If Juwan keeps playing the way he's playing, JVG will probably continue to start him. It's a "respect" thing. Whether it's the correct decision is less clear. Juwan provides some inside scoring. It would be nice if he's on the floor whenever Yao is resting, since he isn't going to get nearly as many scoring opportunities in the starting lineup with McGrady and Yao both dominating the ball. Will he be as effective in that more limited role? I have my doubts. If he comes in with the second unit, he'll likely get more touches while on the court. On the other hand, Juwan has struggled a lot since he's been with the Rockets whever he's had to come off the bench. Maybe he needs to be a starter to be effective.
seeing as how juwan's offense is primarily 12 foot jumpshots, maybe he could play SF for a bit. The lineup would be PG Alston SG T-mac SF Juwan PF Hayes C Yao This way, we have the Hayes/Yao tandem, with no harm to Juwan's contribution.
You can't be serious. Juwan can't guard SFs. They would go right by him. Our front line would be the slowest in the NBA by a wide margin. And as durvasa points out, no way Shane doesn't start. Tracy, Yao and Shane are the foundation of our team. Juwan/Chuck are serviceable at PF. Our PG situation is pathetic.
That's what I thought too, but IIRC Juwan began stepping up this season in the games before Yao got injured, when he was still playing backup to Hayes. It really looked like he was accepting his role off the bench and beginning to thrive on it. And in the (very) few games we got to see Bonzi, the tandem of Howard and Bonzi looked very very promising. A second unit frontcourt of Bonzi and Howard with Mutombo anchoring the defense could be downright scary. Sigh. Come back soon, Yao!
Definitely Hayes. when Yao is out, we need Jho's points, but when Yao is back, he can take care of the offensive job himself, it's better letting Hayes on the defensive side. the rebounds, and to avoid Yao being in fault trouble.
If you gotta pick a starter, I think ya gotta go Juwan. I think Hayes has a future, but right now, Howard is a better player for our needs. I think his 12 ft jumper helps pull the defense out a bit, and opens up more area for Yao, as well as more lanes around the basket for Battier rebounding and TMAC drives. Personally, I think the Juwan and Hayes should be alternated depending on the matchup, why paint yourself into a corner by declaring 1 or the other your fulltime starter?.
Speechless...You guys have some Amazing ideas. Bench Yao for Dikembe...Howard playing small foward. Why didn't I think of that?
Yao/Hayes, JHO/Deke, these are their combinations. Yao/JHO may be also OK, coz Yao will get double teamed, JHO can shoot these middle-range jumpers. But I still choose Hayes with Yao, it's more effective at both ends.
That's pretty like what i want to say. But Hayes do need to improve his offense, and do more than just set screen in pick and roll.
Juwan gives us a low post presence when Yao is out the game. Chuck is better at grabbing easy rebounds while teams double/triple Yao.
It's very unlikely that Jeff would play Yao and JHo together on the floor, except during the last few seconds when we need a bucket.
it's not like howard cannot play with yao, it's more like hayes cannot play with deke. it does not matter who starts, i want to see yao/howard/battier/tmac/head to close games. tmac the playmaker, head/battier for 3, howard mid j, yao low post, how can any team defend this?
While I agree with you, I don't think saying Chuck just gets the "easy rebounds." He out-hustles most opponents for the ball, but he is a foul machine in so doing. When you subtract the points we give away at the free throw line because of those fouls and add Howard's superior shooting ability, Howard is clearly the better choice.
Well, as long as Juwan can grab a rebound every four minutes (on average) he should be the starter. However, with his entire career as proof, he is unable to do that consistently and I'm pretty sure his rebounding will go down soon. It really doesn't matter to me. Chuck plays 20-25 minutes usually before fouling out. Then we have no choice to play Juwan and he gets his 25 minutes too. So in any case, they will both be playing in the 20-25 minute range, while Yao usually plays more than 35 minutes. The amount of time any of them plays WITH Yao is not significant enough for it to make a difference. One thing we do know is that Yao/Hayes has been succesful, and now Deke/Juwan. So since Yao has to start, maybe we maximize Juwan's non-Yao minutes with Deke to get the best bench play possible. They have the chemistry going now, so it could work nicely.
While I admire Chuck's aggressiveness and over-achiever play, he is not a first stringer or really even worthy of 25 minutes per game. I would bet he costs us 4 to 6 points per game in free throw differential (free throws the other team gets/makes vs. the free throws he gets/makes). I'm sure there is stat-rat who can track that differential. We really need a taller, young PF with a heart as big as Chuck's.
Just because Juwan is at SF offensively, doesn't mean he has to guard SFs. And I didn't say this should be the starting lineup I said this is one of the lineups we can use, especially for offense. Juwan with the midrange, Yao in the post, McGrady on the perimeter - triple threat. But I agree - starting SF has to be Shane always
