I hope you're right, buddy. I honestly don't think I could take losing to the Jazz 3 years in a row, but right now I put our chances at about 40/60 in favor of Utah.
great thread and i agree with everything you wrote, the team we have now reminds me of the championship years, its great... i just hope they show up this year
i hate that i have to agree with you, but untill i see that this team can play together at the caliber that is expected than i cant argue
utah will try to make a opposing centers ineffective every time by pulling them out away from the basket to chase 7 footer jump shots....if they hit like they did against us they look great.....if they miss like against the Lakers they suck. Should yao start jacking up 3's, no. he has an inside repertoire those guys wish they had......3 feet or 20 feet? I'll stick with my chances with what we have and just force them to keep shooting jumpers.
Regardless of all the post. I feel that we should all hope or expect that the time to win is now. We have been very loyal with not getting out of the first round in quite some time. I pray to god that this is our year!!! Peace, JZ Rockets for life!
Excellent thread. I agree Artest gives a lot of versatility, especially defensively. Artest can make a major difference on your power 1s (Deron, Billips, Davis), and can even help out versus a lot of 4s (part. guys with good blend of speed, strength and skill, but not overpowering, e.g., David West, Odom). It goes without saying the trouble Artest and Battier could give to the leagues best swingmen trouble, with Bowen on the decline you could argue they are now the two best. Thankfully Tracy plays with them. Basically on paper right now Houston and Boston have the best defenses. Now I think our offense is less clearly improved. Artest hasn't been exactly an efficient scorer over his career or a high A/TO guy. Basically I still think in our starting 5, only 2 for sure are super efficient (Yao + either Scola or Battier, whomever stays in the starting 5). Tmac, Alston and Ron Ron, they all could be more mediocre off the ball shooters around Yao. Artest could really help the offense without Yao on the floor however, last year he was pretty effective with the ball in hand. Overall I really like the potential of different combination. Alston-Tmac-Battier-Artest-Yao. That group with Scola for Yao (talk about a small ball killer). Another with Barry in for Alston with Tmac sharing ball handling + Battier + Scola + Yao--talk about efficient shooting off of Yao. Overall the Rockets are deep, talented, and flexible. Small ball, check. Efficient ball, check (relatively check). Physical ball, check. Smothering defensive ball, big check. I would say our potential weakness is still the potential for offensive ruts. 2 of our 3 stars have moments when they can be inefficient volume shooters, and at times it can be hard to get the ball to Yao in the right spots. In terms of match-ups, I am not that worried about Utah. We have won 3 of 7 and 2 of 6 games with much inferior teams (one with 2 stars and lesser role players; one with 1 of the current 3 stars though some improved role players; now we got 3 stars and improved role players). Utah is overblown around here. We say versus SA last year and LAL this year if you play decent offensive ball that club can be had--one of the worst defensive clubs the Western conference playoffs see. Utah is very good, but not elite. The teams IMO if healthy we still could struggle with are LAL, NO, SA and Phx. If Bynum gives LA a defensive presence to go along with their probably leagues top offense they are just a load. I like how we match up (Battier & Artest wearing on Kobe), but not getting around they could be very, very tough. Now NO I think we can take. Then again Paul is so good and the team so unorthodox they could be tough. They can almost always get off some decent shots/looks, it is question if they can play us defensively. Can't write off SA yet either. Like pretty much everybody, we don't have a match-up for Duncan on the defensive end. Yao probably a touch too slow, Artest or Chuck, too short. Scola overpowered. Parker is also real good at getting decent shots for himself and also is against our weakest position, and I don't think Artest has that kind of quickness to help on him. Now I do think with Artest we can further pound Manu, a good thing. Overall we are improved in match-ups with SA--but that doesn't mean they are an easy out. Phx can still be a problem because Amare and Nash are in our weakest spots. I think Amare is just too tall for Artest at the 4 and with Nash's weaving off picks and such the bulky Artest on him doesn't really help. Now I think Phx has more work to do to be a real threat (probably a trade a better guard or swingman), but with Nash and Amare they have potential. Of other playoff contenders I am not too worried. Utah, nah I really think we are a solid notch better, we already were basically even with them and play them good defensively. Now I just think we can overwhelm their average and grabby defense the way the Lakers and Spurs have the last 2 years. Denver, GS, Dallas, forget about it, we have overwhelming match-up advantages now (Melo and Dirk could get further trouble by Artest). The only other wild card is Portland. They potentially can have it all, wicked explosive backcourt, and size and quickness in the front line. Potential there, but I think it is too soon for them to really threaten. Of course all this depends on good healthy--part. Yao and Tmac.
