Got bored and wanted to see what CF would rank some of our players. So lets start... Best players overall from top to bottom. My top 10: Yao Scola - imo, best player last season on the team Martin Brooks/Lowry - tied. Lee - brings more offense than Battier to go along with great D Battier Budinger Hill Jeffries - underrated defender. can guard basically all positions Hayes Also rank the fastest players on the team from top to bottom. My top 5: Aaron Brooks Kyle Lowry Courtney Lee Jermaine Taylor Kevin Martin *Ish Smith is my fastest guy on the team if he makes it. Best Shooters? My 5: Kevin Martin Brooks Budinger Lee Scola - would put Battier here but he has no mid-range shot. Scola is money from mid-range.
I gotta put Brooks over Lowry. Sure, Lowry has better advanced numbers and brought a lot to the team, but Brooks was really the backbone of the team for the season. He was forced to take upon pretty much all of the creating on offense in the starting line up. Plus he played his minutes with Chuck Hayes, Battier and Ariza who suck offensively. I would put Brooks tied with Scola in fact for last season. Scola turned it on towards the end of last season, but was quite average for most of it. Kevin Martin if healthy is above both. So assuming health My top 10: Yao Martin Scola Brooks Lowry Battier Lee Budinger Hill Hayes Put Battier over Lee since he is the leader of the team. Speed I agree with. Shooting as well. You could tie Brooks and Martin since Brooks led the league in 3s and had an ok mid range game. I'm hoping Lowry and Jermaine Taylor improve their shots. JT's shot does look better and faster which is good.
What about best guards/wing players on the team at finishing around the rim? For me.. Lee - checked him out on hoopdata and he finishes at a impressive %tage Lowry - the guy makes some of the toughest shots around the basket while taking contact Martin JT Brooks
Honestly i think Martin is the best pure offensive weapon on the Rockets.He can score at a remarkable effecient clip from all over the court and racks up the fouls and gets to the line with amazing ease. I think with Yao coming back from surgery, he might take sometime to regain hias touch and for now, i think this is my ranking. Martin Scola Brooks Yao Budinger(will get alot more minutes) Battier Lowry Hayes Lee Miller Hill Patterson Taylor
1. Yao-When Tracy got injured, ultimately leading to the trade, it was obvious who the guy was now. Health is a problem, but his ability to always come back is fantastic. You can make the argument he is the best center in the league when healthy, not the most popular and flashy, but best. 2. Martin-The past couple of seasons he has missed quite a few games, and his production has slowed a bit. But, based on scoring ability, as well as getting to the line....I kept him at two. Plus, if you penalize Martin for injuries...you have to do the same to Yao. 3A. Brooks- When Brooks is on, it's going to be a good night for Houston. Potential complaints, very score first pg...and if he has two amazing games...he tends to have two mediocre games to follow. 3B. Scola, My Friend From Argentina-It's pretty much a given that he will give you a double double most nights. Lives hustle. But, I trust Brooks more so I put him at 3B. I do believe he is one of the most underrated guys in the NBA. -From here I could mix up the list from day to day..... Lowry-The energy guy. Comes off the bench and can give the team a boost, particularly if the starting five was struggling. Plus, I love how he always looks for the basket and contact. Battier-After Artest went to LA, and Ariza got traded, Battier once again is the defensive man. Good at what he does(defense), but we all know he doesn't provide much more than spot up three pointers to the O. And he tends to camp out in the corner for that shot, allowing his man to basically rest and help on D. C.Lee-Because he played for NJ last year I really didn't see him play much. Though I recall good things in Orlando...minus that blown layup. But from what I gather, good defender and can score some. Looking forward to seeing him play. Budinger-Chase is not white, Chase is clear. DD's boy can play :grin: , very solid from three, can jump so attacking the basket isn't to big a problem, if he would do it more. Defense blows. But young.
Best defenders: (for the 2010-11 season) Good defenders 1) Yao Ming- a close one over Chuck, considering Yao's horrible pick and roll D, but his vastly superior help defense will help the Rockets team D a lot next season 2) Chuck Hayes- best individual defender on the team, tireless, great leader on D, can guard 4 positions 3) Battier- I expect his injuries to have healed and with Yao back, to be one of the best perimeter defenders in the league once again 4) Jared Jeffries- one of the most versatile and underrated defenders in the league, by some metrics as good as Chuck Hayes and Shane Battier defensively, equally terrible offense though 4) Carlos...er...Cliff...er...Courtney Lee- haven't seen him in this defensive system yet, but has a good reputation 5) Kyle Lowry- best point guard defender on the team, good help defender, hurt by the fact that point guard is the least important defensive position in basketball 6) Ish Smith- good, quick, pesky defender in the Rafer Alston mold, again, knocked down a few spots due to PG being the least important position on defense (kind of like right field in baseball) Mediocre defenders 7) Luis Scola- tries hard but has severe physical limitations (not long, can't jump, not fast), great pick and roll defender, can't really stop majority of starting PFs in the league in one-on-one situations (then again, not many can either) 8) Jermaine Taylor- competitive, athletic, played average defense in limited minutes in his rookie year, showed glimpses and could break out in 2010-11 9) Jordan Hill- long and athletic, quick hops, inconsistent shotblocking but has potential, raw like the rest of his game but a deterrent at the rim solely based on his physical gifts Poor defenders 10) Miller- poor defensive instincts, slower than Yao, can't jump, not competitive on defense, fouls too much (and dirtily imo); at least he's tall 11) Chase Budinger- below average his rookie season, hopefully improves a bit in his second season, slow lateral movement limits his defensive ceiling, also lacks elite competitiveness, a prerequisite for defensive prowess 12) Brooks- unlike Lowry and Smith, Brooks' position actually helps him in the rankings as a bad PG defender doesn't hurt his team as much as a bad defender at other positions do; quick, but small and average instincts make for a below average defender 13) Martin- the Steve Nash of SGs, notorious for his porous defense, needs to be hidden in a good defensive lineup, fair amount of steals his only positive 14) Patterson- haven't seen much of his defense yet, expect him to be lost for a while on D to start the season If Yao is healthy, I expect our defense to be around the top 5 once again.
