SI.Com-Rox one of five teams that have taken a step backwards this offseason

Well spoken, you are exactly correct in your analysis. But "spin" works for most fans who are conditioned from birth to be loyal consumers. Corporate must know what is best for us. This team still lacks "contender" talent. Probably only three legit NBA starters on the whole team. Dreams of fighting it out with SA and Dallas in the West are largely fantasies, UNLESS, one or two of the "scrub club" vault themselves into stardom OR some "splash" acquisitions are still coming.

 

All you just did is that that you're right and he's wrong. That's a waste of time, childish, and flat-out stupid. If you want to disagree with somebody, say why you do.

 

Don't forget that Shaq missed 23 games. It's not far fetched that Shaq would have given them another 8 wins to hit 60.

KD - your willingness to respond here and dialog with "mere mortals" is one of your hallmarks and one of the reasons I think you deserve a lot of respect! Thanks for contributing and participating with us in discussion!

I have to agree with your point of view in your article. I think this particular perspective reminds me of the good ol' days when this place used to be called clutchcity.com and we used to have huge arguments among the "Optimists", "Pessimists", and the "Realists" (though to the Optimists the Realists were just as bad as the Pessimists!) .

As much as I want my Rockets to dominate the opposition and win a title next season the realist in me tells me that the probability for this happening is really low.

 

Okay, then what defines "NBA talent"? Snyder was drafted #14, while James was an undrafted free agent who bounced around for several years. Does James have "NBA talent" or was is he just more experienced? Was Snyder that big of a bust to go so high, but James that big of a steal? What if Snyder improves this year like he did last season? At 10 ppg over 20 mpg, would he be a legitimate NBA player for us? I can see skepticism about him as a NBA starter, but he is a very decent NBA rotational player.

And I guess Alston also does not count as "NBA talent," then. He has averaged nearly a 3-1 a/to ratio in his three years as a starter and was shooting 37% from the arc for his career prior to last season. Maybe not All-Star talent, but clearly he is a NBA-level player.

Head was one of the best rookies in the league last year, outplaying more highly regarded guards such as Rashad McCants, Jarrett Jack, Antione Wright, Nate Robinson, and Francisco Garcia. If he is not NBA level, then I don't know what is.

I'll assume that you think Battier is the one other "NBA level" player, so that means you consider Howard not able to contribute at this level. And this is what makes the Howard-criticism so silly: I can completely agree that his lack of foot quickness is a severe liability next to Yao, that Howard is likely not a starting quality four anymore, and that his contract is ridiculous for the present and future. But to suggest that he is not a NBA-caliber player is one of the most inane suggestions I can imagine. If he were giving us 7 and 4 in 20 mpg off the bench, he may not be pulling the weight of his salary, but he is clearly a "NBA level" player.

 

Yeah I said that. And I still think that but not they way it sounds. You have to understand where I was coming from to understand what I meant. I admired Rudy as a coach and a person and did not see how anyone could replace him. I clearly felt Rudy was one of the better coaches in this league but more than that he was a great motivator. And I felt then and still feel now albeit not as strongly that JVG, while perhaps a decent x's and o's coach, is not the coach that Rudy was. I know you disagree as do many others on this board and I do not wish to debate that as it is old news and Rudy is gone and JVG is here.

I will say that even over all this time JVG has still not endeared himself to me. And it's because of things like screaming at Yao on the sidelines and making comments like Howard and Bowen are the hardest workers on the team, and not given Swift and Hayes minutes over Howard when the season didn't matter. All of these IMO do not inspire your players to work hard for you and it is those kind of things that feed my distaste for his style of coaching.

I would also say I do not pretend to know who he is behind the scenes or as a man. I've heard people say he is great and I will not argue that. I have seen him work in the community and now he is donating seats which I do believe to be genuine and that has softened me (a little). And on the court he does seem to understand the force that Yao is and is utilizing him better. And he does seem to be a little more flexible in his attitude. And finally in the end he is our coach and I will not root against him for that would be rooting against the Rockets.

 

Pretty solid imo... but strange to hear him also say that its a possible 50 win team..

 

Kelly,

Since you're main problem with Battier on the Rockets seems to be that he plays the same position as McGrady, I assume you wouldn't have wanted us to just keep Gay, right? Since Gay is clearly a SF as well. Battier has at least played significant minutes at SG and PF during his NBA career.

