Overrated: James, Scola. Underrated: Hayes, Battier, Alston. I don't see a good reason to place James 6 spots higher than Alston other than bias toward Alston. James only played significantly better than Alston in one game, the rest of the games Alston played either better or almost equal to James. To me, they are about equal. Last year up to midseason Alston was having the same percentage plus more assists, more rebounds than James right now. Yet Alston got chewed by fans for that. But James seems to have a free pass. Place Hayes and Battier behind Scola at this moment is also laughable.
My rankings: (1) McGrady: He's been as explosive as ever going left. His jumper has been a bit off the last couple games, but he still looks to be in a much better rhythm with it to start this season compared to his previous starts. He's looked great in transition. And I love that he's shooting right at 80% from the line. (2) Yao: He's been dominant around the basket, and his interior defense has been stellar to start the season. Adding a few midrange jumpers a game to his arsenal will do him some good. Still needs to get a hang of reading defenses and making the instinctive pass. (3) James: He's been a great spark off the bench for us. Having another threat on the court who can create shots for himself is a huge difference this year. Even when he's off, his aggressive play can relieve pressure on the two stars. (4) Battier: He's been quiet offensively, as last year, but his three-point shots were big against San Antonio. He continues to be play stellar team defense as usual, and helps space the floor. He's been more active on offensive boards as well this year. He's an ever steady presence on the court who'll always give you 35 minutes of solid play. (5) Hayes: He's been even more quiet than Battier on the scoreboard, but doing a great job on the offensive glass. He's controlling his fouls better this year, and has done a fine job guarding some of the toughest bigs in the game to start the year. He team defense has been impeccable as well. One issue: in our offense, we need space around the basket for cutters. Chuck's inability to space the floor with a jumper hinders that. (6) Wells: His offensive game has been off, except for a couple games, but he showed how important he can be to the team against San Antonio. He's a fantastic rebounder for a wing player, and he's excellent slashing to the basket and in transition. His quickness makes him a disruptive force on defense as well, though he also gambles maybe a bit too much. Biggest issues for him is to hold on to the ball and not take too many perimeter shots. (7) Alston: Has been fairly mediocre to start the season. His 3-point % is actually down early on, probably because he's taking quite a few on wings and corners, which is a bad idea. He has shot the midrange jumper with confidence, and early on has been somewhat successful, but you don't want him taking too many of those. His defense has been adequate -- he's a good team perimeter defender and gets a good number of deflections with his quick hands, but he'll get abused by bigger guards who operate around the basket. He's the best ball-handler amongst our guards, and when the opposing defense is pressing his value to the team goes up. (8) Scola: He's had a few nice games, but it's been a rough start for Scola so far. He's had difficulties with fouls, and he looked out of sorts offensively the last few games. When he gets further acclimated to the league, its easy to see how valuable he can be for us. He's a quality rebounder, and he's already excellent at drawing charges. He's good in transition, and he has some polished post up moves. He needs to increase his alertness on defensive rotations and perfect that midrange jumper. With his activity, he should be pretty good at getting to the line, so he needs to hit those at a decent clip (1-5 to start the season). He'll be very good, but it will take some time. (9) Head: Probably the weak link in the rotation right now. Like Alston, he doesn't have the strength to defend bigger guards, but he also is forced to defend SGs more often because he can't play PG effectively. He appears to have increased confidence finishing plays inside the 3-point line, but when he tries to create off the dribble it more often than not results in a wasted possession. He can hit that three, but he hasn't had many open looks thus far.
For those of you who still don't think Tmac is who makes this team tic, then I don't know what else to say. Yeah after year, when one of the big two is injured, we are horrible without tmac and we are OK without Yao. We can still be competitive without Yao, and we are a lottery team without Tmac. So anyone who ranks Yao over Tmac simply hasn't paid attention the past few years. We are a championship team with both of them.
