What do you guys think of this line up for the Rockets? PG- Mike James SG- Derek Anderson SF- T-Mac PF- Juwon Howard C- Stromile Swift This is a nice running line up that can be a fast break team. I am not sure if JVG would ever consider using this line up often, but maybe it would be good against other running teams like Dallas, and Phoenix. And if we are playing a team w/ a smaller PF (or even Dallas since Dirk'snot great against tall athletic guys like T-Mac), then maybe this line up could work. PG- Mike James SG- Bob Sura SF- Derek Anderson PF- T-Mac C- Stromile Swift I doubt we will ever see this. But damn that would be one of the fastest teams in teh league.
Against Dallas and Phoenix Yao is our advantage. To go small would play in to their game; we have to make them play into ours.
The Suns have no one to stop Yao, neither do Dallas. Shawn Bradley traditionally does pretty good but even he's retired now. If we play against teams like these, we should try to go to Yao most of the time. We don't want to run with a team like Phoenix. We want them to slow down and have to try to score against our half-court defense, instead of us trying to outscore them at a pace they do well best in.
The first thing I noticed in your lineups is the exclusion of Yao Ming from each. I'm sure these would be very effective lineups, but consider this, Yao has grown to become the virtual face (alongside TMac) of the Rockets franchise. Giving other groups considerable time as well as seeing them succeed without Yao would hurt the fan support of the club as well as the fan support for Yao, no? I think this is the kind of situation that happened to Antoine Walker both times he left Boston. The team was in a transition trying to move to a fast break team, and even though he was the arguable best player on the team (consequently alongside a power guard like TMac: Pierce) he was moved 1st through trade and 2nd through free agency. This means that finding success with the fast break can either make (Stoudemire) or break (Walker) a players stock with a certain team and overall in the league. Just a thought.
our fast break line up is james anderson or wesley cuz he runs well too tmac swift and yao our starting line up most likely will be sura wesley (jvg likes his defense) tmac swift yao this line up would give us great depth with james anderson howard deke and barry off the bench
JVG has stated many times that he loves the way DA plays defense, that was a large reason we went after him at the All Star break last season. It just seems to make so much more sense to have Wesley coming of the bench
if wesley comes off the bench who is gonna back up tmac ??? if anderson starts barry is our only other option and i know we dont want bowen b/c thats like going from our main scorer to some guy thats not even close to 2 pts a game
DA can rotate to the 3 spot. McGrady isn't going to be on the bench for long, maybe 2 to 3 min. a quarter. For the short time he is out have: 1)Sura/James 2)Wesley/Barry 3)DA
Damn, I forgot Yao kills Phoenix and its better to have him in our line up against Dallas. I was just pointing out the fact that we have a good running team. I didnt expect this to be our daily starting line up. We could use those line ups for like 5-10 min a game depend (more or less) depending on injuries, team we are playing against, and if Yao needs rest. I prefer Wesley off the bench UNLESS we need him to cover a good SG/SF such as Bron or Kobe. Anderson should start, and he could easily take T-Macs position when we need him to. Its not like he will be playing more than 28 min a game (Anderson that is).
The fast break lineups are good but not something we should use on a regular basis. I was just wondering, what do you guys think of us going to a fast break lineup if we had to against teams like SA and Det??
only our second unit I could see as a fast break team, with James and Anderson...not necessarily "fast break" but they'll use up less of the shot clock...we're still gonna be a halfcourt team but we'll take advantage of any opportunity to run and get easy baskets, just like last season...
I just can't see Anderson not starting. He's too good to be on the bench, and his athletism will be fit too well with Tmac. Wesley is a instant mismatch (for the other team), and he'll do better playin against the second players. Most logical starting 5: <div align="center">Sura Anderson Tmac Howard Yao</div> James and Swift will be energy guys off the bench. Head will sparingly back up the PG and SG positions. Wesley and Barry will interchange back up SG, but Barry will play some time at the SF position too. Mutumbo will bring his defense off the bench. This should be the fast break line up: <div align="center">Head Anderson Tmac Howard Swift</div> The reason Head is in there instead of James is because Head can fly, and James can't lol. With this line up, we have 4 athletic players, with speed, who can all finish above the rim. This line up is a line up we didn't have last year. Teams won't know what to do. Expect the ball pressure on the perimiter to be real tight. By the way, DA needs to get in shape. I saw the charity game, and he has NO NECK lol. He looks real chubby. Hopefully all that will go away when training camp comes around
I would not no why the Rockets wouldn't have DA starting. DA is taller and can play defense. The biggest thing is that DA isnt just a spot up shooter, and thats what Wesley was for us last year. He can create and get open going to the basket. I would expect Swift to be starting too. He and Howard are the same height but Swift has tons more athleticism, and can block a shot or two. I thought the whole reason we got him is because our 4 spot killed us last year. Other than Mcgrady, the rockets had nobody else that could rise up and throw it down on somebody. Anybody notice how well the rockets ran with Motumbo last year. I think Deke and Swift together will be something good to watch when Yao sits and James comes in for Sura. I wouldn't be surprised if another move is made. CD and the rockets must feel like they are close to putting together exaclty what they want. With TMac and Yao's extensions, Swift Signing, and DA signing, it has definitely good to see the Rockets looking like they can compete with the better teams.
