SamFisher, Since you like 82games so much, you might want to check out this page , where we can see that the team is better in just about every way with Ward on the court, tha n they are with him off of it. The team scores at a better rate and with a better eFG%. His only problem is staying with the quicker PGs out there, and that is sometihing that Sura should be able to help with. Lue is killing this team. When Sura comes back and we have a PG rotation of Ward and Sura, that position will be fine. They are never going to put up the offensive numbers that Francis did, because they won't dominate the ball and they won't take as many shots, but they will be better for the team.
Stupidmoniker: Since I like it so much, I might just marry it. Anyway, I don't need to remind you that when you play with the starters, as Ward does, the teams raw (granted it is adjusted slightly to per/100 possessions but not very much, and not enough to account for teammates, etc) plus minus numbers are going to be a lot better than somebody who plays with the backups, as Lue does, especially on a thin team with no bench. if you want to use that as the ultimate measure, fine, but be aware that it renders Scott Padgett into a franchise player for the second year running, means that Francis was better than Yao last year, etc etc etc. Somehow I'm guessing you wouldn't be ok with that. Anyway, I used net PER because it's a better number for this type of analysis on a quick hitting basis. Ward is average at creating scoring opporutnities for his teammates, and below average at scoring, and average or above average at protecting the ball. Ward is horrific on defense. Lue is a nightmare in all these categories, pretty much (yet even he has a small positive net unadjusted plus/minus). Lip service about fundamentals will not change either of these things. I'm not holding out much hope that Adrian Griffin, I mean Bob Sura, is going to walk in and start stoning people like Alvin Robertson. But we'll see. The bottom line is, without Yao and Tracy, we are f-cked, if things continue the way they are with respect to the cast and crew. They are just not very good.
Ok. What a waste of time. My time. Your time. Everybody's time. Therefore, after replying to this post, i am going to, like everyone else, ignore you. Now, in no way do i go around ignoring and dissing every person that i don't agree with, but when i do do that, its a hint to that person. His posts are trash. Case in point: You wrote a whole post, with hundreds of words, statistics, and your own meticulously thought out deductions, to prove that other point guards are better than ours. No. ****. Sherlock. We have below average PGs. Thats a fact. Thats a result of trading for the best SG in the league. I never said he was an allstar. I never said he is going to outplay Billups, the Finals MVP. Bibby. Jason Williams. Cassell. Or even Alston. Those are the guys he has played against thus far. And being out played by them upsets you? We have two Superstars. As a result, we have subpar role players. We are not a balanced team. For the billionth freakin' time. Why don't you compare Tmac against opposing SGs? We traded away our PG to get Tmac, thereby ending up with Ward, and you choose to completely ignore Tmac, and just focus on Ward's shortcomings? This is why I'm so mean to you, your logic just don't make sense. And now you're accusing me of "nitpicking a few stats"?? Let me quote you on something you said earlier: "If I recall correctly, a few weeks ago, you seemed to advocate that not only were we deceptively deep, but our point guard situation had improved by leaps and bounds in key areas, and you are currently touting Charlie Ward's effectiveness. The results thus far this season indicate otherwise. " My "nitpicking of a few stats" are associated with those KEY AREAS. Like i said before the season started, our PG needs to do a few things. Can the 3. Play defense. Don't turn the ball over. Those stats proved 2 out of 3. Ward is proving too slow to keep up with quick point guards, this is why we have Sura. Even with that said, Ward is still leading the team in steals, and plays excellent position defense. Him and Taylor draw the most offensive fouls on our team. In no way did i imply, or should you expect, our PG to outplay or outscore opposing PGs, when we have two superstars. My dad is a brilliant man. I never realized that when i was a kid. I always used to argue with him, and he always ended up handing me my ass. At the time, i thought he was an ******* for belittling me, which prompted me to always argue even more. But each and every time he proved his points and i was left with nothing to say. Now, i am a little older, a little more humble and a lot wiser. I regret not listening to him more, because now that i think back to it, he was mostly right. But my stubborness and ignorance and immaturity blinded me. The exact same thing is happening here Sam. Your points are so pointless, and often just wrong, that they anger me. Which prompts my little jabs. Sadly, this will be my final response. Your ignorance has exhausted my patience. Hopefully by years end, you will realize your mistakes, accept your shortcomings, and like i did many years ago, grow up. Moral of the story, SamFisher, who's your DADDY?
