Despite popular beliefe, landry and scola will decide how ..

[T_mac_4eva]

Far we go. everyone is saying tracy is gonna have to carry us. wrong. we dont need tracy to shoot it 30 times a game. he must continue being a team player.

Believe it or not, i believe we are gonna even be better defensive team without yao and deke replacing him. Moutombo will make our team alot better interior defensive team. however, what will decide our season is will landry and scola be able to fill the offenmsive output yao brings?.
If yes, i believe we'll be a better team then what we would have been with yao, if not, first round exit.

Scola and landry hold the faith of our team in there hands.

[dontel]

its time for landry and scola to ave. atleast 12+pts and 15-16 rebs. each to fill the void of yao

[Turboner]

thats what I was thinking, I just find it hilarious how stephen a smith said that everybody just needs to give tracy the ball and shut up. that guy is annoying

[RaoulDuke79]

thats what I was thinking, I just find it hilarious how stephen a smith said that everybody just needs to give tracy the ball and shut up. that guy is annoying

You mean you don't like his streetwise know-it-all attitude and his sassy remarks? For shame! He's ESPN's way of reaching out to the younger generation of spoiled, bad-attitude having brain-cell lacking "gotta get on SportsCenter Top 10" bling-bling all flash no substance if I yell the loudest it means I'm the rightest viewers.

Phew. OK I got my wind back, now on to the OT.

I agree with the original post that it's not all on Tracy, obviously our other guys have got to step up and play solid minutes for us to have any chance of doing anything other than missing the playoffs(or exiting out in the 1st round again), but anyone who thinks we're a better team without Yao needs to probably lay off the crazy pills. I mean, I suppose it's POSSIBLE such a dream could come true but I find it highly unlikely to think we're better off without Yao in the long run(or in the short.....jog?).

Having said that I do have alot of faith in Deke and what I've seen from Scola/Landry so far, let's just hope T-Mac and Co. can all stay healthy for this final stretch into the playoffs because I still think they can be a dangerous team, despite the fact everyone is writing us off(which I happen to like, lets us fly under the radar a bit and surprise some folks...oh how I love making morons eat their words!).

[moofs]

I agree with the original post that it's not all on Tracy, obviously our other guys have got to step up and play solid minutes for us to have any chance of doing anything other than missing the playoffs(or exiting out in the 1st round again), but anyone who thinks we're a better team without Yao needs to probably lay off the crazy pills. I mean, I suppose it's POSSIBLE such a dream could come true but I find it highly unlikely to think we're better off without Yao in the long run(or in the short.....jog?).

If we get to the playoffs and aren't worn out from no late-regular-season depth, watch out for us. Yes, we're missing Yao. Yes, that gives us one less weapon. But rotations shorten in the playoffs anyway, we still have 3 guys capable of playing center and 2 frontcourt guys capable of going off offensively. I'm just hoping we aren't worn out at that point from everyone playing more minutes to close the season.

I've thought for quite a while Scola was the third offensive option everyone has been begging us to get (Rafer and possibly Jackson is the fourth). He can create his own shot, he can play inside or outside, and on top of that he plays good defense and makes a lot of hustle plays - the main reason he doesn't score more is because because we just haven't needed to call his number more. When he's needed to step up, he has (unlike Battier, who I think is also capable of this, though not to Scola's degree). Landry, while a good player on offense, does still seem to have some problems consistently creating his own shots, and tends to score a lot on putbacks and hustle plays (albeit incredible ones that very few guys could make), which makes him more of a "you better keep a very, very close eye on this guy" rather than a true option at this point. Unnnnfortunately, with Yao out, Scola's third option tag goes out the window and he becomes our second option. He should be able to handle it, but we've lost the reliable third option, replaced it with the semi-reliable fourth one, and lost the fourth option completely. Doh!

Basically I don't think we're a better team without Yao, but unless we wear out, we are capable of picking up most of the slack in general, but going to have a rough time filling in if anyone has an off-night. We really only lost wiggle room.

[RaoulDuke79]

If we get to the playoffs and aren't worn out from no late-regular-season depth, watch out for us. Yes, we're missing Yao. Yes, that gives us one less weapon. But rotations shorten in the playoffs anyway, we still have 3 guys capable of playing center and 2 frontcourt guys capable of going off offensively. I'm just hoping we aren't worn out at that point from everyone playing more minutes to close the season.

Basically I don't think we're a better team without Yao, but unless we wear out, we are capable of picking up most of the slack in general, but going to have a rough time filling in if anyone has an off-night.

Agreed. Now, less talk about whether or not we're better without Yao and more talk about SAS and his sassy personality!

[spolgar]

<Offtopic>

Steven A Smith is bar none, the most annoying tv sports personality next to Jim Rome and John Madden. His entire schtick revolves around the same mechanics that have make dumbasses successful in media. That is, talk loud, say nothing, and be as sardonic as possible whilst your audience commits frontal lobotomies with the nearest dining utensils.

RaoulDuke's right. Jackson and Smith are the two spearheads of reaching out to the youth of today. What's hilarious is that the marketting is obviously phony, as they are simply appealing to voyeuristic tendencies of the younger suburbanite audiences.

Bill Hicks, of Houston fame, whom some of you when going to college in the early to mid 90s, might have heard of him. He once had this brief skit called:
Let's hunt and kill Billy Ray Cyrus. On this skit he proposes a show, where he will target a particularly no talent celebrity, such as Billy Ray Cyrus, set him free on some wilderness, then chase him down with the hounds of hell, shove a shotgun down poor Billy's throat like a big black cock of death... Then... *SPLAT*... We come back next week for Let's hunt and kill Michael Bolton.

I'd like to add some spice to this. Obviously Bill Hicks can't hunt and kill a black man in a TV show, cause that would be <sarcasm>racist</sarcasm> and the ratings would plummet. Instead what we should do is put him in a room with some old school black panthers from yesteryear, maybe even the Last Poets. We'll feed Smith with lots of cocaine and plunk on a TV with the Knicks versus the Lakers circa 1972. We'll mute the television, and watch Smith start talking his speel and on the sidelines of this whole ordeal, we take side bets as to how long that guy gets to talk before his own balls are fed to him.

Then we do this again next week, with Scoop 'BoJagglin' Jackson.
<endofftopic>

Sorry, someone said steven a smith...

[moofs]

CHEESE DOODLES

[BaYBaller]

I've never believed the "we'll only go so far as so and so takes us" line. It's just a sports cliche. Basketball is a team game, and the team will go as far as the team takes themselves.

[RaoulDuke79]

Mmmm cheese doodles.

[T_mac_4eva]

[quote="RaoulDuke79"][/quote]

I never said were overall better without yao. i said defensively. just look at deke.

[RaoulDuke79]

I never said were overall better without yao. i said defensively. just look at deke.

Never said you did

[moofs]

What is that bunny taking exactly?

Gotta be at least 8 days straight and he hasn't stopped yet

[RaoulDuke79]

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Then we'd all miss your insightful posts so I'd have to ressurect you and hope you never ask such dangerous questions again!






..maybe he's just high on life I honestly don't know but he is one happy bunny...consider him the Rockets official-non-official-cheerbunny...

[Yao_noodle]

They need to play like this then we are going to be good.

Scola shooting better than Landry?

[TMU]

Mashimaro > Clutch