THIS (and the defense) is our biggest problem. This team has to stop thinking about McGrady when making moves. McGrady won't be here at most one and a half years from now so stop tailoring the team to his style of play. Force HIM to adjust because he is not a superstar. He is not even a star anymore. He is a washed up has-been that once in a while does something to give us hope for his return to his glory days in Orlando. Unfortunately, it seems the closest he'll get to that is if he actually plays for Orlando again. No to trading Artest because he doesn't "fit" with McGrady. You know, watching this team with McGrady, most of the roster doesn't fit with him. So why not trade all of them as well?
THUG and the wuss must go......the great wall should be the only rocket standing. If you like them you can always go to Fonde to find your brand.
The reason Ron is shooting 1-10 is not because he doesn't fit with Tracy. It is because he doesn't fit with the second unit. Making him a "go-to" guy on offense with that unit puts him in position to take bad shots. When he is on the court with Tracy and/or Yao he defers a bit more and doesn't take as many bad shots. The idea of having Ron as the "primary scoring option" for the bench crew puts him in the mind set of coming in off the bench and taking any shot he wants. That isn't the Ron this team wants or needs. The second unit is discombobulated with Ron, because they are the unit that actually runs a motion offense. Running a motion is pointless with Ron on the court because when the ball gets to him he isn't looking for cutters he is looking to score. Making a trade isn't going to solve the problem this year or in the coming years. Adelman needs to find the best way to utilize the talent at his disposal.
m. miller, hinrich, maggette? talk about the most overrated players in the game today... hinrich has less assists, more turnovers than rafer, shoots 36% to rafer's 33% from 3. costs about 3 times as much as rafer and has a 50 year contract. m. miller, has he ever won anything? maggette, i'd rather use von wafer
Ugh....stop looking at how they fit on other teams versus extrapolating out how they would fit on OUR team. DD
The Solution isnt trading artest or Mcgrady. Bottom line is we wont get crap for them right now, even with Artests expiring contract. If we trade either of them, to me, it is as if DM and RA have given up on this season and the Yao/TMac core. Which many people on here gave up on that a long time ago and that's fine, but for the GM and Coach to do so is a different story. The solution in my mind is to trade Battier for a young big or for picks. Battier is having his worst career ever and appears to have lost a step. He is supposed to be the "glue guy" and a lock down defender, but on a nightly basis the guys he are guarding have no trouble at all putting up 20-30+ points on us. As far as the glue goes, if Shane Battier is the leader of the team then we have a bigger problem, no offense to shane. I also think that Shane still has pretty good value out there because his contract isn't ridiculous and he does have good leadership qualities that could benefit a younger, developing team. On a side note I think its awesome that we hired a coach who is famous for his motion offense for a team committed to two stars who either can't or won't 'motion'.
Before it was our offense now it our Defense and our offense still isn't good. We were a Defensive team first and should've keep it that way but RA was brought in for offense and is a offensive coach. Last game it seemed like we had barely no defensive pressure at all. What's the good in having two "shut-down defenders" when the defense is missing? We lost what we were before... PS. We do need an athletic post defender, at least 6' 11" BADLY. One that can play the 4 and 5. We just do.
With Yao, you need long range shooters. Andre miller doesn't shoot the 3. Mike miller shoots 34% from 3. Maggette shoots 20% from 3. I mentioned Kirk's stats earlier. As much as you dislike Artest, if all he does is play defence and shoots spot up threes, hes light years better than these other clowns.
That is the problem, they don't fit on our team. The Rockets need a point guard like Mo Williams with the Cavs or Fisher with the Lakers. Tracy is going to do most of the ball handling any way. They just need a guy who can hit open 3s and take advantage of defenses trying to rotate back off double teams by either being able to get to the basket and finish or take the one step pull-up. Bringing in a point guard that can't shoot better then the one we have won't solve any problems. Maggette would be a waste here as well. He can't shoot so it would allow teams to sag into the lane on Yao. The driving lanes that were available to him in GS and LA won't be there with a 300+ pound 7'6" guy in the lane. Notice how few players drive to the basket while Yao is in the game. Notice how much adding Shaq changed the face of the Suns. Nash and the rest no longer have the freedom to drive freely to the lane with Shaq in the paint. It isn't that these players don't want to go to the basket. There isn't a shot there when they get there. It isn't open. The reason guys like 'Bron, Wade, and Kobe can get in the lane as much as they do is because they don't have bigs standing on the block the entire game.
Which is why I like Hinrich....... Magette only fits for me because he is so darned efficient at scoring the ball, something most of this roster is not good at doing. DD
He is better than Rafer in all regards....he is just a better player.....better shooter, better defender....just better. And we need a guy at the point that other teams have to honor so Yao has space to operate down low. Hinrich provides that....Rafer....they ignore him.....that speaks volumes. DD
Just check numbers: Ron's game without Tmac since Dec W Clippers 5-15 3-6 W Warriors 9-21 4-9 W Hawks 5-10 2-4 W Jazz 7-18 3-6 W Celtics 7-13 2-4 W Warriors 10-17 4-6 43-94 18-35 Ron shot 45.7% FG, 51.4% 3PTS without Tmac and Rockets won all games However, Ron shot only 37.8% and 39.4% this season. Do some maths yourself and you know how bad he played with Tmac together. For example, 4-19 in Newyork, 3-10 76ers and 1-10 today. In fact, everyone in this team played much better game without Tmac since Dec. You Tmac fans just try to escape from the fact.
You guys are killing me with your half stats. All in all Ron has shot 39.1% in games he has played that Tracy has not. Why shrink the sample size to try and prove a point? There are more factors then just did Tracy play. There was the Knicks game that Yao didn't play, games he was more hurt then others, and who knows all that has gone on behind the scenes. The team has had various other issues. But when you look at all the stats Ron has shot about the same with Tracy in the line-up as he has overall. Stop trying to slice the numbers.
as much as i hate to say it, it's true. it's possible to win with this squad, but i just can't see us gelling enough before the playoffs. however, the memphis announcers made a good point in that this team is built more for a potential 7 game series rather than a one game match up wherein any team could possibly beat any other on any given night. my vote goes for trading artest for an athletic defender/scorer/slasher
There are only 3 games that Ron played without Tmac before Dec. I use numbers after that because Ron is new to this team and everyone play like crap in the first month. Even if you count those games before Dec, Ron still shot 47.9% 3pts without Tmac. Are you satisfied? You can find all kinds of excuses (Yao did not play, various other issue, bla bla bla) but this is the FACT.
