We Finally Have Enough Talent

[ShaY]

Besides health in previous season our problem was lack of talent.
We were able to win 50+ games with scrubs like Wesley and Hayes , because they tried their hardest everynight while other teams didn't always do that.

In the playoffs everybody hustles so their advantage was gone , this year we have enough talent but we must stay injury free and we must re-sign Landry.

We are still weak at pg but I am willing to give Brooks a chance to show something early in the season , and who knows maybe Francis will have a miracle comeback.

I know everything I said is obvious but I just hope we stay healthy this year , if we don't it will be so damn frustrating.

Can't wait for this season to start already.

C-Yao/Deke/Dorsey
PF-Scola/Landry/Hayes
SF-Artest/Battier/Harris
SG-T-Mac/Barry/Head
PG-Alston/Brooks/Francis

[DraftBoy10]

Man this thread gave me an erection.

[MaxRider]

you never have enough talent
we are still pretty weak at PG and backup big

Landry is still a free agent
Dorsey is a rookie
Francis health is an issue
Brooks inconsistent
Alston repeat what he done last year?
T-Mac/Yao health?

[Iggyemu]

Still very weak at PG. This isn't like Rondo or Jason Williams. We have no veteran, money jump shooting guard behind Alston. Until we address that teams will exploit it as we move deeper.

If we are healthy as it stands right now we can definitely make the conference finals. But if you think Pop or Phil Jax won't make Alston take 25 shots to beat them then you gotta another thing coming. Our one glaring weakness is point guard 3 point shooting. When you have a drive and dish guy like McGrady and two post up guys like Artest and Yao your jump shooters better be on point. Alston would have to shoot 40%+ from anywhere behind the arc for us to win a title.

[NYKnick87]

Strawberry can surprise people and Barry can play either guard position, so it's not all that bad in the backcourt. If Landry can be resigned and everything goes well with Dorsey, the Rockets frontcourt can be better than last years because Artest is bound to see some minutes at the 4. The Rockets are set, they just need to tie up some loose ends, i.e. getting Landry signed.

[PocketRockets]

No team is totally stacked at every position (except the all star teams) and no team will ever be. We have a lot of flexbility because Ronny can play SF and guard guards if needed. Any backcourt with Tmac definitely doesn't suck and the same can be said of any front court with Yao Ming. Even if we got Steve Blake (who is a decent 3 pt shooter) we wouldn't be shoo-ins to make the finals (Be realistic too, we're not going to get a Tony Parker/CP3/D. Willams type PG anytime soon). I like our chances. If the big 3 play to their potential (or even their career avgs), I only ask for Rafer/Scola to average 8 ppg and do the intangibles. There is only one ball after all.

[ShaY]

Still very weak at PG. This isn't like Rondo or Jason Williams. We have no veteran, money jump shooting guard behind Alston. Until we address that teams will exploit it as we move deeper.

If we are healthy as it stands right now we can definitely make the conference finals. But if you think Pop or Phil Jax won't make Alston take 25 shots to beat them then you gotta another thing coming. Our one glaring weakness is point guard 3 point shooting. When you have a drive and dish guy like McGrady and two post up guys like Artest and Yao your jump shooters better be on point. Alston would have to shoot 40%+ from anywhere behind the arc for us to win a title.

Agree , pg is still weak especially if Brooks doesn't find his outside shot and start shooting like he did in college.

I am also worried that Barry is washed up and can't play anymore , if Barry won't be good and Brooks stay the same our bench is weak with just 2 quality players off the bench in Landry and Battier.

In the regualr season Head and Hayes and Brooks will be fine , but they are not enough in the playoffs.

I really hope Brooks can find his shot and be a scorer off the bench , even if he is I think we should try and get a good defender pg who can hit 3's as a backup.

[JordansBulls]

Besides health in previous season our problem was lack of talent.
We were able to win 50+ games with scrubs like Wesley and Hayes , because they tried their hardest everynight while other teams didn't always do that.

In the playoffs everybody hustles so their advantage was gone , this year we have enough talent but we must stay injury free and we must re-sign Landry.

We are still weak at pg but I am willing to give Brooks a chance to show something early in the season , and who knows maybe Francis will have a miracle comeback.

