The more I review last year's games the more I am convinced..

You review last years games? why?

Its painful enough just to think about last year and the 4 years prior to that.....let it go already.

This is the JVG era it will be old players with a new scheme and attitude. Everything from last year you should scrap.

Things to expect:

1) Yao will improve & he and Steve will be the leaders of this team
2) Steve now has the COACHING that he needs to reach the next level.
3) EG will be stronger, smarter and start to let his nuts hang.
4) We will see a nice team effort this year, it might take 10-20 games but around the All Star break this team will know how to finish games. The players will either conform to the system or conform their asses to a plane seat out of here

 

I beg to differ. Many of the games that we won in the first half of the season, I believe, were due to the fact that teams did not know how to guard Yao. I don't need to "check the tapes" because I remember the games. The first time we played the Kings and Spurs Yao was impressive. I don't remember his exact numbers in the game versus the Kings but against the Spurs he had 27 pts, 18 rebs, and 5 blks. This was directly due to the fact that the opposing team was tenative against Yao, and he punished them for it. But as the season went on other teams and coaches learned to put a body on Yao and HE was punished. Part of the reason Yao "losing steam" was because he was getting pushed around by the wide bodies of the league. So "position for position", right now without Posey compared to the latter part of last year with Posey we are worse off. (excluding coach and staff) Before Posey, this team lacked energy, teamwork and perimiter defense.

And I don't remember if it was you that said perimiter defense was overrated, but whoever it was is sadly mistaken. Perimiter defense is what will keep Yao and our defensive big men out of foul trouble.

egn

 

I'm going to make one final comment on the MoT topic and then give up.

The reason Utah would take MoT would not be mainly to fill a spot. I'll tell you why they'd do it. It's because Utah are getting to a point where they have absolutely no choice but to take bad contracts so that they reach the minimum league salary. Are you getting this part Codell? Utah MUST reach the minimum salary. You know, no one is going to give up a player who's in their last year anymore. You want to know why? Because at this moment, cap space is not important since all significant FA's have been signed. We would be CRAZY to give them Rice for capspace. We need a SF, and there's no one we could have in FA (Odom narrowed his list). So right now, I think I'd prefer Rice's one year then cap relief. Same for Rasheed Wallace, Adonal Foyle, Antoine Walker, whoever is in their last year.

At this point, few teams will give up one-year players for capspace, unless Utah throws in a decent pick or one of their SF's.

This means that Utah MUST acquire contracts such as Mo's. Why Mo Taylor? Because if you're a rebuilding team, and in the Jazz's position, you pick up the contract of Mo Taylor, who has previously averaged 19ppg , because he is YOUNG and will CERTAINLY improve from last season and will MOST PROBABLY improve on his first 4 years in the league. He's young, a proven scorer, and has lots of room for improvement.

Tell me Codell, what does Utah do when they have to make the league minimum, and Jason Terry re-signs with the Hawks?

I'd say MoT is one of the top 3 options for them, but just to satisfy you, let's say top 5. In fact, personally, I think outside of Reef-for-capsapce, Utah will have no options better than MoT.

MoT and the Chicago obligation would have to sound good to Utah. They need to stockpile talent and picks, because no one will sign for them. You know what, if MoT actually returns to the form of his first season in Houston, he'll almost be worth the money. Who's to say he won't improve on that season when he'll have more shots?

I know that Utah have no choice. Not to fill a spot. But you know what, if they have to take on bad contracts, then getting someone to fill a spot is much better than adding a 3rd SF or a 3rd C.

Why the hell would we give them Rice? There's no one we can't sign just the way we are this offseason, and we can use his production this season.

You don't think that if MoT was healthy and available right now, Utah would overpay to sign him?

 

It was me. The foundation of defense is guarding the lane. I consider that not up for debate. The foundation of defending the lane is having an anchor (or two). I also consider that not up for debate.

Come on. Defense at the SF position is flat out not as important as defense at the PF position in the West. That is what I said. In specific terms, Griffin letting Duncan/Webber/Nowitzki/GarnettGasol/Rasheed/Amare/Brand/ blow by him requiring Yao to come over will happen more than Bowen blowing by a Posey replacement.

Even in general terms, I've read the suggestion that the perimeter defense is meant to keep Yao out of foul trouble and to protect him. Well, I never heard anyone say that about Hakeem or Russell. Their defense was designed to filter people to them. The reason people say that Yao is supposed to be protected by guard defense is because Yao Ming is not an anchor quality defender, yet, and Griffin can't help him much now, either.

