AMEN. That's why we leave the coaching up to Adelman. He's not going to make hasty, ill-advised decisions based off of a bad loss
I said this at the start of last off season. Its not a knock on scola, I just think landry has more upside and is younger with production. I don't know where people are getting he's a better defender. I watched bonner beat scola off the dribble back to back and get to the hoop last year. I watched aldridge dog scola until coach brought in landry. I don't think either is a good defender,but I do think scola's effort is more consistent. Like I said, if we're into player developmet, the 25 yr old with upside makes more sense than the 30 yr old flatline guy. Everyone thought all of a sudden scola would be 18-10 but he is a guy that really misses Yao. Landry has been developing his game to where his explosion can help him finish without pump and head fakes and he uses less space to get his shot off.
Answered your own question, plus scola is a better rebounder, so more consistent effort plus better defensive rebounding results in better overall defense by scola. He has his issues with foot speed, but we usually have team d that can help in that department...if landry isn't getting boards though it makes neglects any effort by our team D by gving them another shot.
The bottomline of Scola starting is not that he is better than Landry but than he is perfect for Adelman. He is a good passer from both high and low post, rebounds well on both sides, defends the pnr faily well and can either run the court, shoot from midrange and post up against one or two defenders. And he hustles a lot. Landry doesn't offer this arsenal. They Key in Landry game is that teams do not focus on him as they focus on Scola, and he gets better looks. If Landry trains hard to be a good one on one defender (not great but decent) he would start at PF instead on Hayes and Scola would be moved to the C.
From a purist's standpoint, Carl Landry has been the Rockets' best player this season. Really. He has the highest PER on the team at 22.2. (Ariza's is a mediocre 14 ... more evidence of his lack of efficiency despite the ppg numbers. Guess who ranks second on the team?). On a per minute basis, Landry has delivered more than any other player on this roster. I'm not sure whether he ought to be starting over Scola or not ... I think either way he can still be very effective. His defense so far this season has only been slightly worse than Scola's, but his offensive rtg is 123. 123! That is sick. And it is clearly no fluke: of all the Rockets big men, he is the only guy who is able to score from the post on a consistent basis against any opponent. His post play has been fantastic. I think he is devastating coming off the bench as a sixth man, and if you've been paying attention bench play has been the common key factor in all of the Rockets' wins this year. Frankly the only beef I have with Adelman's rotation at this point is the tendency to go away from Landry during the times when the team seemingly needs him the most. That needs to improve. He should be seeing the type of minutes that Jason Terry gets for the Mavericks.
^^^ I should correct myself -- I have one other beef with Adelman's rotation: Baby Bird not starting over Ariza.
In my opinion, the X-Factor last night was that Adelman fell in love with the running game and left Landry and company out there too long. This let The Mavs weather the storm while Nowitzki and Kidd rested. Adelman just doesn't have enough players that can run that way for long stretches. The 2nd half, they were out of gas. The Rockets really need to make a trade and pick up 2 more guys that can play well in that running game. Hayes, Landry, Brooks, Lowry, Buddinger, and Ariza are really the only guys who can thrive in that kind of offense. Scola, Battier, Anderson, those guys are more comfortable in the half court sets. Your trade options? 1) McGrady to The Knicks for David Lee and Larry Hughes. This trade would have to be done after December 25 because of Lee resigning. But what a nice Christmas gift that trade would be. Those guys are expiring anyway, and The Knicks would get more lottery balls without them. They want Lebron, so having the ability to let Lebron pick and choose his free agents and draft picks would be a major deciding factor. "Who do you want us to sign, Lebron? Wade? Allen? Iverson? Stoudemire? Bosh?" Hayes and Lee fit perfectly. Few people know that they have been good friends since college. 2) Luis Scola for Kelenna Azubuike. Azubuike has the ability to finish explosively on the fast break and can hit the 3. You have to give up Scola to get him, otherwise, you would need to take on Stephen Jackson and his horrindious deal, among others in a swap involving McGrady. The Rockets would need to use Anderson more to pick up those minutes and there is also the possibility of going really small and playing Ariza at PF for stretches. With Azubuike, Buddinger, and Brooks all on the floor, The Rockets would be tough to defend.
this isn't the final team....there's no point in making such a significant move right now unless it fits next year. We have crazy depth, when healthy. Legs shouldn't have been a factor last night, they have like what, 3 days rest? We're not truly a running team, we want to try and be because that's our "strength" this year, but when healthy this is truly a halfcourt team that just want to run more often. You're trade scenario leaves us with no true scorer at the wing spot and makes Lee overpaid because of Landry and Hayes.
