People/fans tend to think, just because we are not a perfect team, and don't click on all cylinders, that there is something very wrong with our team, and we need to make a trade. Sometimes when we do something to try to fix a problem that we may be having right now, it actually makes things alot worse than it was. Truth is, sometimes greatness just takes time, it's as plain and simple as that. We might already have the personnel to be great, we may just need more time and experience to start hitting on all cylinders. The team is still under progress. This is not the finished product of this team's capabilities by a long shot. We will get alot better yet, and we will fine-tune and improve as a team for a long time to come. "let's trade mcgrady" let's not forget that he was iso'd by his team, when he carried them single-handedly through 3 playoff wins last year. While his team was choking to death, he was the only one producing. Take away mcgrady and we would have been easily swept in that series. i really don't think it's tracy's fault we lost last year, or this year, to the least bit. "who's fault was it then meat"? How about maybe looking at Rafer, who is our point guard controlling our tempo and motion. He chokes in these situations as proved in the 07 playoffs, and tonight's 4th quarter of staleness extravaganza. How about our rotation that is in during these choking periods. When we choke, team's focus on Yao and Tracy so the rest of the team can lose the game for them. How about having Scola in in the 4th quarter tonight? A coach should be able to look at his team and tell what is going on, and there were one too many players choking it up in the 4th tonight. McGrady was not one of em. His shot had been off all night, and like EVERYONE has been saying he should, he tried to play the point guard even in the 4th quarter, and he succeeded doing that still. Sometimes, when tracy walks the ball up the court, it's not his ass taking it easy, it's to slow down the pace for a play or two here and there to let yao take a blow. Other times, tracy was always pushing the ball and was passing it before he took one dribble. "T-mac is not a good fit for this offense" A huge factor you have to think about, is how will trading tmac effect the chemistry in this team? how will shane react to that? how will chuck, and yao react to that? how will bonzi and alston react? Even if we did get a better fit player, we could be taking away something much more important by taking mcgrady off the team. something i think about sometimes is how important deke really is on our team. i think he really helps yao a ton. he keeps him in a straight line, and picks him up off the ground so to speak. without deke, maybe yao would be choking(nervous) alot more. That's why there are so many good teams like the Kings that will never be great. They have the talent and personnel to be a great team, but they don't have the chemistry. While i love Ron Artest's game and his passion, i think he would demolish this team's chemistry. "on paper, this team looks great, wtf"? All this team needs is to keep building chemistry. The rest will come naturally.
I like gravy with my meat and potatoes. Let's get some gravy. Let's get a veteran point guard to close out games.
James is our veteran pg that we will need in the playoffs, when rafer can't even see straight. He will take it to the other teams without fear, and i think Adelman knows that. Head, Novak, Snyder, Alston, maybe even francis, bonzi, hayes should all be used as bait to get a better point guard. Problem is, there is no other point guard out there who we can get without giving up too much. Point guard is the only position hurting us right now. Too bad it's by far, the toughest position to fill. Rafer looks really good at times. 1-3 tonight, he looked awesome. In the 4th, and just like ion the playoffs, he gets too nervous and becomes a humongous liability.
soft schedule and everyone hops right back on the bandwagon? c'mon! (not that being on the rockets' bandwagon is a bad thing...)
again, the pg position is the only one that needs a fill. Yao/Scola/Hayes/Landry >>> Bynum/Gasol/Odom repeat with the rest of those team's front-lines. we have two bigs that are very good on both ends of the court, backed by each an offensive and defensive big. We have the strongest front-court in the entire league hands down. McGrady/Battier/Wells, i see no problems there either Alston/Brooks, there's our problem. Hopefully Adelman will try to get some production out of James before not too long!, unless we do end up with a trade somewhere. I think/hope tonight made Adelman realize something about Rafer's inner character. when a player kicks ass throughout the first 3 quarters, and then goes into a daze like that in the 4th quarter, that's GOT to be an exclamation point to the coach. Maybe Adelman will try using James only in the 4th quarter??? If i remember correctly, that's when that dude really shines anyway... Then if that don't work, i'd trust the rookie over the girlie.
I am in the corner of at least trying to bring in another scorer like Mike Miller. MM can spell TMac and he is TMac's good friend from the Magic days.
imo we already have enough scorers. Besides, we'd be giving up too much to get him. All our players besides PG fit perfectly together. We need nothing other than a tough pg to replace rafer's ass in clutch times. I still think Mike James would be the perfect fit for that. If James was on another team, i'd be offering him Head, Novak, Snyder just to get Mike James on this freakin team. I really think he just needs to get some real damn playing time to gel with the team and shake off all the dust. He's still got tons of energy and he's very healthy. Come on Adelman, release the James!~!!!!!!!(atleast in 4thqtrsbbq)
i'd love to add a mike bibby and a mike miller. Mike and Mike. Of course I'm dreaming. But those two guys would take huge pressure off of T-mac. Maybe you could trade a brooks/rafer + expiring contracts for a bibby and a wells+novak for a mike miller. I mean, it's a good sacrafice to make and would certainly help make t-mac much more effective by allowing someone like a bibby to create for him.
ack, i never wanted to make James a PG on this team, but anyway, we could make him like 1/2 pg and 1/2 shooting guard. He could kind of share the PG duties with TMac, and we would have Shane, Scola, and Yao wiith them in EVERY game-closing situation. ^^^ that group would not choke. seems all it takes is one player to fall apart as a team, as Rafer proved here tonight. Defense can trap where all the production is coming from, and let the nervous chick shoot the open J. I think a combination of Brooks, and a little bit of Alston to start the 4th would be the way to go, and then whenever signs of the chick coming out from the inner rafer start to show, pull his ass out for that Mike James.
Dallas is getting Jason Kidd Phoenix got Shaq. Utah got Kover Spurs got Damon Stoudamire Lakers got Paul Gasol Who are we going to get? For us to complete in the West we need to upgrade our roster.
That's what I worried about too, cracking under pressure. I think he also gets shot happy and play outside the offense when the game is easy, that tendancy coupled with T-mac's poor shot selection at times is a tempo killer.
I like Mike James' fearlessness and all around game, but he's not there yet. In the beginning he tried to go one on one like he's been doing, now he tries to fit in by passing more, but it's gonna take a while if he ever can fit into the offense. Adleman will play him when Mike shows up playing the game the way it's supposed to be played.
Landry has been less effective these last couple of games and Brooks has been off for the last two weeks....We need some consistency if we are to rely on these two......I would love to welcome an upgrade such as M.Miller, Cuttino Mobley whom can run the point in spurts and an effective 40% from 3, or Delonte West whom they could get cheap and an effective backup.
I will have the millers. Andre and Brad. I like the combination of Tmac/Battier/Bonzi at the 2/3 spot.
