Defense wins championships

This is a hard question.

I think our roster is well balanced defensively; it seems that we have a guy who can potentially improve/bolster the defense at every position (PG Lowry, SG Lee, SF Battier, PF Hill(?)/Chuck, C Yao). I trust Adelman to play those players wisely with our offensive speedsters like Brooks, Martin, Scola, and Budinger.

I think it's a little unsettling for Rockets fans that we've transitioned so far from the defensive teams we've been used to for 5-6 years, but we won't have to pay 1000% attention to defense in order to hang on against better teams - we now have weapons that will make them change THEIR game plans for us.

Now that I've talked myself through it, I think yes, we can improve defensively. WILL we is another question altogether.

 

Our defensive potential is directly correlated to the number of minutes Yao play. Everything else means little in comparison.

 

I think Morey's goal this coming year is to be top 5 in defense. Martin stated many times in interviews that his focus this off season training was defense. Having Yao back obviously helps... and of course, we have our resident Kobe stopper (wait. Kobe can't be stopped, but he can be slowed ) - Mr. Battier... Add Lee, Scola, Lowry and we are pretty legit in that dept. Only time will tell. But I think we can do it.

 

You are absolutely correct. Luis is also weak defensively,so is C-Bud. The players who are good defensively,apart from Yao and to some extent Kyle, are weak on offense.

 

I'm doubting it. I listened to an Adelman interview yesterday, and while he acknowledged that defense must improve, he also said that we'll never be what we were and we need our defense to be "good enough" and have the offense take care of the rest. The way he worded it, it didn't seem there was the proper urgency in getting the defense to an elite level.

Maybe he's being realistic. Maybe the minutes cap on Yao is also a cap on how good our defense can be. And if Brad Miller is his key backup -- well, that just a step above David Andersen. Can Aaron and Martin and Scola and Chase improve? Or Jordan Hill for that matter? We've got a lot of players in our core rotation that are subpar defenders. That's a problem.

 

Yes, of course it can.

Having a 7 footer or bigger at the rim helps, and having a training camp together helps.

People forget that teams rarely practice during the regular season, so they don't get that chance to work through complexities like defensive rotations against all sorts of situations.

Training camp is vital to work that stuff out.

Yes, they can, a thousand times yes !

DD

 

I interpreted the question as "Will we" rather than "Can we". Yes, of course we can. Anything is possible, and we'll be a pretty good team next year.

But will the defense improve enough for us to be contenders? That's just another way of asking: "Will we be contenders?"

Unlikely is my answer. Yours?

 

Honestly Durv, I don't know. I hope so, and think they can, but we are just going to have to wait and see.

As usual it mostly depends upon Yao, with him playing a significant role by February/March, I think we are a top 2 or 3 seed.

If he is severly limited, and can not increase his workload then we are a 6 or 7 seed, and not really a contender.

So, my answer is "Maybe"........

I wish it was more definite, but I think we are just all going to have to hope for the best, that is all we can do....

DD

 

I think when its all said and done, Yao won't average much more than 20 mpg this season. All the "its just for now, we'll keep talking to doctors about increasing minutes throughout the year" is just Morey putting a positive spin on a frustrating situation. The Rockets are just going to try to get through this year with Yao in one piece and hope they can make the playoffs. That's another thing I got from the interviews yesterday. The goals don't seem to be much beyond "be a playoff team". If you're not shooting for the stars, you won't get very far off the ground.

 

I totally believe that they are understating Yao's situation just to protect him, an under promise, over deliever type of deal.

I also believe that the organization has a big decision on their hands regarding Yao and his contract going forward, and they will have to ramp up his minutes to find out if he can hold up.

Otherwise they will be making a decision in the dark.....so to me, this 24 minutes thing is as much to lower expecations of Yao as it is a hard cap.

I think they will increase his minutes as the season goes along......

At least I hope they do...lol.

DD

 

Remember in the Playoffs? The Rockets didn't want to play defense but they were forced to by the other teams. Defense DOES win games. If AB and Martin were to improve and we landed another Ron Artest, we could easily be top 5 defensive teams.

Defense also doesn't mean a shot block, it means a steal, rebound, and a hand in the face so the person can miss their shot.

If Rick Adelman is pressured to play defense he will play it and his defense is not that bad, like in the post season.

 

Chase can play defense that guy is underrated on defense and Lee is almost just as good as Shane. So the potential of being a good defensivve team is there.

 

Good defensive players on the Rockets.

PG - Lowry
SG - Lee
SF - Shane
PF - Hayes
C - Yao

This team has a good defensive person available at every position, so if there is a mismatch that needs some attention Adelman can go to other options.

DD

 

If defense wins Championship, JVG would have multiple championship rings. The fact is you still have to be able to outscore your opponents.

With Yao back our defense will be better, but not a lock down "D" like JVG.

Rick says, "balance", I agree.

 

Coach is the weakest part in ROckects Team, even weaker than Yao's foot.

 

When you outscore your opponents in playoff, usually because you slow or even stop your opponents score.

 

When your shots are not going in, the only way to compensate for that is to make sure your opponents' aren't too.

 

I don't think they even bothered with defense last year as a team. They couldn't afford it. This year, even a little effort will be an improvement so yes, I believe that the D will improve. Enough to match the spurs, no but enough.

 

Not so great individual defenders, but I think as a team we defend pretty well.