I have sat back and thought about the Hayes situation and it isn't as bad as once thought. With the additional defense of Williams, Smith and even Thabeet to some extent, it would cancel out the loss of Chuck.
Gasol + Nene won't solve the problem. Gasol is on his last leg, and Nene is a cancer survivor. It would be crazy to think the two could be Rockets' future.
You have got to be kidding me. Hayes was arguably the best post defender in the league last year and for you to say Thabust and Smith would replace that is straight blasphemous! Utterly ridiculous! Quite frankly, I'm appalled by this nonsense.
I hope they all pan out. For starters, more PT for TWill and less Bud. Smith might be serviceable and I wouldn't count on Jordan "double double" Hill just yet. Thabeet will require some patience....lots of patience. Perhaps Mchale can incorporate some kind of twin tower line up like he did against SA with Hill and 'beet. Like I said coachb, coaching, strategy, and player development will be a huge this year. But certainly, the team has not taken a step forward but 2 steps back roster wise.
One would think that the loss of Chuck would hurt us in the defensive department. Me, i see it as more of a +2 situation. Here is why. Players like T-Will, Flynn, Smith and Thabeet were not in the rotation last season. All of these players named have been none to play good defense at some time in their career. What i mean by good defense is they can defend better than Budinger.
What on earth are you talking about? Who said a Gasol is on his last leg? He isn't 37. Do I need to remind you that last year he was in the running for MVP? He must have done something right. The comment you made about Nene has nothing to do with his output on the court moving forward. All I see is the most efficient scorer in the league. Needless to say they are both plus defenders. To say that two legit bigs of their respective status wouldn't solve our frontcourt problems is just asinine. You obviously are not very well informed.
I think we'll be mediocre at best, nearing a .500 record give or take a couple of games on either side. Are you saying we'll be better than that? That "core" has two defensive sieves (Scola, Martin) and the team has no defensive inside presence. Counting on Thabeet for anything is a joke. He might eventually develop into a serviceable backup, but he's not Deke. Jordan Hill may have had an impressive camp, but I'm not holding my breath on him becoming a motivated beast in the paint like he should be. There is plenty of solid talent on this team and upside players, yes, but we are missing the interior defensive threat that you desperately need to win in this league.
Come on, man. The only scorers on this team are Martin and maybe Scola. Honorable mention to Budinger. Hill, T-Will, Lee, etc. are NOT scorers. Just because someone can put up 10 points doesn't make them a scorer lol. So are we supposed to play all 3 at the same time to equal Chuck? I don't even know what you're trying to prove by saying our 3 centers equals Chuck. Look, I understand being optimistic for your team, but you gotta take off the homer glasses. We lost Chuck, and now we have 3 guys that equal him, so his loss won't matter? We have a team full of scorers? And, weren't you convinced this team would win 2 rings within 5 years? I'm all for rooting for the home team, but sometimes you have to be realistic.
The young talent has to shock the world for this team to play with the big boys. On paper we look like a lottery team. Will be thrilled if that is not true, but in my heart I think it is. Always ready to be wrong. I would be free stroking out there if I was one of them, what's to lose?
