How do we fix our problem?

[wadero]

If this needs to be moved please move it.

What or how do we fix our problem? I for one dont want to hear well if Yao was healthy we could beat Utah. That is not good enough I understand that Tmac is getting double an tripled teamed but come on we need someone to come off the bench and score or possibly spell Tmac. The loss of rafer hurts us but it is good to see Brooks stepping up. I think the first thing we need to do is build a bench Head, Hayes, Novak they have got to come up with better options. What are your suggestions? What areas do you think we should improve on?? :banghead:

[Alex_De_Large]

improve the PG position and another shoter who come out from the bench, give some young players (head, brooks, novak),picks, jackson.
we are better than last years in PF position.

chuck hayes/juwan howard - yao combo <<<<< scola/landry/chuck hayes - yao combo

[wadero]

Do you really think giving Novak more time would improve his Defense? I think we need to get rid of those one dimensional players, if you cant shoot and Defend we really dont need you!! I think the Draft needs improvement we all know how bad the draft picks have turned out over the years. I think we need better player development and scouting. I hate to say it but Utah is a good example Okur, Williams, trading for Kover the youg guys coming off the bench we need to get that kind of development.

[Alex_De_Large]

i mean trade the young players for a good pg and mike miller.

novak had 0'0 value last year, now, he is a scrub but atleast have SOME value because he can be useful for bad teams coming from the bench, all thanks to Adelman.

[moofs]

If this needs to be moved please move it.

What or how do we fix our problem? I for one dont want to hear well if Yao was healthy we could beat Utah. That is not good enough I understand that Tmac is getting double an tripled teamed but come on we need someone to come off the bench and score or possibly spell Tmac. The loss of rafer hurts us but it is good to see Brooks stepping up. I think the first thing we need to do is build a bench Head, Hayes, Novak they have got to come up with better options. What are your suggestions? What areas do you think we should improve on??

THE DEAL:

What's wrong with us? Injuries. Period. If you really did understand that Yao and Rafers' injuries were holding us back against Utah, you wouldn't be so frustrated right now.

Most good teams roll a deep 8-9 man rotation with 3-4 guys that get spot minutes depending on the situation. Last year, we had a 7.5 man rotation. When healthy, we run this (apositional, in decreasing order of importance after the 5 starters):

Rotation:
McGrady, Yao, Scola, Battier, Alston
Bench:
Landry, Jackson, Hayes, Mutombo, Head
Scrubs and spot minutes:
Harris, Brooks, Novak, ....... Woods

The guys you just complained about are our 7th, 9th, and 12th most important guys. Here's the problem with our current situation against the Jazz:

Rotation:
McGrady, Scola, Battier, Jackson, Mutombo,
Bench:
Landry, Hayes, Brooks, Head, Harris
Scrubs and spot minutes:
Novak, ....... Woods

The problem is obviously that our bench is starting. The areas we need to improve on are still the same as they have been, and has been discussed at length in the trade thread.

I wondered when Yao went down if our decreased depth was going to result in increased minutes/injuries for our rotation guys and whether our lack of a bench might possibly be compensated for slightly by overall shortened benches in the playoffs. It did, and it didn't, respectively. That's just the way it is.

[BiggieSmalls]

blazer fan here, oregon duck fan as well, and i got the solution to all ur problems.....


AARON BROOKS!!!

the rockets played a good game last night, they have there struggles on offense but it seemed that when they needed to get a good defensive stop utah was able to find a way to score. houston played good defense just not at the right times. but i know bobby jackson did have a decent scoring game, wheneve he was in the game deron williams was able to put on his best chris paul impression and get anywhere on the court at any time. aaron brooks is quick enough to stay in front of him and there is not one guy on utah who can guard brooks. he is lightning quick which aloows him to penetrate and leave it off for a big man or kick it to the corner or lay it up. he creates alot more options for houston on offense. notice during the fourth quarter brooks came in and played good but adelman and his love for bobby jackson put im back in the game and houston went on a 4-5 minute drought without a basket. that right there should have told adelman that he needed to get brooks back in the game to help generate more offense and he can keep williams in front of him instead of jackson letting him blow by him.

[tisbee]

Go small and go w/shooters. Play Novak and have him defend Okur. Rotate Scola,Hayes and Landry on Boozer. W/out Alston make T-Mac the PG and use Jackson,Brooks and Head as SGs. Start Brooks or Head and let Jackson come off the bench in his "normal" role of offensive sparkplug. Fine Scola $100 for each fake when he's 3' from basket. Tell Head if he likes Houston he better make a freakin 3.

[Alex_De_Large]

theres nothing we can do about it now in this series, i'am thinking about next year.
it would be a miracle win both games @ utah.

[RaoulDuke79]

blazer fan here, oregon duck fan as well, and i got the solution to all ur problems.....


AARON BROOKS!!!

the rockets played a good game last night, they have there struggles on offense but it seemed that when they needed to get a good defensive stop utah was able to find a way to score. houston played good defense just not at the right times. but i know bobby jackson did have a decent scoring game, wheneve he was in the game deron williams was able to put on his best chris paul impression and get anywhere on the court at any time. aaron brooks is quick enough to stay in front of him and there is not one guy on utah who can guard brooks. he is lightning quick which aloows him to penetrate and leave it off for a big man or kick it to the corner or lay it up. he creates alot more options for houston on offense. notice during the fourth quarter brooks came in and played good but adelman and his love for bobby jackson put im back in the game and houston went on a 4-5 minute drought without a basket. that right there should have told adelman that he needed to get brooks back in the game to help generate more offense and he can keep williams in front of him instead of jackson letting him blow by him.

