Link: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/specials/preview/2006/enemy.lines/rockets.html An opposing team's scout sizes up the Rockets The biggest issue here is going to be health. You automatically assume this to be a playoff team if they get a full year out of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, but both players were in and out last year with injuries. McGrady is especially vulnerable because of his history of back problems at such a young age ... I'm personally skeptical of McGrady to begin with. I love his athleticism, and when he brings the ball down I can see the fear in the defender's eye. But he has have the ball in his hands so much that it kind of clouds the way the team plays. It's Yao's turn with the ball, then it's McGrady's turn, and here and there and back and forth. They don't seem to get in the kind of flow where both of them are going to get their shots naturally within the offense; instead it seems like too much of a chore to get them both involved. It should be easier considering how difficult both of them are to defend ... There's something else about McGrady -- it's as if he's a lot of fluff and not enough substance. As talented as he is, his teams have not excelled. He's been a dominant individual player but he's entering year 10 in the NBA and his teams have never won a playoff series. As much as it said something about LeBron James that he was able to lead his team deep into the playoffs last year, I think it says as much about McGrady that has been unable to do it ... The dynamic of the NBA has been changing since Yao entered the league. Because there are so few dominant big men, you now see a lot of teams trying to play smaller and faster, but if you have a center like Shaq or Yao, you can't really shift into that style. So would you rather have a traditional dominant center like Yao, or an athletic hybrid like Amare Stoudemire circa 2004-05? Me personally, seeing the trend of the game, I think I might prefer the Stoudemire type that would enable me to play the quicker, more athletic style. But then you'll also have a coach like Jeff Van Gundy daring the quicker, smaller teams to try and stop his dominant big man down low ... Yao has taken some major steps lately by learning the American way of getting the ball in the paint and aggressively going to the hole. I've seen him yell at officials and get angry, which I didn't see early in his career. Conditioning is a factor because it's hard to get that huge body in shape to run up and down the floor 90 games a year, but it seems that he's more comfortable than ever and that the NBA game no longer is foreign to him ... The addition of Shane Battier helps them a lot. He was a great glue guy, a defensive stopper who fits right into what they're trying to do. He can play multiple roles at both ends of the floor and he's one of the best glue guys in the NBA. Fills up lot of stat boxes but he does it in a team-oriented way. The things he does don't show up on the ESPN highlights but they're things that a coach will notice and appreciate, like covering up for another guy's defensive mistakes even though it's not his responsibility ... Van Gundy wants them to run when they can. He's taken some of the reins off, and lets them push the ball and play smaller when they have to. When they don't have the fast break, then he focuses on getting the ball into Yao down low. No team in the league is better prepared than the Rockets. His teams are still very defensive-minded while ranking fourth in points allowed and second in defensive field goal percentage. But they were also second-to-last in scoring and field-goal shooting offensively, so they definitely need full production out of McGrady, Yao and Bobby Sura as well as from newcomers Battier and Bonzi Wells ... Because the rest of the league is playing so fast, the Rockets may have a harder time getting to the playoffs -- but once there, they may be able to go farther than expected because of their emphasis on defense, which should help them in the postseason ... They got Bonzi Wells at a cheap price, though he'll almost surely opt out after this season. But that might be a blessing because he knows he has to be on his best behavior in order to earn a bigger contract for next season. If they make it to the playoffs, Bonzi is going to be a huge asset because he's another scorer -- not a deep threat like McGrady but a midrange, attack-the-basket scorer. I think he'll fit in OK because they have all of these quality guys in Battier, Yao, Juwan Howard, Dikembe Mutombo, and when you have that much integrity you can afford to have one whackadoo on your team. It reminds me of the old quote from Al McGuire: You can afford to have one donkey, but you can't have two because then they'll breed ... I'm guessing that they tried so hard to get Mike James back as a free agent last summer because they're unhappy with Rafer Alston. I just can't imagine how Alston and Van Gundy exist with each other. Jeff likes his point guard to run an offense, while Rafer is a dribble-between-the-legs, behind-the-back, break-people-down, And1-video type of guy. That must drive Jeff crazy because he wants a point guard who follows the script and is a stable person on the floor, not the wild unpredictable guy making a turnover. Maybe I'm all wrong and Jeff has changed enough so that he really loves him, but in my mind I imagine Jeff preferring someone along the lines of Jacque Vaughn ... Luther Head is a combo guard who tends to be more of a scorer than a playmaker. If Sura is able to produce a full season then he'll play a lot of point guard, plus they've brought in John Lucas III as an uptempo point guard. The fact that they've signed Lucas makes me believe that Van Gundy really is interested in playing faster ... Juwan Howard is a good leader, a classy guy and one of the best tippers to the ballboys in the league. For all of the young guys entering the league, there's nothing better than to be around a professional guy like Howard who exemplifies the right way to do things including showing up to practice every day. He's neither a great rebounder nor a great shooter but he does evthing pretty well and epitomizes class, and he's crafty enough to overcome his lack of size at the four spot ... Casey Jacobsen has smarts, toughness and the shooting they need to give them a few minutes here or there ... Mutombo will still play a meaningful role as Yao's main backup at center. Plus they don't have to make major changes to their style while he's in the game. If they want to go small, they can play Battier at the four.
