I was watching another basketball show (can't remember which one but it was last night) and the subject of a "third, consistent scorer" came up as it seems to quite often when the media discusses Houston. Apparently, the Rockets can't take the next step without a consistent third scorer. On this particular show it was said that a third guy needs to step up and give us 14-15 points a night. Do we really need that? And if so, could we even afford a guy like that with two superstar contracts on the books already? Proven guys that average 15 ppg are quite expensive in this day and age. I don't think it is a bad thing that we have several guys who are a threat to drop 20 on any given night but are not necessarily that consistent. Many teams have won rings without this mandatory third scorer. I think some nights Bonzi will give us 20/10 and some nights MJ will go for 20-something. The same goes for Scola and maybe even Francis will get some tick which will inevitably lead to some impressive scoring nights. We still have Battier who out of nowhere will go 5-7 from behind the arc from time to time. It seems to me that once this team gets back Tmac, learns the offense and develops some chemistry it will be better off having a lineup where 3-5 guys could be that "third scorer" on any given night. Thoughts?
we don't need the SAME consistent 3rd scorer. we need a consistent 3rd guy to step up every night. we have a variety of offensive weapons where that can happen nightly: scola, bonzi, james, battier, francis (no alston). scola i think will be as consistent of a 3rd scorer as we're going to get b/c of the many open looks he'll get either from the pick and roll with tmac or the fronting of yao. but it could also be bonzi and james. the same way sometimes dallas has jason terry, or devin harris or stackhouse. spurs have the big 3. suns always have someone different other than nash or amare, but usually barbosa. so i thikn we're good. as long as we have someone to chip in 13-15 pts a game and the rest just contribute a lil bit, we will be fine.
it's just lately trends have been 3 scorer ala spurs, celtics, mavericks, suns, so basically all the elite teams...I think we can have a consistant 3rd scorer out of all the scorers we have...it just takes some time getting use to this new offense
Instead of a third guy giving us 20, it would help the Rockets more to have 2-3 guys give you 10 points given the surplus of contributors we have lining our bench this season. Luther, Stevie, Mike, Luis, Shane and Bonzi are all EASILY capable of being the third fiddle and giving us 10+ pts. Expecting 10 a night from them is not unreasonable and would go further in terms of helping the Rox take the next step and beat the elite teams than a consistent individual performance from say Bonzi for instance.
If only Rashard Lewis is here. He was bombing 3-pointers all over the place against the Hornets a few days ago. He would be perfect for us, solving the PF problem, the 3rd scorer problem, and a consistent outside shooter problem all together
Agreed. I don't get the idea of playing Rashard at PF. His height and length are nice but he is lacking the bulk and the mindset to battle the bigs down low defensively. He would get lit up and probably injured guarding the PFs in the Western Conference.
I think that's the majority of the issue right there. It's still early, give it time before we start extraditing players and cussing out their mamas... ... unless it's Rafer.
Why do we need a consistent 3rd scorer? Because Yao and McGrady have lacked consistency as Houston Rockets. Despite what your heart tells you Yao and TMac dont play at the Shaq/Kobe level very often. Otherwise a 3rd scorer wouldn't be necessary. And... the old 05-06 Mike James was a consistent scorer, this current incarnation passes more but is far more streaky. Wells hasn't found his niche in the offense yet. Scola is finally showing promise. Battier is looking more comfortable. Give it time and that 3rd scorer will show up. A trade isn't necessary.
Zeke/Knicks want more 3P shooting to help spread the floor for Curry. 1)Rockets trade Rafer and Snyder for Jerome James. *Rockets save 1.1M *Knicks current PGs not delivering *Rafer another 3P option *Knicks dump James contract *James contract only one more year to go, Deke's replacement for next season. *Trade sweetener for second trade below 2)Head for David Lee *Head league's 4th best 3P shooter last season *Lee ranked 21st in double-doubles last season
If we actually did get Rashard Lewis, we would be stacked. The Scola trade could still be pulled off, I think. But as long as we're thinking of the here and now, I think Bonzi has the best chance of being the 3rd scorer, once he gets over his lay-up yips (and stop taking too many jumpshots). He's been missing all those little gimme lay-ups, and it seems to me more like he's frustrated and overthinking than anything else. I hope everything comes together soon.
