Like Calvin Murphy says "That was last year!" In 2008 we're under Adelman. Last year was a different team with a different coach. If Yao hadn't suffered the foot fracture in February, he wouldn't have been 1 month removed from rehabbing his knee like last year. We will never know because it didn't happen. But I agree with DaDakota that we would have beaten Utah with Yao because he would have give the Rockets another option when McGrady went cold in the fourth.
So how does that change where Lakers and Rockets stand? Call it gift or whatever, but Lakers are waay ahead of Rockets in terms of talent. Yeah but we dont have Pau. So are we supposed to cry about it? Once again, how does it change the fact that Lakers are ahead of Rockets in terms of talent? battier should be our reserve player too. Because we are low on talent, he starts. If Lakers were low on taelnt, you would see Ariza start just as battier does. The roles of the two are similar. Play defense on other team's best wing player and knock down open shots. A full Lakers team is way ahead of a full Rockets team. I am a Rockets fan and I have no problem saying it. I dont understand why you keep wnting to look at laers minus Gasol. Just because he is a"gift" he is not part of the team?
anyone thinking we would have beat the Jazz with Yao needs to be hit upside the head. did you all completely forget last year when Yao couldn't guard a chair?
That's what I don't understand. Boozer absolutely manhandled Yao last year and on the other side Yao couldn't take Okur one on one. Had Yao played again this year, its more likely that Boozer would have had a favorable matchup once again. You guys are overrating our team talent by overrating Yao. I will wait until Rockets address their needs in the off season or Yao dominates in playoffs to consider otherwise.
Oh and in case you didn't notice. We have a different team this year. So were you hit upside in the head already?
You do realize that we are talking about one on one matchups right? What did you expect the new teammates to do? Cheer for Yao with their poms poms while Yao made a move against Okur?
My point is the Lakers are "ahead" because of a once-in-a-lifetime fluke event that blew up the balance of power in the Western Conference: The Pau trade. Simple as that. Without it, the Lakers would probably be the 9th best team this season. There are 7 other teams they leapfrogged besides the Rockets.
Yao is a bad matchup for us against the jazz, on defense and offense. We need significant upgrade in talent otherwise. We need more players who can create. Since Yao has problem creating against the Jazz, that still leaves just McGrady to create most of the offense. Thats not enough. Sorry.
Yao shot 44% against Utah, terrible for a supposedly dominant center getting played one on one. Okur blocked about 1 out of every 4 shots from Yao, and defensively Boozer just ate Yao for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He even had him for desert and leftovers. This year without Yao, Boozer had a MUCH rougher time against guys who could actually guard him. Boozer himself even said we were better defensively without Yao. Having Yao MIGHT give us more of an offensive boost, but the defense becomes significantly worse since we can't switch or rotate as fast.
You are providing an explanation as "why" they are ahead. That was never the discussion. If that was then we wouldn't be arguing because I agree with that explanation. It doesn't matter how Lakers got Pau. What matters is that they have him and Rockets need to do major upgrade to compete with them.
I don't dispute that. All I am saying is that you can't compare this team and last year's team (with Yao in the lineup) with the addition of Landry/Scola as to Juwan Howarnd and ... who else was at the 4 last year?
Please do point out where I said that. Saying a player is being overrated on this board does not mean he is not needed. What's needed is more talent to surround Yao with.
rofflesaurus Where did Boozer say that we were better defensively without Yao? Because Boozer during the game 6 was quoted as saying by the ESPN broadcast team that Mutombo and the Rockets defense had no effect on his shot. He was missing wide open shots he normally made and had gotten more in rhythm late in game 5.
You minimized the impact he has on the Rockets by talking about his series last year against the Jazz, failing of course to talk about how much better the supporting cast is around Yao this year, particularly at the PF position. Yao makes the jobs of Scola, Landry, Novak and BJax easier, he commands so much attention on the low block that it frees up the outside shooters. When you combine Yao and Tmac on the floor the role players job gets easier. With Yao, we crush the Jazz with this years team....no doubt about it. DD
Considering we played the Jazz last year and again this year, I think that's a pretty good gauge. You do realize that in order to free up those players Yao has to establish himself as being dominant in the low post first right? Sloan does not double Yao. Why? because he can have Okur cover him. Guess what? That still leaves Tracy to create for others, as he had last year. Yao becomes just another finisher against the Jazz. Once again, Yao does not help in that regard against the Jazz because they are a bad matchup for him. We dont crush them. We could have won. But then again, so could have Jazz. Yao would have helped us in some areas but he would have hurt us in others.
It was in the Chronicle after game 4 or 5. Boozer said we were "different without Yao, and better defensively because the help rotation came faster".
No, not at all, we have so many different rotation players and an all new starting PF... He doubled Yao plenty last year, and this year, Rick was getting Yao much better looks by moving him around....again...DIFFERENT. Crush them..4 -1 at the worst..... DD
