This teams main flaw is that they have a bunch of players who are strong on offense or defense, but not both. If I were Adelman, I would love to see a lot more of this lineup:

Lowry, Lee, Buddinger, Hill and Scola. That lineup is athletic, can defend and rebound at most positions, and has enough scoring to be effective.

I know that is probably not going to happen because Brooks, Battier, Martin, Yao, and Miller are the veterans and coach's favorites. If I had to integrate them in, I would pair Lowry and Martin and Brooks and Lee. You cant have Brooks and Martin in the same back court, you just can't. Battier should get starters minutes if the other team has a stud 2/3 player like Kobe, but if not Buddinger should get starters minutes. I know Buddinger hasn't found his shot this year, but his athleticism and offensive repertoire is so much bigger than Battier he creates more pressure on defenses. He's not terrible defensively either.

Ha, I went to 82games.com to see how that lineup has done this year.

It's the 20th most common 5 man unit, as in they've only played 12 minutes together all year long. During that time, they were pretty bad. 0.87 points per possession on offense and 1.15 points per possession on defense. Shows how much I know. Then again, they could have ran that lineup out against the Spurs or someone good.

The best lineup on 82games.com is: Smith, Lee, Budinger, Hayes, and Miller. 1.11 points per possession on offense and 0.68 points per possession allowed on defense. Then again, the same strength of schedule caveat applies.

Lowry, Lee, Buddinger, Hill and Scola. That lineup is athletic, can defend and rebound at most positions
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not a bad idea...... but are you taking lowry over brooks here because of defense?

Yeah, taking Lowry over Brooks because of defense and court vision. Plus, with time winding down he has a good ability to take the ball to the hoop and draw contact for a foul. I think Lee and Budinger (and Scola/Hill) normally are good enough shooters to space the floor to make up for Lowry's lack of shooting.

We will be just a decent team all year if we don't make a trade. We are a team full of solid role players and trade chips without a go-to guy.

Anybody know what Morey's plan is for the rest of this season and the offseason? Who are the big free agents?

Trade rumor alert, but not worthy of own thread, and Rockets fans can take it for what it is worth.

The Houston Rockets, according to the report, would trade back the 2011 first-round pick the Knicks surrendered in the Tracy McGrady deal in exchange for (Anthony) Randolph.



http://www.zagsblog.com/2010/12/11/randolph-mayo-on-the-move/

The 2011 is just a pick swap. Not a pick.

So would this trade be the actual pick, or just undo the swap?