Let me first say that, after reading your post, that i have alot more respect for you than that other dufus. In fact, i have the utmost repect for you. It seems like your concerns are born mostly out of skepticism. And thats fine. I love skepticism. Its healthy, and it prevents you from getting too high. But with that said, you are wrong. The point is, our PG is not counted on to score, at all. When they are open for the three, shoot it. And make it. Thats it offense wise. They don't even have to create for others. Reason, Tmac does the majority of the ball handling and play making. When you say "last night was a prime example", thats whats wrong with your point. Last night, and the night before, were abberrations. Tmac was out. Our team is built around Tmac and Yao. When one is out, others have to over compensate. By over compensating, they are counted on doing things they can't do. Namely, JJ and Ward scoring and creating. They will look alot better once Tmac is back. Like in my previous post stated, in no way should we expect our PG, or for that matter, PF and SF positions to outplay opposing positions when our SG and C are so dominant. We are NOT a balanced team. Ward will be outplayed, fine by me. Agreed. Difference is, i'm not as concerned. I never said i ignored it. I read it. Throughly. And thought it was full of crap. I never said we are a championship team this year. I think we will make the second round. After future personel adjustments, we will compete for a championship.
I'm going to ask you the same question I asked you at the beginning. Answer it yes or no, you can even put in a funny speech (although a picture says 1,000 words in certain circumstnces) if you want. Got Depth? Caught with your pants down on that one, eh?
You are idiotic beyond humanly capacity. I marvel at your ineptitude in reading comprehension, Oh great Ape Man. To answer your one question you asked me in the beginning, i guess I'll just quote myself from my post that responded to your question that you asked me in the beginning. In case that didn't do it for you, in one word, YES. We have depth. And by the way, if my pants are ever down, by God you will notice. In this case, they are up. Now be GONE demon woman! I cast you away ole insolent conjurer of lunacy! BOOGABOOGABOOGA!
Question answered. Thanks. I just hope it doesn't take that many more losses to keep proving you right.
With so much of the talent (JVG has something to say about that) concentrated in 2 players, one of those players going down to injury is basically a killer. TMac had garbage around him on the Magic, and he saw what happened. Anyone who thinks the Rockets are going to have a good chance of winning against a playoff-bound West team without either TMac or Yao is just drinking too much koolaid. Look at the Twolves. They got KG, Sam, Sprewell, and a roster full of depth. Look at the Lakers game. Kobe is a top 5 NBA player. Assuming Yao's impact counters Kobe's impact, the edge goes to the Lakers for the rest of the roster. I'd take Odom over anyone else on the roster if TMac isn't playing. Without TMac, it's like fighting Mike Tyson with one arm tied behind your back. TMac needs to come back healthy, or else this team is done. The Rockets were lucky to be even in the games in the end. When TMac comes back, Rockets will win again.
I agree with this. Those are our superstars. When the Lakers had Shaq and Kobe, and Shaq went down with injury, the Lakers were f'ed. That doesn't mean that the Lakers role players sucked, it just meant that they were not able to play within their roles. Likewise, when Tracy or Yao is taken out of the Rockets lineup, we are then forced to ask more from our roleplayers than they are able to give us, not because they suck, but because they are role players. That is the world of salary cap sports. If you want to win a championship you can either build a team like Sacramento or Detroit, with a lot of balance but not relying on superstars, or you can hope that superstars that you build your team around stay healthy. The Detroit model worked once in the last 24 years, the superstar model worked 23 times. Those are the only proven roads to the championship. So, we now have a legitimate shot to contend for the title every year that we have Yao and McGrady, but with that, we need to accept that an injury to either one puts us in a tough spot, especially when we are already depending on the likes of Tyronn Lue, Ryan Bowen, and Bostjan Nachbar to play heavy minutes. Just like the Lakers were depending on Devon George, Derek Fisher, and Samakai Walker to play heavy minutes. It isn't that they are not good players, it is just that they are good role players, and they can't be asked to carry the team.
