45 replies to this topic

[Drew in Abilene]

Multiple sources, with Woj being the first, have confirmed that Patrick Beverley is out indefinitely with a torn meniscus. As this season's starting point guard and Houston's best defensive back-court player, there will certainly be serious ramifications for the Rockets, no matter how long he is out.

 

The question now becomes, what can Houston do without him? I think most would agree that Jeremy Lin will fill in better than many backup point guards would, but with the trade of Aaron Brooks at the deadline, it looks like Canaan will be facing much more difficult tests in his first season than we would have hoped.

 

As for me, I still think that Houston can scrape past Portland if we face them in the first round, though Lilliard will be much more of a factor without Beverley there to hound him nightly. If the Rockets face Golden State without Bev, I could see us upset by Curry and company. A second round series vs the Thunder and Westbrook or the Clippers and Paul didn't look promising before the injury, and now they look even more daunting. I would be surprised if Houston won two games against either of those teams. San Antonio, on the other hand, presents a different animal. They'll certainly be dialed in, but out of the top three teams in the West, I think Houston would still have a slight chance at an upset against the Spurs.

 

How about y'all? What's our ceiling? Will we hold onto the fourth seed? Will we make the second round or the conference finals? How many hours of OKC "karma" tweets will it take to push Rahat over the edge? 

[Buckko]

We will hold the 4th no doubt and make it to the 2nd, however the rockets won't be a lamb led to slaughter for OKC or LA. More like a gizelle screaming as it's torn apart by a lion pride.

[Steven]

Canaan starts and helps lead the Rockets to a finals won over the Heat.

[Cooper]

Hard to imagine getting out of the 2nd round without him, might even put the first round win in serious doubt. 

[feelingsupersonic]

I think of all the starters that could go down Bev is the most easily replaced and the spirit he brings is a torch that other players might pick up considering the point of the season they find themselves at.

[dbd]

I was worried about Parsons and Beard as they played a lot. Coaches need to manage their minutes well in certain games; kudo to them as they did it in last night  game. Bev is intensity and energy was very good. But keeping high energy every days/games wasn't very easy. Bev need to be very patient and smart. He can't rush back to court. He already had torn muscle, broken hand, and now torn MCL(?). 

 

Lin will do alright but we need another backup PG. I don't think Cannon is ready yet.

[BrentYen]

We might see Canaan's PT increased by a lot for the purpose of getting him ready?

[Drew in Abilene]

Time for Steven to break out his "Canaan Truther" shirt...

[uojoe82]

Ceiling? Well if were talking about ceiling then nothing has changed. Lin's ceiling is higher than Beverley's ceiling therefore it could be argued that the ceiling has risen. When Lin is playing his best he's far superior of a player than Beverley at his best. 

[chantu]

No worries. Lin will save the day.

 

Note: not torn MCL (very serious), torn menicus (cartilage, much less serious)

Edited by chantu, 28 March 2014 - 08:15 PM.

[feelingsupersonic]

I agree that Lin is probably the best backup skill wise but as others have pointed out the problem will be in the backup minutes. The good news we have Harden and he is already elevated his play, now he has another chance to carry this team. All the players will need to step up, especially a couple bench guys.

[Steven]

Time for Steven to break out his "Canaan Truther" shirt...

I ordered some extras for the bandwagon jumpers. I think I should trademark it.

[dbd]

Harden is playing unbelievably well with confident and swagger. I saw one play, while McHale was upset with general team play and asking him to take a timeout, Harden walked up the court and hit a killer 3. Man, All Lin need to do is play with confident and do what he does best; don't try to be like Bev, that he can't. But Lin can contribute and impact the game in different way.

[uojoe82]

Even with the rotation being shortened for the playoffs the rockets will have no backcourt depth. Both Lin and Harden will probably have to play 40 plus minutes a night since the Rockets have no viable backup point or shooting guard. Jordan Hamilton has fallen off since the trade and he's better suited as a SF. Garcia is productive 1 out of every 4 appearances and should really only play if the Rockets face OKC. Canaan is too young/raw/inexperienced for the playoffs so to expect anything out of him would be unfair. Really wish we had Brooks. I wasnt thrilled about that trade when it happened because both Lin and Beverley arent the most durable players. 

 

I wonder (hope) Morey will look to acquire someone. One thing I wish the Rockets had was a Steve Blake/Derek Fisher type player on the roster.

 

Names to consider:

 

Eric Maynor

Chris Duhon

 

 

There's got to be someone out there (D League/Europe) that can play a few minutes a game. Canaan is great if the Rockets needed points but thats not what they need in a backup PG. Just someone who can bring the ball up the court, stay in front of his man, has a decent entry pass, and can hit an open shot, all under pressure.

