So to me it's obvious we aren't a contender (to the exasperation of others)...but in lights of other's complaining about complaining - here's what I think we need to do to be a better team. Many here will say that just having Yao back will be enough, and it's a big step, but clearly not going to cut it. So realizing we can't improve our roster - what must happen for us to have a chance at the WCF? 1. Rafer Alston must shoot less and hold the ball less. To me, this is as clear as the light of day. He shoots terribly and uses up a lot of clock. He has to pass on those open-three's at times and penetrate - then DISH instead of shooting. He should shoot only in the flow of the offense - but how many times have we seen him try to be like t-mac and toss up brick after brick. He's not a good offensive player, and he must realize this and only shoot three's when he's wide open because the defense is challenging him and there's no one else to pass to. How can the worst shooter on the team and the NBA be taking more shots than anyone sans t-mac????? 2. Shane Battier must shoot more. He's our best three point shooter, and to me, this guy should be taking more shots then the worst shooter in the NBA. He's become a formidable threat to drive as well, and exploiting him more on offense is the only way to make up for the fact that he is undersized on Defense against 4's and not quick enough to guard many of the perimeter players in the league (luckily a high basketball IQ makes up for this to some degree). 3. T-mac and Yao must find a way to both average 20+ points a game when Yao returns. Neither one can defer their game and drift away. We both know these are players that need the ball a lot to excell offensively. Take their shots away, and they lose effectiveness - problem is that they don't demand the ball so it becomes easy for this to happen - but it can't happen. If we are to make any kind of noise, both of these guys combined have to hit 45-50 points a game - as our role-players are not good enough. 4. Bonzi Wells must get into playing shape. The guy gets injured every other week. There's no way we're going to get far with that sort of inconsistency from a very potent offensive threat. 5. Kirk Synder and JL3 must find a niche into the rotation. They may be at the end, but they can't be excluded. They have too much speed and athleticism to not be there. They may be our only hope of beating a team like Phoenix. 6. Luther Head must be limited to 3 point shots and set-plays. He's just too inexperienced to do otherwise, and this is a bad time for a sophmore slump. When he tries to create - he turns the ball over, and his skills at finishing are subpar to put it kindly. 7. Deke Mutombo must be rested for the playoffs. He's clearly hurting and playing with tendinitous or something. He needs to get som major rest when Yao gets back. Even if it means losing some games. Jake should get the playing time, and then have him take a back seat in the playoffs. It's clear that we need Deke to be at full strength if we're going to make a run. 8. Chuck Hayes has to limit his fouls. I think this one is pretty clear. 9. Juwon Howard must never put the ball on the floor. Only bad things happen when he does this. If all of these things happen, I think we have a good shot at making the WCF. Will it happen? I doubt it personally...but hey, maybe enough of it will to make a difference.
I think number one should be Yao must continue his dominance in the paint and Tmac must retain the aggressive play he showcased while Yao was out of the lineup...These two guys are the key to our title hopes. Everything else is secondary... I agree with most of what you said though...Especially about Battier. The guy is a great shooter. He could stand being a little more aggressive on offense. Bonzi definantly needs to pick it up as well.
This team needs another scorer from the 2 or 3 position. It's abundantly obvious. Given that we're not gonna get one, you've got to somehow fill that need on the current roster. It would be tempting to assign that role to V-Span. Unfortunately, if he were that capable, he'd be getting more minutes. I tend to think he's slightly underutilized, but JVG wouldn't ignore someone capable of scoring 13 a game w/decent efficiency. The other option is changing practice routines. I think this is probably necessary. Defense has to be deemphasized a bit. I know that will stick in JVG's craw, but it's pretty clear that our execution has been badly lacking. Passing needs to be more crisp. We need to commit fewer travels. Fumble fewer passes. That part is all about repetition. Balance between the O and D is more important than JVG will admit.
Get Yao back, work him into game shape for the last 20 games. He should be back to form within 5 games and then dominating within 10 games. I'm not about to hang my head on a blowout loss to the Spurs. It's obvious when playing the Spurs we absolutely need Yao to make Duncan work on that end. Use Luther Head as only a spot up shooter. I hate when he's forced to be the decision maker. We need to be able to have 2 players who could handle the ball on the court, see the whole floor, make good decisions, and throw crispy clean passes at all times, and I'm more than convinced that Vspan isn't ready for that. When Rafer is out of the game, T-Mac is the only player competent enough to do such things. We can beat any team with what we got fully loaded, even though we have a few gaps to fill in the offseason.
dude, I totally agree with everything you just said. That is the exact same stuff Iam always yelling at the TV when the Rockets play, especially the Luther and Rafer part, and Juwon dribbling, and Battier shooting more, and, well all of it.
At first, I thought you meant Rafer should shoot more. I agree with Battier. He is a good shooter. He shot a lot of three point shots early in the season. And he made a lot. Is it because Yao is out? Tmac and Yao. I am confident that they will put up 45+ a night. It might take Yao a while, but hopefully, they'll be owning it up very soon. I don't think JL3 is good enough. Kirk Snyder is definitely a good player to have..a good wing player off the bench. I think he is capable of stepping up. Whenever I see Head dribbling the ball up the court, I feel a bit worried, and it feels like there's a high probability that he'll turn it over or struggle to set up. But he's a great shooter and hustler/athlete, great to have him...he just can't play point. Even if we do all these things, I'm not sure we can stop the Suns, the Mavs, the Spurs.
I agree with most of what you say, NewYorker, but surely you're not advocating an 11-man rotation. Trying to cram in Lucas and Snyder in the rotation doesn't seem feasible to me.