Also, I wonder how much the Rockets really could have gotten for Gay+Swift, if they searched around a little more. I'm thinking Memphis indicated that Battier was going to be traded on draft night, if not to the Rockets for Gay than somewhere else. That's probably why the Rockets jumped on that transaction so quickly.

But who else would have been available? Maybe Gay's stock simply wasn't that high with NBA teams (afterall, he did slip all the way to 8th).

All that said, I would have been just as happy (if not more so) if we picked up Brewer instead.

Or, maybe if JVG wasn't "playing to win" at the end of last year, we wouldn't have won that game against Denver and we'd have Brandon Roy on our team right now.

 

You're getting a little ahead of yourself with semantics as far as measuring better/worse from 2005. The re-vamped post Wesley/Sura/Barry/James early 2005 rox were probably close to a 60 win team had they had a full season playing with that personnel at that level...and note that everything came together when guys like Jim Jackson & Tyronn Lue abandoned the lineup and we got the new backcourt. Quite honestly, to say that Spanoulis, Head, Snyder, Rafer, & John Lucas 3 is better than that is laughable, in my opinion, because those guys are low draft picks with minimal resumes (plus Rafer who, as documented sucks, and I suppose Snyder counts, of course he's a problem child that can't stick with a team)

As for Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli - you're listing all-star players here who made immediate impacts. Do you want me to list the "projects" who didn't work out? Because I might be typing all night.

 

As much as I detest the Battier trade, we still improved from last year. I think if healthy we will make the playoffs, with the possibility of advancing to the 2nd round if a light bulb turns on in JVG's head. Yao is better, Luther Head will be better, Shane is an upgrade over Ryan Bowen and Swift, Snyder is unproven as a starter but is better than Keith Bogans, I happen to like JLIII's quickness and potential, I think there's no question for him to become a decent back up as long as he can make shots. Novak and V-Span are the X factors that will either be a non factor or surprise people. As far as winning a ring next year, forget about it, Rafer Alston is erratic under pressure, and marginal improvement in the offseason and a bunch of rookies will get lost in the heat of battle. I hope I'm wrong. I'm just being realistic right now. With Mike James gone there goes our shot at being a contender this upcoming season. He's a rare upgrade at extremely high performance/price ratio that makes the combo of him, Yao and Tracy rival the big three of Duncan, Gino and Parker. Now unless Yao becomes Hakeem or Shaq(in the MDE era), or the rookies pan out to be rookie Sam Cassel, unless these miracles happen there's no shot we become a contender next season because of the James blowup.

 

You don't build around a backup scenario.....you build around Yao and Tmac and hope that last year was an aberation.....

Much like when Jordan broke his foot etc....you just hope that he gets healthy.


Do you think Miami built the team as a safety net for Wade and or Shaq going out? No, they assumed their players would be healthy.

Yao and Tmac generally play at least 75 games a year, they just had one year where they both didn't.....big deal move on.

DD

 

On paper, the Rockets in the second half of the 2005 season doesn't look that much better than our current roster.

We had Sura, Wesley, Barry, and James playing at a high level. But I think that was more about them developing chemistry with eachother and with McGrady/Yao. I think Alston, Snyder, Head, Spanoulis could, potentially, have a similar impact. They wouldn't be as great shooting the ball, but they have more quickness and athleticism. I'll admit, this is somewhat optimistic.

I expect Novak and Hayes will be more than adequate replacements for Padgett/Bowen.

After that, we've added Battier to the team, and he's far better than any role player we had in the 2005 season. Yao will be vastly improved over that version (I expect). McGrady is somewhat of a question-mark. I think, honestly, how good we are next season will largely depend on him.

We'll be a much better team than last year, but that almsot doesn't count. As I see it, the goal is to just get past the first round. At best, I think we'll be a 5th seed with home court advantage over the 4th seed (probably the winner of the NorthWest division). My early prediction for how the playoffs will shake out:

1. Dallas
2. San Antonio
3. Phoenix
4. Denver
5. Houston
6. Clippers
7. Lakers
8. Sacramento

Dallas, San Antonio, and Phoenix will almost certainly be the top 3 seeds. So, it's imperitve that we beat out the Clippers, Lakers, Sacramento for the fifth seed. If we do that, I think we have a good shot at beating the Nuggets. Otherwise, we can pretty much forget it.

 

Kelly, don't get caught up in position numbers and players, it will depend on matchups.....

