Would any of the Rockets Besides Yao and Tracy be Rotation for Good Teams?

Stro could be a decent 6th man on a good team. Luther Head could too.

 

Alston and Wesley would play for the Spurs, Pistons, Nets and Heat, Head is too inexperienced to play anywhere. Howard would play on the Nets, Stro would not be trusted anywhere else but the Nets because they're desperate for bigs.

 

I don't see Stro or Head being the first man off the bench for a good team. Next year, Head may develop into that kind of player. Stro will never be a spark plug off the bench because he's too lazy and lackadaisical. An Antonio McDyess he will never be.

 

Eh, some are ok, mentioned, Rafer, Swift...but watching these "elite" teams...it's sooo obvious how inferior our team is to others outside of the star player(s).

 

Howard, Alston, and maybe Stro would be the only ones that even sniff any playing time in an eight man rotation for any of those teams. Head, if he continues to improve, would also in a season or two.

 

Bowen has cracked a rotation....................................

 

our 3-8 are:

jho
alston
welsey
stro
head
bogans

now there are 8 teams left in the playoffs. could any of these guys make the top 8 for those teams? i think so.

Jho could play for: nets, suns (with thier injuries), mavs (with KVH out)
alston could play for: nets
wesley could play for: nets, heat, suns, clippers.
stro could play for: clippers, suns, nets.
head could play for: nets, suns, clippers
bogans: nets

so what we've learned is that the nets are a spretty shalow team.

the problem with this question is that these teams already have positions filled. maybe if none of them had a PG they would sign rafer, but they have PG's so rafer is left off the 8 man rotation. see what i mean? it makes our guys look bad to think about it that way.

what about this? if stro and team x's PF were FA's, which would they sign? now how many of our guys would make these playoff teams?

 

Stromile would love to play for the Suns. Imagine all the fast break dunks that he would get. With a star mvp player like Steve Nash - he would make Stromile Swift look amazing.

I like Head - he is very promising and he's just a rookie. I can see him later on coming off the bench as the sixth player. I would say a starter - but he lacks pg skills and isn't good or tall enough to gaurd most SG.

 

HOnestly, if that is all Stro is good for then he is in the wrong league, suns or not. He should go play for the Globetrotters or the And-1 tour. I'm sure Texans DE Mario Williams can run and throw down some brutal power dunks too, and could probably make some amazing slams on the Suns, but so what?

 

I actually think Stromile Swift would start on the Nets and possibly the Suns. He might even thrive on those teams. Their style of play is built for a guy like him. Yes, he can be lackadaisical, but I think he'd be much more aware if he was playing with a point guard like Nash or Kidd. If Swift was on either of those teams he might be the guy hoisting the most improved player trophy.

Also, it seems crazy to me to think Alston, Juwan Howard or Wesley aren't good enough to crack a rotation. They could all be solid contributors coming off the bench, the bad news is they're our starters.

 

Superstars make their players around them better. Diaw, Tim Thomas etc was nothing before Nash.

Dream team Bruce Bowen was a no body before Duncan, any body remember how good Dereck Anderson looked on the Spurs for a while? What about Stephen Jackson.

We have two superstars, and when they play together, they elevate those around them. We will go as far as Yao and T-Mac will take us. The role players are not the reason we are bad, injuries to star players are. Alston was putting up boderline all star numbers when the big 2 were healthy.

 

That's it! Mario Williams as our starting 4!

I suggest we trade the Texans Ryan Bowen for Mario.

 

Alston would be a starting PG on most teams, Wesley could also be a starting SG but would probably be delegated to 6th man duties for msot teams.

Swift has shown he isn't anything more than a 6th man. The problem IMO was that we had Howard and Bogans in are starting lineup, I don't see Juwan starting for most teams and I can't think of a single team that would have Bogans playing 35-40 mpg.

 

I really don't know. But look at the former guys traded for them: Jim Jackson, Cato and Mike James. JJ considers retirement. Cato is horribly fat and can only be a backup for the bench of the Detroit team. MJ scores high but is really a blackhole of ball possession. Optimistically,maybe it's not that bad.

 

I agree that superstars make other players better, but I don't agree with your assessmetn that thiese guys were chopped liver before they made it to Phx. or SA.

Tim Thomas was nothing before Nash? He averaged 11 ppg this season w/Phx. He was as or more productive playing in lower octane systems in Milwaukee and New York as he is in Phoenix. He was always a decent player who never maximized his potential. He's a nice role player now, but he hasn't exactly taken it to the next level - he's taken it to the same level he had 4 years ago, which is still below where he should have been according to the dreaded "P" word.

Diaw had his coming out party this year, but I don't know that he wouldn't have had it anywhere else since he was obviously learning the ropes as a youngster. Take Leandro Barbosa. He stunk his first two years even though he played in Phoenix, but has turned into a decent player now. That's not becuase he was in the wrong place in Phoenix.

Bowen had his first decent season in Miami before he went to San Antono. Derek Anderson was decent for the spurs but he was not too shabby the year before with the Clip show. Stephen Jackson was decent as a rookie with NJ, good with the Spurs, and came into his own once he left SA.

I think the key is actually getting good players in the first place.