Steve Francis back with the Rockets, Can you say 2007-2008 NBA Champs? Options

[eddog2]

I thought with the addition of Luis Scola, the fact that Bonzi Wells will be back, the drafting of Aaron Lewis, & the trade for Mike James that the Rockets had positioned themselves to be the favorites to win the West (regular season) and put themselves in a great position win it all next year.

However, with the signing of Francis I'm basically handing them the title next year.

What a lineup. Even with an injury to Tmac or Yao for some period of time they'll still have what I consider the deepest team (really close to the Bulls).

Seeing that T-mac is my favorite player (and the Rockets have always been my second favorite team) I'm loving this. The only thing I'm looking forward to more is the Bulls season. However, since I'm living in Texas I'm assuming I'll be getting a lot of Rockets games on TV.


Look how sick this lineup is:

Yao/Dikembe/Butler (C/F)/
Scola/Landry/Novak
Tmac/Battier/Wells
Francis/Wells/Head/Snyder
James/Alston (although he's likely to be traded)/Brooks/Lucas III

or Tmac might play the SG with would make changes to the lineup

Battier/Wells
Tmac/Francis/Head/Snyder
James/Alston/Lewis

Either way you slice it a second unit that possibly includes (Battier, Francis, Wells, Head, Alston, Brooks, & Dikembe is pretty ridiculous)

The lineup is rediculous. Although, Alston is likely to be traded for some future picks or something b/c there is no need for him when you have James/Brooks (the sleeper of this draft)/Lucas. I could even see Battier getting traded (although I think you need his defense and 3 pt shooting) but Rick Adelman got the most out of Bonzi Wells as his coach and could do it again.

This team got significantly better in the areas that they were week last year. They got the PF they sorely needed and they picked up some more perimeter shooting in James, Lewis, & they got better more explosive scoring options to draw the attention away from Tmac & Yao.

This lineup probably would never work with a Kobe but with an unselfish player like Tmac it's going to be rediculous. Who are you going to leave open on the floor? Too bad Yao is slow or this team would be like the Warriors in terms of how well it could get up and down the floor.

[ZoomSlowik]

Just kind of a few comments here and there since you do make some good points...

I still wouldn't count on Brooks a whole lot. Plenty of guys have dominated in the Summer League and then not done a whole lot in the regular season, just look at Novak last year. He's basically their Jameson Curry, a guy on the bottom of the bench that comes in and hits a shot here or there. He's undersized and doesn't really run the offense. I'd be very surprised if he is any more than a 3rd PG, and right now he's the 4th. If he pans out it'll almost certainly be down the road.

The Suns were in a dogfight of a series with San Antonio (which was basically the Finals if you ask me) up until the Horry incident, which resulted in the suspension of Stoudemire and Diaw for game 5. Phoenix still nearly won that game without those two, I don't think it's a stretch to say they win it if they're both there. They were really only 6 deep for that game and were missing two key parts, including really their only post scorer, and still only lost by 3. That means even assuming they still lose game 6, which you never know with the momentum change, it'd go to a game 7.

Yes, I know rules are rules, but that incident still tilted things fairly strongly in San Antonio's favor. They still have basically the same personnel, only now Stoudemire is a year removed from surgery, so he might actually get better. Plus maybe they don't get that ridiculous draw with San Antonio in the second this time around. As for the Spurs, until I see a slide I gotta make them the favorite, they have too much playoff experience, and as long as nothing happens to one of their big 3 they have the talent. Plus the Mavs still bring back everyone from a 67-win team, and Utah can be a major threat if Boozer stays healthy again (obviously a question mark).

I do think they will finish 3rd, though I've never really been a huge fan of the Mavericks team ( I still wonder how they won 67, they were good but not THAT good). They've got the talent to do win the conference (which is essentially the title), they still have to prove that they can hang with the big guns in that conference though, especially in the playoffs.

[Balta1701-B]

The Suns were in a dogfight of a series with San Antonio (which was basically the Finals if you ask me) up until the Horry incident, which resulted in the suspension of Stoudemire and Diaw for game 5. Phoenix still nearly won that game without those two, I don't think it's a stretch to say they win it if they're both there. They were really only 6 deep for that game and were missing two key parts, including really their only post scorer, and still only lost by 3. That means even assuming they still lose game 6, which you never know with the momentum change, it'd go to a game 7.

Yes, I know rules are rules, but that incident still tilted things fairly strongly in San Antonio's favor. They still have basically the same personnel, only now Stoudemire is a year removed from surgery, so he might actually get better. Plus maybe they don't get that ridiculous draw with San Antonio in the second this time around. As for the Spurs, until I see a slide I gotta make them the favorite, they have too much playoff experience, and as long as nothing happens to one of their big 3 they have the talent. Plus the Mavs still bring back everyone from a 67-win team, and Utah can be a major threat if Boozer stays healthy again (obviously a question mark).

Other noteworthy points; first, let's also not forget the work of the referee's in game 3. Or, in particular perhaps, one specific ref.

Second, in terms of next year, to get cap space Kerr also just had to move the guy the Suns had who guarded Duncan in that series, Kurt Thomas. So now their interior defense takes a decent step back, which could relaly hurt the Suns against the Spurs next year.

[eddog2]

Other noteworthy points; first, let's also not forget the work of the referee's in game 3. Or, in particular perhaps, one specific ref.

Second, in terms of next year, to get cap space Kerr also just had to move the guy the Suns had who guarded Duncan in that series, Kurt Thomas. So now their interior defense takes a decent step back, which could relaly hurt the Suns against the Spurs next year.

I know my last post was long so I don't blame you for not reading it all, but I already pointed out the Kurt Thomas thing. They are going to be looking down the road 3-5 years from now and be wondering why the hell they gave up 2 1st round picks as part of that deal.