We had Deke and Howard when Yao was injured, but we had Head, Synder or whoever when Tmac was injured. If Tmac is the only reason that the team can have a winning record, then why did the Magic have the worst record during that year? I would say the team would be very fine if one of our superstarts is not on the floor because we have James, Wells, and Scola etc.
Well said. Thanks. If Deke did not step up like he did when Yao was injured last season, things would be much different.
very well said. but i still think if the back for either player was equal then this team would win more if tmac were playing. he is a better player simple as that. but someone has to be better so really whats the point of discussing it constantly. although this is a rockets message board
No, Yao is a better player. The arguments for this have gone in circles and end up going nowhere and in flamewars, so I'll just say that I believe by the end of the season it will be obvious, just like it was obvious at the beginning of last season.
His numbers have come way down after a hot start. He is still jacking up a lot of jumpers, and against SA he stopped driving because he got no-call hacked a few times. Sounds familiar? It should, since that's what McGrady's game has been like since he came here. By the end of the season it will be obvious that McGrady is not any better than he was last season and that Yao is the better player.
all i can say is the player we can't afford to lose the most is tracy mcgrady. that's all i am going to say. we lose him, we might not make the playoffs even w/ this team. last yr, w/o tmac, we would be lucky to win 10% of our games. even when tracy struggles with his shooting, he does SOMETHING that impacts the game. v. SA, it was his 9 boards, 6 dimes, 2 steals, and the double teams he drew to get yao 3 wide open dunks.
that year the zone was implemented. pat garrity was injured. darrell armstrong was gone. mike miller was traded the year b4. tmac had zero shooters. so when they started 1-18, the team basically gave up. the 3 yrs before, they made the playoffs w/ basically just him.
TMac was really alone. I can easilly say he didn't have anythin' with all those injuries and trades. You cannot compare this Rockets to Magic. Completly diferent things. Rockets are now one of the top teams in the leauge no doubt and it's not all about McGrady. Of course now he'll be better, more useful when Adelman uses him as a scorer but he's go temmates, he's got players who can make shoots when he's on the bench, who can creat their own plays when Tracy is even on the court and he's got people who can pas the ball to him. You just have your worst, good and the best players. That's all I think.
who cares how many games either will win... without the other... if that is the case then thats going to be bad... because one or the other will be injured... and no way we win a playoff series without Tmac or Yao... but when these guys are playing together... how many games do we have to endure with Tmac shooting... 9 for 24 before someone like you finally understands Tmac needs to be our playmaker...rather than our scorer... how many times have you seen Tmac break down his own guy... get to the net challenge more guys... make a great shot/layup/dunk attempt only to miss...but to have one or more of his teammates standing wide open in the paint... Tmac is a great player... but he wil never be considered "one of the greatest" unless he can make his other teammates better...thus winning us title but then again he can go around jacking up 9 for 24 games... by my estimates that should happen 65% of our regular season games... and we win some and we lose some... but come playoff time when every possesion counts and the net seems to get smaller... Tmac/and us will face another first round knock out...
that's a dumb assessment. you win a title => u make your teammates better. so did kobe many ANYBODY better? tmac HAS BEEN making his teammates better. 60-70% of chuck hayes' pts are directly off of tmac. most of alston's and battier's points are from tmac. head looks ineffective without tmac. he makes all these guys look better than they really are. but hey, from your post, u blame the playoffs ENTIRELY on tmac so what do u know?
This argument is STALE. It's kinda hard to compare when it's not an apples to apples comparison. My 2 cents: A 2-guard and small forward are a dime a dozen in this league. A DOMINANT BIG MAN is like hitting the LOTTO. But it's all moot anyways, THE REASON we even have McGrady because he knows YAO is his ticket, he didn't come to the ROX to play with J.HO. So let's stop all this nonsense. All the TOFs just gotta chill and admit your boy needs YAO and he isn't the GOD you think he is. Damn, TOFs are the most annoying people on this board.
