No one discards it.....it would be great to have athleticism AND smarts...but the Rockets are short on athleticism, and that is the place to be short if you have to be short. Smarts trumps athleticism. Leeb you are 100% right on Yao. DD
DD- I agree with the smart part, but would kobe be as good if he wasn't atheletic? You can be smart, but if your level of atheleticism isn't on a certain level, you have to be super-duper skilled. Like young Duncan. He wasn't a great athelete as far as jumping out the gym, but he was good enough, but highly,highly skilled and a very good bbiq. He still suceeds because of this, plus he's at least equal size to the position he plays. When your short for your position, not a good athelete, you can be smart as the Doogie Hauser, but the atheletes will just outrun or outjump you while your trying to think 10 plays in advance.
Leeb, I am not saying it is not great to be athletic...I am saying that if you have to choose between athleticism and smarts....with the same height...you choose smarts. Of course it would be great if you have both.....that is where you get superstar players.....guys that are great athletes AND smart....well...you have to add in hard working too. DD
I agree with you here, DD. It's probably one of the better weaknesses to have but I would love to address it.
I am liking Von Wafer despite the 1-9 shooting tonight. His ceiling seems to be a JR Smith type. That would be great. Of course he could end up never figuring it out, too. I'm sure glad we kept him over Strawberry though considering the injuries to our SGs. I'm sure that was a significant factor in the decision at the time.
Our bench is pretty solid and I expect it to make the difference in several games over the course of this season, especially once everybody is healthy. Brooks Wafer/Barry Battier/Artest Landry/Hayes plus a legit backup C has the potential be a very solid bench. I just wish we could add a touch of athleticism to the starting lineup.
I like smart players also. If it was a perfect world, we would have smart,long atheletic players. I think the reason we don't is because the team has been scared of those types because they've been burned a time or two. Take swift for example, I was never a fan of him, but I kinda understood what they were trying to do. He had 1 season with a injured tracy and yao and was shipped out. I'm not going to entirely give him a pass, but I think Rudy ruined Griffin. I mean he wasn't a great post player, but Rudy had him shooting 3's when he shouldve been free throw line and in. Jump hooks and drop steps shouldve been everyday for him. I did notice when I used to be in the club a lot, he,francis,cat, and taylor were in tonic and some of those places a lot. Maybe there were work ethic issues. After that, the rox chose to jus go with low upside , unatheletic types. I think there is a balance and some coaches like more to mold because the payoff is huge. Some coaches like the small clay and will take the small vase. There are points to both sides. I just really like to see great atheletes become great players. Clyde,jordan,wilkens,dream,barkley, kobe, and even tracy were guys that had a very high off the charts atheletic ability that worked hard and became high end players. That's why gms will always take chances on run/jump type players.
I like this thread because it ties into the "Greyhound Theory." It doesn't mean u have to get dumb players that are atheletic, its just supplementing the lack speed,size, atheleticism. I mean we talk about yao's backup, but chris anderson was sitting there for basically. Basically vets minimum. Not only that the support, lucas is also there. Go look at his production and what he brings in limited minutes. Another guy is Matt Barnes. Now people don't like the guy for his role vs the rox, but again the guy is long,atheletic, can defend multiple positions. Again, he signed for lle money. Instead we sign a old ,frail, slow footed barry and keep a guy like head, draft another midget pf like dorsey.
the rockets get blocked the most out of every nba team. it's a blocking frenzy near the other team's basket. so i think the op has a good point.
I have been saying all along that we do not have enough speed and athleticism to reach the finals. Too often, we get out rebounded against taller, quicker teams. The Lakers, Portland, and recently the Clippers. If we traded Battier for Travis Outlaw and Channing Frye that would solve a lot of our needs. Both Players automatically solve the first problem which is a lack of height, the second being athleticism, and finally it will give us more speed. Outlaw shoots just as well as Battier, if not better, plus he plays good defense. As we are right now, I think the we go no further than the 2nd round!!!!!! Yao - slow Scola - slow, can't finish (dunk) Battier- no offense T-Mac - OK Rafer- sometimey
Lets take a look at some "athletic" teams. Atlanta, Charlotte, Warriors, Clippers, Lakers, Grizzles, Trail Blazers, Knicks, Bucks, Nets, Heat, 76ers. Out of those teams, Lakers are clearly a top tier team above any of the other teams listed, but that has more to do with their depth and having Kobe Bryant playing smart. Atlanta, Portland, and Miami are all solid teams, that do benefit from their athleticism, but like the Lakers, Portland greatly benefits from the surplus of young talent they have. Atlanta and Miami have really good shooting guards with great compliments around them, such as Josh Smith, Mike Bibby, and Shawn Marion, Mario Chalmers. The rest of the teams are athletic but they are not winning very much. You still have to be able to execute in the NBA to get anywhere. Athleticism can help if that athleticism is combined with Basketball IQ and skills. The Spurs, Jazz, Rockets, Cavs (outside of Lebron), Detroit, Orlando, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, and New Orleans are not very athletic TEAMS. They each have their great athletes, but position by position, they are not as athletic as the teams I first mentioned. All you need is a few good athletes. You don't want your entire team to be full of athletes. Look at the 76ers, they have all the athleticism in the world, but their record is sub .500. The Rockets have Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Von Wafer, and Tracy McGrady as very athletic players. Although Battier and Artest may not be great athletes, they seem to be able to stay in front of athletes such as Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, and Dwayne Wade. Teams always plan around Yao, which is to our advantage, because that gives us open shots most of the game. Tmac is still a very tough player to guard, and Artest can score in a variety of ways. The players coming off the bench can be put in to match athleticism if needed in a game.
The Lakers weren't really that great last year and were probably destined for another 1st round exit. Then the Pau Gasol trade happened. Last time I checked, athleticism and speed isn't really what you think of when you think about Pau Gasol. SIZE was the big factor there. We need size in our frontcourt, and we'll be fine. Mutombo will help us.
