Lol @ your sarcasm! Ariza now playing off Howard and Harden versus playing off John Wall and NeNe... who gets double teamed more??? Mmm the rockets two!
Let's just wait and see what happens. I am not ready to call offense a problem yet. Parsons was not a guy that could create for himself but he was good at running the offense and taking advantage of open looks and scoring in transition. Jeremy Lin just needed to go. At times he created for himself and others, but a lot of the time he was passive and contributed nothing but poor defensive awareness. Also Canaan was not bad at creating shots in RGV, so it is a possibility to does the same for the Rockets this season. As far as 3's go, the Rockets are far better than a year ago. Ariza is an elite catch and shoot 3 point shooter. Canaan is an upgrade over Lin from beyond the arc and Troy Daniels will get more looks. If anything I am worried about having Jones playing 30 minutes a night.
I am with you. Let see what things look like when Morey is done. Done for the summer anyway. Despite most peoples gloom, we are already better at the thing that we needed the most last year, defense.
Riiiight. Parsons left because the Rockets choose not to pay him $46,000,000. Bosh is still in Miami because they offered him $24,000,000 when he is 35 years old, otherwise he would be a Rocket. Jeremy Lin is in LA because they had to move him to try and sign Bosh. This "disrespect" BS is getting out of hand.... LeBron James is back playing for an owner that completely ripped him... Anthony is back in NY after Jackson was critical of him.... Gasol stayed in LA for years after being an after thought in LA, and only left after they were no longer a good team. It comes down to money, winning and geography.
If this is what you really think, then no wonder so many people were bashing him. Lin didn't just "occasionally" go to the RIM. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Jeremy Lin reportedly going to Lakers. He shot 57.9% off drives last season, 2nd only to LeBron James who shot 63.8% (Min 7 drives per game)</p>— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/statuses/487688633680670721">July 11, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
That's my mistake. I was thinking of situations where he was "creating" his shot, taking guys off the dribble, as that was what the poster was talking about. He did have more drives, but that includes doing a good job of using picks and catching defenders sleeping, so i wouldn't say we lost someone who can create his own shots, at least not by my definition. I think johnson is smart enough to find those opportunities as well and Bev can do more of it, if he just tries.
Well by your definition, who really can do whart Lin and Parsons coudl, so scoring without getting an assist and not off a rebound or steal? Beverly was a catch and shoot guy. He couldn't drive by his defender and finish at the basket - at least nowhere near as good as Lin or Parsons did. Johnson? Maybe, but he is a second rounder - those guys usually don't contribute at all their first year. That's the whole point. We've had guys that could do more than catch and shoot - guys that could drive by their opponent and be creative at the basekt. Lin had a lot of shortcomings, but he was our offense of the bench. Ariza can do a little of this, but not nearly as good as Parsons. Beyond that? Some very little playmaking ability by Beverly, that's basically it.
Go to Dmo. Seriously. It's not about replacing Lin and CP with exact clones. there are other ways to make up for their offense. Ariza isn't going to come in and only manage 5ppg...he'll get his 12-13, at least. That's a big chunk of what CP did. Howard will score more and that'll make up the 1 or 2 bucket difference. Without Lin, the back ups can go inside out with DMo. Johnson can push it himself. That'll make up the 12 pts Lin put up. Plus, you've got Daniels for the year now. He'll open lanes up far better than anyone else we have and free up DMo's post game. Also, remember our offense was pretty good last season. There's room to lose some points. What matters is point differential. I think we'll improve more on defense than we'll regress on offense.
Morey even admitted that the biggest mistake of the post season was not allowing Parsons to become UFA (then not signing him), not swinging for the fences (trying to sign Melo, Lebron, Lowry, Bosh, etc.) but trading Lin (PLUS a pick) prematurely. Rockets absolutely would have kept Lin if they knew that Bosh was going to stay with Miami. But that's history now, how do we replace Lin's production/role on the team going forward - simple answer is Lance Stephenson.
I don't think you can plug and chug points like that. I'm absolutely confident that despite whatever losses we suffered, we can still put up 100+ points against the Pistons, Bucks, Kings of the NBA. But what happens against the good defensive teams? You get somebody like Tony Allen or Paul George to body up against Harden, and then a big body like Gasol or Hibbert to slow down Dwight. Who do you have left who can beat their man? The problem is that, against elite teams, Harden and Howard won't be able to provide the level of freedom for our shooters, and at least with Lin/Parsons, we had somebody to beat their second/third best defender and slash to the rim. I like DMO and I'm happy that Canaan/Johnson are playing well, but they're extremely untested during a time when we are supposed to be contending. We lost some key guys who played the MOST vital role in our offense (drive to open up 3s), so it's not as simple as saying " hey look, Ariza's 15 points are exactly like Parsons."
To be honest, I would've been very comfortable with a lineup of: Lin/Harden/Ariza/Jones/Howard with Bev and Co coming off the bench. Never liked PG defensive specialists tbh - they're way to limited in the people they can switch onto unlike a guy like Ariza. With the above lineup, Lin can make up a good chunk of Parson's ballhandling/creating duties, and Ariza can smother the best perimeter guy from positions 1 through 3. Sigh. But that's in the past. Let's see what Morey is cooking.
I thought Rox were one of the league's lowet pnr teams. Putting your hopes in 2 unproven guards in Canaan and Johnson may turn out tobe fools gold. You can knock Lin on other things but being able to get hisown shot was not a weakness. Having a coach that does n ot allow him todo much of that is an issue, but not with theplayer.