Yeah, whoever wrote this is freaking clueless. There is no insight in this article at all. His take on Rafer is just stupid and ignorant.
agree with you. rafer between the legs behind the back? the guy just exposed himself as a total hack. no way he watched rafer play for the last 2-3 years and make that comment. yao ming had more behind the backs than rafer did last year.
No mention of Snyder or Hayes who have both been in the leauge long enough to have a scouting report. He keeps on talking about Sura who I would bet will not play this year at all. I can understand not talking about Novak or V-Span. He mentions John Lucas III. But a good scout would at least mention that Novak was known for his 3 pt shooting in college. And that V-Span is known for his quickness in Euroleague play. And Juwan Howard is good. What??? Then he says he is not large for the 4 spot. I would say he is league average. Well, whoever this scout is, we can count on beating this team.
Exactly. It's amazing, after all these years in the NBA, the stereotype Rafer still has around the league and it's fan and media.
This makes no sense. First he says that Yao and McGrady have to stay healthy for this team to be good, then he says they're not that good together. Furthermore, he doesn't mention one of the biggets questions on this team, 3-point shooting. And Jacque Vaughn as our point guard? Yeah, right. The fact that there is a reference to donkeys pretty much sums up this report. A 2nd grader could have written this intellectually vacant drivel. If this is the quality of scouts in the NBA, I think I'll start writing reports. Anyone could do better than this guy.
This guy actually gets paid to scout for an NBA team? There seems to be no standards when it comes to sportswriting. These "professionals" are no more knowledgable than common fans. Yeah, blame the best player and not his scrub teammates when the team fails to win. LOLZ, Rafer used to be a streetballer so he plays out of control! Anyone who even watched the Rockets would know that he doesn't do any of this in real games. The lack of effort and research here is ridiculous. As flawed as Rafer is, there's no way JVG is stupid enough to prefer a pure scrub like Vaughn. Juwan Howard "does everything pretty well?" What the hell?! Are we talking about the same Juwan Howard who is one of the worst rebounding big men, shys from taking shots in the paint, blocks less shots than PGs, and is in the bottom 20% of the league in scoring efficiency?
Steve Kerr, glad to have you back. I thought you'd been abducted after that last article you wrote, but I was wrong. You were just putting on a nicer front so that you could write articles for the partner company under the pen name "an opposing team's scout". I guess as minority owner, you can give yourself whatever job you want.
Guy guy guys!! You're looking at this all wrong! This is GREAT news! Why? This is SOME OTHER TEAM'S SCOUT!! This is one of those guys whose responsibility it is to help prepare one of our opponents to defeat us! I just wonder which team this guy supposedly works for, because if their scouting is this bad, then we have some guaranteed wins this year. The best news would be if most scouts were this clueless about the Rox' progress and changes this offseason. I mean, it's one thing for one of these ESPN-type hacks to just repeat what they have heard from other hacks, but it's another thing entirely when the SCOUTS can't be bothered to actually know what they are talking about. I wanna see as many of these guys' 'scouting reports' of the Rox as I can - this will give us a pretty good idea of what the other teams know about us, and what they think they know about us, which will give some good clues as to how they think they can beat us. And if we know that going in, then our job is already haflway done.
Maybe it's a scout for the Washington Generals? Either that or he used "Street & Smiths" to do his evaluations.
Hahaha - yeah seriously. It's actually hard to believe this is a professional scout's opinion of the Rockets. Maybe it's an ex-scout that got fired for his horrible reporting. SI could just be doing that and making it sound like it's a real scout. In any case, the only thing that made any sense was that Yao and McGrady take turns dominating the offense, which I do feel is kind of true. They have yet to work together completely seamlessly. I guess we're screwed though, because I'm guessing we're not going to get full producting out of Sura
This goes to show. how many people in Basketball etc are not doing the job for which they are paid!! It seems to be a reoccuring theme in most of the reports which I have read from ESPN to the Chronicle. Although living in San Antonio, I feel that I am almost in a more informed position than all of these guys!! It sounds like they have never recently visited the team in Houston!
Complete r****dation. it's obvious that he hasn't watched three Rocket games in 3 years...who ever he is. I'm mean....wow, i'm speechless. I really don't mind people doubting the team, that's cool...everyone has their own opinion. BUT to completely be clueless of what's going on is another and then write an SI article about your r****dation. It's a all speculation and non-sense. When has Rafer been a And 1 issue? Turnover prone? Wow. Yao had ONE season with legit injuries......Now he's injury prone. Before last season, he missed what? 3 games in 3 years? Yeah, I'm buying this guy's special stupid juice.
there is no way this article was written by an actual "opposing scout". it's a bs piece that is basically restating everything else that has been stated by media types. let's run thru the article really quick 1. no mention of snyder, novak, or vspan 2. the guy has no clue on the health situation of sura 3. he states tmac is fluff and not substance. there is not one scout in the league who would say that about him. writers and media guys say that about him. scouts drool over talent...writers like to rip guys for controversy. 4. he has no clue about JL3 and his struggles this preseason 5. he makes this idiotic statement "Because the rest of the league is playing so fast, the Rockets may have a harder time getting to the playoffs -- but once there, they may be able to go farther than expected because of their emphasis on defense, which should help them in the postseason ..." that is the most stupid statement i have ever seen. it makes no sense. phoenix should have been knocked out in the first round with that dumb logic. 6. i don't even feel like reading this writer's bs. seriously, this guy should be fired for trying to pass this off as an "nba scout's" view on the rockets.
