Center = Rockets' weakest link

[dunleavyjr]

No Yao. Everybody is now attacking the paint.
Rockets are lacking the size, the ability to block shot, and rebound.

No Yao. There's nobody in Rockets uniform who can command the double team.

David Andersen is a 7-footer who can't block shot, can't rebound, nothing.
He doesn't even use his size to punish opponent defender in the post, and instead,
he shoots lots of 3pointers/long range jumpers. Soft.

Scola and Laundry are too small to defend the paint. Chuck Hayes has limited gas
in his tank. He is offensively challenged.

Guys, you need help in the paint.

[rocketsballin]

i had no idea that losing yao for the season would ruin the interior defense, specially since he's the only player on the team that can man the paint.

it was well known rockets defense would suck w/o yao, i was saying that before the season started, i think half of the pple on this board thought we didnt need shot blocking, that it was "overrated". i tried to explain to them how important it is to have a real shot blocker but i dunno wtf crack they were smokin, there's no way a team can be top 15 in defense w/o a real sized big who can defend the paint, no effing way. the reason shane batter was top 5-10 on defense was cuz there was a big in the paint who can defend. he had that in memphis w/ pau, and in houston w/ yao. now he has 6'6 hayes and 6'9 offensive minded scola. and he's old so bla bla bla

in the beggining of the year the team was making up for is bad defense by scoring a lot but now everything is falling apart . team needs to trade tmac if they want a playoff spot this year. team needs a real playmaker, doesnt have to be a pg, could be a sg/sf like tmac, but need a playmaker.

[dunleavyjr]

I wouldn't worry too much about Ariza's awful shooting. It will come once people start focusing their attention on the player (eg, Kobe, Yao) who commands the double team.

The problem right now is the defense. Houston is giving up too many points in the paint. You saw Brad Miller who is a big 7-footer the other night driving to the basket for layup after layup, as if there was nobody guarding the post. That was just terrible terrible post defense.

Teams have figured out how to take advantage.

Bring back the 100-year old Mutombom, or do a trade.

[texasholdem]

Ariza for Chris Andersen + Malik Allen

[HTown_TMac]

[rocketsballin]

i do agree w/ the rockets getting a defensive big in the paint. it could turn us into a top 10 defense again. but the offense will continue to struggle so i dont think that trade would give us more than a few wins.

[texasholdem]

McGrady and Scola to Phoenix fror A'mare and JRich?

F: Battier, Ariza
F: Landry, Andersen, Cook
C: Stoudemire, Dorsey, Yao
G: Brooks, Landry, Conroy
G: Richardson, Budinger, Taylor

[Rendezvous]

As long as Jrich does not have offcourt problems, and Stoudamire wont leave us.

Then Sure..

[rocketsballin]

id rather trade for a wing who can create. this team wont go far in the playoffs if they dont get a real playmaker

[Aaron Brooks]

is Iggy + Dalembert for TMac still on the table?

[Rendezvous]

is Iggy + Dalembert for TMac+Cook still on the table?

Yeah.

[KiDdFrESh]

is Iggy + Dalembert for TMac still on the table?

I've read that Philly offered Iggy, Dally, Lou Williams for T-Mac & Lowry but Houston declined. At the moment both teams are probably low-balling each other. The Rockets are not interested in Williams and are really high on Lowry as they should be. Houston is looking for either Young or Speights to be included in the deal with Kapono coming back this way and not Dally I think.

[aznkillabeezZz]

Yup its true and obvious. Iggy and Dalembert for tmac is a good deal.

[dunleavyjr]

Yup its true and obvious. Iggy and Dalembert for tmac is a good deal.

Did you do the math on the salary the Rockets would pick up?

[Rendezvous]

Yup its true and obvious. Iggy and Dalembert for tmac is a good deal.

Did you do the math on the salary the Rockets would pick up?

Thats Why the trade proposal was

TMac+Cook for Iggy+Dalembert

23M+5M for 12.5m+15(was 13, trade kicker)

28M for 27.5M

I think we save around 500K doing this trade

[rocketsballin]

getter dun or get a top 10 draft pick

[is1531]

Just make a deal with the 76ers for Dalembert. He is a good defender and he expires next year. He would give the Rockets a chance to amke the playoffs.

[AntiSuperstar]

This thread is full of nonsense. Yao was not a very good defender, he had no mobility in the pick and roll, he was not quick enough to show against every shot, and he was far from the most intimidating guy to drive into and try to score off contact. While I agree the Rockets backup Centers are not good defenders, Chuck Hayes is one of the best defensive players in the league. Also, "shot blocking" itself is not the same as protecting the basket. A guy can fall for every pump fake, pick up blocks doing nothing but rushing in from the weak side, yet be a total liability when players are coming right at him. Emeka Okafor is not a defensive presence even though he blocks plenty of shots. Hayes doesn't block a ton of shot, but he does a good job of protecting the rim because:

1. he's powerful enough that players do not look to drive into him often in the half-court, 2. he moves his feet well and uses this to cut off paths to the basket, he's very good at forcing players under the basket where they can barely stay in bounds and don't have an angle to shoot, 3. he gets a lot of steals near the rim 4. he keeps opposing Centers off the offensive glass 5. he has excellent positioning and quick enough to show in time on just about any penetration 6. he is also good at drawing charges around the rim, and doing so without taking a bunch of ill-advised gambles.

