Maybe this is not your native language and you're having a hard time understanding my comparison. I've never said yao was a bad defender and I never said gortat was as good as yao. When yao was out and the team kept rolling, it wasn't because deke and hayes were better than Yao, it was because the rockets still had a great interior defender in deke and a great defender in space in hayes. The question I posed to you and the reason why they were terrible defensively is because they didn't have any size with the loss of yao. I simply stated that upon the loss of yao, if they had gortat, their defense would have been rated alot higher and the team would have won more games. Now would they have won 49? Doubt, but they could have easily won 4-6 more games last year if they had someone other than chuck hayes in the middle. As far as yao leaving and being mediocre, isn't that what we have been since he's been here? This team have 1 2nd rd appearence since the yao era. Thats the same amount the t'wolves,clipper,warriors, sonics,nuggetts,and hornets all have in that span. Hell, the sonics aren't even in seattle anymore.
The 2005 team, considered the 2nd best Rox team of the last decade or 1st best depending on who you ask, was as guard heavy as any team the Rockets had. The 2009 team had competent guards in Brooks and Artest, then Lowry and Von Wafer and what do you know, playoff advancement. 22 game win streak, half of that was with Mutombo NOT Yao. It was done largely because Rafer decided to make some buckets to actually complement McGrady and give the Rockets decent guard play. Then the Rockets didnt need Mutombo OR Yao to almost beat the Lakers in the playoffs. Thats when you look at things and say why not a healthy Gortat-type in the middle in case Yao doesn't work out?
I like the idea but just one thing. We don't have any guards that are nearly as good as Parker and Ginobli. Not saying riding Yao is the smartest idea since he's always in a suit but I'm not liking going guard centric when we don't have any kind of star guard. On another note, I will be extremely disappointed in the front office if they ever give Yao the max after this season. Can you say franchise suicide?
Dude, What alternate reality do you reside in?? Theres no way in h*** that Yao is the most sought after free agent next year. Matter of fact, the only team dumb enough to give Yao big money would be the Rockets
You best argument is to call me a Yao only Fan? You really don't think the Rockets will fall into obscurity with the departure of Yao? Do you think the nation wants to watch the product that is the houston rockets? Kevin "no defense" Martin? Can't pass shoot first Aaron Brooks? Compete for the worst record in league history courtney Lee? New York reject Jordan Hill? Ultimate role player Shane Battier? Watching 0 offense chuck hayes getting a play called just to get blocked, every time? Arthritic old man named brad miller? Watch can't shoot lowry throw 3 point bombs all day? The only person who is watchable is Scola, and boy is his defense lacking. Leebigez, I don't know why you think I'm arguing with you. I am just stating the facts. You simply do not trade or let your superstars go. Timberwolves has been in the basement for nearly a decade since garnett left, Cleveland will once again resume its high ping pong pick ways, Seattle losing Durant and Memphis losing Gasol will predicate these teams stay as bottom feeders for a very very long time.
My apologees, I didn't read much of your initial post. I was specifically commenting to your comment about Scola and Yao sucking defensively. ANd I wasn't even defending Scola. He does suck at times guarding his own man much less anyone else's. I did go back and read your original post. ANd I do agree with much of what you say. About having too many one way players and some and how we could use an upgrade one of our startes for a more athletic version(hmm, hmm Battier). I still think Yao can be that dominant force in the middle. But it doesn't have to be every play. I am all for letting the guards run the court. Look for an easy basket and creating their own. If it doesn't work out pull back and set up the offense through Yao. If that works than stick with it. Every game is different. Every quarter is different. If they are giving you 1 on 1 coverage with Yao then exploit. If they are doubling Yao but they can't stop him than continue to go to Yao. If they are fronting and sliding down on the backside making almost impossible for the guards to get the ball to him than let the guards punish the defense. As long as something works I am all for doing it. Right now Yao is not out there and nothing is working in the 4th. I would like to have the Yao option to see if that helps. Either way we don't have a real sample yet to base it on.
Houston would win the same amount of games with Chuck as center vs Gortat. Despite being undersized, Chuck is still a premier defender. Chuck will lose some and win some, but he is definitely a better fit for the run and gun of last year. Houston was a title contender with the Mavericks series until the refs screwed us, a dominant T-mac and an emerging Yao was going to at least the conference finals that year. The rockets against the jazz sucked as we were the better team that year. The jazz is a piss poor matchup for us. Houston did not belong in the list of teams you posted as houston is clearly superior, despite our playoff records.
