I was just about to post this exact point. Scola, Landry, Alston, Head, Jackson--they're all capable of stepping up and having huge nights individual or collectively. You won't see the same guy stepping into the role of the third scorer consistently. But somebody on the team does step up into that role.
but can they in the playoffs? rafer, battier, head all disappeared last yr like ghosts. you need that 3rd guy that will ALWAYS get those touches after yao and tmac, that will always get us 15-16 pts...
Um.. we now have Bobby Jackson, Carl Landry, and Luis Scola. Are you saying they will disappear as well?
all i'm saying is we never go to those guys consistently as a 3rd scorer. i love it b/c it's unexpected every night. but if i remembered correctly, head and battier both had career high shooting when we ended the season. both were dreadful to start. the playoffs are another beast.
How hard is it to understand? T-Mac and Yao were our team's center pieces. CD did not want to draft a rookie, and *hope* that the rookie panned out. And, how do rookies even pan out? Playing time, giving them shots. The reason why Rudy Gay is so good right now, is because a. Memphis sucks b. He can throw up as many shots as he wants becuase of that. See: Kevin Durant In theory, you think to yourself, wow, Rudy Gay would be a great third scorer on this team, but you're missing out on the fact that the Rockets didn't have the time or shots for him to take in order for him to *hopefully* pan out. The Rockets for the past couple of years have a 'win now' attitude. And no better person to bring in than a seasoned veteran, a high basketball IQ, glue/hustle guy that plays D and knows his role, Shane Battier
Famous Last Words: Rudy Gay will amount to a non-impact in the league and really will just be another Steve Francis (it pains me to say that). Being a good player on a bad team is worthless.
you're right... We will probably loose something on D but Adelman has always been an underated defensive (obviously not on Van Gundy's level). I don't think we should 'pluck away' our defensive players but i wouldn't be opposed to a trade that brought in an impact player that wasn't porous on defense. I just happen to think that Battier is gonna have to be the guy to move (if we have to move anyone) to get another big time scorer because the rest of our defensive players like Rafer and Hayes aren't really highly coveted by other teams.
You are crazy if you think we would be better off with Jason Richardson then Shane Battier. Yes, we gave up the 8th pick but we also dumped Stromile Swift's contract and got a player in Shane with a reasonable salary. Charlotte got no cap relief, and pays Richardson about 10 million per year. Also, you make this post right after Gay plays a good game. What about the games where Battier outplayed him easily this year. What about the game where Battier stuck on Kobe all day to extend our streak. Lastly, do you really think Gay would average 20 points on this team with a healthy Yao and Tmac. Just remember, Mike James averaged 20 points a couple years ago. Doesnt always translate when you go to a better team
There's at least a couple of huge differences between this year and the last. First, there's a new offense. Second, there's Scola and Landry. There's less pressure when there's more scoring options.
I don't know how to look this up, but just last year Monta Ellis increased his scoring by 9.7 points per game, so I doubt that this is true.
Can we please have a rule that all conversations about Gay vs. Battier shall instantly be converted to conversations about whether the Rockets should have outbid the Blazers for Roy, or at least offered them enough to make them give us Foye, who was the key to getting Roy from the Wolves. That was the real issue in that draft. It shouldn't have taken much of a sweetener to make that deal happen. Who here wouldn't have coughed up Head and Battier (the result of our #8), along with our Aaron Brooks pick? And I say this as a huge Battier fan. I would have even found a way to tolerate looking at Stromile Swift for another couple of years. Morey was there and should have done better. Maybe he tried.
It is interesting that Rudy Gay has hardly been in the conversation for Most Improved Player this season, as Ellis was the previous year.
And the collapse had everything to do with a complete 180 in their team defense. They lost some other veterans, and they got a new coach. Perhaps the competition improved. But if the claim here is that athleticism and offensive talent trumps veteran leadership and the "intangibles", then they were arguably a better team on paper. Even when Gasol returned after injury last season, he and Miller were providing similar production. And yet, the team has been consistently bad ever since the 05/06 season.
The team that will always boggle my mind is the Golden State Warriors of the mid 1990's. They had: PG - Tim Hardaway SG - Latrell Sprewel SF - Chris Mulin PF - Chris Webber C - Roney Sikely I know I've mispelled some names. But talent wise that was an awesome awsome awsome team. Talent helps! But nothing compares to hard work.
rudy gay again? that's like a distraction from the real problem. the rockets wanted brandon roy. the real problem is that jvg and the rockets won that POINTLESS game against denver .... damn damn damn. brandon roy > rudy gay brandon roy > shane battier
Oh pleeze...like no one ever expected either one of those players would go down injured. Your next post will be about how fragile McLady and Ming are when compared to the Great Ones! That's when Gay would have gotten his shots. Isn't that the real reason management had that win now mentality to start with? And with Tracy and Ming's consistency of injuries, it would have made good basketball sense to RETOOL at that point. By the time a team reaches the lottery, it takes forever to make it back to championship level. Note our own experience. So when you have a chance to do what San Antonio did when David Robinson was injured, you take Duncan! Every single time! How about when the first team neeeds a rest? Who is our second team scorer? Who demands a double team then? While Ming has been down this season, how many almost complete games has Tracy had to play in order to keep either offence on the floor, or someone who can create offence for others. Please note this years Boston Celtics.....and they only play with one ball. But the bottom line is this. And maybe this is something we all can agree on and move on from. There is no way that Van Gundy would have played Rudy, under any circumstances. I'm surprised he didn't try to bring Patrick Ewing in to replace Ming. Gays talents would have been wasted on the bench...the end of the bench. And everyone would now be saying "I told you so..." Van Gundy does not and will not develop young talent. I'm glad he wasn't coach of Da Bulls when Michael came out of college. I'm sure Chicago would have traded that pick away for......
Ha-ha-ha..."Win Now" was a joke then and still makes me laugh. And Shane Battier is someone you take when you are assured you have two VERY healthy stars and don't need the upside potential of a Lottery pick to close the gap to WC elites. For the record, I don't pencil anyone in as a WC elite until the 2nd round of the playoffs. That is the ONLY measure of a successful season.
