Thing I Learned About This Rocket Team During The Playoffs.

Right, one is good on defense, and one is good on offense, they do not compare.

DD

 

I thought Von was just killed by Sasha. We can still use him. I agree he plays no defense though.

 

you have to have a playmaker, you can't have 5 role players the entire season.

 

Kyle Lowry will be a beast. He spent all of his first season with the Rockets making sure he's doing the correct things and earn Adelman's trust. He will only get better as he gains experience and develops a more consistent jumper. In my opinion, he has a decent mid range jumper already, just not very good from three point range. He isn't afraid to drive to the hoop either. No complaints.

 

IMO, they are all role players. If Mac comes back with anywhere near what he brought before, his role is to defend, setup his teammates and score the ball. The only thing I would change is the attitude. Maybe give him electro-shock until he can no longer speak the words "supporting cast" or "at my mercy."

 

1. when you are a PG and you are wide open, that's a bad sign. Lowry is Rafer minus guts to shoot.

2. "Yao Ming is unstoppable" should be stopped. we need an unstoppable player.

3. Scola should reduce his jumpers to half.

4. Brooks needs to be forced to shoot.

5. only $30M played in 2nd round playoffs? That is a $46M question for Morey.

6. Can we just get one player who can jump in the starting line up?

 

I pretty much agree with most of the post. On Wafer: the reason why he's probably gone is that he's likely going to command more money than he's worth on the free agent market. He's a good role player, but he's not worth MLE money, and someone's going to throw that at him. He's still too one-dimensional -- once he gets the ball he only knows how to take it to the basket. If he weren't a free agent, I would be a lot more excited about his development prospects with the team.

On Landry: I thought he started slow, and then was later derailed by the gunshot. I think he still has a chance to make great strides this offseason especially since he doesn't have to go through surgery this time around, and could really improve his strength and defensive IQ. If he can play better defense, he should command more minutes, as he is the type of player that is naturally productive on offense despite being nothing more than a cog in the wheel.

I would like to see the organization make some effort to get a worthy backup for Yao -- someone capable of playing a decent number of minutes every night. I would also like to see a return to the high post/low post hybrid that Adelman tried initially with Yao. With an improved midrange jumper, I think it would go a long way to keep defenses off balance while trying to figure out how to stop Yao, and would also open up the game a lot more for a kid like Brooks who seems quite a bit more dangerous when the paint area is open for him to drive into.

 

How ya doin', Old Man?

Here...let me get that slobber on your chin...

This was a nice post. And down the list:

Yes. Shane Battier is everything he's been advertised as. A great competitor and leader. He's the heart and soul of the Rockets. Has been for a while now. And the Rockets still needed to split his responsibilities between him and two other players because all that heart isn't enough on its own. Love the guy, but way too costly (lottery pick) for what he brings you, If you don't think we could've gotten grit a lot cheaper, ask Mario Elie.

Ron Artest is Ron Artest. And anybody who thought he was something more than that was just about ready to buy some prime real estate out past Bolivar Island. But Artest did what he was supposed to do. And no, that's not make this a tougher team. The Rockets were plenty tough last season. Just didn't have enough talent. And Artest, no matter what he thinks or tells you or you believe, wasn't supposed to be the number one or number two option on this team. That's why he didn't do so well at it. But I wouldn't mind seeing him back.

Aaron Brooks is hard to figure out for me. He's actually more Calvin Murphy than Tony Parker, to me. Or at least he should be if you have Yao. Brooks can shoot. That's what he's got to remember. He's got to learn to get to spots on the floor and shoot in the half court. His size works against him too often against half court defenses when he tries to get to the basket, but I agree with you that he could be lethal in transition with some guys who'd run the floor with him.

Kyle Lowry is a point guard. Period. Figured that out about him his first game here, when he couldn't tell you the names of all his teammates, but he played like he'd been part of the team for years. Lowry knows how to play. He's fearless. He's smart. He's tough. He could start for this team. But yeah, he's got to become a better shooter. And I think he will.

Luis Scola is the consummate international player. For me, it was never a matter of IF Scola could adjust to the NBA, but WHEN. Scola doesn't scare very easily, either. Nice trait to have in your power forward. Scola's too skilled to de-volve into some goon, but he looks to be heading that direction. We do need him to be physical, especially on defense, but it's really not fair to think a guy like him would get on anybody's team and not be an impact player.

Carl Landry is the guy who's got to make the biggest adjustment, to me, if he's got designs on being anything other than a bench player. he's a little too undersized on a team that's already small to give you much at the four-spot against the better teams. But Landry has the athleticism to change his game form a post player to a wing guy. He's never going to have any killer-crossover dribbles, but if he could have a game where he could put the ball on the floor with one dribble from about 17 feet out...well...

Von Wafer is exactly the kind of player the Rockets have needed coming off their bench. A guy with size enough to play the wings and score. We haven't seen that here in so long it's made Wafer the Messiah to most of us. So much so that we're willing to forgive his passion more often than not frying his brains. What you do with a guy like Wafer is keep him and keep his job simple. And if he walks, you find somebody else to do his job.

All Yao needs to do is stay healthy. And maybe lose 10-15 pounds to ease the stress on his feet. He's going to get pounded no matter what. And it makes about as much sense to park him at the free throw line 40% of the time as it does to try to light matches underwater. Everybody else plays off Yao. Not the other way around.

Ahhh, Tracy McGrady...the patron saint of knuckle-headed, underachieving, cross-dressing basketball players. And to think that people had the nerve to put this character on an All-NBA team just a season or so ago...

I wouldn't mind McGrady staying. The thinking that he'd make the team worse is silly. McGrady never made bad worse. He just mad it look better than it really was. But all that's water under a very tall bridge.

Last chance, T-Mac. Better show us what you're made of...
...unless it's chiffon. Then there's nothing left to do but cry...

 

i love ur idea of when yao is fronted, brooks should drive to the basket...