So what are your DNP's / Inactives really good for anyway?

Been trying to figure out how this roster is going to shake down.

As of today, 19 players listed at Rockets.com as being on the roster. 4 of them definintely will be gone.

That's been a fun topic lately - which four are going to go bye-bye?

The *locks* (guys of whom it would be inconceivable would be among the 4 cuts):

1. Yao
2. TMac
3. Battier
4. Wells
5. Alston
6. Howard
7. Head
8. V-Span
9. Snyder
10. Hayes
11. Lucas
12. Deke
(13.) Novak
(14.) ?
(15.) ?

Rather than trying to simply predict who among the remainders of Azubuike, Bowen, Haryasz, Jacobsen, Padgett and Sura will make those final two spots, and who gets shown the door, instead I am trying to figure out exactly what those bench/inactives do to contribute to their teams' success.

Your bottom three won't be active anyway, and if your 10th, 11th and 12th guys are seeing the floor, you have either had a lot of fouls, an injury, or it's mop-up/garbage time. Your bottom 5 or 6 guys are not really going to be adding a whole lot *during games*.

So what does it matter anyway? Call me naive, but in the immortal words of AI, 'You talkin bout PRACTICE, man!'

If you are having to practice against your own guys to get ready for certain upcoming opponents, you need to be able to simulate the other teams fairly well. You need smart, athletic and versatile. And, frankly, you need some variety. You can't very well practice effectively using JL3 as a stand-in for Amare in a practice session.

So I am trying to think in these terms as we wind our way towards the season. Part of it, I guess, is 'How long is JVG's bench really going to be? How deep is his regular rotation going to go?' I am guessing 9 or 10, with occasional dips a bit deeper.

But your final 5 guys should be able to perform as a scout team, right?

As much as I admire Sura and wish he could miraculously recover and produce for us again, I am operating under the assumption that he won't. So strike one from the six.

And any time you have a guy on your team who, whenever he has the ball in his hands, the other team yells 'Shoot! Shoot!', then you have a problem. JVG is just going to have to give up his man-crush on Rybo. I say strike #2 from the six.

That leaves Azubuike, Haryasz, Padgett and Jacobsen.

Of these four, which two would be able to contribute the most in practice?

Odd as it may sound, I think we have no choice but to keep Haryasz. He is 6'11", and is the only guy in this situation is a legit big-body. He will also be one of the more likely ones to be on the 12-man roster on game days, for that same reason. You have Yao, and Grandfather Time, and nobody else. Haryasz stays.

Leaving Azubuike, Padgett and Jacobsen to fight for that final spot.

I think we cut Padgett loose again, so he can hook up with another team and maybe contribute, because I just don't see it here. he and Novak duplicate each other, but Novak is allegedly a better shooter, younger, and cheaper.

Azubuike or Jacobsen for that final roster spot?

My gut says that Azubuike offers more athleticism and versatility as a bench/practice player and potentially-develop-able player down the road than Jacobsen does.

So that's what it looks like, from this pov. Of course, I could be all wrong... I don't really know what goes on in practices or between games. We have heard complaining before that, once the season starts, the teams really don't have much time for actual practice any more, so who knows..

I suppose it would be good to hear from anyone who actually knows what real role those last 5-6 guys have on their teams, what benefits do teams truly derive from those guys, and does it even really matter above the superficial judgements of 'can he shoot, defend and hustle, an is he not a mistake-machine?' Someone who knows more than me about the day-to-day regular-season routines of the Rockets team would be in a better position to judge whether this is a decent way of looking at it or not.

Does anyone out there have a good understanding of this subject?

 

Ok, well, after last night's pre-season opener, a couple of things really stuck out, regarding these issues.

#1 - Hayes starting at center in place of Deke, who everyone assumed would be the starter in place of the recuperating Yao. Chuckie playing the 5 in a medium-ball/small-ball lineup was exTREMEly effective, and came as a pretty big surprise.