I know everything I said is obvious but I just hope we stay healthy this year , if we don't it will be so damn frustrating.

Can't wait for this season to start already.

C-Yao/Deke/Dorsey
PF-Scola/Landry/Hayes
SF-Artest/Battier/Harris
SG-T-Mac/Barry/Head
PG-Alston/Brooks/Francis

Truthfully speaking the Rockets have had the talent for a few years now. At least since the 2006-2007 season. It is just a matter of Yao and T-mac playing 70+ games each and playing in the playoffs. Also not playing Bonzi one year in the playoffs hurt and then last year not playing Francis.

[A.J.]

We have talent, but I dont think we have enough. We still need to have better play from our backup Point guards, Aaron Brooks and Steve Francis. We still dont know if Deke is coming back, and we havent made him an offer yet. Our backup power forward might be a problem if Landry doesnt come back.

[Baller 24]

Besides health in previous season our problem was lack of talent.
We were able to win 50+ games with scrubs like Wesley and Hayes , because they tried their hardest everynight while other teams didn't always do that.

In the playoffs everybody hustles so their advantage was gone , this year we have enough talent but we must stay injury free and we must re-sign Landry.

We are still weak at pg but I am willing to give Brooks a chance to show something early in the season , and who knows maybe Francis will have a miracle comeback.

I know everything I said is obvious but I just hope we stay healthy this year , if we don't it will be so damn frustrating.

Can't wait for this season to start already.

C-Yao/Deke/Dorsey
PF-Scola/Landry/Hayes
SF-Artest/Battier/Harris
SG-T-Mac/Barry/Head
PG-Alston/Brooks/Francis

Truthfully speaking the Rockets have had the talent for a few years now. At least since the 2006-2007 season. It is just a matter of Yao and T-mac playing 70+ games each and playing in the playoffs. Also not playing Bonzi one year in the playoffs hurt and then last year not playing Francis.

Nah man, the Rockets organization never did good at getting the Mac/Yao combo a legitimate 3rd option. Artest is a person that you can look at and say, yes this guy is the 3rd guy. Francis wasn't it last year, same with James, they were more or so just role players.

[moofs]

Still very weak at PG. This isn't like Rondo or Jason Williams. We have no veteran, money jump shooting guard behind Alston. Until we address that teams will exploit it as we move deeper.

If we are healthy as it stands right now we can definitely make the conference finals. But if you think Pop or Phil Jax won't make Alston take 25 shots to beat them then you gotta another thing coming. Our one glaring weakness is point guard 3 point shooting. When you have a drive and dish guy like McGrady and two post up guys like Artest and Yao your jump shooters better be on point. Alston would have to shoot 40%+ from anywhere behind the arc for us to win a title.

Man it's been 2+ years, and I still continually fail to see how, in your opinion, we are always fully exploitable by other teams due to our point guard, but no other team is ever equally or moreso exploitable by us due to the advantages our team enjoys. The only team we've had where this held true due to sheer lack of talent was the 2006-07 one. Should we really be head-and-shoulders better than any other team in every facet of the game in order to win? 95-96 Bulls were weak at center, we should have exploited it better, woulda won another ring. Same thing with the Sonics that year. I mean, Frank Brickowski?

That said, I've agreed with you (prior to the Barry/possiblyStrawberry trades) in the past that we could use some more depth at backup pg, I just think you overblow (even before the trades) how much it hurts us in the big picture. Maybe we still could use some more depth there, it's possible, but even if we do still need it, why do our mismatches with other teams never seem to overshadow the other teams' mismatches with us, which typically seems to boil down to either Alston or his backup? The main key is, has been, and will be, health.

Truthfully speaking the Rockets have had the talent for a few years now. At least since the 2006-2007 season. It is just a matter of Yao and T-mac playing 70+ games each and playing in the playoffs. Also not playing Bonzi one year in the playoffs hurt and then last year not playing Francis.

If there's ever been a thing I could guarantee without the slightest hesitation, it's that not playing Francis last year (due to "injury" even) DID NOT hurt us. Other than that, yes.

[ShaY]

In previous years we maybe though we have the talent but we didn't.

