Who's the better team right now: Houston Rockets or Utah Jazz?

Question

In your answer, address which team has the better backcourt, frontcourt, bench, and coach.

Answer 1

I'm T-Mac Fan So You Know I Want To See The Rockets Win It All

But Lets Face Facts Utah Has A Far Better Playoff Record In Recent Times And You Can't Deny Them That

As For This Season Lets See What Happens Rockets Had A 22 Game Win Streak Last Season (Second Longest In NBA's History) Without Yao And If They Can Stay Healthy They Might Be Unstoppable This Time Around  

Answer 2

The Jazz right now.. They've beaten Houston in the first round again, we'll jsut wait until playoff time.

Answer 3

Backcourt is even. Deron Williams a great PG cancels out Tracy McGrady a great SG. Ronnie Brewer vs Rafer Alston is a wash.

Frontcourt: Houston easily wins. Artest/Battier, Scola, Yao is going to be very good.

Bench: Houston is very deep everywhere but center, they take this too.

Coach: Jazz and Sloan take this.

I'd take Houston in a head to head right now.

Answer 4

Jazz is better.

Houston right now is like mixing a couple of drinks. T-Mac is pepsi, Yao is lemonade/mountain dew, and Artest is Dr. Pepper.

Answer 5

MM i agree lets wait for the season to get started. However, to be more specific..well..backcourt come on..obviously the duo of Tmac and the two R.A.'s is a gimme. However, i am not denying D Will of his excellent play..i just dont think he has a good support system when it comes to the backcourt..therefore..backcourt; Rockets. Frontcourt: This is a tough one but again ill take Scola/Yao over Boozer/Okur..or well I'm not sure who they really call there center..i will actually just leave this one a tie. Bench ok...hands down the Jazz they killed us with there bench last year..Korver..Harpring..they were one of the best in the LEAGUE. Coach..that's a tough one..because i am a huge Jerry Sloan fan but i respect Adelman..However..i will give this one to Sloan..so..there you have tied at 2 a piece..who do i think will win the series if they ONCE again go head to head this year...ill take ROCKETS this year.

Answer 6

For me, I think the Rockets are better than the Jazz (overall) if they stay healthy. The Rockets can really beat the Jazz in the 2006-07 season. The problem is, they don't have a deep bench in that season (No one help T-MAC and YAO MING to score in the GAME 3 of the ROCKETS-JAZZ in the 2006-07 playoffs). Last season, if they have a healthy YAO MING, thay have a chance to take the No. 1 seed in the West and face the Nuggets to advance to the 2nd round. With the addition of ARTEST, the Rockets now form a three-headed monster (in MCGRADY, YAO, ARTEST) to take over the West

So I can say, it's the Rockets.

STARTERS

C YAO vs OKUR (YAO MING)

PF SCOLA vs BOOZER (BOOZER)

SF ARTEST vs KIRILENKO (ARTEST)

SG MCGRADY vs BREWER (MCGRADY)

PG ALSTON vs WILLIAMS (WILLIAMS)

BENCH

(ROCKETS) BATTIER, LANDRY, barry, head, francis, mutombo, brooks, hayes, singletary, ewing and harris

(JAZZ) korver, millsap, harpring, knight, collins, miles, almond, price

Rockets have a deeper bench in BATTIER and LANDRY.

COACH

ADELMAN vs SLOAN

This year will be Adelman's season as the Coach of the Year (if the Rockets stay healthy).  

Answer 7

Back court- Tied. Utah has a much better PG in Deron Williams, who in my opinion is only second to Chris Paul. However, Houston has the better SG in McGrady. They are both dominant players who play well with their team. Rafer Alston is a good point guard who compliments McGrady as does Ronnie Brewer of Deron Williams.

Front court- Also tied. They play too much of a different style to actually compare these two, but they are both excellent in what they do. Utah has Kirilenko, Boozer,and Okur, while Houston has Ron Artest, Battier, and Yao Ming. They are both excellent trios as they both provide plenty of offense, tough defense, and plenty of leadership. The thing is I still don't know how well Artest will mesh in with Houston, so as of RIGHT NOW, I would pick Utah as I know they work well together. and who knows, Artest could fit in amazing, but if Kirilenko plays like the Kirilenko of 3 years ago when he was just plain dominant, then I would still go with Utah.

Bench- I think since Artest will start, Scola will come off the bench for Houston. That creates such a strong bench for Houston. They have Luther Head who is highly underrated as he could start on another team. They also have Carl Landry (if he resigns) who is VERY good. The problem with Houston's bench is they don't really have anyone for the PF and C spot. Mutumbo is so old that even though he still ranks in the blocks and rebounds, he's not THAT good. However, Utah has 2 starters that would start on another, obvioulsy weaker, team in Kyle Korver and Matt Harpring (both highly underrated) Paul Milsap is also a great player off the bench as he adds both energy and defense to the game. Ronnie price basically plays around 10 mins per game just giving Williams a break, and he does his job pretty well. Same thing with Collins, but Milsap usually subs for both Boozer and Okur. If I had to pick who's better, I'd pick Utah, but by only a LITTLE bit.

Coach- Both coaches are EXCELLENT. This is defiently a tie, but it won't be. Houston's coach has to find a way to get out of the first round of the playoffs, even though I know injures always happen, it happens to every team and he needs to find a way. The slight edge that Utah's coach has is that they've gone deep into the playoffs several times. WInner-Utah

Overall winner- Utah by a little.

X-factor to make Houston better: Ron Artest fitting in. Mcgrady and Yao Ming staying healthy for the entire season and playoffs.

