Let's be fair. You can't expect Yao to give 100% all the time on both ends of the floor. Assuming you are a 200 lbs man.. try running up and down the court with another 100 lbs on your back and see if you can give 100% effort all the time. Yao spend most of his energy on the offensive end posting up and scoring for us, which leaves little energy left on the defensive end and Deke is opposite. We are lucky to have both great centers with different , but valuable skillsets
Deke has just been phenomenal, a one-man wrecking crew on defense...unstoppable! I haven't seen defense/rebounding combination from a center in a Rockets uniform this good since, well, Dream in his prime! Actually, what Deke is doing now is even more impressive than what Dream did in his latter years, Deke is just amazing, man...nothing I can say about what he's doing now can do him justice. Since Deke has started playing significant minutes, our rebounding is much better as a whole and our turnovers are much lower...I don't know if I can credit him with the low turnovers, but I know I can with the rebounding, especially the offensive rebounding. I would have to give JHo some credit here too, but it has been by and large Mount freakin' Mutombo. We're so lucky to have this guy on our team, he has been our MVP so far, IMO, the biggest factor why we're doing so well as of late, because even when we struggle with our shooting, you know our defense and rebounding will be there, which is why -- as the saying goes -- defense wins championships.
LOL ... it can be anybody, but if LB can bring a championship to the Rockets, why not? Is he so much hated as Pippen in Houston?
How do you think Larry Brown would have handled Bonzi Wells? And do you think he'd have given Novak and Spanoulis minutes?
Larry Brown....HELL NO !!! That guy is a great college coach, but a cancer as a pro coach....and he bails just as he is rubbing everyone the wrong way. I would rather ......(Ugh, I can't believe I am saying this)......keep JVG than have Larry Brown. DD
I just watched an interesting "You Make the Call" segment with Ronny Nunn on NBATV regarding Yao's defense. In the play, Yao was in the "restricted area" and jumped straight up to contest a shot by Kobe. They whistled him for a foul because there was contact. But, in fact, according to Nunn it should not have been a foul. As long as Yao jumps vertically to contest the shot they will not call a foul on body contact. That's what Yao needs to do. He shouldn't just stand there with his arms up when a player is coming at him. He has to jump straight up with his arms up high.
Who did he "mentor" in New York and Detroit? You think JVG is preaching "play the wrong way" in the locker room? Please. And you didn't answer the question.
LB has a long and illustrious coaching record that JVG can only dream of at this point. Something has been terribly screwed up in New York since JVG's years. LB made a bad judgement when he jumped the ship to NY. But unlike JVG, he didn't quit the team in the middle of the season. BTW, I did answer your question in my previous reply, indirectly.
I don't think he ever would because he doesn't show up in the box score. What I find ironic, though, is how it was such a HUGE deal when we traded Stromile and Rudy Gay for Battier. Everyone was bashing our front office. You would have thought it was the end of the world. (I, myself, am proud to say that I was one of the few defending the trade, and for the exact reasons I'm about to say) The huge irony comes in when you consider how important that trade was to this team. An argument could easily be made that Shane Battier is the most important component to this team. One article mentioned how the Rockets were 7th in defense last year, and this year, with only one off-season acquisition getting major minutes (Battier....but you might can make an argument about Hayes, too), we are suddenly number one. Hmmmmm? Also, I don't know if anyone other than a diehard Rockets fan will ever fathom the strength of the glue in Shane Battier. He is a chemistry player, and probably the best in the business when it comes to that.
I would just like to take this time to state that I am clairvoyant, or more likely that I'm good when it comes to knowing the Rockets. Originally posted by me, a month before the season started: link: http://bbs.clutchfans.com/showpost.php?p=2525384&postcount=38
Right. Larry Brown doesn't quit on his teams. That's some funny stuff right there. Larry Brown was negotiating to join another team DURING the playoffs the previous season in Detroit. I've reviewed JVG's history with New York in detail in another thread. He did a fine job with those teams; as good a job as one could expect, given the aging roster, injuries, and lack of offensive talent. But he was saddled by inept front office management, and that's why he left. His players loved him there, though. BTW, that season NYK was 10-9 with JVG, and then finished 20-43 the rest of the way. New York sure took off without him, so obviously it was all Van Gundy's fault. How would he have handled Bonzi, Novak, and Spanoulis? Can you answer directly this time?
I wouldn't put too much on Shane, as far as defense goes. Yeah, he's good, but the whole team plays defense. Our stars play it, our scrubs play it, our role players play it and Shane plays it. It's a team deal that the players made with JVG. EWS, Good post earlier about the players filling in when another goes down. This team is a team in a lot of ways. Nobody is that important, but everyone is at their time.
I personally think JLIII should at least make All-NBA defensive second team...he's been the biggest reason why we're shutting down opponents.
Absolutely. But Battier's versatility on defense is a huge asset. He doesn't make mistakes, and you can count on him to give 35 minutes every night of solid D. You can't say that about any of our other players.
Exactly, and that is why you will see Shane defending the other team's best player (guard/forward) on any given night. You have to give prop to Shane. This works out well as it saves Tmac the energy spent on guarding and let him focus on playing making and offense.
