You of all people should remember the Rockets went 31-7 down the stretch and 3/4's of that was without Yao.
i totally agree with the op. while the consistent 3rd scoring option would be a very nice thing, it's certainly not neccessary. it's obvious we have to improve in certain aspects but we don't have to make major changes just for the sake of change. add some size, ballhandling and scoring to the backcourt. we don't need ron artest or corey maggette for that. getting barry with the lle and maybe maurice evans with whatever is left of the mle after landry was resigned will be enough. let's go into the season with that and see what happens. after all, we'll always have to depend on health. if yao and t-mac aren't healthy we're going nowhere even with artest on the team. but if our team is finally healthy we'll have enough to compete even with minor upgrades.
That's what I was talking about. Of course we could ill-afford to lose Yao or Tmac come playoff. But if we have a balanced squad in scoring, we can preserve Tmac and Yao's health. Either of them don't have to that much load in order for us to win. Right now we don't have that luxury. To me the two super stars and bunch of role players mode ain't working, although this only going to be RA's 2nd year. With Yao and Tmac aging, we really don't have much time left to me. We are not at the point that we need to change for the sake of change. But I strongly disagree that this team can contend with some marginal upgrades. We should be actively looking for upgrades at the SF and PG, and I think Battier is tradable. While I am not talking about prime super stars, we should be looking into Magette, Artest not freaking Barry.
Excellent opening post, BimaThug. Some great opinions and plenty for folks to disagree with. The part I liked the most was what you said about Scola and Scola/Yao playing together. I've said before that I thought Scola would really be improved in the coming season. This was a baptism by fire for the guy. You could see him getting better as the season progressed. There were ups and downs, like any rookie has, but Luis showed that he's not an ordinary rookie at all, but a veteran player trying to get a handle on a new league. By the end of the season, he was adjusting well. Then came the playoffs. Another huge adjustment. The refs, as we know, call the games differently. It's a hell of a lot more physical, with the intensity ramped way up. Scola had to figure that out on the fly and with the team banged up and short-handed. Scola and Yao are going to click. Everyone just needs to stay healthy. Maybe we'll finally have some luck and it'll happen.
Ch-ch-ch-changes, Turn and face the strange, Ch-ch-Changes, Where's Ron Artest... <object width="390" height="300"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/n8v486aUYu0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/n8v486aUYu0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="390" height="300"></embed></object>
You might as well be. Maggette is not signing for the MLE and Artest is under contract. Those kind of players require value in exchange. I expect the Rockets to use BJax and one of our young guys to get an impact player close to the trade deadline. So maybe a guy like that will be and the radar. But for now get us Barry, an improvement at the backup 2 and even 3 a bit and let's see what else happens down the road. Lest you forget the team with the best record this year was not LA, Boston San ANtonio or Detroit but our very own Rockets! When Healthy we are the up and coming team to watch out for not the other way around.
Pau Gasol was staying pat???? Not to mention . . . beyond the Celtics. . who retooled last summer like folx are retooling this summer Baron Davis to the Clippers Magette to the Spurs Sun made their upgrades and will have a FULL season . Oden coming back for the Trailblazers + another top 10 pick rocket River
Great Post BimaThug! I agree with pretty much everything you said. I do think we need a shooter, but you addressed that with your support of the Barry signing. The only point I would make is that T-Mac needs to be moved over to the 3 and to do that, we have to do something with Battier. That said, if we started the year: Yao/ Deke/ Dorsey Scola/ Landry/ Hayes Battier/ Novak/ Greene T-Mac/ Barry/ Head Alston/ Jackson/ Francis/ Brooks i'd be cool with it. Still think we could use another shooter though
NOW! FOR THE RECORD . . . . All last season everyone was throwing our guys under the bus everyone said we had the WEAKEST SUPPORTING CAST of all the playoff teams Everyone was saying . .1-12 we were the weakest in the west as far as talent etc I said .. . many times. . why we gotta throw our guys under the buss . .. cause time and time again . .folx would point out WELL LOOK WHAT T-MAC HAS TO WORK WITH blah blah blah . . . NOW . . .everyone is saying they good enough?? I'm confused . .. did they get better after getting booted from the playoffs Rocket River explain it to me . . like i'm a 4 year old
I think the advent of the fabled 3rd scorer is mainly to preserve Yao/Tmac from playing too many minutes during the regular season. The team as constituted still 'needs' that 3rd scorer to take up the slack every single game-night. It is a real need. Can we fill that needs with someone we already have? That remains to be seen. Scoring by committee? Didn't happen often enough or plainly enough to get out of the 1st round w/o Yao. So in that respect, the 3rd scorer needs is a real one.