The Rockets defense struggles primarily because of their offense. Especially earlier in the year, they often used a lot of poor defensive lineups to put guys on the floor who can score(I'm thinking 2 PGs with Bud at the 3 and David at the 5), they send guys to the offensive glass a lot(a high risk strategy), they have more costly turnovers, they take much more quick 3s in transition(which, when missed give opposing teams more chances to run), etc. These are the primary problems with the Rockets defense. Houston's half-court defense has actually been better this year, the main problem is that they give up a lot of scores after offensive missed baskets. This is a result of offensive things the team does. This isn't just an opinion of mine or something either, evidence: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=178352

[rocketsballin]

This thread is full of nonsense. Yao was not a very good defender, he had no mobility in the pick and roll, he was not quick enough to show against every shot, and he was far from the most intimidating guy to drive into and try to score off contact. While I agree the Rockets backup Centers are not good defenders, Chuck Hayes is one of the best defensive players in the league. Also, "shot blocking" itself is not the same as protecting the basket. A guy can fall for every pump fake, pick up blocks doing nothing but rushing in from the weak side, yet be a total liability when players are coming right at him. Emeka Okafor is not a defensive presence even though he blocks plenty of shots. Hayes doesn't block a ton of shot, but he does a good job of protecting the rim because:

1. he's powerful enough that players do not look to drive into him often in the half-court, 2. he moves his feet well and uses this to cut off paths to the basket, he's very good at forcing players under the basket where they can barely stay in bounds and don't have an angle to shoot, 3. he gets a lot of steals near the rim 4. he keeps opposing Centers off the offensive glass 5. he has excellent positioning and quick enough to show in time on just about any penetration 6. he is also good at drawing charges around the rim, and doing so without taking a bunch of ill-advised gambles.

The Rockets defense struggles primarily because of their offense. Especially earlier in the year, they often used a lot of poor defensive lineups to put guys on the floor who can score(I'm thinking 2 PGs with Bud at the 3 and David at the 5), they send guys to the offensive glass a lot(a high risk strategy), they have more costly turnovers, they take much more quick 3s in transition(which, when missed give opposing teams more chances to run), etc. These are the primary problems with the Rockets defense. Houston's half-court defense has actually been better this year, the main problem is that they give up a lot of scores after offensive missed baskets. This is a result of offensive things the team does. This isn't just an opinion of mine or something either, evidence: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=178352

rockets top 10 in defense since they drafted yao, streak prolly ends this year, maybe your post is full of nonsense too

[AntiSuperstar]

rockets top 10 in defense since they drafted yao, streak prolly ends this year, maybe your post is full of nonsense too

Wrong. They were not top 10 in defense Yao's rookie year. They only became in seasons subsequent to that. Take note that the defensive improvement started after the team brought in JVG and Thibodeau(total coincidence I know ). In any case, those stats fail to measure a lot of things. But anyone who watches the games closely can see the Rockets take a lot more risks on offense this year than the ultra slowdown offense they used to run, and these risks are going to lead to more breakaway opportunities and the like for opposing teams. Read the link I gave and it tells exactly that. The Rockets halfcourt D has actually been better(mainly imo because Chuck Hayes is an incredible defender, one of the best in the league) this season, it's the transition D and most particularly the defense after missed baskets on offense. And the problems there obviously have nothing to do with Yao, the slowest, usually least significant player in transition situations, it's because of the offense. The amount of quick 3s in transition this year(which overwhelmingly miss, I wish Adelman would eliminate those from the offense from everyone except maybe Brooks) for example are absolutely ridicolous. The Rockets are an uptempo team this year who also go after offensive rebounds a lot. It's not hard to see how that kind of offense is going to put a lot of pressure on the defense, much moreso than a slowed down halfcourt game. Far too often we want to seperate offense and defense like they are not related, but the two can affect eachother and are related.

Lastly, the Rockets actually have a lot of reasons to suffer on defense this year. They lack the depth of previous squads(it's a decent 9 man rotation but there's nothing after that), they are expecting more on offense from several players which often leads to less energy being spent on D, they swapped Ariza for Artest which is a gigantic defensive downgrade, and even Alston for Brooks is a little bit of a defensive downgrade. Even if the defense has truly gotten worse, trying to pin that solely on the Center position, and even more ridicolously missing Yao, is extremely misguided.