Expected Starting line up will be: PG: Rafer Alston SG: Undecided SF: T-Mac PF: Shane or Juwan C: Yao Recently, many articles keep telling us that rox doesn't have starting Shooting Guard. But, why dont they move T-Mac to no 2 position and use both of Shane and Juwan as starting. I believe that Juwan's mid-range shooting is still great asset for us, and Shane's hard work and 3 pointers will be a great benefit, too. Also, we will have taller line up than last year. Most of all, I don't think that there are many FA SGs that we need now. Trade is gonna be hard since we don't have good asset for that. Then, why don't we try to find some back ups instead of starting and let T-Mac start at the No. 2.
I don't understand why people resist the very obvious line-up: Yao Howard Battier McGrady Alston I don't buy that McGrady can't play SG anymore. If you pit McGrady against anyone but maybe a couple of guys, and McGrady wins the match-up. After everyone moans for a SG with size, we've got one and everyone wants him to play SF.
why are yall so worried about who he will have to guard, tmac is one of the best defenders and on the other side the opponent will have to guard him as well...anyways we should go after JR SMITH Yao Shane Tmac JR Alston that would be one killer team
People are just scared he cant defend Kobe, Wade, Iverson, etc... Which is probably true. The back pains and lack of defensive intensity during the REGULAR SEASON also play into that fear. If Battier can guard those guys then Tmac at SG seems reasonable. Its hard to see Van Gundy specifically using Tmac at the SG because of this liability even though it seems like the most natural lineup.
I don't see why it's so hard to understand. I, myself, don't resist it because I don't think McGrady can play shooting guard. I resist it because it isn't what the Rocket moves, nor their comments, are indicating. Before the draft, JVG and CD both said we needed to add a three point shooting power forward who can space the floor + two more guards. On draft day we added Shane Battier, and since then there has been nothing but talk of adding guards. That, in itself, is enough to point to the possibility they plan to play Shane Battier at power forward. But if that isn't enough, look to the recent interview with Tracy McGrady in which he stated he expects Battier to play the 4. I doubt he came up with that himself. He probably has heard that's the plan. If the Rockets were planning on playing McGrady at SG and Battier at SF, then our biggest needs would be: Starting PF backup PG/SG backup SF/SG We probably wouldn't have made Mike James our number one target, and certainly now that he's off the table our target would have to be a power forward, right? Well, it doesn't seem to be. Not yet. In fact, the only thing we've heard post Mike James is that we're pursuing Flip Murray. No, I have very little doubt in my mind that the Rockets intend to play Battier quite a bit at powerforward and Tracy McGrady is staying at small forward more often than not.
Dont yall think that when a player with so much talent(JR Smith) comes to a team that is going for contention of the title some type of fire will build within him especially being under the wing of Tmac
Do you think that Juwan can't be a starting PF? Well, he's kinda old. But last year, he was still OK PF. He has decent shoot touch and he was the one who could give good entry passes to Yao. Also, he has a good mid range shoot that can pull out the front court defender to the arc area that will help Yao to have more space to play.
if mcgrady is so unhealthy that he can't play sg anymore, then the rockets have bigger issues than they are admitting. I also believe t-mac at sg is the obvious move, but the rumors are that the organization doesn't want to risk it.
I think TMac would be better off at SG on offense which he is anyways. However Tmac chasing quicker players all over the place would be horrible. But Shane cant chase anyone around the court so it sounds like he would be a liability on the perimeter meaning Tmac would have to guard the others teams best perimeter player. Not good. Our needs as I see them with Tmac moving to SG Starting PG / Rafer Alston Tmac / Backup SG Starting SF / Shane Battier / Bogans? Starting PF / JHoward / SNovak Yao / Deke No matter where we move TMac the other positions are still thin. I feel we need starting caliber players at three spots. J
Another way to look at it is we added Novak (a three point shooting PF) and brought in Battier which would allow us to move TMac to the 2, thus making us need only 1 more guard. First we pursued Mike James to be that 2nd guard, and now we are looking at Murray. To lend credence to this idea, the Rox original draft target was not a PF, but Brandon Roy, a swingman to play with TMac, just like Battier is a swingman to play alongside TMac only as the 3 to TMac's 2 where Roy was the opposite. Starting Howard makes a lot more sense than starting one of our bench twos or trying to bring in someone else's bench two to be a starter for us. There is nothing stopping Battier from sliding over to the 4 to cover the likes of Dirk and Marion, but I don't see playing him there against the majority of PFs in the association.