IF Les isn't willing to go that extra mile for a champioship team and we just make a few minor adjustment to the team as you suggest then for the season 2008/2009 we can expect the following a twenty two game win streak and out of the playoffs in the first round The same thing a sthe previous year- sort of entertaining, but not a big thrill!!
I have been thinking about this but Yao and T-Mac are an injury away every season from the Rockets making a good championship run in the playoffs. If we add Barry another injury ridden vet and Horry who is also injury prone and on the downside of his career would it be enough? We need young legs and some scoring to take T-Mac's minutes down to about 32-35 min a game and Yao the same. I really hope that Adleman doesn't play either one for the full 48 minutes like he did last year. I think our front court of Deke/Scola/Landry/Battier/Hayes can carry the load so it probably isn't necessary to play Yao so many minutes. At the end of the season, T-Mac required surgery on his knee and his shoulder. A fully healthy T-Mac in the playoffs would have made a huge difference. I could see it that his lift and his shot were off. Does Brent Barry allow T-Mac's minutes to be cut down to 32-35 min a game? Perhaps SF3 can pick up some of the scoring load? As I see it, that's where we are hurting. We need a healthy T-Mac at playoff time. This is where we need that third scorer to take some of that burden away from T-Mac and Yao. Give them more chances to rest. Now that I've said that. The Rockets bench is really deep. We play teams evenly with our starting 5 for the first half of the game. I think I saw an interesting trend though. For many of the games, the Rockets would play even until the 3rd qtr when Adleman started to make massive substitutions getting fresh legs in the game. Our 2nd unit kills the other teams reserves. Obviously we are doing something right during the regular season. Come playoff time, we were destroyed when Rafer left the game because nobody else could run the offense well. We also were hurt by lack of size but I think Morey has addressed these issues or is in the process of addressing these issues. It would be nice to get another great PG and another scorer to help T-Mac. We still haven't been able to get these two pieces yet. I trust that Morey still has a few tricks up his sleeve. SF3 maybe a sleeper but nobody is counting on him to be anything.
I for one am STILL saying that the Rockets had the weakest supporting cast of all the playoff teams in the west. They are greater than the sum of their parts, they play well together, but MANY things have to go their way to be successful. I STILL think Gator's formula is correct, any two or more of Battier, Alston, or Hayes getting major minutes equals first round exit. A starting lineup of 2 or 3 bench players is too much for Yao and TMac to overcome against western teams who largely have first rate starters. This seems so obvious to me. Now if the board is O.K. with a relatively entertaining regular season, good games to go to or watch on TV, fine, but if they want a serious contender, standing pat won't get it. History is screaming at us!
one thing i'm looking forward to is Scola gaining the confidence to take that 10-15ft shot. last season, everyone knew he was gonna pump fake it and look to pass. he's working on that shot, and if he can shoot it with decent consistancy,there's no reason he can't average around 15pts. i'm all for upgrading, but i agree that we don't need to make a move for the sake of making a move. our team is good. injuries are a part of the game and we've had more than our share. without those injuries last year, we should have made a strong push of the western finals. having said all of that, i'd love to see crazy-ass Artest wearing the red.
If anybody doesn't think this team needs some major changes, they are delusional. Houston might win 50 games again in the regular season, but that doesn't really mean much when the league overall is watered down talent wise. If you roll out the same team and IF everybody stays healthy (that's a big IF), at best you're looking at the second round and that's it. You might even be looking at another first round exit. This team needs proven NBA players that are athletic and multi-dimensional. As it stands right now the Rockets have two starters (Battier and Alston) that should be coming off the bench, which bring me to another issue. Houston has a very weak bench. Other than Landry, there's really no proven talent coming off the bench and Landry wasn't the same after he hurt his knee - hopefully that won't be the case this upcoming season. Brent Barry, Robert Horry, Roger Mason, Sam Casell and Maurice Evans aren't going to solve any of this team's pressing needs. I would support Evans, Mason, or Barry coming here only if we get rid of Luther Head. Still, that doesn't solve the problem of not having multi-tool athletes that are baskbetball players as opposed to one-trick ponies. The Rockest need to be pursuing people like Artest, Outlaw, and Mo Williams. They have the assets to make a deal. Houston has expiring contracts, draft picks, and I'd be willing to let go of anybody not named Tracy or Yao to bring in the type of players that we need. Some of guys are ridiculous in that you believe guys like Landry, Scola, Alston, and Battier are borderline untouchable. That type of attitude will continue to lead to mediocrity.
Well a few things I think needs to happen. 1. We sign Brent Barry to be the backup to T-mac or 2. We trade Battier and Brooks to the Kings for a 3rd option and defender in Ron Artest
Ditto... The days of TMac and Yao playing heavy minutes in the reg. season have to end. We needs someone else who commands a double-team and can score at will. Unless someone who's already on board suddenly breaks out like Tmac originally did, we's in trouble. Morey, who ya gonna call?...
