Have you looked at the rockets record and schedule. It ain't broke. This is knee jerk city again. We can always be better. All it takes is a few losses to a bunch of damn good teams and alot of posters come in here ready to throw the baby out with the bath water. It happens every year.
The problem is not about who is starter, it is about how the game is played. Our guards is having too much FGA, other starters do not get enough touches. The sum of FGA from Hayes, Scola and Battier should be at least 35. Ariza or Brooks should not have more than 15 per game. The first option for offense among the starters should be Scola, rather than any of the guards. He is the most stable and efficient player in the starting lineup, it is hard to win a playoff spot without Scola involving in the offense. Ariza is 38% on FG% and Brooks is 43%. you simply can't win games consistently by those kinds of FG%.
If you look at the +/- of our players, everyone of our backups have plus rating and everyone of starters minus ratings. So it has been our bench that is getting those wins and we need to play them more. You want your best five to play the most and if you don't start you probably won't get into the game in the 1st and 3rd quarters and it is very hard to get more than 30min a night if you don't start. We have had mutliple 3rd quarters in the teens. I believe that our starting 5 is not balanced properly. So it has to change if our goal is a top 4 finish in the west.
I would go with..... Starting lineup Lowry Budinger Ariza Landry Scola Brooks can come of the bench and fill in a Jason Terry type of Role...
Im ok with hayes starting. His defense is very good on the big guys and offense is 3x better than battier. Battier doesnt have that lateral defense and that keeps getting our bigs in trouble or the opponent dishes it out to the open teammate. I love scola to death but his defense is not there in 4th quarters. We need Hayes in the 4th. Brooks= terrific shooter Bud= moves without the ball Ariza= he attacks the basket Scola = offense and hustle Hayes = Great defense
You do not need a PG to win in the NBA....so many teams have scoring points, or mixed roles back there. Heck the Lakers just won with Fisher starting and he is a stand and shoot guy. This whole misnomer about needing a true PG is misguided.....what we need are 5 guys that are cohesive in their play, and whose roles compliment each other. Right now, we have 2 guys in the starting lineup that you can count on almost every game. Brooks and Scola...the rest are totally inconsistent on offense. This team needs to adjust......Landry should not be on the bench, he needs to be starting he has earned it. I love Hayes, but he is just not NBA starter material, his lack of scoring ability, look at his percentages and he shoots all his shots from inside 2 feet is a glaring weakness. If we play teams with a guy who has a great post game, give him more run, but very few NBA teams have that, and the offense of Landry more than makes up for increased scoring on the defensive end IMO. And one of Battier or Ariza must sit....if it was a complete meritocracy it would clearly be Trevor, but I think Shane's attitude and willilngness to be a team player would allow him to transition more smoothly. Anyway, I think we need more firepower...2 on 5 is not cutting it anymore. Oh, and you can't play just offense or defense you need to play both....right now......we have too many one dimensional players in our starting lineup....they should be relegated to the role that is best for them...situationally. DD
Kyle Lowry needs to play WAYYYYYY more... He is almost leading our team in assists off the bench in 25 minutes per... 5 Assists and 4 rebounds in 25 minutes is just amazing... Not to mention his 3 point percentage is on the rise...
I would not mind that as a switch either....sitting Trevor and getting more Lowry. Right now....even though everything I pointed out is true......20% of our starting 5 is not even close to playing the team game. Trevor is killing the team more than anyone else out there. DD
Name one team, other than the Bobcats or Warriors, in the NBA that doesn't start a post player, either at C or PF, that has a post up game or runs their point guard off a million pick and rolls in order for their team to be effective. And then tell me which, Scola or Landry, that can cover Dwight, Bynum, Aldridge, Amare, Bosh, Garnett, Dirk, Shaq, etc night in and night out. Every team has someone that Chuck can guard. Something that has bothered me defensively lately is the Shane or Chuck on help concept. Instead of having them guard the high scoring players on the wing or post they are guarding the other so that they can "help". I don't think that is the best way to utilize either one of them.
Maybe shooting wise, but Brooks could do a hell of a lot better job distributing... Until we get a 2-guard than can create better shot opportunities, we will struggle agaisnt the best... Aaron can NOT be the number 1 creator of the offense, because of his size and lack of court vision. Similar to Mo Williams...
This is true.... They've gotten away from who they are and what they do best... Too much freakin HYPE from the media.... Everyone gets scouted so you have to improvise, but it's easy to defend guys that are playing 1 on 1... The way these guys played earlier in the year it was difficult not only to scout but also defend them.
I think you would see a marked improvement If Ariza played with Lowry more, as opposed to Brooks... You see, Trevor needs someone to create an opening for him, which is Lowry's strength. I think our all-star AB may be a bad fit with Trevor, until we get that 2-guard that is... (Basically, like you said, less Battier and Ariza would be nice...More Lowry, CBud, Wafer?)
I am not saying Chuck can't guard them, he can, but Chuck is not a threat to score so he kills us on the offensive end of the floor. Let's take a look at your list for a minute for low post threats. Dwight - absolutly Bynum - not really a great low post threat Aldridge - more of a jump shooting high post guy Amare - better version of Aldridge pnr mostly Bosh - Good all around but not a low post beast Garnet- Also good, but not a low post beast Dirk- Low post and dirk, uh, no Shaq - yes, very much so So, out of all those guys above, Chuck would really only be needed on 2 or maybe 3 of them tops. Because on the perimeter the team can help defend. Chuck is an ELITE low post defender, not many low post players left......Chuck should see the floor a lot less because Landry is just infinitly better than him on offense. Chuck A+ Defender D- offender Landry C- Defender A+ Offender I think getting Landry' scoring on the floor is more important, we are not having defense issues, it is scoring droughts we are having. DD
Interesting. I have always said Lowry gets a lot of assists because he has closers around him but he is great at setting up weaker teamates too.... Brooks would benefit from having CBud in there to pass to as well.... I just don't see them benching Trevor, although they should. DD
CBud or Lowry should start... Trevor and Shane are not SG's... Simple as that. And since Aaron is not a "true" PG, at the very least, don't you think he needs a true SG? A 5-10 SG and two FORWARDS playing the guards spots is not a recipe for success... Lolol...
Either a true SG or two very efficient scoring SF's....we have neither.... Which is sort of why I wanted Von to sign here.... DD
Ahhhh we have finally arrived at the ultimate question... Efficient scoring SF's... Caron Butler Danny Granger Thaddeus Young True SG's... Andre Iguodala For cheap(Von Wafer)... ? ? -------------------------------------------------
I think Yao would fit like a glove with this team... We could start all of our 1 dimensional defensive stoppers/3-Point threats, and Yao, so we have something to go down to... Than we could come in with Kyle/Chase/Carl and run the heck out of the other team... Beat'em up and run'em up...
I think the biggest problem for the current rockets is Battier's low production. He is the most important piece for this system. Do you guys remember that when Battier played bad at the beginning of last season, the rockets had a bad record. But, after he played well (including playoffs), the rockets had a really good record. Maybe Battier is too tired. Without Yao, Tmac or Artest, he put more engery on the court this season. I don't think he should be benched because he is the soul of this rockets team. But, his minutes should be reduced. He needs to take a break.