DesertScar- Its not about Yao and shooters. Its about scoring with mulitple threats and having guys that can play well with or without yao. Yao is very good, but artest is as big of a mismatch in the post as yao because of his size/strength and brutality in the post. There will be a lot of times, because of yao's stamina and Rons ability that he's a better option in the post. Battier nor Scola is as effencient players as tracy or ron. A lot of what Battier, rafer, and scola gets is because of tracy and now ron with yao. U can pull hollingers or all this other stuff up, but star players make those role guys look really good. I do like the flexibility and Artest helps the offense and defense. The scoring slumps will be less by a long shot. Now Tracy doesn't have to make a play for everyone and he can actually go to the bench and still score points, defend and keep pressure on opposing teams. Its a great move that will result in great things.
Fouls have been one of the biggest nemesis for the Rockets. Yao and Scola hopefully will be officiated better this year. The same could be said for Tracy on many occasions. It often seemed that the refs swallowed their whistles when calls favored the Rockets. Not always but it did feel that way. Scola needs to finish better around the rim too!!
One thing that I distinctly remember was the end of Game 4 I believe. I think Williams had scored on consecutive plays including a monster dunk. Anyways, we cut the lead significantly within a matter of maybe even a minute by an agressive trap of Williams. Of course, it was too late by then, but we never saw that kind of defense again in Game 6. One thing I don't understand is that Utah is built similarly to the Rockets in the sense that they only have one guy who can attack off the dribble. They need Daren Williams to get them into their offense just as we need McGrady to attack. I've never understood why we don't trap Williams atleast for a few possessions periodically. Obviously, they have more guys that can beat you if left open that we did, but you can leave Brewer at times. I would have to strongly disagree with this. I distinctly remember that series against the Pacers when he guarded Mark Jackson for 90 feet, every possession. Scottie was long, lean, and quick. Ron Artest is just too big to stay with an elite point guard. I am pretty sure Daren Williams would destroy him off the dribble. I could be wrong though.
thecabbages- They are kinda similar, but Utah has more action away from the ball. I've always like their transition offense off the defensive glass and how the run primary and secondary breaks and flow into early offense and or a offensive set. That's what basketball is about. I also didn't or haven't understood trapping Williams more I actually thought it was a smart move when Brooks came in, he pressured full court. I also think there are a lot of teams I would trap or pressure. A team that only have 1 ball handler or 2 avg guys, I would trap them early and often. You would be surprised to see how many nba players can't handle a little trap.
I agree that what Rafer, Battier and Scola get is off of Tmac & Yao (and we will see about Ron, never a high assist guy). No question Tmac and Ron are a lot more creative and mismatches problem players, but that is a different issue than off the ball efficiency (where Battier, Scola and I think Barry will be terrific). And Yao is by far our most efficient player when healthy, on top of being a huge match-up problem, so he should be the #1 half court option. I do question whether Ron is ideal (or better than Battier) offensively when Yao has the ball. Of course he still helps a ton defensively, and a huge boon offensively for when the ball isn't going into Yao regardless (either when Yao is off the court or he needs a break in the offensive flow because of doubling/fronting etc). Now if Ron keeps up last year shooting percentages and shows good shot selection and ball movement he is just going to be a beast in all phases. But I am not ready to count on the last part just yet. I think Artest may be our best defender versus Williams. IMO Williams is every bit as much about overpowering most opposing PGs as he is out quicking them. I could see Artest on Williams, Billips, Baron Davis, Rose, etc, at times. I don't see Artest on Paul, Nash or Parker (or potentially Bayless or Ellis if these blindingly quick players develop into good NBA PGs). Anybody can guard Kidd now so that would be a waste of his talents.
