<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Jun 20 2007, 03:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Again, those stats tell half the story since T-Mac is a streak scorer. He will have his 6-20 nights, but will also explode to drop 50 the next game. Drexler took about 1FGA less than T-Mac to get the same amount of points, but T-Mac being IMO the more dangerous and streaky scorer (due to 3pt shooting) makes him just as effective. And I'd say back to back scoring titles is dominating. Yao has shown he can score points against lesser competition, but he still has a ton of trouble against many of the best low post defenders in the league. Yes, T-Mac shot poorly in the playoffs, but he is also the main reason they won the 3 games they did. He had an amaizng second half to bring the Rockets back in both game 1 & 2 (including the shot that sealed the deal in game 2), in game 5 he had one of the best overall games of his career, and in game 7 he was also spectacular with 29/13/5/3. Yao was EXTREMELY inconsistent in the playoffs, and when he was scoring the team simply didn't respond. When T-Mac was scoring and leading, the team went on huge runs (incluidng 2 game 7 runs, although at the end Utah's offensive rebounding killed the Rockets).I agree, Van Gundy is a very good commentator. He works real well with Mark Jackson.</div>I'll just have to say again that scoring titles are only impressive if you score efficiently. There are plenty of guys who can lead the league in scoring if they were to shoot more than anyone else. I'll say the same about Iverson's scoring titles. Not impressive.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jordanisoverrated @ Jun 20 2007, 03:49 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I'll just have to say again that scoring titles are only impressive if you score efficiently. There are plenty of guys who can lead the league in scoring if they were to shoot more than anyone else. I'll say the same about Iverson's scoring titles. Not impressive.</div>Again, I don't look at FG %, but rather shots taken to determine efficiency. Drexler may have about 7% better FG %, but it takes T-Mac only one more shot to reach same amount of points. And considering T-Mac is the more dangerous streak scorer, it balances out.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Jun 20 2007, 08:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Again, I don't look at FG %, but rather shots taken to determine efficiency. Drexler may have about 7% better FG %, but it takes T-Mac only one more shot to reach same amount of points. And considering T-Mac is the more dangerous streak scorer, it balances out.</div>Who really cares about Clyde anyway? Great player, but he isn't playing. I think he's dancing with the stars these days. The choice is between Yao and McGrady, and the difference between those two is larger. Last season, it was 4 FGA, and Yao was still ahead.Another factor that you are ignoring is that T-Mac is 10 years into his career, and on the decline.Yao is ramping up, and will probably play another 8-10 years. If the Rockets are to do well, it's because they start getting even more out of him. He is already vastly more efficient with the ball in his hands, on average, and will only improve. Last year Yao was 5th in efficiency rating for the NBA, and per 48 minutes, he was first. Whatever you think of the ratings, they are not THAT far off, and a good part of him being that high is that you get more points on the board when he shoots.Is there any reason other than catering to the entertainment aspect of McGrady's play that you would focus the offense on him? He had his chance in Orlando to take the shots on every possession, and got his scoring titles and first round playoff exits (or team lottery picks). Is that what you'd like to see for Houston in the future? To win, you get the most out of the talent you have, and when you aren't a step away from the finals (and the Rockets aren't at this point), you focus on the future.Yao is the future.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jordanisoverrated @ Jun 20 2007, 09:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Who really cares about Clyde anyway? Great player, but he isn't playing. I think he's dancing with the stars these days. The choice is between Yao and McGrady, and the difference between those two is larger. Last season, it was 4 FGA, and Yao was still ahead.Another factor that you are ignoring is that T-Mac is 10 years into his career, and on the decline.Yao is ramping up, and will probably play another 8-10 years. If the Rockets are to do well, it's because they start getting even more out of him. He is already vastly more efficient with the ball in his hands, on average, and will only improve. Last year Yao was 5th in efficiency rating for the NBA, and per 48 minutes, he was first. Whatever you think of the ratings, they are not THAT far off, and a good part of him being that high is that you get more points on the board when he shoots.Is there any reason other than catering to the entertainment aspect of McGrady's play that you would focus the offense on him? He had his chance in Orlando to take the shots on every possession, and got his scoring titles and first round playoff exits (or team lottery picks). Is that what you'd like to see for Houston in the future? To win, you get the most out of the talent you have, and when you aren't a step away from the finals (and the Rockets aren't at this point), you focus on the future.Yao is the future.