duncan228
10-05-2009, 12:43 PM
The Baseline Sees All: Houston Rockets (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=tsn-thebaselineseesallho&prov=tsn&type=lgns)
SportingNews
Elsewhere in our web of basketball knowledge, you'll find comprehensive team previews by experts intimately acquainted with what makes these NBA teams tick, where they've been, and what might be next for them. So why another set of previews? Because sometimes, it's worth listening to your crazy uncle about that broken leg before you take a second trip to the doctor's office.
Yao is as resolute as he's ever been, except it's about missing the entire season. T-Mac, whom we'd both love and not love to see return ASAP, is pretending like there's no timetable for microfracture recovery. But like one of those films where someone's house burns down, which leads to an affair and a bunch of self-realization, the Rockets are in a position to salvage order from utter wreckage.
Even after Daryl Morey laid out his super-secret plans in The New York Times Magazine, we still don't know exactly what he's up to. Yet past history suggests that his bench weirdos and spare parts are in fact as capable as players come. Put them together, in Adelman's system, for a full year, and those superstars might prove to have been nothing but a smokescreen.
Most Likely Breakout: I know Carl Landry's been on the radar for some time now and earned his stripes off the bench. We know he's a trooper, a ball of kinetic energy, that dude who will save a playoff game with a tooth dripping off a rotted root canal. He's also a linebacker of a man whose natural position is that most unnatural slot of "small center." With Yao out, it's his time to build on the Ben Wallace legacy, unless Joey Dorsey gets there first. Yao is skilled beyond belief, in more ways than we care to admit. Landry is a full-on assault balled up in a motivational speech, and can hold down the paint while staying in the character of Adelman's zippy style.
More obscure pick: Like many of you, I hated Chade Budinger from the day he was born. I wish the Rockets had kept McCants. But between the newly-inked Trevor Ariza and basketball institution Shane Battier, there's clearly a premium placed here on versatile forwards who have no trouble calibrating where they fall on the 2-3-4 spectrum while reaping a little bit of everything. Under the tutelage of Ariza and Battier, Budinger could become a member of their army. Imagine that the Rockets are stockpiling—nay, engineering—long, athletic players with high IQ who know how to shoot and enjoy pinpoint defense. If this assembly line gets going, we should all be awed and frightened.
Most Likely Letdown: People, Tracy McGrady was being gnawed apart by nagging injuries before microfracture, which is still serious surgery. (Witness Gilbert Arenas trying to rush back so often.) McGrady is filled with termites, maybe even cursed, and needs to cleanse his whole being if his career's going to have a successful second (third, now?) act. I thought he showed admirable mitigation when Jeff Van Gundy first showed up, but soon he returned to the old superstar act, minus the old capability. And it never really moved from there.
I repeat this a lot because we need this out, even as a personal plea: McGrady should sit the year out. He might be traded for cap room or end up unrestricted at the end of this season. He needs to emerge as a player relying more on, say, his passing, the defensive ability afforded to him by his length, and a willingness to un-learn volume shooting. I know that sounds nuts, but he could turn into a point forward who takes outside shots and goes inside when it's there. That would make him the shinier prototype for the Ariza/Battier movement with an element of redemption, or inner peace, that's been missing for years.
Do the Rockets still need him? Maybe—depends on how crazy this franchise wants to get—but that kind of player would be welcome for a decent price anywhere. What's not going to work, or make anyone happy, is him trying to resurrect the scoring machine T-Mac, especially in the midst of a Rockets seasons that seems to be plumbing something new. The last thing we want to see is ol' ball-stopping T-Mac invading and foregrounding his injury-watch once again.
Blog superstar: No idea. Maybe get Morey to weigh in each week on how his statistical know-how helps him order off a tricky lunch menu. Or how about Morey and Adelman with a web video each month where they go the amusement parks or hit the Galleria with cash to burn. Fine, you've discovered the downside to this team's "so little to lose it's gotta be bright" future.
Signature game: I just want to see that one game—I don't know where, when, why or how it'll happen—where the Rockets unload on an elite team. I'm not expecting another one of those magical winning streaks, which are more fluke than fact. But to see them play their game, whatever that ends up being, and strike the pants off, say, the Magic, would do a lot to alert the world to the fact that something's brewin' down on the Bayou. Landry tearing into Dwight Howard is particularly intriguing, even if D-How takes another major jump ahead next season.
Yeah, let's stick with that Magic thing. On the road, no less; at home, it becomes a Rashard Lewis homecoming, and you know what that means—film mocking his green room performance, a groundswell of way-too-familiar support, or both. I just want to see basketball at its highest. Try Oct. 9 for this one; if that's a dud, they travel to the Magic Kingdom again on Dec. 23. See you there, sports fans
Why else you should care: Sometimes you read about how in the jungles of some part of South or Central America, there will one day be a perfect storm of guerrillas, drug traffickers, and terrorists all hanging out together despite very different dietary preferences. I think that's kind of already Afghanistan, but putting it in a jungle makes it even crazier and gives it more boom/bust potential. I'll go ahead and stake that analogy on the Rockets this season. Advanced stats. A potentially sublime style of play. Exciting guys like Ariza and Aaron Brooks. Lynchpins Battier and (even now) Landry.
There's also that wild card of Luis Scola, an international gem who in the NBA, has been patiently waiting to bring together all these strains. Some predict stardom for him on these shores. I'm just content to see him step up and become a wacky, mobile, intelligent forward with a little bit of Vlade to him. Is that too much to ask? His resume up to this point, and the place the Rockets are at, practically screams "no, and only a fool would want to spoil this prematurely!"
