Dissecting the Rockets

12 lb followed by splash splash...I thought was fishing reference..like a 12 lb red fish or 12 lb flounder...

lol....but with a 12 lb penise that would be accomanied by big @$$ whale nuts.

 

Yes this thread and the original post was very enjoyable to read through.

I agree with the folks who have Yao, Scola, and TMac pencilled into the starting frontcourt. That seems very very likely. Adelman seems to like offense, activity, and passing. Those 3 are the best for that at the 3,4,5 positions on the roster. As for the backcourt, we have several options with the likely starters being Franchise and Bonzi. The reason being is they represent the best complement to the starting 3, as the only deficiency although minimal is rebounding. And what SF3 and Wells certainly bring is rebounding at the guard positions. So my likely starters are:
Yao
Scola
T-Mac
Bonzi
Franchise
With James and Battier first off the bench and probably sometimes starting. Rafer and Head will be deep on the bench if they don't get traded for a quality bigman backup. One or both of Hayes/Deke will be released. This will complete the anti-JVG overhaul of the lineup producing an elite offense and depth to compete with anyone.

 

Daryl Morey is suppose to be a rookie GM right? = The LeBron James of GM

 

I hate to cool your excitement, but your lineup provides us with no reliable outside shooter. I'm not as excited as some of you, 'cause a good bball team is not simply just to put five physically talented players on the court at the same time, it's about finding best player you can for each position. With your lineup, I can see us average close to 20 TOs a game, shooting below 40%.

RA's Blazers had Porter as the PG, and his Kings had Bibby, and both of them are better outside shooter and ball handler than Francis and James. I'd keep Alston, package James to get a backup at 5.

 

very nice post!!

 

Huge!

 

Exactly. I think there' ve already been a lot of discusions about starting Battier. Briefly, we need his defensive game on the opponent starting scorers rather than wasting his energy on some bench player.

 

but we're not those kings teams. it's entirely different personnel. some things will be similar but the most glaring difference is that yao ming is a more dominant post presence than anything adelman has had before. just like sacramento wasn't exactly the same as portland, the rockets won't be just like sacramento.

if you start james, francis, yao, and mcgrady, you're shooting most of your load all at the same time. that may be a closing lineup from time to time, but i seriously doubt that's the starters.

 

It looks like Novak can only shoot well without any defence in the court. So he' s a goner or he can make big improvement on that issue.

 

i think mike harris's style is pretty close to bonzi's. it would be unfair to the league to have the sacto bonzi as a starter, and a young bonzi on the bench.

 

That's a good point. Why do you think Adelman pursued James and Francis at the expense of Alston? Is it possible that Adelman has been blinded by scoring and flash of James and Francis's reputation? Adelman is making a huge mistake with those kinds of numbers, below 40% shooting and 20 TOs!

 

Have Francis come off the bench with Bonzi, switch Foster for LaFrentz and I am loving our chances in 2008!!

 

How do you define "bust"? Bonzi was a bust last year and could repeat the performance. Spots in the rotation are going to be competitive and he may not like that. With the Kings, he was a starter.

At best (not worst), Bonzi is a fading star. For that matter, he's never been a star so whatever he's fading from isn't that good to start with. He's a career 13/5 guy and you can bet we'll get a lot less than that this coming season. He's both over 30 and overweight. His listing on nba.com as 210 lbs is a complete joke. He stayed here because of the coaching change and because nothing else was out there. I don't expect him to last the season. Once he realizes once and for all his potential is only 10-15 mins/game, bye bye. He's my leading candidate for Least Likely to Succeed on the Rockets.

 

Francis according to morey will play a bobby jackson role. i assume that is a spark plug off the bench. i might be in the minority here, but i think were keeping Rafer. rafer and james will split the minutes at the PG rotation. francis will alternate in between The PG and SG rotation. rafer play the first 6 minutes and then james will play the last 6minutes of each quarters. that gives rafer 24 minutes and the same with james .

 

PLEASE dont start TMAC at SF! Not only do we need Battier to start from a defensive vantage point, but more importantly WE DONT NEED A TMAC INJURY! At SF TMAC is a really good player... but as a SG out on the perimeter - HE'S MAGIC! Plus we dont need him flyin to the rack messin up his back!!!! YAO/SCOLA/BATTIER/TMAC and FRANCIS OR JAMES are our startin 5 - with whichever of FRANCIS or JAMES doesnt start - is 6th man of the year.

 

By thinking of a good roster, we will need to know who can be the team captain? Two in my mind can lead the team and they are T-Mac and SF.

Due the the result, they should put in different units. SF can lead the second team and maintain our offense. It's just my opinion.

 

Mike James reminds me more of bobby jackson.... Mike James and Bobby Jackson are both players who look to score first, they are both quick, aggressive offensive minded pg's. they both have decent 3pt range and are aggressive with the ball. Francis at this stage in his career, i feel he is more inclined to take a backseat and play a more team oriented role and get more people involved and take shots that are given to him instead of forcing the issue.

Im going to be really interested in seeing how battier fits into adelman's plans. battier isn't a player that create shots on his own and his scoring is highly determined by the offensive system implimented by the team. So hopefully adelman can find a way to fit battier into the offense.

 

I like the lineup of Wells at the SG with TMAC at the SF position. This would allow TMAC to usually his speed against other 3s. It remains to be seen if Wells can player starter minutes and hold his own against other 2s in the league.

 

(re the OP's post)

Well, nice enough read, but if that is our starting lineup, we can kiss a big goodbye to being in the top five in defense every year.. We will have to score at a torrid pace just to keep up with the torrid scoring pace every opponent would put up against that starting 5.

Battier is not bench material - Battier needs to start, and defend the best wing player, just like always, and park in the corner for his sweet 3's, especially now if Yao is going to be up and out of the low blocks, and Steve and TMac are penetrating, and Scola is pulling defenders every which way.

TMac can float between the 2 and 3, but you for sure should not be playing ST3 and MJ together for very many minutes. That would be a sure recipe for Yao to be in foul trouble every night, having to clean up after all the perimeter players who blow past our guards.

Our goal should be to try to have 5 players on the floor who can be better than our opponent's 5, at every point in the game. TMac at the 2, SF3 at the 1, Battier, Scola and Yao underneath, that 5 should be able to jump on people early. Then, when subs start filtering in, MJ can come in, Bonzi, Butler, Head, heck maybe Brooks and Harris get to contribute a litte - you filter guys in as needed to keep the matchups in our favor as the subs get in, get TMac and Yao some rest.. you are able to keep the pressure on, and going against 2nd units, the need for top-shelf defense should not be as high, so that should be ok too..

I can see this working fairly well, after the team figures itself out. Early in the season, it may be ugly for a while, but it will straighten out around Thanksgiving I imagine..

 

More importantly, I don't think the Rockets have a bad contract on the books right now. Who woulda figured that our of our MLE we sign Steve Francis and Luis Scola? Absolutely sick. Also, I don't think that Morey ever wanted Rashard, he is so overpaid...