases where we go big (Yao, Howard, Battier, Mac, Alston), I see Tracy logging in a little 2 time (couple minutes tops). Point Guard: Rafer Alston will start and get the majority of the minutes (30+), when he is out; Head will be the primary back-up. Because he is a combo guard, I expect T-Mac to handle most of the playmaking, while Head will be there to knock down open jumpers. Garbage minutes will be given to V-Span (1-2 Minutes per game unless there’s a blowout). 9 Man Rotation: Yao, Mac, Battier, Wells, Alston, Juwan, Dikembe, Snyder, Head Spot Minutes/Garbage Minutes/Blowout Minutes: Hayes, VSpan, Novak Injured Reserve: Lucas III, Ryan Bowen, Casey Jacobson (if I had my way the last two would be Haryaz, and Azubuike but I doubt it’ll happen since CJ has a partial guarantee, and Rybo has like a 2 year contract).
I don't know who will start, but the team has alot more options than it did a few days ago. One more quality vet player makes a huge difference on this team.
Here's how I see it. POINT GUARD: Rafer Alston (starter) - 35 mpg Vasilis Spanoulis - 10 mpg John Lucas III - (Probably would be on the inactive list...with Luther on the team, we would only need 1 active point gaurd) SHOOTING GAURD: Bonzi Wells (starter) - 30 mpg Kirk Snyder - 3 mpg (he would also back up the three) Luther Head - 7 mpg (He can backup the 1, but probably won't unless in emergencies) T-mac - 5 mpg SMALL FOWARD: T-Mac (starter) - 33 mpg Shane Battier - 10 mpg Kirk Snyder - 2 mpg Steve Novak (Inactive) Flyin' Ryan Bowen - (Inactive) POWER FORWARD: Shane Battier (starter) - 20 mpg Juwon Howard - 20 mpg Chuck Hayes - 5 mpg Steve Novak (Inactive) CENTER: Yao Ming (starter) - 38 mpg Dikembe Mutombo - 4 mpg Juwon Howard - 3 mpg (even though he can't...he probably would have to unless we pick up another big) I still wish we would get another big but thats not going to happen. Thats why i only have 14 players listed and only 11 on the active roster. Also the status of the sg position is still very blurry. The minute totals would be: Yao - 38 mpg Tmac - 38 mpg Rafer - 35 mpg Battier - 30 mpg Wells- 30 mpg Juwon - 23 mpg Killbill - 10 mpg Luther- 7 mpg Snyder - 5 mpg Chuck Hayes - 5 mpg Dikembe - 4 mpg IR - Germanator, Novak, Lucas
Sorry Guys but I see it a little differently. We have five components who are not our stars but who can make dramatic changes in the game [ This of course is after we establish some decent team chemistry ] depending on the matchup they will be able to play, if callled upon to do so, a starting role or come of the bench as a back up. They are Novac,Battier, Wells, Lucas and Spanoulis. possibly others as the season progresses. Yao and Mc Grady are our stars and will be the foundation of every starting lineup. Our staple staring line up could be: Yao Ming, Howard,Mc Grady, Head [much improved] and Alston, these players all have been starters last year with JVG. During the season, Howard, Mutombo and Bowan [ if he is still with us ], might only play sparingly, depending upon the matchup. I will be surprised if Sura is a participant in what could become a very fast and athletic team. Versus last year the team will have a much more up tempo rhythm about it and will be able to go into a devastating attack mode with Spanoulis, Wells and Mc Grady, Yao and Novac on the perimeter and in reverse they will be able to clamp down on most teams with tenacious defense headed by Battier Wells, Spanoulis and Yao. With the exception of the Center position I see our team playing less defined roles and the significance of starters and bench players becoming of less importance, although everyone on the court will know why they are there and what is required of them. As circumstances and match ups change, players will be called upon to maximise their strengths for the benifit of the team. I see very reduced minutes for Yao and Mc Grady, especially in the first half of the season, Yao 30mins and Mc Grady 28mins. I see the rockets as the best three point shooting team in the NBA I see the Texas Triangle as the most dreaded tour by all other teams. I see at least three new players, playing well above expectations and their contributions helping Yao & McGrady take us all the way.
Very Ideal Yetti. Of course if we could go without Yao and Tmac for so long we would. I hope your right Yetti.
Yetti, And you wrote a post yesterday saying some posters are letting their emotions run away with them!!!
Here's my 3 point Bombers Lineup, you double team Yao, you'll pay: Lucas JR Casey Jacobsen Yao Battier Novak If we need some defense, steals and block shots throw this lineup out there: Spanoulis Snyder Mutumbo Battier Mcgrady We can mix and match.. Alston Wells Yao Mcgrady Novak Spanoulis Wells Yao Mcgrady Battier Alston Snyder Mutumbo Novak Battier Spanoulis Snyder Yao Wells Mcgrady
This is someting that I wholeheartedly co-sign, and it is because besides the center position, most of our guys can play multiple positions. Alston (PG) Battier (PF, SF, SG) Bowen (SF, PF) Hayes (PF) Howard (PF, C) Head (SG, PG) Jacobson (SG, SF) Lucas III (PG) McGrady (SF, SG, PF, PG) Mutumbo (C) Novak (PF, SF) Snyder (SG, SF) Spanulios (SG, PG) Wells (SG, SF) Yao (C)