 

Or ideal scenario would be someone like Rudy Fernandez or Sergio Rodriguez.

Edited by uojoe82, 28 March 2014 - 10:03 PM.

[rockets best fan]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH NO. I was trying to think of a way to put a positive spin on this and it's impossible. especially at this time of the year. looks like we will have to make space on the roster to bring in more PG depth. IMO this puts our 1st round playoff series in no immediate trouble....it's the second round that Beverley's lost will kill us. without him to guard cp3 or Westbrick or Parker we have nothing to slow them down. those of you who think that Lin will be some kind of savior......while I hope you are right, there was a reason he was put on the bench in the first place. Lin on defense is a turtle......to slow and based on the way he has been shooting the ball lately.........................man we're in trouble. I hope Harden is able to carry the load or Canaan is able to have an impact because I have NO CONFIDENCE in LIN's ability to fill the gap.

[Sir Thursday]

According to the ESPN article on the subject:

 

Typically, there are several options in treating a torn meniscus, and they can keep a player out anywhere from a few weeks to four to six months.

 

The playoffs start on 19th April, so there are approximately 3 weeks for Beverley to get healthy if he's going to be ready, possibly a little longer if the Rockets can advance a round without him. It is still possible that he'll be back in time - we'll have to wait until a timetable is established before we can say for sure.

 

If he is out, he will hurt our chances against both Portland and Golden State, because he usually does a good job of keeping Steph Curry and Damien Lillard quiet. It's less of a problem against Dallas and Memphis, and I think Dragic is a slightly easier cover for Lin because of his size so it's probably not too big of a loss against Phoenix either.

 

In some ways, it's good that it happened now rather than in 5-6 games time. This way, at least the team gets a few games to adjust to not having Beverley around. We get to see whether Canaan is ready to play non-garbage-time NBA minutes and McHale has time to figure out how to put out a second unit with some offence in it. I suspect we'll see a switch from the usual 3 guard rotation and instead have one of Lin and Canaan and then two of Harden, Hamilton and Parsons on the court.

 

ST

[Baller93]

This is very bad news for the Rockets, as Bev is the perfect counterbalance to Harden in the backcourt.  They are going to miss him bigtime in the playoffs.  I was looking forward to watching Bev harass Westbrook full length on the court and spark a all out bench clearing riot by Game 4.  I am going to go buy a Beverley jersey to show my sorrow.  Sniff, sniff.... 

Edited by Baller93, 28 March 2014 - 11:20 PM.

[QNoir]

This is very bad news for the Rockets, as Bev is the perfect counterbalance to Harden in the backcourt.  They are going to miss him bigtime in the playoffs.  I was looking forward to watching Bev harass Westbrook full length on the court and spark a all out bench clearing riot by Game 4.  I am going to go buy a Beverley jersey to show my sorrow.  Sniff, sniff.... 

 

I agree. I think this loss will be kind of catastrophic in the playoffs. Going to the bench will just be tough now. Lin + Canaan look kind of bad together. Lin + Hamilton look great when Hamilton hits his 3, because the kickout is usually there. I don't know about this. Plus, I just don't have any reason to think Lin will show up in the playoffs. He has had some bad luck, but his lack of ego seems to work against him most there. Maybe Bev will make it back for round 2 (bad decision, it seems). Or maybe Canaan will grow up fast. Or Maybe Lin will hit his first few shots and buy himself some confidence to continue attacking.

 

Even worse, CP may lead the floor in those instances. He's great at cutting to the rim, and making that second pass, and a lot of other things, but not so much at creating for others from the get-go.

[BrentYen]

I kind of missing the points, so you said all those from offensive end but I think PB's value is actually at another end of the floor.?

[QNoir]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH NO. I was trying to think of a way to put a positive spin on this and it's impossible. especially at this time of the year. looks like we will have to make space on the roster to bring in more PG depth. IMO this puts our 1st round playoff series in no immediate trouble....it's the second round that Beverley's lost will kill us. without him to guard cp3 or Westbrick or Parker we have nothing to slow them down. those of you who think that Lin will be some kind of savior......while I hope you are right, there was a reason he was put on the bench in the first place. Lin on defense is a turtle......to slow and based on the way he has been shooting the ball lately.........................man we're in trouble. I hope Harden is able to carry the load or Canaan is able to have an impact because I have NO CONFIDENCE in LIN's ability to fill the gap.

 

Well, I mostly agree. But he has had some pretty great games against Parker. We can only hope it's not OKC.