Now that we have two very fast PGs, and some wings that will run, I would like to see the Rockets start to take off to the other end on opponents missed shots. Let Yao and Scola rebound and then get the ball out on the wing and see if we can get some early offense going..... If not, let Yao trail the play, and then go half court if nothing is there early. Scola runs, Brooks runs, Artest runs (occasionally) and Battier runs - to the corner.... But a wide open shot with 18 seconds left is just as good as an open one with 5 seconds left. And the 2nd unit is really a running unit....Wafer, Lowry, Landry, Barry...all get up and down.... We don't need to be the Suns but the team is more than capable enough to get 20 pts or so a night in tranistion, be it a pure fast break, or a delayed break with early offense. Run run run, till your daddy takes your T-bird away....... DD
I can see very clearly that this trade is all about Adelman and the way he wants the team constructed. We now have TWO point guards that will fly up and down the court. I think we are set at the point. We are set at the PF position with 2 complimentary players there. We are set in the middle with Yao. What is not set is our backup center and our wing positions. Of course, we looked good last night but if all the scuttlebutt is true, we are not going to re-sign Artest. And Tracy looks to be done here. I see one more move as necessary to turn this into a complete Adelman unit. Move Tracy for Jefferson and Charlie Villanueve this offseason and sign someone like Raef Lafrentz as our backup center. I think Jefferson would fit in great on an Adelman team and Charlie V brings the kind of versatility that would thrive here.
Who are you Fran Blinebury? I agree 100%. With Rafer and Tracy out of the lineup we will see a faster team. Rafer did not know how to run a fastbreak. I got tired of seeing Rafer push the ball up the court, only to back down at the last second. Brooks, Wafer, and Lowry can all run through traffic and all of them can finish near the basket as well.
Our fast break improving has more to do with T-mac being gone rather than Rafer being gone. I think Brooks is better in transition than Rafer but I think the biggest reason will be the absence of Tracy.
Funny how the sky was falling yesterday morning and now there are a billion threads on how fast and effective our point guards will be. This board can be very bipolar at times.
Another key thing for the Rockets in addition to the initial push is how effective they are in getting it to flow into their half court offense. With Rafer, he'd push the ball, but when there was nothing we'd have to eat up like 10 seconds of the shot clock to set something up.
I do agree with DD (i think we've agreed on a lot of things actually) I was great to see some transition buckets in last games the guards constantly pushing it up the court and ATTACKING the basket. Rafer would push it up but he would not/could not attack the rim. The one thing I loved last night that I did see AB do a couple time was he pushed and if there was nothing there he held back and waited for the other players to come up. One time he found Battier trailing the play for a wide open 3. He will develop that a lot better as the season progess...when to attack and when to pull the ball back out. Its only been one game but there was clearly something different about the Rockets team that played last night. It was refreshing to see, their defense was just as tenacious and they were pushing the ball. Note they didnt score a lot of points (thank you turnovers), but they seem a lot more efficient in the way the scored and the looks they were getting. One of the biggest things the rockets have lacked for years is EASY baskets many of these are a result of transition buckets. As Coach said they dont always have to be fast break buckets but a lot of times in transition you have mismatches occur since defenses are not set and you can exploit those. You dont necessarily need Yao down there all the time get a transition bucket...actually allows Yao to rest a bit from not having to run up and down the entire length of the floor...If nothing is there reset with the Big Fella down on the block. Color me excited for the remaining 20 odd games this season...it looks like Coach Adelman is too. I mean I still can't get it out of my head...Coach is as stoic as they come..he looked stoic when Von hits that three in Boston and then gives a first pump last night when Aaron hits that three (which had he missed would not have necessarily resulted in a rockets L). I think he realizes now that its really back to being HIS team and not whatever Rafer and McGrady wanted to do.
This is why I think we kept Steve Francis for so long... Rockets were hoping to play more fast paced..
Competely agree with this. Having people on the floor that can consistently make shots is something that will be a welcome sight. And the atmosphere seemed very different at Toyota Center as well. Seemed like fans were more into the game and excited and thus more vocal (probably cause we were playing a better brand of basketball).
