Thing I Learned About This Rocket Team During The Playoffs.

Well done. I agree with a lot of that.

 

Landry is what he is. I'm a little disappointed in him but maybe that was because I expect too much. At times, he is an amazing player but it seems when the screws tighten and/or the opponents are bigger he disappears. I like him but would have no problems parting with him if he had to be part of a package to bring in a good player.

There is no way I want him playing more than 20 minutes a game. As part of the Scolandry combo he is great but if you are expecting him to improve I think you will be disappointed.

 

Yeah, Landry didn't take the step forward I hoped for. I thought he was much more inconsistent in his 2nd year than he was as a rookie. McGrady would have helped him, actually.

 

yes agreed on a lot of good points except for lowry...i think he's wise and knows his limits...one thing we didn't need was another person jacking up 3's instead of going to the rim during a shooting slump.

From this series brooks looks like he can be a borderline top tier player if he gets his bball IQ up there...Battier plays with passion and poise and is mr intangible that silently does his job

Can't wait till RA implements full on princeton offense and gets Yao on the elbow like we saw in some games during the playoffs...truly we will be a force to be reckoned with next year

Totally agree on the Artest assesment...he is a 3rd option scorer that has no business dominating the ball for most of the shot clock

 

Nice post.

Still not convinced AB is a 2nd tier star though, at least not if he plays PG with Yao on the court.

He's as quick as you can get, he shoots well when he's open, he plays hard and he's not selfish. But his flaw is also too obvious. He isn't effecitive on days his shots are not falling because he doesn't have good PG skills except dribbling. When there is a decision to make other than shooting, more often than not he won't find the best decision. He can be rendered much useless when opponents are paying attention to him.

AB plays better without Yao in LA series, he is also lucky to have faced two worst PGs among all other western playoff teams, so AB's defensive weakness is minimized.

I believe AB's trade value is all time high as a PG now. That's a good thing for Morey to work with. Imagine the trade Tmac for Billups + Hamilton went through,we might still be playing.

 

landry is a great finisher inside and he worked well with mcgrady penetrating and getting passes from him.

but we need to remember this:

He did have a knee scope in the offseason and the whole contract debacle probably had him coming into camp a bit out of basketball shape than he would have liked to have been.

Also he did work on his jumper a lot in the off season, his mid range jumper was pretty good now when it wasnt that good in his rookie campaign.


he got shot in the leg right after playing a pretty good game in NO and about when i felt he was starting to get his groove going. thats going to slow anyone down.

He needs to work on his post game and regaining some of his exposiveness from his rookie season but I think he will be just fine next year.

 

OldManRock, thanks for a great summary of what was and what needs to be.

 

I learned we cant play Yao more than 30 minutes during the regular season if we want him to play the whole playoffs...

 

Mcgrady would have helped Yao's fronting problem big time too.

About Tmac, I'm still on the fense. If he can come back healthy, he'd help the team a lot. I know he may not play hard sometimes, but as long as he plays hard and being healthy in playoffs, he's still so valuable to the team, maybe even more valuable than Yao.

 

He either needs to focus on his post game, or focus on ball handling. He needs to work on keeping control of the ball for about 3 dribbles. If he can work on his dribbling, he could drive like crazy. But now, it's still raw, and loses the ball 1/2 the time.

 

I like Carter's game, but I think it is too late in his career to trade for him when he has this many high-dollar years left on his contract. He is very likely to have all or most of the same problems people have with McGrady, and he has less talent to start with, too.

Even though I'm still ambivalent about the whole McGrady situation, and how badly he really wanted to "screw us" over or whatever, I wouldn't be opposed to trading him if we didn't have to do it for a gamble as big as Carter. If anyone can figure out a better trade, though, it's Morey.

... But I also wouldn't be opposed to giving McGrady one last shot. I mean, what do we have to lose? If he's still looking like crap or not healthy by mid-season, we can just as easily dump him any time before the trade deadline in February as we can this summer, or "worst" case scenario we keep him and keep the $22M for our own books. And he's going to be in a contract year this year, so that might give him a little extra motivation to rehab and get his game tight.

 

I think injuries and getting shot put Landry behind a year. I'm counting next year as Landry's break out year to be a premium back up PF.

I'm also wondering if seeing this team in the playoffs this year might light a fire under McGrady and see if he can come back healthy with good work ethic. No risk there, either he becomes an asset and you keep him, or you trade his expiring/let his contract expire.

A decent back up center with size is what this team needs, someone to reduce Yao's minutes. The injury to Deke ended up being a bigger factor against LA than I thought. Their size was the factor in game seven and having Deke in there to clear the boards would have kept the game closer.

 

OMR,

Agree with everything except Von, I think he is better when he KNOWS he is going to play and not be yanked at his first mistake.

He is not stupid, just eager to show what he can do...too eager !

He sees other players that are getting minutes making the same mistakes as he is...(ron ..cough..cough...) yet they continue to play, and then he makes one little mistake and BAM out he comes.

As a player that has to be maddening.

Just look at Von's stats as a starter, and honestly, he fits better with Yao than any of our wings.

DD

 

1. Artest brings as many, but different, intangibles as battier
2. Tmac needs to come back with the understanding. . . he is NOW A ROLE PLAYER - maybe a bench player until he proves other wise
but he is NO LONGER THE MAIN MAN! . . This is not his team. It is not YAO's team. It is simply a TEAM. He is not the main cog . . .the days of getting rid of someone for waving him off. . . ARE OVER!

Rocket River

 

If Lowry passes up on open threes, he needs to take a step or two in and nail 18 footers.

 

I wouldn't be quick to dispose of Landry. He had his moments in the playoffs. Big jumpers made against Portland. A good game in game 2 at LA. And a solid game 6 vs LA.

I believe he will improve again next year.

 

If your final statement comes true, T-Mac comes back healthy it negates your penultimate statement about Yao facing fronting defenses. Healthy McGrady makes fronting Yao impossible.

 

Also, about the Landry discussion...

I think Landry made a pretty decent improvement this season, all things considered. I think his knee affected his athleticism a little bit, but his jumper was pretty much money this year. Plus, he learned to make free throws pretty consistently.

He's developing a bit of a post-game, too. I think Landry can still become noticeably more productive for us, but even if he is close to his ceiling, it's not half bad of a ceiling... I mean you can't get that greedy when you're talking about a back-up PF to go alongside Chuck Hayes. We're pretty deep at that position already.