So our projected starting lineup will be: PG: Alston SG: McGrady SF: Artest PF: Scola C: Yao I have notice in that McGrady has been very neutral on scoring, giving up his shots to artest and even brooks heaving a few after a McGrady pass. Artest seems to shoot somewhat. Poor ol Luis Scola, a great scorer in his Spanish league relinquished to doing the dirty work, defending and putting back Yao's misses. Yao will need to get his no question about that. And Alston will routinely heave up a few 3's when open. I think we should have Artest come off the bench with the 2nd unit to create 2 really effective scoring units: PG: Brooks SG: Barry SF: Artest PF: Landry C: Chuckie What do you guys think of us having a surplus scoring starting lineup and a average 2nd unit?
I agree. I like Artest off the bench for most game. But to start the season he is going to be starting since Battier is just starting to practice. I think this works perfectly for us to see how that lineup will work when there is not an option and if it goes well no reason to shake it up when battier comes back. Besides its not like they do hockey style line changes and the entire second line comes in at once. It is more important to have the depth at each position that allows a constant 1 or 2 players rotating in each time. We should be able to do quite well as long as 1 of the big 3 is on all the time and most of the time 2.
There is defensive favor to start Shane and offensive benefit to have Ron from the bench. Besides, there is no base not to use the same starters won 55 games.
Nope, it just meant better ball rotation, hence a stronger Yao and Tmac at crunch time. Scoring the ball effectively as a team is much more important than individual scoring. Just give the ball to whoever that is hot. I still think Landry and AB will score alot for the 2nd unit. And there will always be at least 1 of the big 3 on the court as well as instant 3p from players like Battier, Barry and Head. Hence scoring should not be a problem.
Both Morey and Adelman have been quoted referring to Shane as a starter. I distinctly heard sound bites of each of them on 610 AM. Not talk show speculation, mind you. Sound bites of the men themselves.
Ron Artest leading the second unit would be beastly. And they would all be on the floor at the same time at crunch time anyways. It would be awesome and defensive intensity throughout the game would be high and through the roof during the 4th quarter.
Start the best players. Yao Scola Artest McGrady Alston Yao goes out first and Scola slides to C while Landry comes off the bench. Tmac joins Yao on the bench shortly with either Battier or Barry replacing him. So early in the second quarter you have: Scola Landry Artest Barry or Battier Alston (maybe Brooks if he keeps improving) That's a hell of a second team with Artest being the main scorer and Scola/Landry creating all kinds of hell inside. Barry or Battier are dropping in 3s and whoever is at PG can get the hell out of the way unless they have a wide open shot. You're looking at a smaller but quicker team that will actually work harder without Yao's sluggishness and McGrady's gimpiness on the court. By the end of the game Adelman will certainly see who is having the best night or the best matchup and finish the game accordingly. Everyone should be rested and hopefully the other team is worn down from all the different looks the Rockets have thrown at them all game.
agreed, because we have so many weapons Artest should lead the second unit with Mandry and barry. We basically have two starting line ups.
Artest should be used in the lineup when McGrady and Yao are sitting, but i think it can work with them on the floor at the same time also. I would like to see Artest taking less shots on offense so that McGrady, Yao, and even Scola can get some more looks.
I am glad we have that problem, cause we have so many offensive players this year. I believe Artest coming off the bench to lead the 2nd unit will be the reason for Rockets to win more games this season. Just like the Kings game on 4th quarter. But Rockets will do that on 2nd quarter instead. I still remember last season playoff game 5, the 2nd quarter, when Rockets bench players out score the Jazzs. At that moment, I knew Rockets would win that game.
Artest needs to start. He is too good to be coming off the bench. One thing I did notice is that Yao needs more touches. It's nice that everyone gets their share of shots, but when you got somebody down low as good as Yao, feed him the ball.
well he did start for about half the season. but it's not like he was the main cause of our problems at the onset of last season. If you forgot, we won 52 games with Chuck Wagon starting two years ago. And if you're somehow making a Battier-Hayes + Artest-Scola comparison, it should be noted that your logic is flawed because Battier's game is way more similar to Artest's than Hayes' is to Scola's.
The POINT is to have all our scorers on at the same time. If you don't remember from last season, our only options were basically Tmac and Yao. And it wasn't hard for other teams to see see our plays and shut those two down. (And I'm even talking about when injuries hit.) With more scoring threat on the floor, we're easing the pressure on Tmac and Yao so that they can dominate. I thought our team was at its prime during the 12 winning streak before Yao went down. I want THAT again! We have all the same weapons to be that good again, but with Artest now that puts us over the top and gives us a little more insurance if anything were to happen (knock on wood).
My logic is pretty simple: Artest is a far better player. He should start and get the majority of minutes at SF.
Then your logic is flawed because we can't really play Battier at the 4. I think the team is much better off when one or the other is on the floor, when both are on the floor you're just wasting great defensive efforts by both players. I'd rather go with last years line up alston tmac battier scola yao then have brooks/francis barry/luther/wafer artest landry hayes as our second unit. Granted we'll be running a fairly small lineup its probably one of the more deeper benches in the league. Barring injuries we'll have a pretty interesting season this year. I love having too many offensive options at least that way we won't have to rely so heavily on Yao/Tracy on 80% of the possessions.
I'd rather have this problem than having to deal with a Hayes/Mutombo frontcourt like we did the past 2-3 seasons. This was the same question that surrounded the Celtics last season. T-Mac and Yao are unselfish players sometimes to a fault, I see no worries here. I for one am not concerned whether Artest starts or not. He and Battier will still get their fair share of minutes. It's not like the entire starting 5 subs out at the same time, we will always have at least 2 of the 3 on the court at the same time.
Correction: You think my logic is flawed. I think you're wrong. Agree to disagree. I won't be complaining either way as long as we stay healthy.