1) they already got their own version of Skip, and Mardy Collins actually plays lock-down D. Rafer is NOT a 3P option and Deke @ 45 would be better than Jerome 2) Lol i dont think the Knicks are THAT stupid to pull a head for lee trade. Just to show u how hype up Lee is, they didnt even include Lee in the Kobe offer.
Too bad they will NEVER trade David Lee. He's like Bob Sura of the Knicks. The fans love him. secondly I'd rather have Rafer than Jerome James and his humongo contract. Did I mention the Rockets PG situation absolutely sucks??
We have a third scorer. His name is Luis Scola. However, our nutless coach will barely play him. Luis is a 20-10 type player, he just needs to start and get thirty plus minutes a night.
PHX: Barbosa 20.1 / Nash 18.9 / Stoudemire 17.4 NOH: Paul 19.5 / West 19.2 / Peja 14.5 SAS: Manu 19.9 / Parker 19.3 / Duncan 17.2 DAL: Howard 21.9 / Nowitski 21.0 / Terry 20.3 DEN: Anthony 25.5 / Iverson 24.5 / JR Smith 11.8 (Klieza 11.2) LAL: Bryant 26.9 / Odom 14.0 / Bynum 11.1 & Fischer 11.1 UTA: Boozer 24.6 / Williams 17.8 / Brewer 13.6 Hou: McGrady 26.8 / Yao 22.0 / James 10.7 (Battier 8.5) MEM: Gay 18.5 / Gasol 17.2 / Miller 14.9 GSW: Davis 24.6 / Jackson 20.0 / Harrington 17.7 SAC: Martin 26.2 / Artest 23.5 / B. Miller 11.5 POR: Roy 18.9 / Aldridge 18.4 / Webster 13.0 The answer seems pretty clear to me. Three scorers with one being a PG. The Rockets wil never do it and I'll get flamed but starting Scola, moving McGrady back to SF, moving Wells into the starting lineup and getting a PG for Battier plus whomever else you can peddle of Hayes, Alston, and Head to increase salary has the biggest upside IMHO. And for those who have a weird fixation on +/-, the same players from above... PHX: Barbosa 0.3 / Nash 15.9 / Stoudemire 10.3 NOH: Paul 10.3 / West 6.4 / Peja 5.6 SAS: Manu 22.5 / Parker 11.9 / Duncan 6.6 DAL: Howard 14.5 / Nowitski 23.7 / Terry -1.6 DEN: Anthony 5.8 / Iverson 25.7 / JR Smith -6.6 (Klieza -8.3) LAL: Bryant -12.2 / Odom -8.0 / Bynum 21.7 & Fischer -5.8 UTA: Boozer -3.8 / Williams -5.6 / Brewer -9.1 HOU: McGrady 2.4 / Yao -5.0 / James -11.5 / Battier 3.0 Just my humble opinion, but it seems really curious that teams in the WC can be very successful with their stars having low or negative +/-'s. Plus/minus is a way overrated stat IMHO.
I like your think Gater, but I really don't think we need to move Battier. He is a perfect SF for us, defensive stopper that we don't have otherwise. This is the lineup that has the Rockets as a Serious high scoring team: Yao Scola Battier Tmac Francis subs: Chuck Bonzi James Raf Head Mutombo
Overrated by whom? Anyone who thinks raw +/- is reliable in general for less than a month of games is surely overrating/misunderstanding it. And you weren't even using +/- (point differential when player is on the court). You're using an On/Off differential, which is different. Example: Kobe plays predominantly against the opposing team's best lineups. When he is on the court, the Lakers have been +5.3 When he's off, the Lakers role players have been exceptional (against, mostly, inferior competition), and early on they're +20.1 Both numbers will likely change significantly by the end of the season (+/- isn't nearly as stable as box score stats). No one can seriously look at that information and claim that +/- says Kobe is a bad player.
Take it easy, aside from the last two games, Scola didn't really show anything. Picked up too many early fouls and just didn't look comfortable in the offense.
