The frontcourt rotation of Asik/PPAt/DMo/Jones should be great at defending the PnR. Parsons is very good and if we trade Martin and Lamb can match the potential of his length, we're solid at the wing positions. Lin is good for a couple steals a game, has great size for a PG, and I've discovered after going back and watching his games that his defense is very underrated. I think we'll be ok.
As one who watched all of Jeremy Lin's game since Linsanity blossomed, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by his defensive play....... Aside from one-on-one "D" (which could be top five) and maybe steal rate, Lin doesn't do anything spectacular defensively, but he doesn't do anything poorly either. (Whenever Lin gets beat off the dribble, he stays with the ball handler, and often makes a play recovering from the lost step. Where most PGs just give up and leave it up to the bigs to make a play.) The only reason he gets bashed for his defense is people have not paid attention to his play at that end of the floor, and only *presume* it's not good. For more info, click link below. The blog states Lin's defensive points-per-possession was 0.82, putting him in the top third of all NBA players. (Point guards are generally toward the bottom when it comes to defensive PPP.) http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/tag/_/name/jeremy-lin
Who cares there are only like 5 teams in the league that actually play defense; Boston Chicago Miami Spurs Thunder
I will give it a go. Asik-great defense Patterson-better than average Parsons-near elite Martin-near worst in league Lin-slightly below average Maybe can flip those comments on Asik and Parsons. Martin needs to go. There is nothing I want him here to teach Lamb. He is the wrong guy to teach any kind of mental toughness, character, or defense to Lamb on. Plus he is our worst defender.
Nothing on our team is solid so being sold on the defense or offense is not really that surprising. A discerning fan should be wary of everything until we can see our players hit the court in preseason.
All playoff teams - including all four conference finals team. Maybe there is something to be learned here.
Someone can teach me Nasa Calculas or Rocket Science, but if I dont have God given ability I cant learn it. Translation we dont have the players to play defense like those teams.
Get MVP, former MVP, future MVP. Add secondary star. Add defensive players. Basically Rockets need Howard or similar quality player and a Robin and they are set.
I'm just saying that if you want to be a champion contender you have to play on both sides of the ball. I think defense is way under rated. As to talent, yes but a lot of it has to do with the coach and where they place the emphasis. JVG would choose to play a guy like (Flyin) Ryan Bowen and sit a guy like Kevin Martin. While Adelman would play Martin and sit Bowen. JVG tells the guards to get back on defense, while Adelman tells them to go in for the offensive rebound. I really enjoy watching defense. I'd rather watch a 80 - 79 game than a 110 -108 game. I know a lot of fans feel JVG "choked the life out of the game" but personally I have not found the Rockets to be enjoyable watching since he left. I still watch, root and bleed. But I find watching the other team go straight to the rack time after time to be .... I don't even know what (revolting, maddening, nauseating, frustrating). Personally I'd rather watch us throw up brick after brick, than the lay up drill of the last couple of years. No accounting for taste! I believe that you can't see great (I mean really great) offense until it has to overcome a great defense.
I disagree with you. Sports, in particular, is littered with super talented busts. Stromile Swift, Kelvin Kato, Maurice Taylor, and Joey Dorsey are Rocket examples with great bods and off the charts athleticism, but each had a disappointing career. On the other hand players lie Jon Barry. Shayne Battier and say a Matt Bullard, Rudy T or even CF favorite Mario Elle were not per say athletic. Hall of Famers John Stockton and to a lesser degree Tim Duncan are also examples. Sports Illustrated had a great article (about a year ago) about how unknown rookie hopefuls Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry practiced the exact same routs long after practice ended, just to make the team. They had hall of fame careers because they knew exactly where the other would be and each exact second. It wasn't god given talent, it was dogged determinism that led to their success. For me, he earliest example of wasted physical talent was a baseball player named Mike Ivey. The description of him was million dollar runway, ten cent tower. LOL Besides, Isn't your name fighting words around here? (just teasing)
we lost dependable shooters like scola, dragic, lowry, and even dalemberts ft line jumpers. Our PPG is gonna be alot lower than last seasons.
I have confidence in our frontcourt D, but I think our backcourt D will be lacking, which is a bad thing with all the uber athletic guards in the Western conference. I think it'll be similar to when Warriors had Steph Curry and Monta Ellis in the backcourt. Both of those guys were exciting to watch on offense, but they regularly got torched on D.
Person I'll miss the most is Scola. The guy was the most consistent player - good or bad - on the team.
Well last season it was a shorten one. I am sure this year we would look more interesting you gotta think positive! Wait till the season start
Just Adding "D" It is no secret that most of our rookies(Lamb, Jones, D-Mo) are known scorers. It is somewhat of a mystery as to where some of them(Lamb, D-Mo, White, Machado) are capable of playing good defense. Lamb, not so much, but still some concern. It is also known that our coaching staff is, in most cases, defensive oriented. Do you all think that would be detrimental to the development of our rookies at all? I think it would be good as far as balancing out the scoring. Are there any examples of it not working? I have somewhat of a good example of it working. If any of you noticed, last season before he went out, Kevin Martin was playing better defense than he ever had the years before. Well, better than no defense. Anyway, what do you all think?
Are you asking if we think defense would be detrimental to the development of our rookies? I really don't even understand the question. But allow me to explain one thing: poor defense and poor rebounding is detrimental to the development of sound fastbreaks (making a clear distinction between uptempo -- release early and take the first shot available -- and fastbreaks).
