No Yao Ming, no Tracy Mcgrady, no Ron Artest, our 3 best post players from last season are gone. The only post threat remaining on the team is Luis Scola. Things are going to be difficult for us in the half court, Scola post ups, Brooks pick and pop, maybe some isos for Ariza, those are plays we'll be seeing if we stick to the half court. Of course, Adelman's motion offense might finally get installed and everything could click beautifully, somehow I think that's going to be a work in progress as well. So the question is how will we score the ball? Looking at the pieces on the team, don't we have lots of pieces needed to be a fast break team? Super fast point guard in Brooks, really fast point guard in Lowry, athletic finisher who's great at getting out and running in Ariza, big man that always hustles down court in Scola. Shane Battier can play most styles, he can run to the 3 point line for spacing. It seems like we have a real need to run (create offense for the team) and the talent to run, so I'm predicting that we'll see full fledged up tempo basketball next year.
To run Aldeman's offense in the half court, the Rockets will need bigs that can pass. They are hard to find especial with the Rockets cap constraints.
Ronnie Brewer 6-7 SG from Arkansas 13.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.2 apg in 32.2 minutes Kosta Koufos 7-0 C from Ohio State 4.7 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 0.4 apg in 11.8 minutes Kyle Korver 6-6 SF from Creighton 9.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.8 apg in 24.0 minutes Outgoing Players Brian Cook 6-9 PF from Illinois 3.0 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 0.2 apg in 6.9 minutes Jermaine Taylor 6-4 SG from Central Florida No games yet played in 2008-2009 Shane Battier 6-8 SF from Duke 7.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.3 apg in 33.9 minutes Talk about running !!!!!
I think Scola has pretty good court vision and passing skills for a big. We may not have seen it a lot but I think it's there. Hayes is a pretty good passer, too. The mid-range game sort of takes away the triple threat though.
Our team next year is going to be better than we think. Think back to the Argentine Olympic qualifying team with all the stars out. All they had was Scola and some shooters and they qualified for the olympics. I think Scola in the post is going to command attention and with our spot up shooting, we will be ok and will surprise a lot of people. He has never been asked to carry the team in the NBA but has won several championships in Europe being the focal point of the offense. I think a Tyson Chandler type 5 to complement Scola's post game and keep people out of the paint at the other end and we are a winning team this year.
I can do better than that. PHO gets Tmac, Landry, Brooks, B.Wright, Bellinelli gives up Amare, Barbosa, J.Richardson, GSW gets Amare, Battier gives up S.Jackson, Azubuike, B.Wright, Bellinelli, A.Morrow, S.Claxton MEM gets Azubuike, A.Morrow, J.Dorsey, S.Claxton gives up M.Gasol, Jaric, Buckner HOU gets M.Gasol, S.Jackson, Barbosa, J.Richardson, Jaric, Buckner gives up Tmac, Battier, Brooks, Landry, Dorsey M.Gasol/Hayes Scola Ariza/Jackson Richardson Barbosa/Lowry Actually I don't know how much more running that team would do, but I just felt like sharing that trade.
We should just resign Wafer and Pops and put together a nice young running athletic team. We might not win alot this year, but man would it be fun to watch. Get ourselves a lottery pick and pick back up with Yao in 2010. Brooks Wafer Ariza Scola Pops
I'll top that. Battier + Hayes for Camby (convince Clippers they can contend with this) Brian Cook, Brent Barry and rights to one of our picks for Barbosa (salary dump) Not to mention these two moves will not affect our cap number in 2010. Camby/Dorsey/(Yao?) Scola/Landry Ariza/Budinger/James White Barbosa/Taylor/(T-Mac?) Brooks/Lowry Can you imagine the athleticism of that line-up with Landry starting? Would be a fun line-up to watch before hitting 2010 with capspace and convincing someone to come play in this young, uptempo line-up.
That's potentially a good lineup, however i think that many here at CF are over-estimating our rookies. Our SF position looks real weak in that lineup considering that we don't know how Bud and Flight can play in the NBA. Taylor is another one who we are unsure of in the NBA.
You're absolutely right but it's a good risk - the less productive they are, the higher our chances at a good pick and vice versa. The upside is that these guys surprise us and take a ton of experience from their first season. Also, T-Mac will be back at some point. I doubt we just ride out his contract. He will either play at some point or be traded at some point - meaning extra depth.
Tmac + filler + future picks for Redd + Bogut! Convince the Bucks that they suck and need to rebuild. All our problems solved, plus we need an Aussie who can actually play on the team.
Dorsey seems like he can run. Talk about running with this 5 players. AB, Wafer, Ariza, Landry and Dorsey.
You forgot to mention Landry. And Hayes Haha, now we're not as deep as just a few months ago...can't rattle off a bunch of players.. We still have some though! Plus got some new draft picks..maybe some of the guy who can dunk, I forgot his name. We need a center, like someone said. And I'll have to agree with the poster who said "more like lose, lose, lose" haha, I think we'll be a .500 team until yao/tmac return and/or unless we make some moves. I really don't have a problem with that, as long as we're thinkin long-term, I tihnk we're in a good position.
