Pistons Possibly Trying To Land T-MAC for Billups and T-Prince

um, the last 3 years, we have played without yao just fine, winning at a 60%+ rate. so yes, most rocket fans believed we would make the playoffs as a high seed with no problem.

we didn't expect rafer to be injured and miss games, battier to be injured, and tmac to have 2 injuries. but we expected to win the first round. but injuries to rafer killed it b/c we had no capable backup PG.

like i said, national people don't follow the rockets. if you asked them how they fared without yao in 06-07, they thought we sucked too.

 

He and Kobe seem awfully chummy lately, they have been seen in several public venues. I didn't know they were such close friends. Also, the LA rumor mill has the Lakers courting Artest. Who knows, but that along with the return of Bynum might put them over the top.

As for the Rockets, a low budget approach will get you low budget results. Until the Rockets are ready to go for broke, their nickel and dime approach to the supporting cast will not get them in the final four in the West.

 

they have to give up scola/battier to do anything (or even possibly landry). i would give up battier any day of the week if it gives us miller or artest. i'll throw in a draft pick and even aaron brooks.

if we're sticking with tmac and yao, the window max is 3 years. if both are injured again next yr, the window is shut.

 

McGrady is not the offensive threat he used to be and he's not the key for the Rockets. The Jazz didn't even double him for most of the playoff series this year, they played him in single coverage rotating players on him. No double, no open man, and the Rockets offense stagnates. T-Mac is not the guy to pin your hopes on to spark the offense or create opportunities for other players by demanding a double team.

 

Yao can carry the team, (GS, the game back in December where he went 15 of 18 against whoever, etc.). The point is that you would hope with the Adelman offense that the team as a whole would be responsible for winning, not individuals.

 

Yao had a mediocre playoff series last year against the Jazz even though he averaged around 24 points a game. Why? Because his fg% was way below his average--he only broke 50% in two games. Even then his fg% was better than T-Mac's from what I remember.

T-Mac got 27 points on the series. Who cares? Kobe used to do that all the time in losing efforts for the Lakers because he shot the ball over and over and over. If you're going to score a lot of points by shooting the ball a ton of times and converting at a low percentage you are hurting the team. And T-Mac's shot % for games 1-4 was pretty awful.

 

No, that shows I'm not a kid who thinks he knows everything. I can recognize when somebody knows more than I do, even when they get it wrong. And I wouldn't presume to say that I know more than Blinebury, or Feigen, or Wilbon, or Magic, or Kenny and Chuck. That's out and out arrogance.

Yeah, sportswriters are guys with opinions. But they INFORMED opinions. That's the difference between them and you.

 

Getting to the playoffs is one thing. Getting out of the first round is obviously another. The Rockets have gotten to the playoffs plenty of times over the last ten years. How many times have they gotten out of the first round?

The fact is that the experts were pretty much unanimous in their appraisal of the Rockets' chances: no Yao, no way. Yes, losing Rafer sucked but I don't think it would have any difference in the long run if he hadn't been hurt.

 

Billups is an inconsistent shoot first type player and prince is no better in defense than battier.

Doing this deal is stupid, we need at least billups + hamilton for this to work....

 

There is a reason the team struggles without Tracy and plays better without yao. Whatever ur opinion is, its not a suprise or a revealing idea that Tracy has the biggest impact on the rox team. The reason is, he can score from anywhere and he spoon feeds the role players and yao.

Its correct the jazz didnt really double tracy, but what the did is similar to what Boston did to Kobe. They "tilt" the defense towards him. Adelman was late mking the adjustment and it cost them. What they would do is basically run a box and 1. 4 defenders with their feet right next to the lane and 1 guy guarding. Basically killing any and all driving lanes to the basket and since the rox dont have anyone that can beat a guy off the dribble, the defenders could close out reckless on the shooters forcing them to put the ball on the floor. The yr before they did the same even with Yao. They played Yao with okur, tilted to mcgrady and made everyone try to beat the to the basket.

 

i couldnt do that trade

i still dont think we'll be good enough

but i'd trade Luther Head/Rafer Alston for Chauncey Billups

and maybe throw in our draft pick

 

I like the billups hamilton trade. I would love to see hamilton score lay ups off of Yao's passes.

 

So Yao carries the team 1 game and you think he has a bigger impact than Tracy has, carrying the team 2 the playoffs back to back years when Yao went out?

I think there is a virus going around..

 

You don't exactly have to double the person. Your defense is structured to completely stop one player. Out role players had all the open shots they could have dreamed for, sorry maybe we weren't watching the same series.

 

That's exactly the problem. For all the talk about McGrady creating opportunities for other players most of his assists are going to come after he attacks the basket and the defense collapses on him. If he can't do that he can't create and the offense stagnates--exactly like the Jazz series. (Although maybe if they'd tried a) passing and b) cutting hard without the ball they might have gotten somewhere.) It's easier if Yao just gets the ball and draws the immediate double. In the past the Rockets have not been able to capitalize on that double. This year they've been exploiting it and the season took off after a truly crappy start.

Look, I remember watching Yao play with Francis/Cat, seeing him get doubled and then watching everybody else on the Rockets stand around. I can't count the number of times I cursed the TV and thought to myself that this wouldn't be happening if Yao was playing on Adelman's Kings, one of my all time favorite teams. Now Adelman's in Houston and I think this first season is pretty good evidance that if the Rockets just move without the ball good things will happen, especially if Yao is getting doubled just for catching a pass.

That said the Jazz are going to be a problem as long as Okur can handle Yao in single coverage and they can neutralize McGrady out on the perimeter/prevent him from driving to the basket. I've got a lot of faith in Adelman though in terms of figuring out solutions to tough basketball problems.

 

Why would they have open looks if nobody got doubled?

 

Yao is a center, his FG% is supposed to be way better than a SG...jeez thats basic b-ball knowledge. Yao was the reason we lost last year, everyone admitted it, even Yao so stop trying to defend him all over the place, and even worse shift it towards mcgrady you should have some shame.

 

Look badger, the jazz don't care nearly enough of Bobby Jackson or Deke scoring as much as they do tracy. Heck they shouldn't even have to guard Deke or Shane. Their whole defense was structured to shut T-MAC down. Go back and look at game 6, yes we had all the open looks we could have dreamed for.

 

Yao converts at a higher rate--there's no question that he's a bigger threat to score if for no other reason that he's a low post center.

And because of that he draws the double more consistently than probably anybody else in the NBA, much less the Rockets. A double team is a dream scenario for the motion offense. When the Rockets realized that in January they went on a tear. I've been watching Adelman's teams for a long, long time and he's never had the low post threat that Yao is and he's never had a player who can demand a double team like Yao can. His offense + a consistent double on Yao should = win.

 

You're just avoiding the question now. We know why players get open looks when Yao's playing--because there's two guys on him. If T-Mac is being played in single coverage there's no open man. What T-Mac can do is drive and force the defense to collapse on him and then kick the ball out. If he can't drive though his ability to draw extra defenders to himself is extremely limited. Go read lebigeez's post again.