duncan228
10-11-2010, 01:16 PM
The Works Season Previews: Houston Rockets (http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/10/11/the-works-lebrons-elbow-revisited-cousins-unfiltered-rockets/#rox)
By Bethlehem Shoals and Tom Ziller
Nobody has the entire National Basketball Association at his fingertips, and believe it or not, the brains of Msr. Ziller and Msr. Shoals are not connected by tape and electrical wire. To get prepped -- and pumped -- for the upcoming season, we will interrogate each about the darkest corners of this league. For each team, some questions. And for each question, some answers. Today, the Rockets.
BS: Has Yao reached his potential and is not being used or complemented correctly? Is he underrated? Or is the sun setting on him already, as far as being the league's best center is concerned? He has to be better than Dwight Howard, right?
TZ: Remember when we last saw Yao, in May 2009 against the Lakers in the second round. Yao was a force in that series before going down; the near-cinematic sequence when he left the court with the trainer, stopped in the tunnel, leaned against a wall and returned to the court -- that's a defining moment in not just Yao's video bio, but for this era of basketball. And then, in that postseason, Yao was at his peak. The franchise was built around him properly.
The circumstances have changed dramatically, though. Yao's become a part-time player; how, exactly, do you build around a man (behemoth as he may be) who plays just 24 minutes a game and skips some contests entirely? (I'm ignoring the fact that Rick Adelman will miss Yao's minutes cut-off within the first week of the season. Holding back stars is not exactly R.A.'s forte.) In that sense, the sun is setting -- it will never be 2009 again, at least not unless doctors clear him to be a 36-minute center again.
That said, he's still perhaps the most skilled center in the league, assuming Pau Gasol is playing power forward. That's obviously different than "the best center." Without question, Dwight affects the game more frequently in key ways than any other center: he dunks more than anyone, he rebounds better than anyone and he's an ace defender at the rim. Yao is a fine rebounder, decent if immobile defender and a lovely offensive player. Howard is just better at more. And that's fine for the Rockets, because Houston's supporting cast could very well be as good or better than that of Orlando, which would bode well for the Rockets' chances of being a postseason force.
BS: The combination of Daryl Morey and Rick Adelman should yield a few surprises. Name one.
TZ: Here's one I keep hearing every now and then: Adelman doesn't pay attention to Morey's scouting reports. It makes sense on the surface -- R.A. has always coached by feel and flow, not by the book. And that's just "the book," as in basketball's standard practices. Morey's ultra-detailed scouting reports go even further, challenging "the book," to say nothing of a coach's feel and a team's flow. When it comes down to it, given what we know as observers, Adelman might be one of the worst fits for Morey. That's partly why I still have questions as to whether Trevor Ariza's trigger-happy 2009-10 season was an elaborate experiment by Morey. It makes basic sense, but I don't think Adelman would go along with it. Or if he did, he'd at least complain about it to his barber.
BS: Will the youngsters be a cavalry of sorts?
TZ: This team has some electric youth, led by Chase Budinger, Courtney Lee and Jordan Hill. If undrafted blur Ish Smith makes the team, even better. It's odd the way Morey has bolstered his roster in comparison to what Donnie Nelson has done in Dallas. Morey's Kevin Martin acquisition was something the Mavericks would have done. But where Dallas looks to stockpile veteran once-were-stars(-or-something-like-its), Houston is sanely, slowly rebuilding through the draft. Dallas, for instance, has Rodrigue Beaubois (a beautiful card to play within the next couple years) and potential sleeper rookie Dominique Jones. Houston has the aforementioned three, plus more on the way thanks to the Knicks. Instead of chasing high-dollar additions to shore up the frontcourt, Houston went after aging Brad Miller, tried to add aging Erick Dampier and focused on flexibility over veteran depth. We'll see which strategy wins (while noting that Dirk far exceeds Yao at this point, but that Martin is better than any non-Dirk Mavericks).
By Bethlehem Shoals and Tom Ziller
Nobody has the entire National Basketball Association at his fingertips, and believe it or not, the brains of Msr. Ziller and Msr. Shoals are not connected by tape and electrical wire. To get prepped -- and pumped -- for the upcoming season, we will interrogate each about the darkest corners of this league. For each team, some questions. And for each question, some answers. Today, the Rockets.
BS: Has Yao reached his potential and is not being used or complemented correctly? Is he underrated? Or is the sun setting on him already, as far as being the league's best center is concerned? He has to be better than Dwight Howard, right?
TZ: Remember when we last saw Yao, in May 2009 against the Lakers in the second round. Yao was a force in that series before going down; the near-cinematic sequence when he left the court with the trainer, stopped in the tunnel, leaned against a wall and returned to the court -- that's a defining moment in not just Yao's video bio, but for this era of basketball. And then, in that postseason, Yao was at his peak. The franchise was built around him properly.
The circumstances have changed dramatically, though. Yao's become a part-time player; how, exactly, do you build around a man (behemoth as he may be) who plays just 24 minutes a game and skips some contests entirely? (I'm ignoring the fact that Rick Adelman will miss Yao's minutes cut-off within the first week of the season. Holding back stars is not exactly R.A.'s forte.) In that sense, the sun is setting -- it will never be 2009 again, at least not unless doctors clear him to be a 36-minute center again.
That said, he's still perhaps the most skilled center in the league, assuming Pau Gasol is playing power forward. That's obviously different than "the best center." Without question, Dwight affects the game more frequently in key ways than any other center: he dunks more than anyone, he rebounds better than anyone and he's an ace defender at the rim. Yao is a fine rebounder, decent if immobile defender and a lovely offensive player. Howard is just better at more. And that's fine for the Rockets, because Houston's supporting cast could very well be as good or better than that of Orlando, which would bode well for the Rockets' chances of being a postseason force.
BS: The combination of Daryl Morey and Rick Adelman should yield a few surprises. Name one.
TZ: Here's one I keep hearing every now and then: Adelman doesn't pay attention to Morey's scouting reports. It makes sense on the surface -- R.A. has always coached by feel and flow, not by the book. And that's just "the book," as in basketball's standard practices. Morey's ultra-detailed scouting reports go even further, challenging "the book," to say nothing of a coach's feel and a team's flow. When it comes down to it, given what we know as observers, Adelman might be one of the worst fits for Morey. That's partly why I still have questions as to whether Trevor Ariza's trigger-happy 2009-10 season was an elaborate experiment by Morey. It makes basic sense, but I don't think Adelman would go along with it. Or if he did, he'd at least complain about it to his barber.
BS: Will the youngsters be a cavalry of sorts?
TZ: This team has some electric youth, led by Chase Budinger, Courtney Lee and Jordan Hill. If undrafted blur Ish Smith makes the team, even better. It's odd the way Morey has bolstered his roster in comparison to what Donnie Nelson has done in Dallas. Morey's Kevin Martin acquisition was something the Mavericks would have done. But where Dallas looks to stockpile veteran once-were-stars(-or-something-like-its), Houston is sanely, slowly rebuilding through the draft. Dallas, for instance, has Rodrigue Beaubois (a beautiful card to play within the next couple years) and potential sleeper rookie Dominique Jones. Houston has the aforementioned three, plus more on the way thanks to the Knicks. Instead of chasing high-dollar additions to shore up the frontcourt, Houston went after aging Brad Miller, tried to add aging Erick Dampier and focused on flexibility over veteran depth. We'll see which strategy wins (while noting that Dirk far exceeds Yao at this point, but that Martin is better than any non-Dirk Mavericks).