From now own . . EVERY ROCKET'S 1st name is CARL! Carl Brooks Carl Lowry Carl Buddingger Carl Landry Carl Scola The HOUSTON SNARLING CARLS!!! Rocket River
I don't see them demoting Ariza. I was under the impression he was lured here with promises of being a featured player and getting lots of touches/shots.
If Lowry was a few inches taller, I'd be more open to him starting with Brooks. I don't think the Rockets can get away with starting 2 6'0 players in the backcourt. What this team really needs is a SG, with size, who can handle the ball, direct the offense, and just create quality scoring opportunities for himself and teammates. If only we had a player like that on the roster.
haha. maybe yes. I dont think he will accept it. .no way he does that.. Maybe shane would agree.. but I dont want shane to be benched just to keep Ariza happy. and i think Ariza has a chance to click with Lowry and Landry. Lowry pushes the ball A LOT and they might help trevor finish a few plays and get a rhythm going.. lets see what RA does.. I think he loves the starters and so he might not change the line up. maybe landry comes in after 4-5 mins into the first to push the offense a lil bit..
Its possibly that he gets better scoring opportunities playing alongside a more up-tempo unit, though. There will also be less pressure on him.
Don't just give Brooks a free pass yet. He has made himself look better offensively by some good shooting performance, but 10 assists/12TOs in last 3 games didn't make his teammates look better as a PG.
Assists are not his job as the PG on this team, scoring is....don't get caught up in archaic thinking....and labeling. AB is a PG in name only, his job is to score the ball, because no one else in that starting unit can do that, or create a shot or opportunity. It is AB and Scola on 5...... DD
Reminds me of that Monthy Python sketch, where everyone in the philosophy department of an Australian univesity is named "Bruce."
Something has to change. Ariza is taking on too much offensively. Battier is bringing good defense, but has been isn't giving us much on offense. Hayes is nothing but a defensive specialist. Scola hasn't really stepped up his game like many of us hoped he would. A healthy T-Mac would have been perfect for this team, but that dream is gone. We need a real 2. Right now Taylor is the only real SG on the team. If we change our starting 5, what becomes of our bench? I think we need to make a deal.
Sorry to cut your answer short, its very long. :grin: I agree with you and Shane for that matter. The offense is stagnant and chemistry is diminishing from our starting 5, but wouldn't you think inserting someone off the bench that brings energy, chemistry, and hustle to our starter would help? I would be all for replacing Kyle for Trevor but how would that work against the Billups/JR Smith, Westbrook/Durant, Blake/Roy, or even Nash/Richardson starting backcourts? I know you saw how J Rich began destroying AB and Lowry in the pain in the 4th. Nash was pretty lobbing it up for him to catch and finish over the 2 in mid air. Budinger, imo, would be a better fit. No need in practicing motion or movement with him, he gets it! He understands thats what he needs to do to get open and make a shot. Hayes, as you've stated, is getting pulled earlier to get Landry on the floor so why not just start him? Its pretty much the same result; we get down by double digits and the bench comes in to save the game.... Something needs to be done to break up this starting 5, its just not working now.
Durvasa, Ariza is an MLE role player thats playing out of his element in having to be one of the go to guys on this star deprived team. He needs to be around a 1st and 2nd option to be truely effective, he's 24 years old and was a big part of the Lakers winning the championship last season. He still needs time, the rockets had the toughest schedule in the entire league (some people just can't grasp that) and they lose 3 in row against some of the top teams in the league, hence its knee jerk city with posters wanting to change the starting five. I still think the rockets have a shot a winning the southwest division ie.(big picture).
Landry should be starting We need his offensive ability out there and frankly he is too good to keep coming off the bench. There are 96 minutes to split up betwen the bigs, here is how I think they should go. On most nights: Starters: Scola 32 minutes at least Landry 32 minutes at least Bench Hayes 16 minutes 12 -20 depending upon matchups Andersen 16 minutes 12-20 depending upon matchups This team needs scoring, right now our first unit is not only playing poorly, they are just not scorers in general. Shane - Great defender - average offense but not a creator Trevor - Decent defender - bad offense Chuck - ELITE defender - bad offense That is just not going to cut it in the NBA. If you replace Ariza with CBud, we get better overall. If you replace Chuck with Landry we get better overall. There are options, but right now.....2 on 5 as starters is just not good enough. DD
I think that Lowry plays much bigger than 6'0. Like yesterday they were posting Richardson but that didn't seem to work. Lowry is like Chuck Hayes when defending the post. He is very strong and fearless. Also AB seems to be fine. I wouldn't mind if AB was also a backup but he is our most productive guard.
With great power comes great responsibility. (Spider-man, 2002) Brooks is the one guy who has the ball-handling skills and quickness to draw defenses and open up scoring opportunities for teammates. So he needs to get better at recognizing collapsing defenses and when to pass the ball out. He can't have a one-track mind. Right now, its "score, score, score ... oh crap there's the defense PASS." Sometimes it works, but often he doesn't have a good angle and its a turnover. The main thing is I think he needs to regulate his speed better. Chris Paul has all the speed Aaron has, but he's always in control even when he's dribbling into defenses. That's where Brooks needs to improve.
You may be right about CBud but I don't think there is enough of a sample size to say that CBud is that much better than Ariza. His shooting pct is a little better but Ariza is asked to shoot when the shot clock is winding down and CBud isn't.
The starting lineup is one that would have worked well if Yao Ming was still playing center-- and that's probably true with either Chuck or Scola at the 4 next to him. Right now, the issue is that Brooks is the only good "creator" on the starting 5. Scola can do some things, but he's not a guy you dump the ball in and tell him to score. Chuck is can make some layups and offensive rebounds well, but that's about all. Ariza and Battier are good enough shooters with their feet set, but they are not getting these opportunities now because Yao/Tracy are absent. Battier is forced to take too many hurried 3s, Ariza has to play above his skill level. The Rockets do have a couple more guys who can create their own shots (and space/opportunity for others) in Landy and Lowry, but they are coming off the bench right now. I think it's easy to pick on Chuck in this lineup, but his defense is needed, and putting Scola and Landry together risks foul trouble on both of them. Perhaps the solution is to pair Chuck with Landry in the starting 5 and bring Scola off the bench? The other idea, as mentioned by me before, is to insert Lowry for one of the wings and really play small ball. Maybe if you really want to be radical, you start Lowry instead of Chuck or Scola? Nelly Ball in Red? Can it work?
No way you start Chase and Landry. Kills our second unit. I'm all for starting Landry over Hayes though.
Agreed. Ariza or Battier should probably come off the bench. The team needs a little more efficiency and scoring punch in the first unit. And I'd like to see Lowry get a few more minutes. Ariza's minutes need to be cut.