The 2005 team had a dominant T-mac, guard centric all the way. We made or break with T-mac. Not being guard centric at that time would be stupid. You have no arguments from me. Different story with our current duel of Martin and Brooks. Martin disappears in the fourth and brooks drives into a swarm of trees with nowhere to go. In the playoffs, almost beating means nothing, either win the series or lose the series. Nobody wants to hear I almost did it. 22 games win streak with a first round bounce takes the air out of the balloon regardless of who was part of the run.
The problem I have with your comments are assumptions and fallacy. You are not stating the facts at all. Garnetts last 2 yrs he was in lotto land. Gasol last years in memphis he was in lotto land also, but now he is considered one of the best bigs in the game. Garnett is nowhere close to the player he was in his mvp year and minny decided to get some value for him before he had 0 value. The biggest fallacy in your statements is that with yao, the rockets are this primetime target of teams and they're not. Look at the amount of tv games during the yao era and you will see that. Of course, you compared a 2nd place runner up in the mvp to a guy like yao and thats just wrong. Look, let me get back on course and I will et tinman school you on the history of the rockets. I think yao can be a productive player for the next 4 yrs if healthy. I stated this in the opening thread. I also stated that without a p.r. move or splattering accross papers, the spurs have found a way to keep duncan involved and still let the other players like parker takem their game up a notch or two. They do it by leaving the baseline open and use duncan more as a play finisher vs a play creator. His numbers are down, parker,manu,and jefferson numbers are up and the team is winning again. Now, they still need duncan if they want to be in the hunt, but watching him now, he's the 3rd/4th option and its working. Its not an accident that as duncan have slowed, parker has gotten better. Duncan is getting the ball less and parker is exploding. I'm saying the rockets can and should do the same thing. Use yao in pick and pop,ball reversal,screener,rebounder,interior defender,and post game. Its not that hard to understand i don't think.
There is nothing wrong with my perception, there is something clearly wrong with yours. Anybody who thinks a career bench warmer gortat averaging 2.8 points a game can be compared to a franchise player simply needs to get your head examined. Nuff said, ignore you go.
Wow...the Yao haters are revising history. Yeah. Yao was not that important to the Rockets the last 5 years. It was all "marketing". Are you Yao haters serious? I don't know what the market will hold for Yao next year. I think it depends on his health. If he manages to remain healthy, and play 30+ minutes during the latter half of the season, he may be able to command a hefty salary. If he continues to break down, then he won't. Realistically, Yao is pretty much done as a franchise player. That left foot will continue to haunt him for the rest of his career. There might be some teams however who will take that risk because Yao when healthy, is an all-star center, better than Howard, better than anyone else in the league.
It's not crazy to say gortat would have a bigger impact last year instead of chuck. Being almost half a foot taller gives the team a defensive dimension chuck could never give. He's definitely more capable offensively than chuck. Leebigez's main point is gortat in the middle can be comparable to Perkins in the middle for the Celtics. You have a tough center who can play D, is mobile enough for pick and rolls, and on offense he cleans up the offensive glass for putbacks and finishes high percentage shots.The offense would run through scola, martin, brooks and therefore we wouldnt need a center as polished offensively as Yao.
The problem with this theory is, we don't have Manu or Parker or Richard Jefferson We got Brooks, Martin and Scole who dont play D. A more mobile center will help, but it's still going to make us medicore due to the core 3 players unable to play 2 ways. I don't care who is in the middle, you can't play defense 2 on 5.
And i agree with the original post about how yao was never really dominant in the sense that shaq was dominant. Yao had to get the perfect pass or else the defender would strip him, he needed a standard non-fronting defense in order to even get in position, and he needed a defense that would allow him to go 1v1. If he got a shot off, you were rather confident that he'd make it but the whole problem with yao is getting the ball in his spot and getting a good look. He can shoot 100% but it doesnt mean jack squat if he cant adjust to the defense. I dont know if its just me but i cringe every time yao gets the ball because im afraid he'll get stripped or waste too much time adjusting to the d.
I never disagreed with that point. I said it can go either way, its a toss-up. Chuck is faster, good rebounder, better team defender and is very difficult to post-up on. If Gortat was on the same team, Chuck might still get the start considering how fast the team was playing. Bottom line is, last year's team wasn't good enough, whether its gortat or hayes. The center position needed to be upgraded. The addition of Yao is essential to becoming a championship contender. The loss of Ariza is a monumental disaster on the part of Morey. The defensive intensity is gone and shane can't compensate for both brooks and martin simultaneously. Shane and Artest did alot to mask brooks defensive weakness. The best trade the rockets can make is not for melo, its for chauncey billups.
He still got his 20 points on 50% shooting take less than 13 FGA. Find me another center who can do that during his time being healthy. He averages the same TO rate as any big men in the league. Plus it's not directly his fault, he played in a guard centric ERA. We simply drafted him #1 in the wrong era.
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