The Dallas Game, Our Offense, What We Need and Our Chances at the Play-Offs

The Barrys "get it" .

Coach's kids usually do but unfortunately we were not lucky with the Valpo kid, Bryce Drew. By the way how is doing now in Chicago?

 

Post of the Month


thanks for giving us a little perspective Crash.

 

Great post Crash, I wish more people, including myself, would post like this more often.

RIET, I'm curious who you think we could trade for that will fill the role that Rice was supposed to? If Boki developes, I think he provides that, but it couldn't hurt to have another guy. Drop some names.

 

Great post crash!

Rockets have much easier schedule than the Suns for the remainder of the season. In fact, according to the Jeff Sagarin NBA ratings, Rockets have the easiest remaining schedule among WC playoff hopefuls.

I think Rockets will playoff this year. Suns won't. But #8 spot is not that pretty too, facing a sweep by Mavs again in the playoff. Rockets need to make #7. They have a chance to win a game or two against the Kings, which will make the playoff experience much more meaningful.

Check the column "SCHEDL(RANK)" column. Rockets ranked 9, Suns ranked 16, Lakers ranked 17, Jazz ranked 19.

<pre>

NBA 2002-2003 thru Friday, February 21, 2003
HOME ADVANTAGE= 3.70 RATING W L SCHEDL(RANK) VS top 10 | VS top 16 | ELO CHESS | PREDICTOR
1 Dallas Mavericks = 98.48 43 12 89.67( 23) 10 8 | 20 11 | 98.30 1 | 98.65 1
2 Sacramento Kings = 95.36 38 18 89.70( 22) 10 7 | 17 11 | 94.78 4 | 96.05 2
4 San Antonio Spurs = 94.92 37 17 90.01( 14) 12 6 | 17 9 | 95.42 2 | 94.47 4
6 Portland Trail Blazers = 93.88 35 19 90.21( 10) 8 11 | 12 16 | 94.48 5 | 93.33 7
8 Utah Jazz = 93.13 32 22 89.77( 19) 9 10 | 15 15 | 92.34 9 | 94.01 6
9 Minnesota Timberwolves = 92.72 35 21 90.20( 11) 8 12 | 14 18 | 93.62 8 | 91.90 9
10 Los Angeles Lakers = 91.28 29 25 89.89( 17) 8 11 | 13 17 | 90.90 13 | 91.64 11
11 Houston Rockets = 91.22 28 26 90.22( 9) 10 14 | 16 16 | 90.74 14 | 91.68 10
14 Phoenix Suns = 90.63 30 25 89.91( 16) 9 11 | 15 14 | 91.09 11 | 90.14 15

</pre>


http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/nba0203.htm

 

crash,

I agree with you on Eddie's 3-pt shooting. What I'm trying to say is, Eddie uses a 3-pt shot to overcome his fear of going inside. Once he can go inside, then he can bring the shot back out. Till then, I'd like to see him try and stay inside, learn a few tricks, throw a few elbows. What I DON'T want is for the 3-pt shooting to be an escape from the inside game, which would completely hinder his development.

I have to say one thing though: Posey gets a lot of comparisons to Artest, but it's insane to be honest with you. Posey is THE best defender on our team, but he's basically somewhere around Shandon Anderson, maybe slightly less. His jumper is absolutely horriffic, and his defense is not anything we couldn't do without. obley brings, not similar, but more effective defense to the team. This is the MAIN reason why I don't want to see us overpay him this summer.

As for Seattle and Cato, it's a very longshot:

Jerome James
Calvin Booth
Vitaly Potapenko
Predrag Drobnjak
Joel Przybilla
Elden Campbell (FA at the end of the year though)


Here's what I've noticed: there are plenty of FA C's this upcoming offseason. If you take out the Duncans, the Kidds, and the O'Neals of next year's FA class, it's still a BRILLIANT FA class. Check out the names, and we can use a lot of them:

Elden Campbell
PJ Brown
Tyrone Hill
Kenny Anderson
Adonal Foyle
Charlie Ward
Scottie Pippen
Charles Oakley
Robert Horry
Chris Mills
Marcus Camby
Juwan Howard
Kevin Willis
Brian Skinner
Jahidi White


There are lots of people out of that list that we can use, especially on the bench, and some in the starting line-up. How great would it be if we could package MoT for a starting PG, move Francis to SG, Mobley to the bench, and signed PJ Brown?

Those are the kind of moves we need to make. We need to clear sa;ary, and sign players that perfectly compliment our core players, and bring a consistent game every night.

You can mark it down in your diary: Rockets will make LOTS of moves this offseason. If Piatowski and Maggette walk in the summer, the Rockets will make a VERY strong pitch of Mobley and Cato for Brand.

 

Does that schedule ranking take into account that the Rockets play away from home more than any of those teams, and they have a worse away record than all thos teams?

 

Yes, Sane. Home court advantage is taken into account. It has an advantage point of 3.7.

 

sooo...many longgggggg posts.
Good post Crash. Rocks have a chance if Suns keep up the bad ways...and rocks wake up. La is in at number 7 as i see it, and rocks at 8. hopefully. THough, Dallas will kill us in in the post season.

 

I would love a dynamic young player like Corey Maggette, Desmond Mason or Michael Redd.

The Clippers are just a mess and who knows what's going to happen with them.

Milwaukee has both D. Mason and Redd so something has to give.

In the offseason adding a veteran PG like Lucious Harris would be my #1 priority.

Moochie Norris is our new Matt Maloney.


As a backup, I wouldnt mind

 

Couldnt edit

As a backup, I wouldnt mind having someone like Darrell Armstrong as well.

He would be provide veteran leadership that we are sorely missing.

 

maybe in the offseason if his contract is over...i have no idea...or next season....

The trade deadline has passed. Lets jsut focus on who we have.

 

Since we're still paying him, he's got experience with big men, and has a decent 3-pt shot, why not bring Matt Maloney back next year?

His experience with Hakeem should be invaluable.

 

I'm just curious but what would some here think about a Mo Taylor for PJ Brown swap.

We get the rebounder to stick beside Yao, and NO gets an offensive minded pf to compliment Magloire who is more a defensive minded player.

The questions are PJ's contract and whether the hornets are concerned about defense already with mashburn and wesley playing.

 

The only problem is what do you do with Eddie.

Mo and Eddie do complement each other well, which I forgot about.

 

Nice post Crash. Very descriptive.