The other way to look at it is that since there is no great anchor behind the perimeter defense (by your suggestion), then the perimeter D can't take the risks it might like to (like step into a guys face without worrying to much about the times they get by you). Good anchors make good team defense. Good perimeter defense does not make a good anchor.

<b>bottomline:</b> We need perimeter defense, only because we need PF/C defense much more.

 

And that's why I say that our defense is not dependent on SFs.

but still: EG is all potential, and Yao is really not much better a defender than Bradley, right now. You probably disagree, but that's my honest opinion of the state of Yao's defensive footwork and ability to hold ground.

Point is: if they both improve into the best combo in the league, which is no given, then logic dictates that our internal defense can support a weaker perimeter defense than most teams.

The PF/C anchors the defense, not the perimeter.

Let me explain it another way. There is another basketball fact that I don't think is arguable. Offenseswould like to attack your weakest link. From a defensive standpoint, you are better off if your weakest link is not assigned to offensive team's strongest player.

The West is defined by PFs. That is why our SF defense is not as important as our PF defense. As the center of the defense, Yao Ming has to help against all attacks. He is more likely to get into foul trouble in the West helping out on these legions of awesome PFs who are destroying Griffin/MoT than he is getting in foul trouble helping out on a driving Wally Szcherbiak....LOL!!

 

btw: I think I probably respect defense more than 95% of the people on this bbs. I actually love watching the defenses more than the offenses. That's where the beauty of teamwork is being played at its highest level in NBA history.

I also respect the fact that you can't have everything. And I respect the Law of Relativity. Yeah, it would be great to have a great perimeter defender at SF who could shoot like Piatkowski, but we don't.

Relatively speaking, the success of our defenses rests in the improvement of EG and Yao, much more than Posey, and relatively speaking, Posey's offense relies on the success of others.

bottomlines: given a choice, I'd bench Posey in favor of a SF who can finally shoots lights out as advertised. Not to say Piatkowski is that guy. But, if Posey's defense was as good as the best SF defenders, I'd rethink that. But it's not.

 

When I think Piatkowski, I think pure shooter, but I don't think of Peja.

When I think of Posey, I think defense, but I don't think of Ron Artest or Bruce Bowen.

When I think of Hawkins, I think defense, and I think his defense is better than Posey's.

It's all a matter of relativity and making choices. Posey is overall a better player than Hawkins, but can he overall help the team solve its problems more than fielding a knock-down shooter team-player, or Eddie reaching his defensive potential?

my vote is no.

and btw: JVG's "review of last year's games" revealed shooting being a major problem.

 

Personally, I'm not going to miss Posey's defense. I don't think Posey's all that great defensively than Hawkins.

What we cannot get from FA signigns or trades is not defense. What I don't want to see lost from this team are fastbreak finishing and cutting to the basket. Those are the 2 qualities that Posey brings that this team SEVERELY lacked before he came here.

I remember our main problem before the Posey trade was our fastbreak, and I am positive it will be a problem again if we don't get him back.

 

Sane,

We still didn't have a good fastbreak with Posey.

If we get a real backup PG in here, then we have Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley as our absolutely superb fastbreak finishers, to go with a spot up shooter like Piat, and a trailer like Yao Ming (who can motor for a center).

Posey is a great finisher, too. But the problem with the break is Steve Francis running it. A 25 mpg PG with Steve/Cuttino on the wing could fix our fastbreak, with or without Posey.

The problem with our fastbreak is we don't push it enough, and when we do, if the wing guy doesn't get open, it seems to always fail. How many times do you see Francis shake a retreating defender (with his dribble or fake pass) and be able to just take it himself, like Stockton/Kidd/Payton and many other less known points who specialize in pushing it.

 

my memories of Posey's fastbreaks were long alley oops from Francis. I don't really call that a repeatable transition game.

 

While its great to have a Hakeem/DR/Shaq/TD/Mutumbo/Zo anchoring a defense, it isn't the only way.

In fact the Knicks in their title loss to the Spurs had a very good defense anchored by speed, length and toughness on the wings--Spree, Houston & Ward/Childs. Camby, a good opposite side shotblocker helped some--but he was not the key the defense, perimeter quickness and quick helping was. Same was true for the Sonics mid 90s teams that killed us defensively (Payton, Hawkins, McMillan, Schrempf), and the same was true for the best Bulls team. Though all the Bulls championship teams did have outstanding defensive 4s (Grant/Rodman), they never had a great shotblocker and it was really Pippen/Jordan that were the anchors of the defense.