I can agree with all of that but I think I would switch Ish Smith with JT. Haven't seen enough of Ish yet but what I seen from Taylor when he guarded Kobe last season showed a lot from him. And for best shooters. I had Martin there but last season Brooks was the better shooter leading the lg in 3s at 40% while improving his mid-range game. Though Martins numbers career wise is why I chose him as the best shooter. Hopefully he gets back his 3pt shot next season.
Did you even watch summer league... If there is something that PP can come in and contribute with on Day 1 it is his defense. He anchored our team defense in Las Vegas from the 4 position. Help D was superb in Vegas. This was made abundantly clear when seeing Hills slow rotations. I think he can be really special defensively from learning the post tricks from Chuck, while also learning from battier how to guard those quick footed 4's on the wing that can spread the floor. His instincts are great, and he's got a good head on him. If he uses his brains and does his homework on the mental side of the game, the sky is the limit defensively.
My ranking of our best... 1. Yao C 2. Martin SG 3. Scola PF 4. Brooks PG 5. Lowry PG 6. C.Lee SG 7. Budinger SG/SF 8. Battier SF 9. Hill PF/C 10. Miller C 11. Chuck PF/C 12. Taylor SG 13. Jeffries SF/PF/C (Unranked Rookies) * Patterson * I.Smith --RB
I would have to disagree with you on this one. Point guard is one of the more important positions. In a standard set, the point guard brings the ball up the court. Most teams Don't have a Kobe Bryant or Brandon Roy at the 2 that can handle the ball equally well, so when a pesky guard like Rondo puts pressure on the ball full court, it makes it very difficult for a team to get into it's half court sets. that's not to discount Yao, obviously defense starts in the post, and having anybody that can give weak side shot blocking is the most important defensive aspect, but having a point guard that can pressure full court is probably a distant second.
Asking who was the best player on a 42 win team is like....asking which president is better? Bush or Obama. Can't be brooks - he's one dimensional and numbers do not tell the entire story. Lowry is more versatile and complete than Brooks is. smarter too. But he's a backup. So can't be Lowry. Can't be Martin because he didn't play the entire season. Can't be Chuck Hayes or Battier. Not enough offense. Can't be Yao Ming since he was injured otherwise this question isn't asked. Can't be Chase because he was a rookie. There's only ONE ANSWER to the question who was the BEST HOUSTON ROCKETS PLAYER LAST YEAR? LUIS SCOLA!! The man is a close second even when Yao was playing the previous year. He hustles, is savy, can score, rebounds, tries defensively, a good guy and teammate, and most of all, SUPER CONSISTENT!!! Luis Scola was the #1 Rockets player last year. There is no question.
Lol rookies can't be the best player? Not saying he was, but there have been plenty of rookies who were the best players on their team.
Best Defenders on the Rockets: 1. Yao Ming. We saw the impact Yao has on Team's defense when he was lost the entire year. The 09-10 Rockets were ranked: 23rd for Opposing FG %: 47.5 21st for Opposing PPG: 102.7 24th for Opposing 3PTFG%: 36.4 26th for Team Blk Per Game: 3.9 Overall, an atrocious season defensively. Let's compare the 09 season with the 08 when Yao was playing: 5th for Opposing FG%: 44.4 7th for Opposing PPG: 94.4 11th for Opposing 3PFTG%: 35.8% 25th for Team Blk per Game: 4.3 What a difference! Yao's impact on the Defensive end cannot be ignored. The Houston Rockets went from #5 in Opp FG% to #23 and #7 in Opp PPG to #21. No wonder the Houston Rockets only won 42 games last year. What about Offensively? Things were slightly better for the Rockets last year but also slightly worse. The Rockets played a faster tempo game in 09-10. Their FGA were 84.4 compared to 79.6 in 08-09. This results in a higher PPG: 102.4 vs 98.4 However, the FG% decreased last year: 44.7% from 08-09's 45.3%. What about the Free Throws? In 08-09: the Rockets averaged 23.2 FGA making 18.7 for an 80.5 FT percent. In 09-10: the Rockets averaged 24.7FGA making 19.0 for a 77.2 FT percent The loss of Yao Ming's resulted in a lower FT percentage. Overall, the offensive improvements in a more uptempo offense resulted in higher points, more FGA, but lower offensive efficiency. Yao Ming's importance to this team extends to every facet of the game: Offense, FT, Defense, and Blocked shots. These are just the objective numerical statistics. Many haters will disagree but the numbers do not lie. Yao Ming is the most important player on this team.
1. yao 2. scola 3. martin 4. brooks 5. lowry 6. lee 7. battier 8. budinger 9. hayes 10. miller 11. jeffries 12. hill 13. taylor
