I'm perfecly happy to see the team take one step back for the opportunity to take two steps forward down the line. You won't catch me second guessing this move.
I'd love to upgrade the backcourt talent like I would any position, but the criticisms that the current guys don't get to the line is kind of hollow. WM averages 4 FTA a game and Dre 3.7 which ranks them 55th and 70th in the entire league. Of course LA is the #1 option. He averages 6.0 ranking #17 overall http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/free-throws/sort/avgFreeThrowsAttempted/count/41 btw... I'm very interested to see what Williams can bring next year STOMP
I have found a few things disturbing. The first is the effort level. The teams effort level has plummeted the last few games. The second thing is that the team looks to me much like the team was before Roy left for injury. The team that lost in Philly and New Jersey. Lots of standing around. I don't think Lamarcus got the ball withe deep post position for the first time until the 3rd quarter. They are going away from what made them a decent team the last few months and that needs to stop.
I don't think it's Wallace. He's just trying to make stuff happen. I actually think much of the blame lies with LaMarcus, but I don't blame him one bit. I think LA's been working to the point of exhaustion for the past two months carrying this team. I think he sees Roy and Camby coming back and seeing Crash join the team and I think he's relaxed a bit. The problem is that we still need that increased level of intensity from him. Eventually Roy's role will be figured out, Camby will work himself into shape and Wallace will take some scoring pressure off of him. Until then, we're going to need the December-February LaMarcus.
I already love Gerald Wallace. He's blaming himself too much and adding more pressure to himself, but it's in the spirit of teamwork/wanting to win. I agree with MaxieP, LA has pulled his foot off the gas peddle a bit (either that or his hip/knee are really bothering him). Seems like he still wants to defer to Brandon. But I'm not worried about G-Wall. Perhaps Nic goes in a funk if he loses his starting job, but he'll get over it. That said, I hope they get a win tonight. Whether it's true or not, GW thinks he's disrupting the team. They need to get a win, so he doesn't have to think about the team being 0 for . . . since the trade.
Why single them out? Who has shot well? Nobody. Spacing is bad. Lots of standing around. No effort to get offensive rebounds. Poor effort by all but a couple of players.
Agreed. Although both are great players, I truly believe this team is a better team without them (mostly Roy). Denver surgically removed the same problem and fixed it with a trade. We tried to patch over a festering scab by getting Wallace.
I don't think LMA was less aggressive last night; he was just hounded hard, and in a new way. The double-team scheme the Rockets ran on LMA last night was really clever; instead of the double guy being the guy guarding the entry passer to LMA, they had the guy guarding the far-side spot-up shooter run cross court to double LMA and close off the key when he goes right. It leaves the left/baseline open, but LMA still isn't comfortable going left yet. Until he can go quicker to the hoop (which he did a couple times successfully in the 3rd, starting his move immediately on catching the ball) or go left more, opposing defenses will have good luck against him. In all honesty, except for some Ruben Patterson type mistakes and over-enthusiasm, I though Crash played great last night. He and Roy had a good two-man game going in the 3rd.
At the same time, we had no cutters. Lamarcus would get the ball and nobody cut through the paint. Everybody just stood around and watched. Nobody else was making Houston guard them. So the double team is easy when all your guys just sit there, watch, jack 3 pointers and miss. We made the game easy for Houston.
Totally agree; we also need to see LMA cutting and catching the ball in the key for faster shots. Camby at the top of the key throwing lobs and bullet passes to the cutting men would be nice.
I don't think it is wallace's fault. We are just struggling to integrate all of these guys into our offense. We need to go back to what has been working, feed Aldridge the ball and let him do his thing. It will be nice for Aldridge to play less minutes, but we need to remember to work the offense through him a bit.
Oh I think everybody remembers that, but the current team. They have got away from what made them successful.
First of all: Welcome, Steelblazer! Secondly: I don't think that Wallace is to blame for the team losing. I think that the team's utter lack of size is a bigger issue. It's forcing Aldridge into playing lots of minutes, given that he and Camby are the only big guys on the team. While Wallace can (and should) play some power forward, not having a reliable third big guy is REALLY hurting this team. I'm giving Cho the benefit of the doubt so far, but I can't believe we haven't added a decent big all year... and I don't think Collins is in that area code, either. Ed O.
Our help defense was awful last night. The Rockets guards and wings were running a clinic on how to score in the paint against us. We gave Kevin Martin way too much space. Then you had Scola's greasy-ass pulling his typical old man YMCA routine with up-and-unders and silky jumpers. Houston played like they wanted it.