In short, even without that dominant inside shot blocker, you can still have a great defense with the strength on the wings. Right now the best chance for the Rockets to have a lock down D is not Yao being a Mark Eaton or Mutumbo (but he can get a lot closer over time)--but Mobley and Posey and Griffin causing havov on the wings. In my mind right now it is critical to get Mobley and Yao some help defensively because everyone else is very sub-par.

I still sure would like to wrestle Ratliff from Atl for Cato + something, because then you could have him and Yao helping each other at the same time occasionally.

 

Francis's problem with the fastbreak is lack of talent in open-court dribbling and court vision. If you think Francis can run Dallas and the Nets offense, then you are showing no respect for the skills that Nash and Kidd have over Francis. You can't just slide any type of PG into their position and have it work.

pure shooters contribute to making it easier to get more easy buckets. mediocre shooters allow defenders to cheat off them.

When you say, "you need to respect defense more," your comment here should be that you don't seem to respect pure shooters much.

The definition of an easy bucket is anyone should be able to make it at a high clip. The definition of a pure shooter is they can make more of every shot, and because of that they spread the floor to make easier shots for others.

The definition of a well-anchored defense is one that can allow for mistakes on the perimeter. There is a reason Dallas wants an anchor.

round and round we go.

DR, I good shooter is simply a good shooter. Dallas has the best shooters in the game. We don't.

There is a reason people say, "such and such team needs better shooters." And there is a reason JVG's first acquisition was a shooter.

JVG's first pick was a Rudy type player.

Fancy that.

 

Sounds good to me. Here's my take on your 4 topics.
1) I'm glad you see this. We don't need to build around Yao and we don't need to build around Steve anymore. What we need to do is build around the DUO of Yao and Steve! You can't have a Dynasty without a Franchise, and a Franchise isn't complete without a Dynasty. Kind of like what the Lakers did with Shaq and Kobe, except Steve and Yao actually get along.

2) I agree. Steve will probably be considered the second best, if not THE best point guard in the league under JVG's offense.

3) I hope you're right, cause I really like Eddie and want him to stay around.

4) Yeah. I don't have a long explanation for that one, as it explains itself.

 

it is on this team.

umm...screw history (which I'll address, later), <b>we are in the West in 2003.</b> Did you even read my comment about it is never good when you have a weakness guarding the opposing team's strongest player. Just ask the legendary Bulls trying to stop Hakeem. <b>You need defense in the post to stop the West right now. Just ask Dallas.</b>

anyhow, allow me to continue your present day list of anchors, since you left *several* off of it: Garnett, Wallace, S O'Neal, J O'Neal, Amare, Ratliff...then guys like PJ and Magloire are superior to ours.

I don't see how it is even debatable that perimeter defense can't really protect bad interior defense like Griffin, especially in the West.

<b>Back to real Rockets situations</b>: We are being built to have inside anchors. And our offense is looking to be built to keep zones away from Yao--requiring shooters and playmakers. If our inside anchors reach defensive potential, perimeter defense can handle Peja/Wally/Nitwitz type defense if we can land pure shooters.

Don't give me history to say we should field all the above average defenders we can land. We need to kick start our offense, too.

<b>History of Great Perimeter Defenses</b>

Posey's defense does not compare to Jordan, Pippen, Spree...so please don't make those comparisons. Posey's defense is about equal to Hawkins.

Oh, and Rodman was a PF anchoring the lane, who flustured Malone for two Titles.

Oh, and the Bulls had Cartwright/Horace Grant in the 1st three rings.

<b>1999 Knicks had interior defense</b>
Further, in 1999, Ewing played against Miami and Atl, and part of Indiana. He was their 3rd leading scorer through 2 series. Then you had Camby and Kurt Thomas, both better than Griffin. Dudley was a defensive specialist, too. That's the problem. A slow it down team with good all-around team D and active PF/Cs, who can ISO to Spree and have a *Top Pure Shooter* in Houston running around picks can surprise teams...can get through the East. But they couldn't stop Duncan, or score off that superior defense.

<b>Sonics in 1993</b>

The Sonics "killed" us on defense? What? That was a helluva offense, and it went 7 games, and even with their illegal defense, Hakeem DID NOT get stopped.

But let's say the Sonics did "kill" us on defense. The Sonics had Kemp who was no slouch as a anchor at that time. Had Kemp played as lousy defense as Griffin, the Rockets win that 7 game series, despite the Sonics having the most well-balanced and deepest offense in the league and the best defensive backcourt in the league--in McMillan and Payton.

<b>That's the point!!</b> Even with all that depth, had Kemp been a softy, they'd get exposed by a one man team.