i agree, they arent that far away. that being said, tmac has to play big and yao has to take it to yet another level. Then there has to be a guy who can play pg and sg effectively (tmac needs to play his natural position at SF), and then there has to be more out of the PF spot. chuck is ok, but they have to have more size and someone who isnt a liability on offense.
I would like to have more size at the PF spot, but the Spurs offensive options at the PF spot are well....spotty.... I agree about Yao, but I am thinking he will continue to progress, and I believe that giving Tmac someone else to create shots will help him a ton. I think Tmac was worn down at the end of the year, sure he didn't bring the ball up, but so much of the offense was predicated on him creating that the Rockets became far too predictable. If they had a PG that can get to the rim and pass out to open shooters, they would be much better off......and a lot closer to championship caliber..... DD
Using this logic, the Jazz were only one good shooting guard away, and they still received a royal ass-kicking. Boozer=Duncan (If you’re gonna say Yao=Duncan) XXXX=Ginobili Williams>Parker Kirilenko>Bowen Okur>Oberto
New Jack, Would you agree that one player can make a HUGE diifference? I mean we are talking about 20% of the players on the floor, and if that player is a creator for others, it is even more valuable. I believe that the hardest positions to fill in the NBA are: 1. Center 2. PG 3. PF 4. SF 5. SG The SF/SG area has a lot of options available, but the C and PG areas seem to be fairly barren, or hard to fill. DD
This is a gross misconception. Go read my post in the Battier trade poll thread. Finley, Horry and Brent Barry ALL shoot more FT's per 40 min than the Rockets. Go there...read it. In fact, if Barry were a Rocket, he'd only be behind YM, TM, Juwan, and two guys Gundy wouldn't play...Wells and Snyder. Brent Barry attacks the basket or looks for his shot more than all but 6 Rockets. Transition O is NOT about speed. It's about commitment to run and recognition of where the mismatches are. The Spurs transition O is light years ahead of the players the Rockets have accumulated. Bottomline...the Spurs attack the basket more and better...and 1 PG isn't changing that. What you've stated is an opinion. What I've stated about Battier never cracking All Defense 2nd team is fact. The only advantage Battier has is that he's younger. Bowen is ~$2m/yr cheaper. I disagree with your conclusiomn. The point you're mising is obvious but you choose to ignore it. The difference between the Rockets and the Spurs is greater than the difference between Alston and Tony Parker. Improving on Alston is only one of a series of steps. A series of BIG step. In your view, we're close. If we were as close as you claim? All the Rockets would have to do is put Battier on Parker and Alston on Bowen who's realtively inactive on offense. . OK...I'll stop here. We are obviously on the opposite ends of this "they're a 60 win team" thing. I NEVER EVER for a moment looked at the lack of athleticism and the over abundance of one-dimensional spotups and thought they were a 60 win team. You along with Morey thought they were. He's come back to earth. You haven't. Yet.
Assuming Yao can get back to form, I agree we are one very good PG away from contending. At the same time, we are further away from being the Spurs who are championship favorites. The roster is definitely flawed but having Rafer as a starter is a huge drag on the whole team, bench included. If we had the equivalent of Tony Parker at PG, we would have made the WCFs and played the Spurs, with the winner the favorite over the Pistons or Cavs. For the record, Tracy>Manu, Battier>Bowen & Duncan>Yao. All of these are barely worth arguing IMO. The Spurs kill us at PG, PF/C (non-Duncan/Yao) and bench. Michael Finley must be on something because nobody thought he had this much left in the tank. I'm ashamed to admit I agree with DD this time. I promise it won't happen again.
By no means am I trying to call T-MAC the next MJ or saying we should model ourselves as the old school Bulls... But if you want to win in this league with a superior primeter player you have to have other players to help create a shot for them... so that they are not always using up their engery and strain being the catalyst of the team. Michael had this help with other ball handlers like Armstrong, Pippen, etc. Who does T-Mac have to help him create.... yeah nobody... to me this is probably Rafer's weakest point of his game. So an attacking style point a guard in a Tony Parker mold.. could prove to HUGE for Houston
This team is flawed and still a couple of players away from truly competing. So, why not take the year and develop players, you would still make the playoffs, but at least we would know whether Snyder, V-Span and Novak are part of the future or not. Because now it is too late, we have flawed players in key positions. Luther - too short, bad handle Juwan - too slow, not athletic Rafer - bad shooter, slow on defense Hayes - too small, foul prone Deke - no post game, no offense It really is all on Tmac....and he is a mentally flawed player. DD
Who is going to MAKE all these open jumpshots? GATER is right on, as usual. This is all it comes down to. Spurs are mentally and physically tough and constantly attack the basket, make layups, draw fouls. Rockets are a bunch of nancies who launch long jumpers and are afraid to drive to the basket. Can we close the thread now?
