Signing a Big Man, Important?

I don't see why any of the FAs-- be it Magloire, Brown, Ratliff, or the unsigned-- are expected to get any minutes at all over Deke, Chuck, Carl, and Luis. If they are not expected to get any minutes, why get one of them?

If one of the 4 current bigs go down, then maybe you go after a FA big. In the mean time, it's not like you are losing out on anything significant.



I also don't understand why a random crap 7 footer is better than a "small frontline." At least Chuck, Luis, and Landry are quality guys, and the Rockets have pretty much played with 2 PFs and 0 C all season whenever Yao sits.

 

i think dale davis is going back to the pistons.


butler has some nice offensive moves but the guy just doesnt seem to care about playing basketball at all there was a reason why even though he was a promising rotational player for the rockets he was one of the first ones cut.

cato i dont think even would care if he played another game, hate to see what sort of shape he is in now.

kandi man...man i am sure he is happy that kwame brown took his spot as worst #1 pick ever. that guy just didnt play and there is a reason why he hasnt been picked up by anyone since.

Jelani McCoy a former Bruin! he had flashes but the guy has issues on keeping his motor going...i think he lost a lot of his athleticism too.


the guy who i think could have helped the rockets a little bit was theo ratliff he has been slowed down past couple of years because of injuries but his shot blocking and rebounding could have been useful for the 10-15 he may have played, he isnt as nearly an offensive liability when compared to chuck and deke. too bad he went back to detroit

 

He will take hayes mins.

 

We do need a big man. One thing that I noticed during the Memphis game was that the Grizzlies were getting very easy layups in the paint when Dikembe was on the bench. Only concern I have right now.

 

agreed we just need someone 6'11-7'2 to change shots and can make an open dunk.

 

yes we do need a big man, unless you all are ok with a frontline of landry and hayes off the bench. sure we were able to survive against memphis and washington but that **** isnt going to fly when we play against the top teams.

 

Did you watch Crittendon and Lowry drive thru the lane like it was a holiday. The may be the worse team in the league but they knifed thru the Rockets interior like it was butter. You're probably right there is not anyone better than what we got but Magliore and Ratliff were at least worth looking at. I know Morey knows better than me so I will wait and see what's up. But IMO you don't replace Yao with Deke and call it a day. There is a reason why Deke recieved almost no minutes this year.

 

This is exactly what Morey said in an interview. And I agree. We already have a hell of a big man, his name is Deke.

 

CATO! How crazy would that be, years later, Francis, Yao and Cato back on the same team. To add more to it, Francis & Cato were traded for T-Mac. Somewhere, Cuttino is trying to negotiate a buyout.

 

I agree with your take on this. Yes, it's better to have a shot blocker, but I think the problem, as you said, is the lack of quality replacements.

The coaches and scouts likely have looked at replacements, just concluded these replacements are not really going to help. Morey said B.Barry was the only impact FA in his mind. I think the conclusion is the rest of them are not gioing to make an impact, even considering the Rockets vulnerability. It's probably reasonable: if you are 7 feet tall and don't have an NBA job as of today, there's probably a good reason.

One of the things about Adelman-- he's picky about his bigs. Guys with limited offensive skills, even if they have size and rebounding ability or other attributes, are often glued to the bench. We'll leave Deke out of it since I think he is sharper now than he was earlier in the season (he tends to not be at his best until later in the season in recent years). Look at Brian Skinner-- got no minutes under Adelman, though useful in other recent stops. Adelman just seem to not like the " 7 foot, 6 fouls" type players.

 

No, you don't need another big man.

Use Deke for crucial minutes against the other team's bigs.

Otherwise play...Landry, Scola and Tmac up front with Battier and ALston in the back.

That is a front line of 3 players all 6'9"....plenty big enough.

DD

 

I agree...make them match up to US, not match up to THEM. They will have plenty of problems guarding three 6'8" - 6'9" guys that play at varying positions. Other teams will be SCRAMBLING to make rotations. Or not. But yeah..im sure Adelman can design something that will make the short yet tall lineup effective.

 

Here's Feigen's response to my question about Justin Williams...

Hi Jonathan-

Is Justin Williams even on the Rockets' radar if Bobby Jones doesn't work out?

Thanks,
Brandon

(Radar for NBA teams, including the Rockets, is such that if Loren Woods for example has a good game for Efes Pilson, they know what sorts of shots went in. By now, I would bet the Rockets not only have volumes of scouting reports on Justin Williams, they know everything from what's on his I-Pod to his favorite color. Even if that's not how it worked in the NBA these days, his agent would make sure they knew more than they could even want about him. You can be sure that every agent with a tall client contacted the Rockets within hours of the 'Yao hurt" words appearing across the bottom of ESPN. If you are asking if they are intererested, they are committed to taking a look at Bobby Jones as a defensive options for a few more days at least, and will also consider the benefits of adding another big man. Williams would be my choice. -- Jonathan)

 

Lakers = Gasol/Bynum: This is a big threat to us if we come across them in the playoffs because Gasol and Bynum both can play on the low-post with their backs to the basket. Mutumbo can give us good minutes against them, but we risk getting out rebounding if we go with our smaller line-ups.

Suns = Shaq/Amare: Shaq looks like he can still give you a game or two of solid effort on the offensive end. Amare doesn't really play with his back to the basket so I think Landry is athletic enough to play some solid defense on him. They might out-rebound us if Shaq is on a mission, other than that, Mutumbo, Landry, Scola, and Hayes will clean up the boards.

Spurs = Duncan/Thomas: Tough match-up to predict because Landry is really athletic, but Duncan is Duncan! Thomas doesn't really play with his back to the basket so Scola/Mutumbo can play solid defense on him and hold him off the block.

Mavs = Dampier/Dirk: Any combination of Mutumbo/Scola/Landry/Hayes will be good against these two. Landry provides athleticism against Dirk and Scola can provide that pesky defense that annoys Dirk. Dampier is no threat on offense so lets no worry about him.

NO = Chandler/West: I still think we can play very well against them without Yao. Landry/Scola/Hayes do an excellent job on West and provide us with multiple defenses to throw at him. Chandler v. Mutumbo will be interesting because Chandler is really athletic and we also have to see if Scola/Landry can hold Chandler off the boards. But on the other hand, they can't stop T-Mac!

Jazz = Okur/Boozer: Our smaller line-up will come in handy against them because Okur isn't a threat down low. Landry is athletic enough to bother Boozer and hopefully not let him go too crazy on us. But looking back at the game we lost to them without Yao, I think we can take them in the playoffs. We had that game won until the last couple of minutes in the fourth and that was at a time when our offense wasn't half as smooth as it is now.

Warriors = Harrington/Barnes/Beidris (?): Again, our smaller line-up will be good against them. The question with them is: Can our offense keep up and can our defense hold them out of the pain?

So in reality, we don't really need to be pursuing a big C/PF because outside of the Suns/Lakers, our smaller line-up might actually be more beneficial to us. Unless you can get a big that is going to put up Yao numbers on offense (good luck with that), it will be wasteful to go sign a big that might not really provide us with anything on defense.

 

yeah we can pluck those type of guys off the streets anytime we want.

Chances are anyone who can do those things you mentioned are prolly on an NBA team already. Whoever else we we find off the streets prolly suck and would potentially mess up our chemistry.

 

Justin Williams, sign him.

 

I think another big man would be good in just in case our bigs get in foul trouble.

 

Both Scola and Landry are very foul prone.