the worrisome direction coach RA leads this team to

I understand your frustration, but you are asking for something to be there that maybe wasn't.

We need a back up C, yes. However, what's more important to you? Fetching a legit backup center and crashing our financial situation in doing so or swinging jordan hill (6-10), the Knick's picks for the next 69 years, and one of the purest shooters playing the game.

I would like to remind you that, before this season began, the general consensus was that this would be a building/development year- Lets look at the success of that;

1. Aaron Brooks - front runner for most improved player
2. Chase Budinger seeing just shy of 20 minutes a game
3. With the introduction of Martin, Ariza has found his roll with this team
4. Jordan Hill is a monster.
5. We now have picks galore (have you checked out the draft? its all bigs)

What did the team sacrifice to achieve all of that? Tracy McGrady and Carl Landry

I believe you have failed to see that.

 

I really don't think I would mind Lowry in the starting line-up. Having said that I really liked what I saw with AB, Martin and Ariza prior to Martin hurting his shoulder. The last few games it has been painful to watch Martin drag his should around the court.

I think this off-season could make the Rockets look a lot different than they look now. Will they get Bosh? If so at what expense? Who will they draft? What other trades might come available that Morey will exploit this off-season? Would Morey be willing to spend enough money to add someone like Camby (he said he would not mind finishing his career as a Rocket) as a reserve?

I believe Morey thinks he has enough talent and draft picks to go along with Yao coming back to really make a splash this coming year.

I think Ariza at the 3 really looks good and will pay dividends next season. So long as he is not asked to do too much he is very very good and well worth the current contract.

Bottom line to me is this; when we were at our best and most consistent this season when we were healthy (minus Yao and TMac) and had our rotation set. The win in Utah is the most impressive Rockets win I have seen in years. We did not start going south until the rotation and roster started going through changes due to trying to work TMac in, injuries, trades and the non-stop shuttling of players back and forth from the Rio Grand.

Next year will depend on staying healthy, developing our rotation prior to 1st game of the regular season, getting Yao back to pre-injury status and just having a defined set of roles that will not change significantly as the season progresses. Even more than who we draft or trade for I think those things will have the most impact on our season and our ability to return to a very good defensive team with out loosing what we have gained offensively.

 

He did have Yao and Tmac for over half a season but he had no one else. David Wesley? Are you serious? Better than Lowry???? Put up a poll and ask the forum whom is the better player, I guarantee you it will be at least 80/20 in favor of Lowry.

Hayes and Battier are still here and Deke never played huge minutes - he wasn't a critical piece to JVG's defensive style. JVG's defense was TEAM defense, not individual. He had great defenses with the Knicks as well - not because he had well known defensive players, but because he made his players play into his system of defense.

The drop off this season was because Adelman switched the focus to more run n' gun which inevitably will hurt your defense. Yao does help on Defense, but it is a marginal impact. It's from a shot blocking perspective, and in today's NBA, when a center can no long camp in the paint on the defensive end, a lot of that benefit is washed away. Yao will help, but it will be a 1% difference maker (significant but not going to move us back into top 5).

Adelman and JVG focus on completely different things. But they are both very good coaches. Personally, I prefer JVG's style because I think defense wins championships since in the playoff it comes down to individual offense talent to score and win games anyway. players have to "take over" to close out games. The offensive schemas get thrown out the window because as a series goes on, coaches figure out how to neutralize them anyway.

It's all about defense. About taking the opposing team out of their comfort zone.

You look at past champions - Lakers, Pistons, Bulls, Rockets, San Antonio - they all had amazing defenses and they all had invidicual players who could take over games. Even Detroit had Billups a playmaker the Rockets don't have.

If we want to win rings, we need to be stellar at D and have a great playmaker or perimeter scorer who can take over. Is that Brooks? Is that Martin? I don't know but I suspect not.

JVG had Yao and T-mac, but he had crap all next to them. David Wesley? C'mon. You put Brooks, Scola, Lowry, and Hill with those guys and it's over.

 

If you believe so much in DM, you should believe in RA too. He got hired by DM.

 

I'm just going to say that you seriously underrate David Wesley or the impact he had on the Rockets. I guess you don't remember how bad the Rockets with Yao and TMac were until they traded Jim Jackson for David Wesley and then as if by magic the Rockets season turned around and we won 51 games. I don't need a poll to know how good David Wesley was since I watched the man play with my own eyes and saw the impact he had.

David Wesley was very similar to Kyle Lowry in the sense that he was never a stat guy but the team always seemed to play better when he was on the floor.

Prior to the David Wesley trade we were 13 wins and 15 losses. After the trade we won our next 3 games in a row and went on to 51 wins for the year.

