I believe Rockets will start the players that JVG has been talking about all summer & offseason. Yao & McGrady are no brainers. PF: Can space the floor, hit the 3 SG: Long, athletic & play perimeter D PG: Distributor & perimeter defender who can hit the open jumper/trey --------- Starting Lineup Yao McGrady Battier Wells Alston *Only Rafe does not fit the above criteria to a "T" (but he could - last year was an off year) Bench Mutombo Snyder Hayes Spanoulis Novak Lucas Head Inactive Haryasz Jacobsen Azubuike *Juwan Howard is trade bait. I would use him to pick up a legitimate 6th man - Darius Miles. Or a vet 4/5 that fits JVG's criteria - Raef LaFrentz. If Miles, Howard & Bowen will be packaged. If LaFrentz, Howard-Bowen-Sura may be the package. 2nd round picks may also be involved. *Sura is coming off a serious injury. No guarantees he makes it back, or if he does, how effective he would be. Even before surgery, Sura was very limited on D, was never a great 3 shooter & had trouble passing the ball into the paint. May not have a place on the new team. His "retirement" would make attractive trade bait for salary purposes. *Bowen, if not part of trade package, is a cut. Team is now deep at at the swingman position who not only have better offense, but play as good on D. *Jacobsen is JVG's Bowen replacement. Hard worker, versatile (SG/SF), smart & most importantly, has 3 pt ability. *Haryasz only has to add 15 lbs of muscle to make this team. Rockets need a 4/5. If Haryasz can defend the post, show he can play 5 minutes at the 5, he is a lock. He already has the range that JVG likes at the 4 plus shot blocking ability. Unless another vet is brought in (e.g. LaFrentz) the spot is Haryasz's to lose. *Azubuike is the same type of player as Wells & Snyder - athletic, strong, above the rim swingman. Just with less developed skills. His work ethic & D may endear him to JVG, if he can improve his dribble & shot. *Head is the odd man out. Love his clutch shooting, but lacks the vision & ball handling to play PG and even before 3 million SG's were added to the roster - he has always been undersized at SG, something JVG was not shy to point out, ad nauseum. Wesley was even more undersized but he was strong & savvy enough to defend bigger players, Head cannot. Unfortunately, I do not seem him on the Rockets' roster at the end of the season. *Alston should thrive, he has the skillset to do so. The SG position could be his downfall though, as the additions - either individually or colletively- are not great threats with the trey. One of the starting guards have to become this threat, if not, Rafe would be the most disposable. To avoid this, he needs to rediscover his 3 shot and finish plays better. Otherwise, I could see him replaced by a Steve Blake (40% plus 3 pt shooter, stellar perimeter D, good size) or the unhappy but prolific shooting/passing Luke Ridnour.
I didnt' see him as a defensive liability last season. I thought he was very good for his size. His problem was having to gaurd a two gaurd like kobe, who is actually 6-7 / 6-8 despite his listing. I was nervous last year when he had to gaurd him because of the height difference and the obvious scoring ablity of kobe, but this year that will not be his role. I see him actually getting minutes this year (of course not as much as last year) as a defined role player off the bench, hence I do not feel that he is the odd-man out. We'll see once the season starts.
starters yao shane tmac bonzi rafer book it. rotation deke jho snyder spanoulis active head novak hayes inactive lucas jacobson sura (if he retires, then padgett)
I agree. He'll be the post offense when Yao is on the bench and the perimeter scorer when TMac sits. He'll probably play starter's minuets but he'll start on the bench.
