Who was the soft allstar on Isiah's Pistons team? Are we talking about the 88-89 Pistons aka the Bad Boys?
You what?!?!? Losing Lowry and have Temple as our backup? Did you notice how badly they need Lowry? It was so bad that Morey even went on the media and said that they're going to resign Lowry because he means so much to this team. Brooks can score very well but Lowry brings more than Brooks. Lowry was the reason the Rockets were so tough to beat. It was his energy that got us going. I cannot imagine how terrible it will be if we would have Temple as our back up point guard the entire season. It was bad enough having Temple on a two 10 day contract. The Rockets need Lowry. They don't have to trade for Bosh. Just hopefully sign him in the offseason. But we are not trading LOWRY!!
... And Martin... Nuances: - They are better scorers than Brooks. - They are SGs. I don't care if a PG wants to score and can do it, it's OK, but besides that, he's the freaking PG, and like it or not, this entails some special responsibilities, none of which Brooks fulfills. Martin for instance fulfills his other offensive responsabilites. And Allen, And Miller... And Deron, Rose, Parker and other PGs with scoring capabilities. [And please, stop with the Parker comparation, he's much more player than Brooks, period.]
Rocket had had such opportunity to build a "Piston Champion" Team by trading T-mac for Billups & Hamlton If that trade was made at that time, the team was even more competitive than brooks + K-martin now we have, not mentioning Yao was younger years before.
LOL, did you forget how great the perimeter defense was with Billups, Hamilton, and Prince. That's the reason they won. In that Finals series, Kobe shot above 37% in only that one OT game the Lakers won. Morey's not very good at reading blueprints if that's the one he's trying to follow with this roster.
But Billups and Hamilton were arguably their weakest defenders in the back-court rotation, and the weakest defenders in the starting 5. I don't think Morey has any particular team in mind as a blueprint, but I do see the similarities here.
Brooks, Martin, Ariza vs Billups, Hamilton, Prince I'll take the Piston squad both offensively and defensively.
The point is, they were much better defenders than Brooks and Martin are, regardless of how they compared to their own teammates. Kobe would slash right through a box and 1 zone with our guards instead of theirs. I just don't think our perimeter defense has the ability to neutralize superstar wings to that extent which is what I believe it would take to win a championship without a superstar.
If we start Lowry and Hill the comparisons aren't that far off. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oGdXhTDEl7s&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oGdXhTDEl7s&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Lowry is good but no where near the complete package that future HoF Billups was/still is. And who exactly is Hill supposed to be like? His defense while solid, isn't exactly Piston's Ben Wallace level and neither Scola or Hill doesn't have the offensive range that old school Rasheed used to terrorize folk with.
Keep in mind that we wont have to be that good defensively.But we do have to be better than we have been.Also the pistons had no one that could draw double teams like Yao.So Lowry and Hill wont have to be as good as Billups and Rasheed.Hill is no Ben Wallace but with a 7'6 Yao cloging the paint he wont have to be.
I doubt it!, if they are going to trade their franchise player there most certainly going to ask for Brooks & Scola in return.... --RB