I think Tyler is actually the schizophrenic alter-ego of the calm and reserved SamFisher. Watching this psychological battle unfold in this forum is a thesis paper for some Psych-major with writer's block.
Oh my God. That is effing brilliant. They are doing the online fighting thing in order to lure people into their cult. I don't know if it's working, but then again, i didn't see how it worked in the movie where Ed Norton started beating himself up and guys started looking up to him as their savior. I mean, would you idolize someone that starts fighting with himself.
Calm and reserved samFisher. Never thought i'd see those words to describe you Sam, especially after seeing you in the D&D duking it out with TJ.
geez guys, quit bustin on lue. He's not the greatest player, but he's not supposed to play huge minutes. He's a *game-changer*. He runs at a different pace and has an effect on the game. I agree his mins will be cut, though I think he'll still get 10-15 at least for a while. He's a terrible starter and a solid backup. Stop saying he can't shoot after 5 games...we know he's a decent shooter.
Tyler Durden: First let me say that I admire your passion. It's refreshing to see a guy with strong opinions who is not afraid to back them up. Now as for what you said about the Rockets' PG position, you are dead on in that this position is not being counted on to produce points. What concerns me though is that by concentrating the bulk the scoring between 2 players you make it easy for other teams to defend against you by concentrating their defenses on shutting down your prime scoring options. That's the book on defending this team right now: collapse on Yao thereby clogging up the lane preventing T-Mac from penetrating - forcing him to be a jumpshooter. Let the other guys beat you and nine times out of ten, they won't. That's why you see Lue, Ward, JJ and the rest wide open out there because they aren't considered threats to score on a consistent basis. All I pointing out here is that this has created an imbalance on the offensive side of the ball that continues to hold this team back. Because I'm in Dallas, I see most of the Spurs and all of the Mavericks & Rockets games so I get to compare the 3 franchises. While the Mavericks aren't in the same class defensively as the Rockets, offensively they are light years ahead because their offense is much more balanced with players who can score from any position on the floor so opposing teams can't concentrate on just stopping one or two players. Teams playing Dallas are forced to make painful choices defensively because of this and that's what makes them so dangerous. I simply don't see other teams having to adjust all that much to what the Rockets are doing offensively. Now add in the constant mistakes, turnovers and factor in injuries and you can begin to appreciate why I am uneasy with the direction of this team. But we are both in agreement that this team is quite a ways removed from being considered of championship caliber. That will depend on future personnel moves. While many folks here feel confident that this organization is capable of making the right moves, I do not share their faith in Dawson & Co. but that is a discussion for another time.
The unbalanced scoring has never been a problem. Look at the most recent championship teams minus this year's Pistons: Jordan/Pippen, Kobe/Shaq, Hakeem/Clyde, Hakeem by himself, Duncan/Parker, Duncan/Robinson. Superstars are deemed superstars for a reason. Because teams CAN'T stop them no matter what.
Yao and Tmac can't be stopped. Even when opposing team collapse their whole defense on them, they will still kill you. Case in point: Yao dropping 32 with triple teams on him. Whats even more impressive about Yao's recent outing, although he has scored >32 before, this time almost every single point of his came from postup, one on one(three) play. Because Tmac was out, we had no penetrators to create easy buckets for Yao. And since his armpad seems to prohibit him from spotup shooting, he can't pick and pop. For example, in the first quarter, he had a wide open outside shot from a semi-pick and roll. However, he refused to shoot it, and drove to the hole, planting a solid elbow into Grant's neck. So basically, those 32 points were probably the most hard earned 32 he has ever gotten. But still, fighting 2, 3, 4 Lakers, he still got 32. Last year, Orlando had one offensive threat. When we played them, our whole defense was keyed to stop that one offensive threat. I think their offense was alittle more predictable than our current one. Yet, facing triple teams all year, Tmac still could not be stopped. His team was another matter. But still, Orlando of previous years was a good team, with basically one offensive threat, with Miller as a maybe. Combine these two, who on their own can carry their mediocre to terrible teammates, and compete. I am convinced, that just our two superstars alone, can not be stopped. The offensive burden is on them. And they will excel. All our role players need to do is play OFF of our superstars. Hit their open shots. And Ward, JJ, Nachbar, Lue are doing a fine job. I believe we are 3rd in the league in 3pt%.