Stro wasn't what we thought he was gonna be , Bonzi wasn't the Bonzi from the SA series we though he will be , Francis wasn't close to what he used to be , James sucked.

we are not strong in 4 positions , only pg is a problem.
If Barry is still the same Barry of the last few years we are awesome at the wings , if not Head is nice for the regualr season not enough for the playoffs.

Our pf position is really solid , Scola is a solid starter , Landry a good backup (hope he won't be injury prone).

We just need to stay healthy , and get another pg if Brooks doesn't improve , but just stay healthy!!!

[TMU]

We shouldn't rely on Brent Barry to be the team's primary backup PG. If Alston stays healthy throughout the season, we won't see a lot of problems. Adelman will probably use a 8 or 9 men rotation - McGrady, Alston, Battier, Artest, and Barry should get all the minutes at the backcourt. If Brooks can play, we can throw him into the mix as well.

[moofs]

We shouldn't rely on Brent Barry to be the team's primary backup PG. If Alston stays healthy throughout the season, we won't see a lot of problems. Adelman will probably use a 8 or 9 men rotation - McGrady, Alston, Battier, Artest, and Barry should get all the minutes at the backcourt. If Brooks can play, we can throw him into the mix as well.

Not during the regular season, no. It could wear him down too much. I'd think using him there just enough to get down the system, then giving him some heavy run in the playoffs (as needed) would be better.

[tha_rock220]

Still very weak at PG. This isn't like Rondo or Jason Williams. We have no veteran, money jump shooting guard behind Alston. Until we address that teams will exploit it as we move deeper.

If we are healthy as it stands right now we can definitely make the conference finals. But if you think Pop or Phil Jax won't make Alston take 25 shots to beat them then you gotta another thing coming. Our one glaring weakness is point guard 3 point shooting. When you have a drive and dish guy like McGrady and two post up guys like Artest and Yao your jump shooters better be on point. Alston would have to shoot 40%+ from anywhere behind the arc for us to win a title.

This makes no sense. Your "analysis" here is totally wrong.

1. Jerry Sloan, who's every bit as good a coach as Jackson and Pop, didn't beat us in 2 series by forcing Alston to shoot 25 times. In 07 he concentrated on stopping Yao and McGrady, and in 08 he just had more talent. You could argue that in 07 Yao and T-Mac failed because they didn't have any help, but a better argument is that they played poorly and combined with our ineffective defense, we lost.

2. It stands to reason that with another scorer on the floor doubling, even off of Rafer, will be even more dangerous. Rafer's inability to hit 3's is a problem, but it's downright stupid to say we can't win without a pg who shoots 40% from 3 because we've added another scorer. If anything, the extra scoring will be help Alston.

3. No other team has ever used the "Make Alston shoot 25 time approach". I can prove it because he's never shot 25 times. In fact he's gotten 20 or more attempts less than 10 time in his entire career.

4. You're totally ignoring the advantages we have. How do you get the ball out of T-Mac's hands when he's hot??? Where do you bring a 2nd defender to deny Yao the ball from??? What do you do when you've got 2 undersized guys out on the wings??? What do you do if your best scorer happens to play the position where we have 2 of the best defenders in basketball??? Somehow, in your opinion, Rafer Alston's inability to shoot 40% from distance supercedes all of these and we can't beat L.A. or S.A. because of it???

Sorry dude, but you can't have an all-star starting at all 5 spots.

All that being said, I do agree with you about our depth at the 1. It's nice to have just in case Rafer does go into bonehead mode and decide it's a good idea to piss off Chris Paul.

[DraftBoy10]

The problem isn't how we are going to combat other teams, the problem is how are other teams going to combat ours?

Alston shooting 25 times? Our offense has some good options, sets, etc. and most of all creativity, it WON'T ever come down to that unless Rafer is our 1st option by default to injuries.

PG is not really a problem for us, to be honest, I thought Rafer was very good last year. His defense was good too, and his stamina is top notch.

As for backup PG, during the season we are fine with Head/Brooks/bit of barry. Head is a good regular season player, but playoff wise Rafer's minutes will need to bumped and only backed up by Barry.