Plus, if Deron Williams(or whoever he's guarding) frustrates him at all, he can always elbow the bastard upside the head Ryan Appleby style.

I like Brooks though and I too would like to see him continue to play more and develop. I think he needs to get stronger and work on his shooting, but he has potential.

[kanfar04]

Name the last team to make a deep playoff run minus a superstar caliber player due to injury?

It really is that simple. Whether this team would have finally gottne over that hump if Yao (and Rafer) is healthy who knows. But without them..no team does that. Maybe you can survive one round against a weak opponent. But there are no weak opponents in the West.

The team clearly needs to try to find a 3rd scorer before next season, but there was never any real chance for playoff glory once Yao went down whether there was a 3rd guy or not.

[wadero]

In the offseason I hope we look at the following players
Restricted Free agents Josh Smith Lou Deng Juan carlos Navarro Maybe Carlos Delfino

Unrestricted players Carlos Arryo, Gordon Giricek, Bostjan Nacbar, Patrick O'Bryant Matt Barnes
I really wish we could sign Josh Smith to a big Contract so Atlanta does not match. He would be the perfect complement to Tmac. I also Think Bringing back Boki would not only help the team but make Yao happy!!!

[Iggyemu]

We obviously have to make trades. We have an asset this time around though with Jackson's expiring contract. When healthy IMO we are one player short of being a championship caliber team. Jackson's contract could land us that 1 player. But then there is the bigger issue of staying healthy.

[superemxguy]

In the offseason I hope we look at the following players
Restricted Free agents Josh Smith Lou Deng Juan carlos Navarro Maybe Carlos Delfino

Unrestricted players Carlos Arryo, Gordon Giricek, Bostjan Nacbar, Patrick O'Bryant Matt Barnes
I really wish we could sign Josh Smith to a big Contract so Atlanta does not match. He would be the perfect complement to Tmac. I also Think Bringing back Boki would not only help the team but make Yao happy!!!

Josh Smith is a NBA all star caliber !!! It will definitely solve our rebounding woes. !!!!

Is his contract expiring ? I would seriously consider going after this guy in the off season. He is perfect match for this team.
When you build a team , it must have identity or else you end up like the Bucks. Our identity is defense and energy. Josh Smith fits that category.

[sactownsport]

LOL. Lose Rick Adelman. I'm from Sacramento & I know Adelman will play the players into the ground. Every player is playing more minutes this year than their career average. Fatigue is part of the reason players miss freethrows (along with concentration) Yao was injured from playing so much! Chris Webber injured his knee jumping for an Alley Oop pass. Even when we had good bench players Adelman overplayered players. Ask Mutumbo!

[moofs]

We are not getting Josh Smith for the MLE or less. Atlanta isn't going to take a trade involving Bobby Jackson because they need talent, not cap relief (they're well under it). Those would be our two options for getting him other than trading a major piece, which we also aren't doing.

[wadero]

Josh Smith is a restricted free agent couldnt we do a poison pill contract offer to him that Atlanta couldnt match?

[moofs]

They are going to offer him more than the MLE. The MLE is the most we could offer. Any money we offered him would just be hurting us until they matched it, and earn us ill will with the Hawks front office for no reason. Atlanta isn't even a competitor of ours unless we meet in the finals, why do we want to try and hurt them?

[realfung]

T-Mac shot selection, need a pass first PG and Yao.

[grond]

aaron brooks is quick enough to stay in front of him and there is not one guy on utah who can guard brooks.

Bad stuff first. Yeah, he is quick enough to stay in front of his man, but he beyond that he has no clue how to defend. His m.o. right now given a 1x1 situation with no picks is to stay in front of his man while back pedalling and at the point where his man is close to the rim reach out a hand and swipe at the ball. Foul is always called and his man shoots 2. He needs to anticipate as well as move, close the space between his man and himself, and use his body to alter his man's dribble path, taking a flying charge if his man gets overaggressive.

Good stuff now. I agree that no one on the Jazz can stay with him. Plus, he's showing some flashes of finishing skills as well. At this point, seeing as we have nothing to lose, I'd like to see him get a little more run, with the green light to push it to the hole off misses. One (of the several) problems the Rockets have at the moment is that with Rafer out, no one looks to push the ball. Our fast break points, never many, have dwindled to naught.

[TMACFORMVP]

I said last playoffs that if we lost in the first round again, it's time to rebuild, BUT considering the circumstances with Alston and Yao out, McGrady, Battier and Landry all beat up that we might give this unsuccessful duo ONE more year of at least trying to advance.

We need a PG, a legit one that can shoot over 40% from downtown and not be a liability on the defensive end (a Hinrich type player would be absolutely perfect not counting the obvious). And we just need a third option that can create his own shot and be able to get to the rim and also play off the ball in that they'll hit open shots (Maggette, Miller, Artest, or Jefferson). Then just overall more size and depth.

We still have some way to go.