A high post of Hayes/Scola or Hayes/Landry is fine with me. Hayes has skills that most people don't discern. With his size, he is a threat to put the ball on the floor and drive around a taller defender. When the defender fades off into no man's land, Hayes is probably our best big man passer. He can thread the needle and find the cutter. When our cuttters get better at following through on their cuts and actually looking for and expecting to receive the basketball, he will be delivering. And with Scola/Landry at the other high post, you have a guy that can turn and shoot or run just about anything you want to run.
This season is going to be brutal going up against teams like boston...we can manager their bench but their starters will probably mollywhop us. Either way....GO ROCKETS!!!!
Everyone has to keep in mind that these are only preseason games, nothing to lose but players if they get injured. Therefore Adelman is throwing anything and everything out there that in his mind may work. All these games are for is to explore the new players and different combinations they can be put in to possibly work. Nothing is set at this time and we still have 1 player that should be here the full season missing, Shane Battier. Some of the guys here need to stop overreacting at the experimenting that Adelman is doing with all his new guys. It's getting pretty ridiculous. Stop overreacting! Good analysis Rockets111.
I would expect more of the Landry/Scola/Anderson trio running the HP offense. You do need to be a triple threat and neither Hayes or Dorsey qualifies...they are situational players at best. BTW - Morey mentioned they are resting Luis a bit.....because he is tired from all the ballin he did in the summer. DD
Ariza is not a "go-to" player, nor was he signed by the Rockets to be a go-to player. We brought him in for his defense (alone worth the MLE according to Morey), athleticism to help improve our transition offense, hitting spot up threes, and giving Battier more rest when T-Mac comes back.
This is very, very generous. I say Ariza is a 2nd or 3rd option on a lottery team. He's the 4th or 5th option on a decent or better team. I would list our offensive options in this order (only guys who are currently playing): Brooks Scola Landry Budinger (I think he will grow into that role quickly) Lowry Ariza I'm not saying that means the Rockets are a good team. As much as I like Brooks he might be the worst first option of anyone in the league. That's not his fault but it's the truth. I think Scola is a decent second option and Landry is a pretty good third option. Luckily, Ariza will not have to be anything more than he was in LA to be successful here.
By the All Star break, C-Bud might be the first option, wouldn't that be something!? It could happen. I know he has many detractors on this board, but the kid has "it," that indefinable something that special players are made out of. He has amazing poise, decent handles and vertical. He is relatively athletic, big, and strong. He has a classic jumper, which I predict he will hit around 50% of the time. He passes well. He moves without the ball. He is bright so he will learn and execute his defensive assignments. Forget the Novak comparisons, not even close. It might take a year or two, but this kid is going to be really good. Morey stole this one. The other second rounders, going nowhere. I guess one out of three isn't bad? From the first time I saw him play, I knew. If I am wrong, which is a distinct possibility, I will be shocked. Larry Bird Jr.? Not likely, but very good.
he'll be a very good player, but let's calm down. he had tremendous hype going into college and it died down eventually. and he had to stay in school. i agree he's for real. but let's see how much better when he has to face a defense in an NBA game. pre-season is pre-season.
You're going to be sorely disappointed the first time an elite defender looks at him and decides to shut him down. No more open jumpers, no more putting the ball on the floor (without it getting stolen) and no more cuts that get him the ball with some space. He has the tools to be a decent scorer but he doesn't have the physical gifts to face up a guy like Prince or even Cryalenko and get a good shot over them. He's actually lucky in that he has Shane and Trevor to go against in practice. People think they will benefit him most by teaching him defense but more than anything they will help his offense by guarding him during practice. I think he can be a great scoring punch due his shot and his intelligence but a first option he will never be in this league.
Was at the game as well had floor seats, Garnett is just absolutely incredible on the defensive side of the ball. From what I saw from Boston, if they can stay healthy they have an extremely good shot at winning the whole thing. They will be hands down the best defensive team in the league. I was impressed with Dorsey's aggresiveness and Lowry is totally fealess on the court. Ariza is greyhound and he is pressing alittle like Rockets111 points out, but it looks as if it will eventually come to him. Pops is a keeper for sure, he is exceptionally quick and really athletic. Budinger and Anderson look like the pure shooters on the team. Finally, Landry is a complete and total beast, that guy looks as if he's going to have a big season for himself and the rockets, he's playing like he's toying with people out there and I have never seen him do that. Also it was funny to see the size of Chucks calves compared to Ariza's, tree trunks to pogo sticks. Saw where Rasheed was yelling something to Dorsey about Memphis while Dorsey was shooting free throws and Rasheed was on the bench, Dorsey then shot the finger at Rasheed and both my friend and I were laughing our asses off after he did that.
When he was signed, there was a lot of talk from Adelman about his offense "featuring" Ariza. That's what I meant when I alluded to the fact that there's no way I see him in a go-to role.
I understand what you are saying and on most teams that would be true. The Rockets this year are largely a group of role players, so being the first option is not that big a deal. I think it will vary from night to night. I noticed that the Celtics were running at him pretty good and that dropped his accuracy. We will see if he can adjust to tougher defenses. I am optimistic that he will contribute significantly.
I will be as curious as you are to see how he fares in the regular season. I think he can be at least as good as Korver or Miller.
I agree for the most part, but I think putting Ariza below Lowry is a bit harsh considering that Ariza is at least a competent jump shot to go with his transition skills. I know, I know, Lowry's jumper is supposed to be looking better than it was last year, but ranking our backup PG playing the 2 position as a better offensive option than Ariza seems like a bit of an overreaction to 2 preseason games, especially given Lowry's tendency to get out of control with the ball and have nowhere to go, and yes Ariza needs to calm down too. Budinger is a bit premature too, given that he's a 2nd round rookie. I guess what I'm getting at is that while Ariza shouldn't be considered the next coming of the great offensive hope, he's not worse than a rookie and a non-scoring PG when the Rockets have the ball.
Lowry proved to me last season he can get his own shot and can get to the rim almost at will. Ariza has shown me that he is as one-dimensional as I thought he was last year.
I'm curious if Luis Scola got green-carded at the check piont on the bus ride home since he's the only hispanic on the team. I'm mexican so no I'm not being racist.
After the San Antonio game, they flew in for the Celtics game and then flew back out immediately after the game. And I wanna say they flew in for the entire training camp.
I think some of you are going to be very disappointed in Ariza. He was a nice piece on the Lakers (a really good team) but nowhere even close to 2nd or 3rd best. He is entering his sixth year, has always been a bench player, and never been much of an offensive threat at all. He was not the go-to guy in his one year at UCLA. Be satisfied with nice defense, hitting some open jumpers (which will be harder to come buy this year), and some baskets in transition. If you saw him and Chase both play in college, you would think Chase is the far better player. In fact, I would not be surprised at all if Chase surpasses him on the depth chart this year.
My take, although still very early, is that the Rockets will be entertaining but very undersized. There are many holes to fill and I am not really high on the pt guard position. Brooks is a shooting guard and is not able to organize and run the offense the way a true pt guard would. He can definitely shoot the ball and has excellent range but that is not the main role of a pt guard. I think Scola will be a good go to guy but the Celts knew this and, in his short stint on the court, doubled him immediately as soon as he caught the ball, and teams in the league would do that to him all season unless Ariza, Budinger, Brooks and Landry can make the opponents pay when they key in on Scola. In summary, I think this team, as it is, will be exciting and competitive but I do not expect much in the way of the standings. This would be a good building year for 2010 when they could really contend. I am expecting though that DM will tweak this team as the season goes and that the Rockets will be a far different team from the start to when the season ends. Just my thoughts.