true, whoever is TDs sidekick in the paint isnt that great of an offensive player. That being said, those guys can finish around the basket and oberto doesnt seem to have too bad of a little jumper...nor does elson. Chuck isnt even a threat to shoot a jumper. Oh, and horry as another pf. the reason the rockets become predictable is b/c the only ways they can hurt a team are with yao and tmac, we talked about this. But its not like the spurs are so unpredictable either. the difference is that they have 2 guys that can create something out of nothing (manu and parker), meanwhile they also have one of the best big men of all time who makes teams pay for doubleing him...or not. i dont think it has to be a pg that gets to the ri, but yes, they need another person who more offensive...and when your 3rd offensive guy is rafer or battier...it aint pretty
I sort of agree with you here, and we need someone that is willing to get out and lead the break at the PG spot. This alone would help the Rockets get more FTs, which by the way are skewed in stats because of the system we ran where Tmac and Yao dominated the ball, making it highly unlikely for any other player to get many free throws...outside of Rafer.......thus sort of rendering your Barry point a bit moot......the Rockets system was designed for Tmac and Rafer to attack......only Tmac did it sometimes.....Rafer......is the problem...as I see it. Huh? How is one attacking the basket PG not going to change that? Tony Parker is exactly that type of player, that is the type of player that the Rockets need IMO. You are correct Bowen is all world defense, but I would take a little less defense for a better overall game....which leads me to Battier. Uh, the Rockets matched up very well with the Spurs, and I think even as flawed as they were they would have been a much better matchup than the Jazz. Gater, if you put Tony Parker on the Rockets would they be a 60 win team without any other changes? Because IMO, they would. DD
Hah, those are all still 100% correct, but it doesn't mean that a huge upgrade at the PG position would not help hide all the flaws. No team is perfect......even championship teams... The only thing even marginally questionable is the "couple of players away".....I would love to upgrade both PF and PG, but after watching the Spurs and how they play the game, I believe the Rockets could get by with just a big upgrade at the PG spot, if it is the right type of attacking the basket player. DD
Is that completely the players fault or is that because of the way they were told to run their offense? If the offense is set up inside out with little movement by the perimeter players then of course we aren't going to take it to the hole as much. Basically Battier, Rafer and when he was in the game Luther were all "one cut and hang around outside" guys in our offense. So say we have more motion and create cuts and back screens. Does that help us get to the basket more so than a bunch of one on one isos? Absolutely. I agree that an upgrade at PG would be a help. The core group of rotational players did win 52 games this season... so it makes sense that not a complete overhaul is necessary to reach the next level. I am anxious to see a preview of what the "Adelman" offense has in store. If he truly can make it easier on Tmac and Yao, then its going to be easier on everyone else too. We know that Battier can play post moves inside with guys shorter than he, so why wouldn't he benefit from having more motion cuts to and around the basket? We know that Rafer is an "and 1" player NOT a jump shooter. So why wouldn't a little faster offense help him.. we know he can dribble and pass. I guess I think DD is close to correct, a better PG is something the Rox need. Rafer will be okay when he isn't forced to play 44 minutes a game. I agree that Chuck should be coming off the bench (but when you have no better option I can see why he was starting too) so add another taller PF who can block shots should be added to the mix as well. (though I don't know where/how that is going to happen because all the options seem out of the Rox reach) You put Rafer and Chuck both as 20-25 minute rotational players and they look a lot better than as starters and I think it will bring the team up to next level.
A querry for everyone on this subject. If you replace Rafer with Tony Parker do you think the Rockets would be a contender THIS year? Even though the Rockets still have many flaws, I think that with Parker they would be RIGHT there fighting for the WC championship....thus the point of the thread. It doesn't mean we can't upgrade elsewhere, but the point is that one significant upgrade at the most glaring weakness can get you over the hump...no matter how flawed the bench etc is.... DD
this brought up another point: many here believe because yao was always in the low post, there's no room for our guards to attack. we have two players in snyder and vspan whose only offense is attacking the rim.