Unless this was just a wild hair on JVG's part, I think this answers one of the final roster spot questions: Haryasz. Even though the kid played fairly well, and offered up a good bit of hustle - looked like a decent young player actually, he becomes redundant if Hayes can man the third center backup spot.

#2 - Jacobsen looks like a decent energy player, but he looks like the same kind of decent young energy player we had last year, who couldn't hit any shots. Unless I missed it, I don't believe he hit any of his shots. And was he playing point? Uh, well, not sure how that is going to go. Anyway, maybe this was just an off night shooting for him, but unless he steps up in the next preseason games and shows a good ability to hit his shots, I don't see him taking up a roster spot. I predict he will show better next time, though, so we'll just have to cross our fingers and wait and see. But if he can't then he should be gone.

#3 - Azubuike. Oh boy. Feel pretty sorry for the kid, but there is no way, at least not this year. Maybe he needs to go the Mario Elie route, and play overseas for a few years, get himself polished, and then come back and try again, because he is completely outclassed at this level right now.

#4 - I guess I didn't really expect Wells or Howard to play, but why didn't Luther see the floor?

#5 - Padgett. (Will SOMEBODY please tell Bill Worrell that his name is NOT pronounced 'pageant'???? I swear I am going to come down to the arena and choke that dude if he doesn't stop mispronouncing the guy's name!!) Scotty looked comfortable, and he did hit one outside shot. And I understand the arguments to keeping a veteran on the end of the bench whom you can at least halfway trust. But he didn't thrill and amaze, like...

#6 - Novak! Wow. I mean, HOOO!!! Holy mackarel, we have been told that the kid can shoot, but dayumm!! There's no way JVG is going to be able to NOT put this kid in games. But man he sure needs work in every other area of his game. If he ever manages to become decent on defense, blocking out, maybe grabbing a few rebounds, and for God's sake, learning how to do an entry pass on offense, then this kid will go down as the steal of this past draft. What an amazing shooter.

#7 - V-Span. Hmm. Dude is a lot smaller than we had been led to believe. Heck, he's downright shrimpy. He's definitely going to have to learn to make his living as a point. There were some positive things, but it's clear he is going to have a lot of adjusting to do. In spite of what the front page says, he did in fact make one of his outside shots last night, in addition to that nice little layup among the trees. Maybe he can be our Scotty Brooks.

#8 - Snyder looked pretty good, but unless he has just flat-out been told by JVG not to shoot from the outside (which I doubt) then he definitely needs to go ahead and look for his shot on the perimeter (when it's there, which it was several times last night) instead of always trying to force it into the inside. He is big and athletic though, and looks to be playing good defense.

#8 - Battier. Has a pretty good shot from the sides - didn't look all that great from the top of the arc - and plays hellacious defense and hustles and hits the floor like a madman. 8 and 7 in one half, well, let's extrapolate that out into a full game, let's say averages of @14/10 will be easy for him, I think. No longer any reason for Rybo to be on this team, with Battier here.

#9 - Jl3 needs to just settle down. It looked to me like he was way wired up, and not playing with the loose confidence he reportedly had in the summer. Based on what he showed in bits last year, as well as over the summer, I believe he will be fine, but last night he was not the definition of 'poetry in motion'.

#10 - TMac might even look better than he did during his first year here - that's how good he looked. The rest of the NBA better get ready.

#11 - Alston looks like he has been working on his shot. Looked good. We're ok with him. Especially when compared with how things bogged down when he wasn't in there. So what's the plan behind Alston going to be? That's a scary one - TMac, JL3, V-Span, or even Jacobsen? Ouch. One of those youngsters better step up.



All in all, it looked great in the first half, when our actual player were playing (but still not even including Bonzi, Yao or Howard). But the question of the final roster spots, well, I know my guesstimation originally was that Haryasz and Azubuike stay, but I think that is probably going to have to change. Azubuike has no shot, and Haryasz is expendable with Chuckie doing his best Ben Wallace impersonation. That leaves, probably, Jacobsen and Padgett making the squad.

Fine by me.