[SI.com] Who made the right moves in southwest?

I actually share his concerns about our bench. None of our players can create off the dribble and be the sparkplug. Landry is the closest, but we haven't even re-signed him yet. The spurs had the same problem and solved it by putting Manu on the bench. Can we do something like that? If not, our bench is going to be a real drag and we'll be counting the seconds it takes to get our tired starters back in the game.

 

I liked the analysis of the Rockets. I do think he is overrating the Hornets a bit but other than that, he did a pretty good job.

I agree with him about Dikembe, though. I don't think he should be the main back-up center for the Rockets any longer. Hopefully, Dorsey can take/earn that spot.

Also, I think we underrate Scola's talent/presence on the team because he is overshadowed by Artest/Yao/T-Mac. Maybe it's because he isn't ripped up and high in melanin content but it's okay. I believe the Houston Rockets are the team to beat in the west this year even though it would only be fair the Lakers hold that title.

 

And we got D.J. Strawberry (2nd year player) for nothing. Also, we have Rick Adelman and Scola for year 2.

 

The writer didn't have a single mention of Tracy McGrady..he probably forgot. Eh 40+ in a playoff game hes not worth a mention.

 

that is the problem, sometimes the writers just see only what they wanna see.

 

If our bench is our weakness, then which elite teams have a strong bench?

 

Bench fire power is not much of an issue when you have 3 fantastic players with two of them being interchangeable. No more one man show when Yao or McGrady are out. At least 2 out of 3 of those guys will be on the court at nearly all times.

 

Few corrections.

1. Artest is far more than a mere support player. He makes our bench deeper, is one of the best if not the best defender in the league, and can score at will.

2. The Barry addition. He didn't even mention it...except as a negative for it being "old". I think it's safe that every person in the universe including Luther Head himself, would take Brent Barry over Luther Head.

I mean the only glaring negative is the Landry situation, and it's very likely we'll still get him. It's just a POTENTIAL negative...yet it bumps down our grade to a B? We didn't even lose anybody.

 

New Orleans is going to be 'that' team this year amongst the journalists. You can already see it. I'm sorry, but adding Posey and losing Pargo is a wash. I'm surprised a What went right: They kept Ryan Bowen wasn't in there.

 

I'd give Morey a C because he's tried for 2 years but still he could not find a better PG than Rafer or a serviceable backup PG.

 

Oh boo hoo

 

I agree with the authers analysis of our bench. We STILL have no offensive punch coming off of our bench. When our starters go to the bench our offense will continue to suffer. Bringing Battier off of the Bench will not do anything to cure that.

 

This grading system is a mystery

how in the hell does Memphis' moves amount to a B

and Rockets moves' amounts to a B+ ?

 

I can kinda see what you mean, but honestly... how many teams in the NBA have players that create off the dribble coming OFF THE BENCH. It only happens if they are intentionally put there (as in, they are better than the guy starting ahead of them, a la Manu Ginobli). We could Artest on the bench and that would solve that problem.

The other issue related to that is... when you are playing a game of basketball and you put your bench in, you don't sub 5 guys out for your entire bench. For example, say our starting line up is Alston,Tmac,Artest,Scola,Yao.

After the first 6 minutes, say we take out Artest and Alston for Battier and Barry (Barry, Tmac, Battier, Scola, Yao).

Then after 9 minutes take out Yao for Landry (Barry, Tmac, Battier, Scola, Landry).

At the beggining of the 2nd you take out Tmac and Scola for Artest and Alston, who have had 6 minutes of rest by now (Alston, Barry, Battier, Artest, Landry. Gives us a small ball line-up to start the 2nd).

3 minutes into the 2nd quarter bring back Yao (has had 6 minutes of rest) for Battier (Alston, Barry, Artest, Landry, Yao).

6 minutes in bring back Tmac and Scola for Landry and Barry and you are back to your starting 5 to finish out the quarter, with all of your starters getting at least 6 minutes of rest. Which means overall everyone would average 36 minutes a game if you did the exact same thing in the 2nd half.

I'm not saying that all the starters should average 36 minutes a game. You could alter my example, bring out Artest earlier, keep Tmac out later in the 2nd and maybe take Yao out earlier as well or bring him in later. Point being, you are always going to have at least 1 of the big three on the floor at all times. Usually you are going to have 2 or 3. And remember, when Tmac or Yao were injured, the team didn't fall apart. So we know that this team can handle having only one play maker on the floor for a few minutes a game.

Fact of the matter is... we don't NEED a Manu Ginobli to come off the bench. But if we had to have one, it would probably be Artest, and we we could still play him over 30 minutes a game. Just bring him in for Battier 4 minutes into the game, and you could play him the last 8 minutes of every quarter and he would average 32 minutes a game that way. Definitely respectable.

 

I don't think we have an old bench. And I think that Steve will have a good year and I think Landry will be resigned. Maybe that's 2 big hopes but I think they are reasonable hopes. So you have Steve, Barry, Battier and Landry coming off the bench which each as some pretty decent scoring abilities. Now will they mesh? Not sure, but they probably won't be out there without a starter or 2. I would like to see us upgrade the backup C. I don't know if Dorsey or Deke is the answer there. But pickin's are pretty slim. It would be nice if they could get the Iranian or Morey somehow pulls yet another rabbit out of his hat.

 

Why do all the starters have to be benched at the same time? If Landry is resigned we will add more firepower to the bench.

 

ya think it just might be because they don't consider Alston a big problem?
the only people that fry Alston are fans...I rarely see him mentioned as a problem by the guys that matter(the pros) or by journalists.

Alston's only problem is a slight tendency to go cold, its called being a streaky shooter, there are tons of them in this league if you hadn't noticed, his talents at running a team and his ballhandling and defense aren't a problem.

what backups that fit our system have we passed on?

 

He needs to be a starter. We need the "big" 3 together on the floor most of the time.