</div>I brought up Clyde because Adelman worked very well with him. JVG is probably the worst offensive coach in the league, thus T-Mac struggled a lot in his system. T-Mac is still one of the best scorers in the league, and with Adelman maybe that will shine like it did back in Orlando. Watch how Doc Rivers used T-Mac as a scorer in Orlando, and then watch how JVG used him as a scorer in Houston...it's sickening.Again, efficiency means crap when your team doesn't respond. Yao was averaging well over 30PPG when T-Mac went down and they went 2-6. When Yao went down, T-Mac averaged 30/6/5 on 45% shooting and they were 21-10. My whole point in this arguement is that the team responds better to T-Mac being the first option, and he is a guy who, if you give him his shots, he can get extremely hot and win a game all by himself. He can take over and win games with his scoring, and his teammates rally behind him. He is unstoppable to the point where he can only hurt himself (which will happen a lot less if he is given the ball in scoring positions rather than 35ft out), whereas Yao can be slowed down to a crawl (his stamina and foul proneness also don't help).Even though T-mac deserves a lot of blame for his failure to get out of the first round, each time out he did his job. His stats always increase come playoff time, 3rd leading playoff scorer in league history, has hit game winning shots, etc... It is not his fault that in game 2 of the Pistons series he scored 44pts on 14-26 shooting yet rest of team scored like 29 total points on udner 30% shooting. It is not his fault his 3rd option was hurt in the Mavs series, nor is it his fault that Yao kept getting ABUSED by Boozer and the Jazz raped them on the offensive boards. He deserves a lot of blame for his playoff woes, but I am a firm believer that he can lead a team deep in the playoffs.Yao might be the future (I HIGHLY doubt he'll play another 10 years though...he's already like 27 and body won't allow that longetivity), but right now the Rockets are around a 60 win team when healthy. They need to make slight upgrades (Mike James was a BIG trade for the Rockets), but for the most part they got a great core to go deep and possibly win it all. I do not think it is time to hand over the team to Yao...it is still T-Mac's team.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Jun 20 2007, 10:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Yao might be the future (I HIGHLY doubt he'll play another 10 years though...he's already like 27 and body won't allow that longetivity), but right now the Rockets are around a 60 win team when healthy. They need to make slight upgrades (Mike James was a BIG trade for the Rockets), but for the most part they got a great core to go deep and possibly win it all. I do not think it is time to hand over the team to Yao...it is still T-Mac's team.</div>Yao is only slightly younger than McGrady, but he's only been playing for 5 years in the NBA. I'd be surprised if he didn't play at least 8 more years, and 10 is more than doable. Many top centers have played to that age. There is no way McGrady plays that long.You win games (especially in the playoffs) by being efficient scoring the ball, rebounding, and defending well, not by hoping someone gets "hot." By definition, if they have to get hot for the team to win, it is because their standard level of play is too low. That is the scenario of which you speak, a team that shouldn't win getting a W because T-Mac goes off on one of his best days. That is not what you want to count on.It simply is no coincidence that no team has won the title with a #1 option who shoots that poorly. There isn't anyone who is even close.At any rate, let's just disagree. We'll see what Adelman does with the team next season.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jordanisoverrated @ Jun 21 2007, 02:24 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Yao is only slightly younger than McGrady, but he's only been playing for 5 years in the NBA. I'd be surprised if he didn't play at least 8 more years, and 10 is more than doable. Many top centers have played to that age. There is no way McGrady plays that long.</div>There also have been no great centers who are 7'6'' and have had as many injuries as Yao has already had. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>You win games (especially in the playoffs) by being efficient scoring the ball, rebounding, and defending well, not by hoping someone gets "hot." By definition, if they have to get hot for the team to win, it is because their standard level of play is too low. That is the scenario of which you speak, a team that shouldn't win getting a W because T-Mac goes off on one of his best days. That is not what you want to count on.