Answer 8

Frontcourt its definitely Houston because they have sharp shooter Tracy McGrady, big man Yao Ming, defensive man Ron Artest, and amazing point guard Rafar Alston. Utah has Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, and Andrei Kirilenko. Andrei gets overrated every year, when he can't even get double digits in anything anymore, Deron is a great player but still young and doesn't have as much experience as Tracy McGrady or Ron Artest. Boozer is a good inside man but compared to Yao Ming he's like nothing.

Backcourt has changed with the coming of Ron Artest. Deron is an amazing defender, but Artest is a better defender and a better player. Boozer is okay but Yao Ming can block really well. And you can see who's better, Tracy McGrady or Andrei Kirilenko.

Bench is Houston because they have Luis Scola, who beats everyone else on the Jazz bench.

Both coaches are amazing, so it's hard to decide who's better.

Overall Houston is way better.

Answer 9

Let's Review

Backcourt:

HOU:

Rafer Alston; 15 ppg, 7 apg, 4 rpg, 2 spg

Tracy Mcgrady; 24 pgs, 7 rpg, 6 apg, 1 spg, 1 bpg

UTA:

Deron Williams; 20 ppg, 10 apg, 4 rpg

Ronnie Brewer; 12ppg, 5rpg, 1bpg

Advantage: HOU

Why: Houston's backcourt is just too strong against the Jazz's.  You can argue that Alston is a little streaky but he shows up for big games when the Rocket needs him to.  Rafer might struggle with guarding Williams but I don't think Ronnie can even touch Mcgrady when he is on fire.

Frontcourt:

HOU:

Artest; 18 ppg, 6 rpg, 4 apg, 1 bpg

Scola; 14 ppg, 8rpg, 3 apg

Yao; 24 ppg, 11 rpg, 3 bpg,

UTA:

Kirilinko; 12 ppg, 6 rpg, 2 bpg (thousands of flops a game) LOL

Boozer; 20 ppg, 9 rpg

Okur; 15 ppg, 10 rpg, 1 bpg (thousands of flops a game)

Advantage: HOU

Why; I think Yao was the only reason why the Rockets did not make into the 2nd round. Now that you add Artest into the mix the Utah Jazz will have a hard time to bully their way into the paint.

Bench:

HOU:

Shane Battier, Brent Barry, Carl Landry, Steve Francis, Aaron Brooks, Luther Head, Mike Harris, Chuck Hayes, Patrick Ewing Jr., Sean Singletary, Joey Dorsey, (maybe) Dikimbe Mutombo

UTA:

Kyle Kover, Matt Harping, Ronnie Price, C.J Miles, Jarron Collins, Paul Milslap, Morris  Almond, Brevin Knight,

Advantage:HOU

Why; Houston is a whole lot deeper than the Jazz's in all the positions. Having Battier and Barry on the bench will really help McGrady when he needs break.  Utah's bench bench is good but it does not match with Houston

Coach

HOU:

Rick Adelman

UTA:

Jerry Sloan

Advantage:Tie

Why; Two great coaches  

Answer 10

I'm not a fan of the Jazz, but they have one major advantage over the rockets and that is coaching.  Year in and year out, Jerry Sloan finds a way to stay competitive, even with mediocore players.  I'm gonna have to say that the Jazz will be the superior team.

Answer 11

houston rockets, alston, head, artest, landry, tmac, yao, they are way better than jazz now since acquiring Artest

Answer 12

Backcourts:

Utah --- Deron Williams (PG), Brevin Knight(PG), Ronnie Price(PG), Ronnie Brewer(SG), Kyle Korver(SG), Morris Almond(SG), CJ Miles(SG)

Houston --- Rafer Alston(PG), Steve Francis(PG), Aaron Brooks(PG), Sean Singletary(PG), Luther Head(SG), Brent Barry(SG), Tracy McGrady(SG)

Houston clearly has the upside in the backcourt, Brent Barry is their worst SG and that's not bad at all. If Steve Francis ever returns to playing like he used to it will make them among the deepest teams in the league. Even though Deron Williams is the better leader over Alston the Rockets are too deep at both guard position.

Advantage: Rockets

Frontcourts:

Utah --- Carlos Boozer(PF), Paul Millsap(PF), Mehmet Okur(C), Jarron Collins(C), Fesenko, Kyrylo(C), Koufos, Kostas(C), Andrei Kirilenko(SF), Matt Harpring(SF)

Houston --- Luis Scola(PF), Carl Landry(PF), Chuck Hayes(PF), Patrick Ewing(PF), Yao Ming(C), Dikembe Mutombo(C), Ron Artest(SF), Shane Battier(SF), Mike Harris(SF)

The Rockets have a nice young front court full of hustle players and defenders but with the exception of Artest and Ming they will have trouble scoring. Utah's backcourt is more experienced, more offensively/defensively balanced, and overall is just deeper.

Advantage: Utah

Coaches:

Rick Adelman --- Rick is a great coach for young teams, he brought up Portland way back, brought up Sacramento, and now he's bringing up Houston. 807 career wins.

Jerry Sloan -- Sloan is ultra experienced and he demands the best out of his players. He's arguably the best coach in the league right now despite never winning a title. 1089 career wins.

Advantage: Utah

Overall better team right now --- Utah Jazz.

Answer 13

backcourt: Utah

frontcourt:Houston

bench:Houston

coach:Jazz

Houston

Answer 14

Who knows ,lets wait tell they play!!Right now all i have to go by is the Jazz beating them in the playoffs the last 2 years.

JAZZ