[DraftBoy10]

On top of that we have two of the best perimeter D oriented players in the league with one of the best interior defense, 3 legit options. All are capable of back to basket type plays to abuse any mismatch.

Who'd do you focus on...Ron or Tracy on the wings? You cannot put you're physically smaller guy on Artest. That's a huge no-no. Only the Lakers with Odom on Artest, and Kobe on McGrady, plus the Jazz with Harpring on Artest, Kirilenko on McGrady have that potential. Which is arguably our two biggest problems.

[BaYBaller]

Nice pics. Artest will help us a lot offensively because not only does he give us a legit 3rd scorer but he improves 1 of the 2 positions where we struggled the most with offensively (PG & SF).

I'm not too worried about Alston's shooting. I agree making assertions like we can't win w/o a PG who can shoot >40% from 3 is ridiculous and shows little understanding of the game of basketball. It's definitely a weakness of Alston's but the dude is everything else you'd want from a PG: great defense, great handles, and a total team player.

I'm much more concerned how the back-up PG issue is going to work out. I just don't think Brooks is ready. Brooks has to assert himself offensively every second he's on the floor to make it anywhere in this league because that is really the only thing he can bring to the table. He has the push the ball at every opportunity and he has to find his shooting touch, and that's hard for a young player to do.

I hope Francis can get some of that explosiveness back he's definitely a wildcard for the back-up PG spot but if he's a no go it's going to have to be either T-Mac or Barry picking up those minutes. Either way we look very thin and very susceptible to injuries @ PG.

[Iggyemu]

Truthfully speaking the Rockets have had the talent for a few years now. At least since the 2006-2007 season. It is just a matter of Yao and T-mac playing 70+ games each and playing in the playoffs. Also not playing Bonzi one year in the playoffs hurt and then last year not playing Francis.

No we haven't. Shay put it perfectly. We have success in the regular season b/c we have guys that hustle. On any given regular season night our guys are playing hard and the other teams' guys usually aren't. Or at least not as hard as our guys. Hence we win games b/c we out rebound, we draw charges...we shut the other team down.

Come playoff time...everybody is playing hard. Its why we can't translate regular season success into playoff success. In fact its the main reason. In the playoffs talent wins out. Be it a team of talented players...2 talented players or one extremely talented player....talent wins out. We haven't had championship caliber talent until now.

[Iggyemu]

The problem isn't how we are going to combat other teams, the problem is how are other teams going to combat ours?

Alston shooting 25 times? Our offense has some good options, sets, etc. and most of all creativity, it WON'T ever come down to that unless Rafer is our 1st option by default to injuries.

PG is not really a problem for us, to be honest, I thought Rafer was very good last year. His defense was good too, and his stamina is top notch.

As for backup PG, during the season we are fine with Head/Brooks/bit of barry. Head is a good regular season player, but playoff wise Rafer's minutes will need to bumped and only backed up by Barry.

The reason we have championship caliber talent is b/c of what you said. I am not disagreeing with the fact that for the first time in years teams have to game plan for 3 legit scorers. 4 if Scola gets his finishing straightened out. We are a match up nightmare. No team in this league has two perimeter defenders that can stop both McGrady and Artest. One of em will always have a big night if they are going hard nightly.

Rafer was good last year...but his jump shooting is still not where it needs to be. I am not saying we have to replace Rafer. I am past that and have come to realization that Alston is our PG unless someone better comes available for cheap. The problem is we don't have people behind Alston that can pick up his weaknesses. For 2 years there I thought Head could be that guy. We now know he can't be. Barry is too old and likely won't provide much help until playoff time.

What I am trying to say is that when coaches prepare for us. They are gonna do a few things. Amongst those is making Rafer Alston take 3 point jump shots. More specifically...make him take 3 point jump shots anywhere but from the top of the arc. As good as Ray Allen, KG and Pierce are...as much as teams needed to match up with them...deeper in the playoffs they really needed their PG to make shots. They needed Perkins to finish. I think Scola can do what Perkins did only better. I don't think Alston can do what House did and thats my problem with this current team. There needs to be someone behind Alston that can make 3 point shots from anywhere, consistently. Until we have that IMO our ceiling is the conference finals not an NBA title.