 

"The best and most consistent" is because temas haven't figured out how Rockets play without Tmac/Yao, just like last years playoff withou Yao going down.

Early in the season, opponnets didnn't try to stop Rockets fastbreaks like they do now, and they didn't attact the rim as nearly much as they are doing now.

Every year there will be some impressive wins and that doesn't mean much. The 30 points win over Dallas a couple seasons ago without Tmac was impressive too, but that didn't mean much either. Utah at the beginning of the season was a losing team, totally different now. So don't just look at one game and thought everything will be fine no matter what.

Next season a lot things can change. But if Yao coming back is the only change, I believe Lowr/Martin/Ariza/Scola/Yao would perform better than AB/Martin/Ariza/Scola/Yao. The pace wouln't be faster once Yao comes back, that means the shots are not going to be more than this year. Of course you want Yao to take a lot more shots than Hayes, and you want start some half court offense through Yao.

That means the impact for AB's offense would be reduced by a lot, that also could mean AB's gain on offense over Lowry would be minimized and becomes less than Lowry's gain on defense/intangible over AB, unlike this year.

One thing I agree with you is changes can still happen between now and next season. For example, if Hill happened to improved his defense substaintially, AB/Martin/Ariza/Hill/Yao might work out well, and Lowry/Scola do their things like Lowry/Landry this year.

 

From old posts, that might be more of Alexander's decision. But I agree RA can coach defense, he just need defensive players in the lineup. Nobody can make Andersen a Deke defensively.

 

lmao, yeah all thanks to david wesley. It had nothing to do with the team gelling and finding their groove. Yes, he was a part of our success but c'mon man. What did he do after houston? Went to Cleveland, missed a wide open fast break layup and was never heard from again. You make it seem like he was the sole reason. Comparing him to Lowry should result in a $500 fine. So who played a part in getting wesley? Was it JVG or since he actually played decent for us, no way JVG had a hand in this deal, right?

 

if we had a walking deke, this team will be much better defensively.

adelman can't teach size.

however, i do believe JVG would have this type playing at a much better level defensively, though worst offensively.

 

Yes, I watched that brick layer as well.

Wesley joined the Rockets AFTER the Rockets started playing better - not before. What was the turnaround you might ask???? It was the Return of Bob Sura who was out at the beginning of the season. It was Bob Sura who was more like Kyle Lowry than David Wesley ever was.

 

While I do worry about the defense, I think the major issue is that Martin is banged up and Ariza while good is not a defensive juggernaut on par with Artest or Battier.

 

Now heres a guy who know what he is talking about. :grin:

 

JVG failed he was fired.

Rick Adelman has gotten further than JVG did in just a couple of years.

We have the better coach, you will see next year.

DD

 

I didn't realize worrisome was a direction.

 

There's always a next year.

 

Fail. Define: adjective.

 

I'm a big Boby Sura fan but the Rockets were coming off of a loss and had lost 3 of the last 5 games and were 13 wins and 15 losses when David Wesley joined the team and they really started playing well when he joined Sura in the back court as a starter.

Be careful throwing around the word Brick Layer because some people around here might use it to describe Lowry who is making a blistering 39% of his shots for the year.

The truth is that both players contributions cant really be measured on the stat sheet. But both players are or were extremely valuable to there teams on both ends of the court.

 

I always think the coach has input on trades and Jim Jackson for David Wesley was a good one. To deny David Wesley's contribution as a Rocket and to not recognize his talents just because you think it helps your arguments is asinine.

I guess anytime facts are used in this discussion to support views that differ from yours they will always be purely coincidence and have no true baring on the product on the floor.

 

Wesley was a scrub had had no business starting. Lowry is far more physical and better at attacking the basket. They both are rather poor perimeter shooters. Lowry is also a better passer and rebounder.

The truth is that the Rockets were playing losing basketball before Sura returned, yes, they lost a few right after his return because it was his first few games back.

But once he got integrated, the won 4 of 5 and continued to play winning ball when Wesley joined the team in late december. Your facts are off, check the game logs. The turn around happened with Sura.

Yes, Wesley was an upgrade over Jackson - but that's because Jackson was ready to retire. You plug in Ariza or Chase into Wesley's spot and that team would have been even better.

 

No my facts are dead on. What's wrong the truth is not convenient enough for you?

Fact: Wesley was acquired on 12/29
Fact: Rockets had 13 wins and 15 losses at the time of the trade
Fact: Rockets were coming off a loss
Fact: Rockets had lost 3 of the last 5 at the time of the trade
Fact: Rockets won the first game Wesley was a Rocket
Fact: Rockets won the next three games in a row after the trade
Fact: Rockets went on to win 51 games
Fact: If you think Wesley was a scrub you didn't watch much basketball back then