</div>It isn't like T-Mac only has 6-20 nights and 40pt nights, but he is simply not going to have the same stat line each and every night like a D-Wade or Carmelo will give you. Yao still is not efficient due to TO's, he kills the team chemistry and offensive flow because he takes forever to get position and to finally make his movement, and he still has weaknesses as a scorer that are regularly exploited. T-Mac's FG % WILL go up with Adelman, and while it won't be over 50%, his 3pt shot, FT shooting and intangible will more than make up for it. For the future, I agree, Yao will need more touches. But right now he simply isn't ready to take that role. T-Mac is still capable of giving you up to 30PPG on 45-46% shooting, and is still the toughest SF to guard one on one in the league. He is a proven scorer, and this past season solidified himself as one of the best playmaking swingmen in the league. The offense MUST be ran through him, not Yao.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>It simply is no coincidence that no team has won the title with a #1 option who shoots that poorly. There isn't anyone who is even close.</div>Well, just a few years ago the Pistons did it with Chauncey Billups shooting under 40% for the season, and by the end of his career Jordan was shooting only 46%.But yes, agree to disagree.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Jun 21 2007, 03:30 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Well, just a few years ago the Pistons did it with Chauncey Billups shooting under 40% for the season, and by the end of his career Jordan was shooting only 46%.</div>Billups did shoot under 40%, but he wasn't the leading scorer for the Pistons, Hamilton was, and he shot a very high percentage of his shots from beyond the arc. Overall he had 1.32 points/FGA, which is way ahead of McGrady. Not to mention the fact that the Pistons were a very balanced team, which isn't a situation that allows someone to be a top 3 scorer.Jordan did drop to being only 1% better than T-Mac's career best during 97-98. He was in a tight scoring race with Shaq, though, and I think that impacted it.
I think that it was clear this past season that during the regular season, Phoenix and Dallas were the two best teams. Phoenix was hit with some injuries during the regular season which gave Dallas the clear #1 spot IMO, but they were close to equal during the regular season IMO. Having said that, the Spurs dominated this year in the playoffs and I dont think they will be getting any worse. Duncan looks better now than he has for the past few seasons, Parker is getting better, and Ginobili is playing great off the bench. I think the Spurs are the best team for next year when it is all said in done, but as for the regular season, I think it will be similar to last season.
This year is the mavs year. I think the extra 6 weeks off this year will help them a lot in the long run. Nowitzki in particular needed that rest as he plays during the summer for his national team. Dallas hopefully doesn't matchup with Golden State next year. What a nightmare matchup they were.
Dallas Mavericks.People don't get that they have two guys who could be #1 options on 95% of the teams, Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard and people don't get how deep they are.So what that they lost to Golden State? They were just outmatched and that was the only team that caused them problems because of Nelson's coaching style and knowledge of the Mavericks and how to shut down Dirk. Would you be saying the same crap if they had to face the Clippers in the first round and swept them? Then went to either the WCF or won the title?People are making too much out of this Warriors upset. Dallas is the best team in the league this year and they will be next year too.1. Dallas2. San Antonio3. Phoenix4. Utah5. Houston6, Denver7. LA Lakers (if they keep Kobe, Bynum and Odom)8. Portland (if they draft Oden) we need to see how the draft plays out
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jordanisoverrated @ Jun 21 2007, 12:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Billups did shoot under 40%, but he wasn't the leading scorer for the Pistons, Hamilton was, and he shot a very high percentage of his shots from beyond the arc. Overall he had 1.32 points/FGA, which is way ahead of McGrady. Not to mention the fact that the Pistons were a very balanced team, which isn't a situation that allows someone to be a top 3 scorer.</div>Staistically Hamilton was the leadign scorer, but if you watched the Pistons you would know that Billups was their man guy as Hamilton can't really create for himself. And let's take Hamilton- he shot under 46% in season and playoffs, 40% in Finals, and 27% from 3 in season. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Jordan did drop to being only 1% better than T-Mac's career best during 97-98. He was in a tight scoring race with Shaq, though, and I think that impacted it.</div>I highly doubt Shaq had anything to do with Jordan's FG %. It had much more to do with loss of athleticism and being more of a jumpshooter. But it proves my point that a team can win with their main scorer shooting under 50% or so. T-Mac makes up for FG % is many ways, like his 3pt shot and drawing fouls. He started off horribly this year which is why his FG % was as low as it was, and ever since his last year in Orlando he hasn't had a PG to allow T-Mac to get into scoring position and do what he does best. I truly believe T-Mac can lead the Rockets to a ring assuming the coaching and players around him are a good fit. Until Yao fixes a lot of his problems, I can not say the same for him.
