Yes, hop on that right away, Bob! And while you're at it, some sandwiches and iced tea would be nice. What? You included the link so that anyone could go there to get this kind of info? Well, that's nice and all, but it's so much easier when someone else does it. No mustard on the sandwiches, okay? Thanks.
Dallas is going to be dangerous. Marion and Howard are top notch role players not stars, but very good role players to add to Kidd, Terry and Dirk they should be tough for the leagues best to beat. They got alot better defensively and on the break and on the boards. McGrady will be fine i'm not concerned as much in the paint against teams these days as i am about putting the ball in the basket this will no doubt be the main issue going into next season for sure watch and see. i think in the paint we will get torched, but not as bad these days as we would have 5 years ago.
The only problem with this year's team is truly unknown until about the first ten games are played. We can all speculate. But all of this absolute... "oooh, I know, I know" stuff is already annoying enough. Its as if the spirit of Chicken Little has infiltrated the board and we haven't even seen a pre-season game, let alone training camp. I know that part of this board's purpose is for postulation, speculation, and the like... but may I suggest a knew route? OBSERVATION. Stats can actually lie. Especially OLD stats. They have a saying on the local radio where I come from... it's called "watch the game." Then we will know just how good it will be. Some of you act as if the same Morey that assembled the team last season is just putting some side project of his on the floor this year. It's the NBA. They are all professionals... and last I checked, some of the Rockets' roster dwellers that stunk last year are gone, some that were good got better over the summer (if anything building confidence, i.e. Scola), and yet more that had good careers in their respective leagues were added in the midst, and to stem the tide of, the current storm of circumstances. This season will be better than many of you think. Get ready. Here it comes.
The only problem is that we have the equivalent of the Jackson Family but no Michael or Janet. So we have Jermaine and Tito trying to be the main guys. Jermaine actually had a few semi-hits as a soloist, and was Grammy nominated for "Let's get serious", but at the end of the day, didn't bring enough on his own to stay around for too long. He was a pretty competent guitarist and backup vocalist (you hear him, along with michael, in the Geico "somebody's watching me" commercials, btw) Though of course he did guest star in a very memorable episode of The Facts of Life. Anyway, the way I see it, we have Randy, Marlon, Tito, Jermaine, Jackie, and LaToya. So we're missing a bit.
thanks - and before tinman beats me to it here is Jermaine live on Arsenio: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HGnAkGmKURc&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HGnAkGmKURc&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> note he is playing bass and doing (synching?) vocals at the same time, a pretty underappreciated skill set. Battieresque.
The only problem with this post? FAIL. The original was Rockwell and MJ... But this version is Mysto & Pizzi. <object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xkf95onRgcc&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xkf95onRgcc&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>
We're going to get lit up like a Christmas Tree, but who cares. It's going to be a fun team to watch, and I predict Brooks will have a 40 point game before the end of October.
Those stats could be misleading, because Mutombo was the backup then. Suffice it to say, on the current team Yao would probably have a significant defensive impact. Chuck does some things very well, but he doesn't replace Yao's interior defensive presence. And he's not going to see more than 20 mpg in all likelihood either.
Rebounding surely will be the major problem. Can the front line match up with the other team's front line with respect to rebounding? No ball, no chance to run which the team probably would try to depend on for offense. When the game slows down, the team will be hard pressed to score.
The Only Probelm With This Year's Team Is That There Isn't Only One Problem We Have Several Problems But So Does Any Rebuilding Team
A couple of comments about our team height: The biggest problem with our defense last year was our high post pick and roll defense. Most teams ate our lunch with this style of offense. So when you consider that, we actually have the chance to improve defensively. I do agree that there will be a handful of team which have big bodied centers which we will struggle with, but considering that there are very few centers in the league that can really just dominate a game down low, I think overall we could be in better shape. All of that is assuming that who ever we have playing center can actually defend the pick and roll, which that is yet to be seen. As far as rebounding goes, I think we may be able to contend. This is a skill in basketball, and while it helps to be tall, it isn't dependent on it. Let's be clear, the way to compensate for having a short team is to run and play at a faster tempo. The days of us walking the ball up the court and throwing it down low are over (at least for this season). It should be interesting to watch to see how the team grows and changes this year.
we were actually more efficient offensively without yao last year. defensively it should be about the same. what we miss in yao's height will be made up with our quickness to now cover the pick and roll.