That is the exact thing which I want to make. B-ball is the team sport, the chemistry is more important than single person, unless you are MJ or Dream. Right now, Tmac is not MJ and Yao is not Dream, likely they will never be, so I see the team chemistry is the key for this team to win the whole thing.
exactly. that's why i disagree when ppl say tmac should get more shots, yao should get more shots, tmac should get more shine, yao should get more shine. THEY BOTH need to be at their best for us to reach the level this franchise has been longing for since the championship years. i just pointed out that tmac is the player we can least afford to lose. that does not mean he's the best/worst player. he's our best all-around player. when u take him out, u lose his scoring, playmaking, rebounding, passing, defense, creativity. but we win when tmac is playing like the best player in the NBA, yao is the best big man in the NBA, and our bench steps up to be the best bench in the NBA. that's when we will win: when all of that comes together.
I do blame the playoffs on Tmac... he did say it was on him... Yao said he wasnt 100% after his broken knee, I say okay he is not one to make excuses... if he choaks again this year...ill blame him too... you may think that when im saying Tmac needs to be a playmaker... I expect him to be the big stiff bounce passing the ball to open teammates... but thats not the case... I expect him to be the QB/Leader of the team... and know when its time to shoot that jumper/ drive to the lane/pass the ball/ or tell a teammate to pick it up...etc etc... you cant lead by example if your jacking up bricks all night... watch Tmac... when is when he is basically 2/3 into a layup/dunk... he almost never passes the ball...no matter how hard the shot is going to be...even with someone open... in the paint...im one for going to the basket and getting fouled etc... BUT...not everytime...change it up
Good lord. The Tmac vs Yao battle will never end until one of these guys leaves the team. I just hope we don't have to test how valuable each one is w/ out the other for yet another season. Probably what I would come up w/ as of today. I don't mean to rank Alston that low, but James and Bonzi get a big push for being major game changers at certain times the first few games. I hope they get more consistent as the season goes on.
I seriously don't know how anyone can still say this. Let's take look at the Jazz game...Yao was horrible scoring the ball. Likewise, T-Mac had a horrible time scoring the all against the Spurs...yet, T-Mac still greatly helped the team whereas Yao was a detterant. When T-Mac isn't scoring, he is still one of the best swingmen in the league at running an offense, demanding defensive attention and getting teammates open shots. When he isn't scoring he also can play very solid defense against all types of players, from Dirk to the likes of Kobe (who he did a great job against when they matched up). He is an average rebounder for his position. Yao, on the other hand, is somewhat of a black hole. He is highly turnover prone, and slow to make his move, which often causes a few reposts before he can get off a decent shot. Last year this often stagnated the offense, which IMO is the biggest reason why the team was so unsuccessful without T-Mac and so successful without Yao. When he isn't scoring, he is not a great passer ala KG, and cannot stretch defenses out like KG or Boozer can (he is a solid midrange jumpshooter, but he cannot take players off the dribble, thus he is limited to open shots off the pick and roll). Yao is not a great rebounder for a all star center, and with the league getting smalle and quicker, he is often a defensive liability against the likes of Amare, Boozer, Bosh, etc... And if you do include scoring, once again, easily T-Mac. Is he erratic? Yes. But the guy has proven he is a 30PPG guy if you need him to be. He did it with Orlando, and he did it last year when Yao was out. Next to Kobe he is the most versatile scorer in the league...jumpshots, getting to the rim, footwork, use of pump fakes...no one outside of Kobe can do some of the things T-Mac does. Occasionally it hurts him as he may have an off shooting night,but I'd much rather him have the ability he does rather than have a player like Yao who is limited to the post and hasn't proven he can win games with his scoring like T-Mac can. Yes, Yao was a better player han T-Mac early last season...only because T-Mac was out of shap, back still bothering him and his attitude was complete crap (talk of him retiring and all that). When t-Mac is right, which he is now, is a much better player IMO than Yao.
