IS THE STARTER STATUS REALLY MATTER?? The starter job is a big honor. That it is. Really matters are who are the finishers. I guess J.H. may still be a starter for a while, but S.B. definitely a finisher as JVD mentioned it before. If not J.H., then YM, TMac, S.B., R.A. and Snyder should be the 5 starters. Otherwise, K.S. will go to bench. Bonzi will be the 6th man who can create his own shot. I believe finishers are more important. Definitely, YM, TM, BS will be on court in crunch time. Other position probably depends on match-up. I think supernova, killbill, bonzi, snyder might have better chances. If Tmac is cold-hand, he may be the Point to drive the ball, and superN will be there. if Tmac is hot, maybe killbill wil drive. By the way, why nobody here compare killbill to Sam I am. They both have great heart, the drive, the dish-out and are winners. killbill might not have steady longshot, but Sam has no 3 either. Plus, killbill is way better defender. he can be immediate contributer. to win a WC, you need have at least a mentally-tough superstar, and you need to get some role player at cheap in orde to dominate other teams. Some of them are bonehead, trouble makers at their ex-team like rodman at spurs. That's why they are cheap. Others are steals from draft like robert horry and sam cassell. That is how the bulls and Rockets built their C team in 90s a decade ago. This year the Rockets do have these kind of players. stealed Rockies like supernova, killbill and trouble makers at cheap like Bonzi and K.S. All they need is mental toughness of YM and TMac to dominate the league.
Call me crazy, but I got a feeling that Scott Padgett might be the Rockets' starting PF come November.
Naaaaah. I assume you think he will push Snyder out of the starting lineup. I liked us signing him from the beginning and he's a lock to make the team. But, IMO, it would be surprising if he starts any games the whole year. Padgett fits our team but he isn't that good a player.
I doubt Padge will start for us, but his performance and playing time in the preseason does tell me that Juwan's minutes at the PF are probably numbered. He'll be duking it out with Deke and Hayes for the backup C position.
Hayes, BTW, kinda disappeared after that first preseason game. Supposely he was out with a sprained ankle or something last game, maybe he's playing hurt. I just haven't seen his usual high energy play. Padgett is a pretty marginal NBA player (just ask the Nets), but he seems to have a knack for being the perfect parasite living off of Yao and TMac. He and Novak have some similarities, and Novak is the better shooter, but Padgett seems to have more of a clue about doing the other things... He can dribble the ball with a guy flying at him... not gonna cross anyone over, but he generally makes good passes. His D sucks, and guys can overpower or out-run him for a rebound, but he does get his share of offensive boards on the other end. As for Boozer scoring 20 on him... isn't that just about Boozer's average anyway?
That's true. And Padgett might not be riding the IL as all of us assumed. Hayes is somewhat disappointing.
i think bonzi and novak will be on the floor together coming off the bench. their styles compliment each other, as novak is a pure shooter but a big body, and wells does all the things a big guy should do at the guard position but isnt an outside threat.
I think he's being sarcastic. He means to say padgett looks good out there, and I've been meaning to bring that up.
Hayes just keeps fouling. He may be okay in a 15 minute role. I could see the Rockets go with Battier, Novak, and Padgett as their PFs. This would go against JVGs instincts. What Padgett has done in the past shows the Rockets offense works really smoothly with a shooting PF. I'm thinking Novak is higher on depth chart than Padgett at the moment. The defense is generally really weak with a shooting PF. Battier should be able to hold his own and would probably get the bulk of the load at the PF in trhis type of scenario. Novak has been a mad bomber for the Rockets in the preseason, but I'm trying to keep my optomism in check.
Hayes's weakness may have been exposed when he plays big minutes. He is undersize and he can't shoot. What he has is an excellent instinct in rebounding and his quickness against typical PFs. I am starting to worry that he is not strong enough to defend the post. That's why he fouls so much. If that is true, he will only get spot minutes. Novak seems to be a decent rebounder. If he is, he will get lots of PT. Padgett is playing well. But he is still kind of redundant when Novak is there. So, I don't know. The PF picture is the most unclear of all the positions at this point.
C-Yao 35, Juwan 8, Deke 8, Chuck 5 PF-Battier 28, Juwan 15, Chuck 5, Padgett 5, Novak 3 SF-Mcgrady 30, Battier 10, Novak 7, Padgett 1 SG- Snyder 20, Wells 32, Mcgrady 8, Head 10 PG- Alston 32, Head 8, V-span 8, Lucas 5 minutes are inflated because on some nights guys will not play, those minutes means player average.
no way Snyder starts. 1.Alston, Head, Spanoulis 2.Battier, Snyder, Spanoulis 3.T-mac, Novak, Padgett 4.Howard, Hayes, Padgett 5.Ming, Mutumbo
Yep. Can't see any way that Novak is lower than 7th in the rotation. I think he is the first man off the bench and when Bonzi gets healthy, he's the 2nd man off the bench.