I think it will be

Alston
Synder
Tmac
Battier
Yao

And all the interchangeable parts will match up to suit our best interests.

DD

 

Hate to disagree with mi amigo KD, but I believe this team has taken a step forward this season in that the roster as it is now (not counting what we might get with the ME/TE) is an upgrade over last years. Only way I can see this as "a step backwards" is if by comparison we are not keeping up with our competition. And that is debatable.

Still, a nice article from one of the good guys.

 

Yeah, at least there weren't any typos, or grammatical errors.

Just can't speak to the weakened content.



DD

 

Yes, but the way to build around Tmac and Yao, IMO is add depth through draft, be it Gay or some other guard; aquire Mike James; add a legit PF. Not man of all jacks at 2,3,4 and a bunch of "depth".

 

If losing David "I have to guard Kobe, Lebron, and D-Wade even though they are twice my size and 50x quicker" Wesley, Stromile "I dunk once a week" Swift, and picking up Kirk Snyder, Shane Battier, and a good shooter in Steve Novak is a step back then I guess signing Nene to a 10mil a year deal is the step toward a dynasty. Maybe we should sign Patrick Ewing to play backup C or bring back Clarence Weatherspoon to be our PF. Better yet let's see what Larry Johnson is doing. Then let's clear cap space by getting rid of Yao and T-Mac and give Rick Brunson and Jerome James a max contract. That must be what they call a step forward now.

We're in the right direction. We got 2 all-stars/future HOF, a world class role player, a tough physical player(Snyder), good shooters(Head, Novak), and guys who are willing to give it their all even if they might have some sort of shortcomings (Howard, Lucas, Hayes). No reason we shouldn't compete with the elite.

 

I think it's safe to say that the current roster is not what CD/Morey envision will be heading into camp.

That said, they are probably prepared to deal with Howard/Head still being on the team.

JVG will find a way to have Battier/TMac in the starting lineup together, which either means Battier starts at the 4 or TMac starts at the 2.

I also think that who starts matters less this year than any other with the continued blurring of positions. Given comments JVG has made, I get the feeling that poor shooting nights will lead to low minute nights. He's looking for options.

For example, suppose TMac starts at the 2 and a switching defense isn't able to stop the opposing 2. I imagine Synder would quickly come in for one-on-one defense and TMac move to the 3, Battier to the 4. As opposed to TMac chasing down their shooting guard all night.

If Alston's offense is hurting us, perhaps VSpan is brought in.

If we're getting killed on the boards, Hayes would be brought it.

At least now, JVG has options.

That said, CD has said they are working on trades scenarios, so there is still some tweaking to be done.

I also feel the "starting lineup" may be a work in progress all season.

Another thing I like about the Battier acquisition is that McGrady can cut his minutes down some, maybe from 40 to 35 and save some wear and tear on his back.

Personally, with the current roster, I'd like to see a starting/finishing lineup of Yao, Battier, TMac, Synder, Alston. Get your best players on the court for a majority of the minutes.

 

that's fine, I love proving the doubters wrong more than anything else. This is what drives me, that "us against the world" feeling, as long as it isn't overplayed and gets turned into arrogance ala the Detroit Pistons.

 

quote:
origanally posted by rserina

On the PF situation, there is no possible way we can be any worse than rotating Padgett, Weatherspoon, and Bowen two years ago. No one is asking Battier to give us 40 mpg there, especially if Hayes and Howard can fit in the rotation (or whoever we ultimately get to take Howard's spot). If indeed our plan is to run Battier primarily at the four, a rotation of Battier/Hayes/Howard or replacment is a significant upgrade over Padgett, Weatherspoon, and Bowen, and that group was good enough to be the top team in the NBA over the last two months of the season

COMPLETELY AGREE but the pf position still needs a significant upgrade players like hayes battier and howard don't cut it in defensive matchups in the especially in the west with duncan brand kg......etc

 

I didn't say "NBA talent," I said "legit NBA starter." In my thinking, there is a significant difference between the two, like the difference between an NBA starter and an "All Star," or the difference between an "All Star" and a member of the "All NBA Team." It is matter of talent level. IMO, TMac, Ming, and Battier are the team's only legitmate "NBA starters," which means that IMO, Alston, Howard, et al do not start for a significant number of NBA teams, especially the elite teams. I never said that they didn't belong in the league, but that they were not legitimate starters, and I still think that. You are not required to agree.