YaoMan

Yes. There is no such thing as Lin haters. Just paranoid lin fans....(keep telling yourself that).

I'm glad Lin left. He is not a great player. His only good attributes were ones that Harden was better at. There is a reason he wasn't in the league before NY. However I've seen improvement in his overall game since NY even if he hasn't gotten the chance to be the PG of a D'Antoni team and replicate the success he had.

Correct. He's not a bad player - you could do a lot worse. But he's not great and like you say TTDN, the skills he does have, Rox already have covered. And I did see improvements while he was Rocket.

Back to D-Mo. 7 footers with back problem don't go together very well. But I feel he's expanded his skill set quite a bit just in the last year and I believe, because he doesn't rely on athleticism to be productive player, D-Mo can still be a force. I hope this coming year when he gets healthy, that he improves his box out and board crashing!

I agree with JG and Slick shoes and JG has pretty much articulated most of what I would say comparing TJ and D-Mo. 

My addition to the thread that I don't think has been mentioned much (or at all) is that D-Mo's skill set will last longer when age catches up and athleticism starts to wane. D-Mo is effective below the rim and his improved shooting has shown he's working on a longer, defining career.  Something that is still an asset when age starts becoming a factor. He will not need athleticism to create his own shots from the post, to make those nifty passes, to handle the ball for a big guy and craftiness around the rim.  These are skills that can still cause damage no matter how much your athletic abilities wane.

TJ on the other hand; his abilities and skills mostly all stem from the athlete in him: Jumping ability, blocking shots from the weak side, running and gunning on the break and rolling with vertical authority. I still see glimpses of a solid player who can contribute effectively and be a part of a winning team. Make no mistake, I like TJ a lot and still think he has potential.

But based on the progress I have seen from both (D-Mo more), if I had to choose one for the long term right now, I'd have to pick D-Mo.

I don't want to write Dallas off--that would be foolish--but they seem primed to fall apart.

 

Exactly, it's not over til it's over - I've seen Rox go 2-0 a few times and end up losing the series...(2005,2007 anyone)

If I were Carlisle, I'd be eye-balling OKC (Ha, just saw Scott Brooks got fired...maybe they are thinking what I'm thinking...), Minnesota, Chicago, Cleveland, Orlando, and even Utah.

I don't even want to think what Carlisle could do with a healthy Durant and Westbrook...That's one thing I hope doesn't happen...

Josh Smith shot 1-5 from deep last night....and nobody cares    He played strong defense while shredding the Mavs on the other end.

And actually the team didn't shoot well from 3 last night either (6-20, I think) and yet they blew the game wide open in the 4th.  I think back to something you stated a little bit ago that the Rox didn't need to shoot lights out from distance to win and they are proving it. If they were hitting from deep and or if Harden was lighting it up, Rockets might have had a 25 point advantage.  Anyway McHale and staff gets plenty of kudos from me for the game plan and attacking Dirk (who is a fire hydrant on defense).

We'll see how Carlisle adjusts when they go back to Dallas for game 3. And I'm sure Rockets will add a few more wrinkles if Mavs can't solve the PnR attack...

Prediction not approved by Derrick Rose

Ok I got a really good laugh from this one!