<div class="quote_poster">Quoting tinyballer:</div><div class="quote_post">where's stro?</div> Who cares if he plays or not?
O ya, wasn't Barkley making fun of Stro for spraining his ankle while passing the ball in bounds or something And I thought they were trying to trade his a**.
Juwan Howard has become a worthless chucker. I watched time and time again, Howard trailing a play and the clanging a jumpshot from the top of the key. He made zero effort on defense and put Yao in terrible situations with Brand driving the rim, while Kaman was positioning from the weakside. JVG needs to bench Howard from here on out, he's a two way liability. Chuck Hayes was battling in the post, he picked up some cheap fouls, but he really compliments Yao down there. If JVG wants a big man trailing and popping a jumper, Lampe is a superior shooter than Howard. Damn, Howard is signed for another 3 seasons after this one? Houston needs to do anything possible to unload him.
^ I agree, but until we get consistent play from stro we shouldn't just throw him into the starting line...He isn't working much now! I think Chuck Hayes will be really good if he just keeps hustling like this. Speaking of which I have to make him on Live 06...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post"> Damn, Howard is signed for another 3 seasons after this one? Houston needs to do anything possible to unload him.</div> The problem is JVG seems to love his "professionalism." I do agree that Howard is a weak starting PF, and I would be happy if he went behind Hayes and Swift in the rotation. Howard has a higher IQ than Swift, and he doesn't make as many mistakes on offense and defense (less turnovers, less blown defensive assignments, less bad passes, less "WT* is he doing?" moments). Howard's jumper, while somewhat shaky some games, is still more dependable than Swift's. Swift is a better rebounder, finisher, and he collects a fair share of steals and blocks (though his shot blocking is way down this year). As a result, Swift tends to have better stats overall. But I can't say for certain if one is definitely better than the other. They're both subpar players, in the Rockets the system. Hayes, on the other hand, I've liked him since we got him. He's a suprisingly strong post defender despite his size, he rebounds, and he knows how to get himself open under the basket for offense boards or layups. I honestly think he's our best PF, but JVG has put him behind Howard and Swift. I'm hoping things will change after the trade deadline. And if he develops a dependable midrange jumper, there's absolutely no question he should start over the other two.
Yao doiminated in important stretches. TMac isn't dominating the ball thanks to Skip and he is still getting some good looks, but its still been a while since he has gotten into one of those stellar shooting zones where he cant miss. Every game Yao and Skip look better together. This game as in recent ones, the Rockets came out firing the first 3-4 minutes of the game and looked great. The begginging of the 3rd was horrible. Its been a problem for a while, the slow starts out of halftime are really going to hurt. Juwan's shot was off all night and he still played 75% of the game. Hayes would have got some good min. but he made some bad fouls. L.Head made his first bad ball handling mistake as backup PG, but I think he can work in that role with more time doing it. The game was almost given away at the end with a couple turn overs. It was a win that showed very good signs of the Rockets potential, and also alot they still had to work on to make a run.
How about the spin move Alston put on Sam Cassell down the stretch? Speaking of PF/C help, too bad Houston couldn't land Marc Jackson.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TmacGarnett:</div><div class="quote_post">Chuck Hayes is a great forward except his foul trouble.</div> He gets a ton of very questionable calls. The more he plays, the more respect he'll get from officials, IMO.
