http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4075096.html<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Rookie already shoots the 3 well; Rockets want him to throw his weight around a little moreBy FRAN BLINEBURYCopyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Yao Ming finished last season averaging 22.3 points and 10.2 rebounds a game, both career highs.Imagine what he might be able to accomplish without two and three defenders constantly hanging from his 7-6 frame. The Rockets do that all of the time. Imagine, that is.So enter Steve Novak, the second-round draft choice whom the team signed to a three-year contract on Wednesday. The 6-10 forward from Marquette has the kind of shooting range that the Rockets hope will force defenses to take some of their attention away from Yao."If you remember back in the days when we first started making waves and winning big, it was all about a change of philosophy that focused on putting shooters around Hakeem (Olajuwon)," said general manager Carroll Dawson. "It started with Scotty Brooks. Then we eventually added Mario Elie and Kenny Smith and Vernon Maxwell. We just made it hard for teams to double-team down on Dream. If they did, they were going to pay. That's the idea with Steve."That's fine with the rookie, too.Helping Yao, T-Mac"Shooting is what I do," Novak said. "I definitely feel like that will be my role with the Rockets. With the attention that players like Tracy (McGrady) and Yao demand, it's important to keep the defense away from them, space the floor and allow them to do what they do best. That's my job." Novak averaged 17.5 points a game in his senior season and shot 46.7 percent from behind the 3-point line. He holds the Marquette career record for 3s."I was always tall as a kid, but I always tried to do a lot of things on the court," he said. "I was never that big guy who just played with his back to the basket. It helped that my dad was my high school coach and gave me the encouragement to try different things."By using money left over from their mid-level exception after signing Vassilis Spanoulis, the Rockets were able to give Novak a three-year deal instead of the standard two-year contract for second-rounders."His shooting was the first thing that attracted us to him, no doubt," Dawson said. "I like his range. But I've also got to like a guy who shoots 97.4 percent (74-of-76) from the foul line for a whole season. Coach (Tom) Crean uses a pro set at Marquette. So from a style standpoint, I don't think it's going to be too difficult for him to get adjusted."But Novak will have to get stronger, Dawson said."We used him at the 3 spot in the summer league, but he's probably going to have to play both forward positions on our team," Dawson said. "So as soon as we got him signed, I took him right downstairs and turned him over to our strength coaches."When Novak's name was heard on draft night, most Rockets observers made the immediate connection to Matt Bullard, the tall sharpshooter who played on Houston's first NBA champion in 1994.More agile than Bullard"Sure, he's a big guy who can shoot the ball," Dawson said. "But I think he's more mobile than Matt, who pretty much had to play the 4 position. What I saw at the summer league that I really liked was that this guy goes all out all of the time." Dawson is still trying to finalize a contract agreement with point guard John Lucas III, who played 13 games with the Rockets last season.</div>
Very nice, Rockets can use another shooter with Wesley possibly on move and Jon Barry done. As long as T-Mac/Yao/Sura are healthy next seaosn, with the new and young additions, the Rockets have a REALLY good team. They still need another athletic, agressive big man, though, as Juwan just isn't getting it done anymore down low.
They might not be able to. The used most of the MLE the sign Vassilis Spanoulis and the rest of it to sign Novak. Then to get Snyder they traded away their trade exception. That leaves only the LLE. I don't know how many big men that can make a difference can be signed for the LLE.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Jul 28 2006, 07:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Well I'm not expecting it to happen, but with Swift out, we don't have much down low outside of Yao.</div>yea we're screwed. all bad.