Yes - he clearly misses Yao... In November games, he is scoring 15.3ppg on 51% shooting, snaring 10.5 rpg and doing it all with only his standard 1.8 turnovers per contest. His season stats are marginally lower thanks to 2 games against the Blazers so far in the schedule - and one of Scola's biggest struggles has been the matchup with LaMarcus Aldridge. A big athletic forward who gets him into foul trouble and has the length to guard against his 'shifty' post moves. In 2 games this year he's 5.5ppg and 5.0rpg against Portland. Overall (even including those 2 games against Portland) his production is up on last season, I think Scola will continue to produce on about 15-10 pace all year. I WILL say that Landry is playing at a much higher level than he did last season - how much of that is a hot streak and how much of it continues I don't know! But SURELY his trade value is sky high right now? Love to move him for a longer 4/5 who can't score as well, (but better than Hayes) but who can bring more to the table in the shot-blocking/ rebounding department!
Ariza? Azubuike if you do the other trade as well. McGrady is not here and I will be honest, I would love to see him come back and be at the level he was 3 years ago, but that probably won't happen. So, I really don't see your point in saying it leaves us with no true scorer at the wing spot when we either don't have one anyway OR apparently Ariza isn't that guy (according to you). And how is an 18 and 10 guy overpaid at $7 million? If The Rockets resign him at over 12 million per, then you can say he is overpaid I guess. Even then, he might fit into Rick Adelman's system better than anybody. The bottom line is, you risk nothing, get rid of McGrady's big contract, and if David Lee doesn't pan out, both he and Hughes' contracts expire and you have over 20 Million to play with in the offseason.
I wrote "true" scorer, Ariza is not that, no way. We need someone that doesnt need to force the shot so much and has his own offensive game. And how can you justify if by saying we "don't have one anyway"...that doesn't make it ok, that's one of the problems. He becomes overpaid because he'll be making 7 million to share minutes with Landry, not to be the main guy at PF playign 35 mins a game. Chuck may get some minutes there too. Considering Scola makes likes 3 now, i don't see Lee being worth 4 more just because he runs more and hes going to demand more as a FA this summer and go to whoever gives him the money. Scola is more likely to be loyal and stick around. The risk is losing scola by trade and bringin in Lee who's likely to split via FA, leaving a hole at PF AND we still wont have that scoring wing. I'm aso pretty sure BIMA's thread still applies, meaning just like we won't have 20 million to "play with" if we let tmac expire, we won't have it if we trade him for anothr 20mill in expiring contracts....which means we're screwed even worse...
Actually, I have him starting at PF and with Hayes at Center. The guy can and has played SF. The guy shoots over 55% for his career, so like Landry, he gets high percentage shots and keep in mind that he shoots 55% ON BAD TEAMS without legit Superstar Centers or Point Guards. This guy can create his own shot and he is not an explosive dunker. He is also the kind of crafty player that would thrive in the backdoor cut system. On the break, he can get out and run. He can also pass in Adelman's system. And did I mention he is a rebounding machine? How many guys in the NBA are averaging a double double? You can either move Scola for Azubuike and get some real fire power or let them battle it out. And Scola IS going to get offers of $7-8 million PER for next season. David Lee is worth at least $10 million PER right now. By next season, he could be worth more. All I can say is, this would be a hell of a team with a lot of firepower: Hayes/Anderson Lee/Landry Ariza/Buddinger Battier/Azubuike Brooks/Lowry You put Yao in there and they become serious contenders.
landry is good but scola is one of our best players we could start both move scola to center n bring chuck off the bench get pops involved more to give us that spark off the bench landry provides plus the extra pt for landry will only up his trade value
Landry is good but as others have said, Scola is better defender, has more size and has been shown to be better creating his own shot. Honestly, Landry gives you freedom going into next year if the Rockets do indeed land Bosh not to resign Scola but I wouldn't pencil him in over Scola yet.
David Lee is worth that on the knicks. Not in houston. He's not going to get 18 and 10 next to yao and giving up 25 mins a game to landry and a few others to chuck.
I love Landry off the bench. He is much more suited for a spark off the bench. He can play the Manu role. He is that important to the bench.
