Realistic improvements from our players in the offseason

IF Tmac comes back a bit slower . . .lacking explosiveness

Can he play the 3?

Honestly . . .I'd be thrilled if he could take on a DALE ELLIS type roll
come off a pick and SWISS

Rocket River

 

if landry and luis worked on that 17 foot jumper from the top of the key, our offense would run smoother because they get a lot of open looks from there like cwebb used to. we need more consistent shooting from all the players, seems like a lot of them or all of them are very streaky. we need more toughness inside, we need higher shooting % from the outside, both from our 4 and 5 and 1,2,3. and no barry isn't gonna cut it. von needs to take it to the next level if he is signed, he needs to be able to put up 20 on any night.

we just need to stay healthy, but when your top 2 players are so injury prone, it's difficult to be the top team in a conference. cleveland nor lakers have had major injury problems, at least not to their top players, but we have and the results show how far a healthy team with healthy top players can take you into the playoffs.

kobe, gasol = healthy
lebron, mo = healthy
howard, lewis, turkeyglue = healthy
carmelo, billups, jr smith = healthy

yao, mac = out for the season

 

yao needs to lose some weight, train upper body strength to be quicker (ie the 2002-2004 yao)

 

How valuable is he if he isn't in position to make plays? a poor man's Rip Hamilton?

Aaron Brook is the only one I would expect to have any major improvements. I would like to see him improve his pull up jumpshot. I think he's a similar player to Jameer Nelson and that's one of the things he improved to take his game to the next level.

 

You make it sound so easy.

 

Two things about this assessment:

1. You ignore the fact that we already met the criteria for your "one impact signing, riddled with injuries" scenario, yet still pushed the 1 seed in the west to 7 games. And riddled with injuries is an understatement to what happened to the Rockets in that round.

2. Signings in the offseason for the most part have no correlation whatsoever to a team's improved play. In fact, you could look at the teams that made big signings last year (LA with Baron Davis, GS with Maggette, Philly with Brand) and state just the opposite: that the team that acquires an expensive FA is more often than not to suffer as a result of it, in the NBA at least. As Bill Simmons points out, only one unrestricted FA has ever changed teams and led that team to a championship there, and that was Shaq in LA.

So your assessment is good, just your judgment for what we should do is off. The draft is weak this year, and so is the FA pool. The fortunate thing is that lots of teams are looking to unload salary, and we have one of the best chips in the league in T-Mac's expiring. So I'm gonna try to close my eyes on the NBA and wake up a week before training camp, look at what Daryl Morey has done within this volatile offseason, and rejoice.

When Yao went down, I felt worst for Daryl and all the hard work he did to make this team tough and talented around its play-dough superstars. Does that make me a MOF?

 

My take:

1. Yao. Be healthy! Maybe lose a few pounds to increase flexibility, durability and stamina. Yao needs to do better at protecting the board. But I don't know if he could do better. He's not new to NBA long before.
2. TMac. Be healthy and accept his role as a facilitator.
3. Brooks. Play smarter in the traffic or when he's double teamed. He made many stupid turnovers when he penetrates or he's trapped.
4. Scolandry. One-on-one defense.
5. Battier. More offense (mid-range shooting and jump hook in the paint)
6. Lowry. 3-point shooting and better penetration
7. Hayes. He has practiced jump hook for a while. Hopefully we will see more of it.

 

um, seriously, what...

but then i noticed your sig. I think your love for Hayes is clouding your ability to think man.

 

here is a realistic improvement... do what you did best in the Laker series... consistently.

 

well what they did with Yao out wont work when he comes back. Aaron will not get the much freedom.

They need to do what they did for game 1 consistently. They got Yao involved and it opened up things for others.

 

lol wat the hell are you on about. our mvp of the series and you say trade him?

 

burnnotice, are you some sort of Hayes' secret-lover-wanna-be? Dude, even if we trade Scola, Chunk is not moving up the rotation list.
As back to the topic, I think we've seen the best of Rockets' current squad. The only realistic improvements are gonna come from trades related to T-mac, and the ways we can more effectively use Yao (include trading, YOFs, plz pretend you didnt see this.)

 

Yao - skillwise, practice a consistent jump shot beyond 18 feet. Mentality wise, demand the ball more often and smack the person who refuse to pass the ball to him...

Scola - skillwise, learn how to defense and flop less. Mentality wise, Scola should know that he is now good enough to become the 2nd or 3rd option of the team, he is no longer a newbie nor the team's gabage man...

Battier - develop a drive and pop midrange jumper...

Landry - 3 pointer

Lowry - if he wants to be the starting PG, he needs to develop a consistent midrange jumper during Summer..

Brooks - learn how to pass and find a way to increase his basketball IQ (I am not kidding).

Hayes - one step layup and hook shot.



Artest - not going to comment unless he is still here after 2010 mid-season..
Tmac - not expecting him to stay with Rox after next year's trade deadline.
Wafer - not going to comment until we sign him...

 

youre kidding right? he was one of our top players this season and will be a important player next year.

 

And then what? Hope all other 28 NBA teams play with the Laker$ "we can turn it on when we need to" attitude?


Rockets' player improvement is not a very compelling subject. Nearly every player on every NBA team is looking to improve every summer. And every season, there are only a handful of players...maybe 4...that get talked about to receive the "Most Improved" Award.

A better Rockets team will come more directly from management decisions than player off-seasons.

 

I wanted to comment on Scola.

Luis is an awesome player. Great feel for the game and has a good arsenal of offensive moves that gets him easy baskets. However, he does need to work on boxing out. He is good at going to get the rebound, but too many times during the season I saw Luis not properly blocking out his man, which sometimes led to offensive rebounds for the other team.

I would not trade Luis. Infact, I believe that we should start working on an extension for him this offseason. We have a good solid core with Yao and having Scola play next to him is more than enough for the Rockets. We can't expect to have a star in every position and with the money constraints, I think Scola is an excellent role player who we should not let go unless something that would make us a much better team came up.

 

Good thread. very fair evaluation on what needs to be done. but i was thinking the same thing about Yao. i know with his size he should play inside but all that impact he took throughout the years playing inside is really taking its toll. agreed he should be more of a Brad Miller type of player. he should take those 12ft-15ft jumpers but i think he should also mix it up with some post plays just to confuse the opposing defense a bit. i think this should also free up some space for scola to score inside. scolas post moves have left me drooling in game 6. but i think its very likely Ron will be back, much to DD's liking

 

Perfect Scenario:

Mcgrady or Yao takes a pay cut
Resign Ron and Wafer
Sign Mehmet Okur

 

Teach Scola how to use his left hand. Teams will realize, like the end of the Portland series, that Scola only goes right for that little jump hook. If he learns to shoot that left handed, could be a good shot for him.