T-Mac isn't that kind of leader. To play on a JVG team, you have to be self motivated. I'd love to see JR in Rockets red, but JVG traded Swift, who has had his effort/hustle questioned relentlessly, and wanted no part of Gay, who had the same questions about him coming out of college. As for the original question, i believe T-Mac can guard anybody, and on the big plays believe me he will be defending the Kobes, Wades, LeBrons. But having to chase a guy like Rip Hamilton through multiple screens for 48 minutes or any other player for that matter will just tire him out. He has the size to defend SFs, of which there are plenty to handle ('Melo, LeBron, Tay Prince, Rashard Lewis, Marion) we need a bona fide SG to do the chasing on the defensive end. So i think it's best to keep T-Mac at SF, the idea of Battier playing PF doesn't thrill me, and in a perfect world we add a legit PF with range and a tall SG, making Battier our sixth man. But we have what we have, for the moment. Battier isn't the type to rely on his athleticism and strength for rebounds, but his smarts will put him in the right spot and he will use this thing called boxing out, which alot of players simply don't do anymore....Juwan. Still plenty of offseason left to go.
"box out"? Shane 35mpg 5 rpg (only 5 rebounds as a SF / PF) we are going to get killed on the boards with him at PF. Even JHoward can average 7 or more
PFs are often in better position for rebounds than SFs, should Battier have to play Power Forward, i imagine he'll average more than 5 rebounds. God help us if he can't.
Shane Battier at PF would probably average more than 5 boards because he'd be in better position to grab them.. but he's not a guy who can average more than 7 boards in my mind... he's only 6-8 about the same size as McGrady. At PF in the Western Conference he'd be going up against guys like Amare, Duncan, Odom, Brand, Dirk, KG, Gasol, etc.. there's no way he can out-battle those guys for position.
There is no gaurantee Steve Novak is even going to get off of the bench. Besides that, he's even less of a powerforward than Battier. And I wasn't talking about their draft targets persay anyway, I was talking about what their offseason targets were. I don't think who they were targeting in the draft is all that relevant when they're clearly going to look for the best player available for the Rockets. There weren't any PF's going in the lottery that fit the bill they had described. Also, I don't think they intended to start anybodies bench two-guard. I think they intended to start Mike James at SG. All of the speculation is somewhat pointless though. Tracy McGrady said himself what position he expected Battier would play, and either that means the Rockets told him that OR he doesn't want to be moved to shooting guard. Regardless, it looks like T-Mac will still be playing small forward next season.
Amare plays center for the Suns. Duncan is expected to play center for the Spurs now that Rasho and Nazr are gone. I don't think Odom is any stronger than Battier. He is much longer. Brand is 6'8 too. He just has that freakish wingspan. Dirk rebounds well but if here is one thing he isn't it's tough. I don't see why Battier can't out-battle him for position - ditto for Gasol. KG - who the hell can match up with KG anyway?
Depth Chart C - Yao Ming, Dikembe Mutombo PF - Juwan Howard, Shane Battier, Chuck Hayes, Ryan Bowen, Steve Novak SF - Shane Battier, Tracy McGrady, Ryan Bowen, Steve Novak SG - Tracy McGrady, Shane Battier, Luther Head, Bob Sura PG - Rafer Alston, Bob Sura, Luther Head
I think its more like Yao/Mutombo/(Need PF/C) Howard/Hayes/Battier/(Need PF/C) Battier/TMac/Novak/Bowen TMac/Head/Sura/(Need SG) Alston/Sura/(Need PG)/Head As much as I hate it, Bowen will be on our roster. He has a player option. So we move on.... As I see it, we need 3 players. A PG, SG, and PF/C. our easy options: PG - John Lucas III SG - Bogans, Wesley PF/C - Baxter I think if we only had these players we would be OK assuming we have a healthy year. However, it would spell another 1st round exit. We could go after these guys: PG - Marcus Banks OR Flip Murray SG - Bonzi Wells OR Fred Jones OR Flip Murray PF - Drew Gooden OR Melvin Ely OR Lorenzen Wright We have the MLE, 4.2M Trade Exception, and 1.9M Trade Exception I be interested in everyone's opinion, but please keep in mind our assets listed above. Bonzi and Gooden are too steep. The Bobcats have to spend like 12M to be at the league minimum cap so I bet they resign Ely. Let's try this: PG - John Lucas III for whatever minimum contract works or some small part of the MLE SG - Fred Jones for the 4.2M Trade Exception or some part of the MLE. PF - Lorenzen Wright for 4.2M Trade Exception or rest of MLE. We can either use the 1.9M Trade Exception to fill the last roster spot or leave it alone (good idea IMO). Yao/Mutombo/Wright Howard/Hayes/Battier/Wright Battier/TMac/Novak/Bowen TMac/Jones/Head/Sura Alston/Sura/John Lucas III/Head Not what I expected from this offseason at all, but salvaged nonetheless.