Most teams utilize 10-11 players in the playoffs, with the 11th player average at least 5 minutes a game. This is especially true for a team like the Rockets that after the core 5 don't have dominant role-players. Yao T-mac Battier Alston Head Jho Deke Wells Synder And then Hayes and JL3 getting the 5-10 minutes a game. that's 11. And I think what we should go with the rest of the way. Jake may play for Deke just to save his body, but other then that - I can't see us dropping down to 8 and still having a team flexible enough to handle the differences in say an SA vs. a Phoenix. We have to adjust to other teams, because as a team, we're not dominant enough to impose our style. Other teams impose their style at us - so to some degree, we have to match speed with speed, physicalness with physicalness, and so on. Only T-mac and Yao can set the tone, and other teams are effectively adjusting - so it's not possible to say we should be inflexible and not adjust. And we don't have great role-players, so we have to play the players situationally - which means we'll need a deep rotation.
I really agree with most of your points. I do not see a need to bring JLIII into the rotation. He is an NBDL level player in my opinion. I agree with most of your other points- but we may get past the 1st round with the talent we have right now. If we end up with the 7th or 8th seed though we will be 1st round and out. Managing Bonzi and Snyder minutes, never ever playing Luther Head at the point, and giving Dikembe rest will improve this team and our tema defense. Our defense will get us a long way. Man I hope Yao and T-Mac can remain healthy!!! go Rockets!!!!!
Bah, for all his faults, Luther currently is a better scorer than VSpan at the the two. It would be unwise to try and work VSpan into the rotation while Head is already at a level we hope Span can get to. VSpan will be our point guard when Luther retires, but we'll have to wait till then.
I thought the general consensus was that most teams cut down to an 8 man roster in the playoffs. But lest take a look at stats shall we. 2005 Conf. Finals Miami vs. Pistons http://www.nba.com/playoffs2005/series_miadet.html Click on the box scores and you'll see both team having usually 8 players with more than 10 min a game and some times a 9th player at around 5 min a game. The numbers variates, but it's what you see for the most part. Spurs vs. Suns http://www.nba.com/playoffs2005/series_phosas.html You'll see even more extreme version, where the there are times only 7 players with any significant minutes and the 9th man doesn't even play. What is also suprising is that the "deep" run and gun suns adheres to the short rotation also. 2006 Conf. Finals Heat vs. Pistons http://www.nba.com/playoffs2006/series_detmia.html Once again you see that majority of the minutes during the game went to the top 8 players with the 9th players getting ~6 min a game and other players not getting any significant playing tiem at all. http://www.nba.com/playoffs2006/series_phxdal.html If there's a series where you expect teams going deep into their bench this would be it. But with the exception of the first game, neither team had the 9th player on the roster playing more than 10 min a game, and for the most part ~5 or less.
Five star thread! Don't know why can't give the rate. Agree with most part, two cents: Chuck Hayes looks like a scrub without Yao in the rotation and he will be like that in most other teams, but he is still the best option we have at 4 when Yao comes back. With Yao in the line-up, this guy will shine again. Kirk Snyder sometimes force the issue, the result? offensive fouls and TOs. He is not afraid of body contact but he's not quick on reading the defense and change directions. He's a bad three point shooter. Last night against Spurs in the 4th quarter, there were multiple sets for him to shoot the three while Head and Novak on the court. What the heck is that? so he should only be used to penetrate. And when he does that, perimeter players should clear the pane and watch to receive the ball in case his drive is stopped and no where to go. Overall he's a good asset and can help the team big if used properly.
You are looking at a game-by-game situation, where naturally the players that are hot or playing well will get the minutes. But look at a playoffs run - and you will see the averages are different. Particularly with squads like Dallas. If you have someone averaging 7 minutes a game, that's fairly significant - definitely more then a total bench warmer which is what JL3 is now....
It's because you're a rookie. But rest assured any thread I post will draw my haters out and get a 1 or 2. Hayes is a mystery. We'll see if his play improves when Yao returns...he might just be someone who is good at exceling in Yao's shadow....which is more reason Yao is an MVP. As for Synder, you can't ever worry about a player getting offensive fouls for charges. Generally, you have to love the aggression....
You can't just look at MPG and conclude that a player is part of the rotation or playing a significant role. Spanoulis is averaging 8.6 mpg and Lucas is averaging 8.5 mpg on the season. That doesn't mean they're part of the rotation. Maybe I'm not understanding you correctly.
You are right - you ahve to look at number of appearances. And I am looking at playoff rosters, not regualr season. You'll see player hit 8 minutes and play in at least half the games - to me that's part of the rotation. VSPAN has appeared in 26 games. Mostly in garbage time. JL3 has appeared in 46 games. I don't understand why he doesn't get more playing time for his quickness. His shooting percentage is low, but is much improved of late, and he doesn't turn the ball over much (.3 in 8 minutes of play isn't bad ya know, esp. compared to nearly one assist in the same time frame). In the playoffs, you may only have 8 guys who play 15+ minutes every night, but you also have the guys who come off the deep end of the bend and make contributions - and you see that they'll play in half the games and still post 7-14 minutes on average - and making contributions. To me, that still more then what JL3 is afforded as an opportunity.
Agree with everything except playing JL3 more. He will not improve his game this year. Maybe next year. Too risky to give him minutes just on the chance that he will get better. Also, if Yao and TMac average 20+, we might not need anything else! All we would need is for the role players to not do anything stupid. Maybe that is too much to ask...
Show me some stats, I will say the average time for players beyond the 8th in the rotation for most team in the playoffs will average ~ 5 min per game (you must include total games available instead of game played in the equation since foul trouble and such might increase a players time for 1 game and then never play again or lay sparingly the rest of the series). The core of a playoff team that contends is almost always ~8 players. Teams rarely play any number of players beyond those unless there are other mitigating circumstances.
