When Battier comes back, would you rather start him and put Artest on the bench, or vice versa? Or would you do something else? Explain.
That's easy. Shane. Not because he's better individually but the exact opposite. Better team player and his chemistry and presence for spacing offensively is a must. Also I think his Defense is smarter and he has a calming effect on the other starters.
Shane because that will give Yao more touches early on the low post and T-Mac can dominate the ball more and be effective. Artest will be more effective coming from the bench, just like SA. Manu did not well with the starter because all the SA big 3 dominated the ball so much and they are great scores at the paint. Houston big 3 needs the ball to be effective and are best fit to score inside. Ron will finish just like Manu does with SA, but by the end of the game everybody is clicking as well as the offense and He can problably concentrate on lock the other best defender to get us stop instead of trying to get everybody involve. By bring Artest from the bench you guarantee Houston will have at least 2 of the Big 3 on the floor at all time. Artest will end up playing started minutes but the team will be more balance offensively at all time and will use more effectively the players strength, especially early in games when you need to get in a rhythm.
I've been wondering, what's our starting lineup to finish games? I love the idea of Battier and Artest on the floor at the same time for the incredible defensive options that gives us, but who sits? Either Artest playes the 4 and Bat the 3, or we play Scola and McGrady slides to PG which I wouldn't want for long periods of time, but just in those final minutes. Thoughts?
ideally i'd start shane, coz we really need artest's offense off the bench, but its a matter of whether or not artest will accept that role thats teh bigger question.
I think it is better for the team to have Artest coming off the bench. I think it will benefit him, being the number one option with the second unit. So our starting Unit will perform better with Battier and Artest will be able to play like he did against Dallas on a regular basis.
artest will be an absolute beast off the bench.... it will be a dominant bench with brookes, barry, artest, landry, chuck/dorsey
Yeah, lets get down big because Yao nor Mac aren't right then bring in ron and the rest of the 2nd teamers. Manu didn't come off the bench because they had troubles, pop decided to do that because Manu is reckless and Finley is more confortable as a starter. Part of the problems is like I said a billion times when yao goes out, its a free pass to the hoop. Eventhough yao isn't a hakeem type shot blocker, he is big. When hayes comes in, no one is worried about having a contested layup. Shane is a good defender, but just like Rafer, they don't even guard him. In the playoffs when they finally decide to stay close to him, he struggles big time.
I also feel that Artest should remain a starter when Battier gets back. No matter how bad things look right now, Artest is not the problem. It's systemic at this point. Artest is not causing McGrady and Yao to suck. They are sucking independently from other players. Part of it is injury/conditioning. As far as people that love to cite Manu's 6th man role, that situation was an anomaly. As leebigez points out, Manu was reckless and Finley was more productive as a starter. The Spurs also weren't getting enough production out of their reserves, something Manu was able to remedy. 9 out of 10 times you start your best players. The Celtics don't bring Allen or Pierce off the bench. I understand that they have better chemistry but I think we can achieve that, too, with our top players. I don't buy the theory that Artest gets in the way of Yao or McGrady. He is more than willing to defer to those guys but has been forced to pick up the slack while they are struggling. Artest also seems to spark us right out of the gates. How many times has he already stripped the ball away on one of the first few plays of the game? I've already lost count. Once McGrady and Yao start playing somewhere close to their abilities and Shane gets back to give Artest some breaks on the defensive end, Artest will become more efficient when he doesn't have to do as much. To be honest, I would bench McGrady before Artest if he doesn't get out of this slump soon.
no matter who starts, Ron is the toughest guy out of big 3/ the whole team, he should play most of the minutes to give yao and tmac some rest.
Both start! Ron start as SG and Shane as SF, with T-mac coming off the bench. Dont believe? Please try!
