I am amazed at how some of you still overestimate how good Bonzi is. Erase the fluke Spurs series from your memory banks and look at how his career has evolved. He's a decent player but no great shakes. And now he is over 30 and not aging well.
In my opinion our third scorer would be Bonzi Wells. I know he didn't show it last season but I belive this guy. When he is healthly he is unbelivable player.
Francis is a big athletic guard and I think he will be able to score fairly easily with Yao and Tmac commanding so much attention. The lane will be wide open for him. Since he's a point guard, the ball will be in his hands a lot. Bonzi has a ton of talent....he just hasn't harnessed it consistently the way an all-star would, but his talent is undeniable. Adelman used him the best out of any coach that I've seen. The series against the Spurs showed the type of talent Bonzi has...he just hasn't always tapped it fully. Adelman will also make it a lot easier for Francis also. Anyone that has seen Scola play will see that he's got some really excellent post skills....he'll have some good games when they double Yao...but since ths is his rookie year, it will be up and down. But, Scola definitely has better post skills than Hayes and last year's version of Juwan. We'll probably have a 3rd, 4th and 5th scorer who are clos in points to each other. 3rd scorer: Francis 4th scorer: Bonzi 5th scorer: Scola 6th scorer: Battier 7th scorer: James 8th scorer: Brooks or Head
It's impossible to say right now, obviously, because we don't know who Adelman will give minutes to. IMO, that's the most important criteria. There's not enough minutes to go around if Francis/Head/James/Bonzi all play, considering that some guard minutes will also be taken by T-Mac. But, if we're talking about points per minute(or 40 or whatever), then I'd rank them 1. Francis 2. Bonzi 3. James 4. Scola I know people are writing off Battier. But if Adelman truly goes with a deep rotation, Battier might be our 3rd leading scorer by default of playing 30+ minutes.
You are right in that he is overrated, over-the-hill but he has a big body to work with and strong defensive groundwork to go off of. I wouldn't be surprised if he is a 6th man of the year candidate, however he will NOT be our 3rd scoring option. His scoring numbers will not get any better from here on out, but that doesn't mean he cannot play a valuable role on this versatile squad. To say the Spurs series was a fluke, is far-fetched. I'd say he couldn't perform at that level consistently, without a doubt, but he did what good ballplayers do: took advantage of opportunities in clutch situations. That series alone inflated his value, and his head, so much that posters around here think he could be a starting 2 elsewhere or is still an off-the-dribble scoring threat, which is simply not the case. Bonzi wells isn't getting thinner, younger, or quicker. He'll have to rely on his IQ to be sound defensively and smart with posessions. I guess that means we will find out if he has an IQ at all.
I would probably say Francis, or a very close call between Francis/Bonzi/Battier/Scola..... with fast ball movement, it should be very fair distributed
With the addition of so many great players like Scola, Francis, James, Brooks, Wells to go with Yao and T-Mac how do you see the points being distributed? This is my prediction for scoring. The Rockets team is now extremely well balanced from each position. The Power Forward position has now been brought to full strength with Argentine Basketball Star Luis Scola. Francis and James are both penetrating guards who can score from inside or outside and Francis is a former NBA All-Star. Brooks is very quick and can come off the bench to spark the team and if we do not make any trades, Head and Alston as the second unit will give the added ability at guard position in both scoring and distributing. Center position will be the same as last year with Yao holding the majority of minutes with Dikembe or Jackie Butler backing him up. T-Mac will be at Small Forward and Battier will either come off the bench or play the other PF position against small teams. I fully expect against teams with a big bruising PF that Adelman will use Scola and Hayes against the opposing power forward. Battier will be the utility man playing wherever he is needed. Bonzi can come off the bench but I certainly do not expect Bonzi to start. We now have too many great players. With a player roster like this, the scoring should be much more balanced around the entire team. I look for T-Mac's average scoring to stay the same or drop. Yao's scoring may drop depending on the situation and how opposing teams are defending him. However, if opposing teams do try to double Yao, we now have many weapons to rain basketballs on other teams heads. So I do not see the other teams trying to double Yao as much this upcoming year or the Rockets will make them pay dearly from the other positions. I also don't see the Rockets just standing around like last year jacking up 3 pointers. It is just as concievable for Yao's scoring to increase since opposing teams will not be able to double him. Overall, I see the Rockets scoring to increase by and average of 15-20 ppg. Scoring distribution will evenly spread amoung the other teammates of Yao and T-Mac. This will give many headaches to other teams trying to play the Rockets. I see Francis averaging about 15 ppg James around the same number of 10-15 ppg. Bonzi should be able to get 4-5 rebounds per game and shoot an average of 7 ppg. Unless we play the Spurs and then we turn him loose to stop Tim Duncan Battier is going to get 4-5 rebounds a game and shoot an average of about 8 ppg. Scola is going to average about 7-12 ppg and 8-10 rebounds per game. Hayes will average 6 ppg and about 4 rpg as Scola will take away Hayes starting position after the first month. Yao will be around 25 ppg and 10 rebounds as normal. T-Mac will average 25 ppg and 4 rebounds This gives an average point total for the Rockets of 106 ppg. This would put the Rockets at the same level as the Phoenix Suns and I would not think that anyone could ask for more. At 106.5 points per game, the Suns lead the league in scoring average.