SportingNews
Elsewhere in our web of basketball knowledge, you'll find comprehensive team previews by experts intimately acquainted with what makes these NBA teams tick, where they've been, and what might be next for them. So why another set of previews? Because sometimes, it's worth listening to your crazy uncle about that broken leg before you take a second trip to the doctor's office.
Yao is as resolute as he's ever been, except it's about missing the entire season. T-Mac, whom we'd both love and not love to see return ASAP, is pretending like there's no timetable for microfracture recovery. But like one of those films where someone's house burns down, which leads to an affair and a bunch of self-realization, the Rockets are in a position to salvage order from utter wreckage.
Even after Daryl Morey laid out his super-secret plans in The New York Times Magazine, we still don't know exactly what he's up to. Yet past history suggests that his bench weirdos and spare parts are in fact as capable as players come. Put them together, in Adelman's system, for a full year, and those superstars might prove to have been nothing but a smokescreen.
Most Likely Breakout: I know Carl Landry's been on the radar for some time now and earned his stripes off the bench. We know he's a trooper, a ball of kinetic energy, that dude who will save a playoff game with a tooth dripping off a rotted root canal. He's also a linebacker of a man whose natural position is that most unnatural slot of "small center." With Yao out, it's his time to build on the Ben Wallace legacy, unless Joey Dorsey gets there first. Yao is skilled beyond belief, in more ways than we care to admit. Landry is a full-on assault balled up in a motivational speech, and can hold down the paint while staying in the character of Adelman's zippy style.
More obscure pick: Like many of you, I hated Chade Budinger from the day he was born. I wish the Rockets had kept McCants. But between the newly-inked Trevor Ariza and basketball institution Shane Battier, there's clearly a premium placed here on versatile forwards who have no trouble calibrating where they fall on the 2-3-4 spectrum while reaping a little bit of everything. Under the tutelage of Ariza and Battier, Budinger could become a member of their army. Imagine that the Rockets are stockpiling—nay, engineering—long, athletic players with high IQ who know how to shoot and enjoy pinpoint defense. If this assembly line gets going, we should all be awed and frightened.
Most Likely Letdown: People, Tracy McGrady was being gnawed apart by nagging injuries before microfracture, which is still serious surgery. (Witness Gilbert Arenas trying to rush back so often.) McGrady is filled with termites, maybe even cursed, and needs to cleanse his whole being if his career's going to have a successful second (third, now?) act. I thought he showed admirable mitigation when Jeff Van Gundy first showed up, but soon he returned to the old superstar act, minus the old capability. And it never really moved from there.
I repeat this a lot because we need this out, even as a personal plea: McGrady should sit the year out. He might be traded for cap room or end up unrestricted at the end of this season. He needs to emerge as a player relying more on, say, his passing, the defensive ability afforded to him by his length, and a willingness to un-learn volume shooting. I know that sounds nuts, but he could turn into a point forward who takes outside shots and goes inside when it's there. That would make him the shinier prototype for the Ariza/Battier movement with an element of redemption, or inner peace, that's been missing for years.
Do the Rockets still need him? Maybe—depends on how crazy this franchise wants to get—but that kind of player would be welcome for a decent price anywhere. What's not going to work, or make anyone happy, is him trying to resurrect the scoring machine T-Mac, especially in the midst of a Rockets seasons that seems to be plumbing something new. The last thing we want to see is ol' ball-stopping T-Mac invading and foregrounding his injury-watch once again.
Blog superstar: No idea. Maybe get Morey to weigh in each week on how his statistical know-how helps him order off a tricky lunch menu. Or how about Morey and Adelman with a web video each month where they go the amusement parks or hit the Galleria with cash to burn. Fine, you've discovered the downside to this team's "so little to lose it's gotta be bright" future.
Signature game: I just want to see that one game—I don't know where, when, why or how it'll happen—where the Rockets unload on an elite team. I'm not expecting another one of those magical winning streaks, which are more fluke than fact. But to see them play their game, whatever that ends up being, and strike the pants off, say, the Magic, would do a lot to alert the world to the fact that something's brewin' down on the Bayou. Landry tearing into Dwight Howard is particularly intriguing, even if D-How takes another major jump ahead next season.
Yeah, let's stick with that Magic thing. On the road, no less; at home, it becomes a Rashard Lewis homecoming, and you know what that means—film mocking his green room performance, a groundswell of way-too-familiar support, or both. I just want to see basketball at its highest. Try Oct. 9 for this one; if that's a dud, they travel to the Magic Kingdom again on Dec. 23. See you there, sports fans
Why else you should care: Sometimes you read about how in the jungles of some part of South or Central America, there will one day be a perfect storm of guerrillas, drug traffickers, and terrorists all hanging out together despite very different dietary preferences. I think that's kind of already Afghanistan, but putting it in a jungle makes it even crazier and gives it more boom/bust potential. I'll go ahead and stake that analogy on the Rockets this season. Advanced stats. A potentially sublime style of play. Exciting guys like Ariza and Aaron Brooks. Lynchpins Battier and (even now) Landry.
There's also that wild card of Luis Scola, an international gem who in the NBA, has been patiently waiting to bring together all these strains. Some predict stardom for him on these shores. I'm just content to see him step up and become a wacky, mobile, intelligent forward with a little bit of Vlade to him. Is that too much to ask? His resume up to this point, and the place the Rockets are at, practically screams "no, and only a fool would want to spoil this prematurely!"