Faces change, but turnovers still continue By MEGAN MANFULL Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/2858960 The same problem that plagued the Rockets all of last season has already become one of the glaring concerns midway through the preseason. Sure, it's early. But the Rockets ended last season next-to-last in the NBA in turnovers, and they are averaging 18.3 per game in the preseason. With eight new players and similar problems, the Rockets are trying to combat the issue early. "A lot of turnovers we have are unforced, not because of defense but because of our lack of concentration," forward Jim Jackson said. "If we had to get ready to play Detroit in that first game (Nov. 2), there's a lot of areas we still have to improve upon before we can even talk about being competitive or talk about championships." The Rockets will play the Chicago Bulls tonight at Toyota Center in their fourth preseason game. In their last outing against Sacramento in China, the Rockets turned the ball over 22 times. Last year, the Rockets averaged 16.7 turnovers per game. The only team in the league with a worse average was Washington with 17.5. With eight new players, cohesiveness would likely be the most obvious concern. But the Rockets are slow to pinpoint that as the main problem. During the offseason, they acquired a number of players who are not turnover prone, like starting guards Tracy McGrady and Charlie Ward. But the entire team has struggled handling the ball so far. Ten players have at least three turnovers, with Yao Ming leading the team with 10. Jackson has nine and McGrady five. "It comes from trying to do too much," McGrady said. "Fatigue plays a factor in that. And it's training camp, so guys are out there kind of out of sync. They really don't have the rhythm that you want to establish, and we're just trying to do too much." Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said the problem is even more complex than that for some of the players. He has made it clear to the team that cutting back turnovers is key to the Rockets' success this season, and he is trying to work with different individuals on breaking bad habits they've developed. Van Gundy is also trying to make sure players use basic fundamentals in their games. If they do so, Van Gundy expects to see a decrease in turnovers and improvement in other areas such as field-goal percentage. A lot of bad habits "Most players see fundamental play as a hindrance," he said. "And I would just say in general we have a lot of bad habits. We have a group where a lot of them come from different places and different teams where they maybe weren't as successful as they would have hoped to have been in the last couple of years. Usually that's because of bad habits. Talent really is not the issue in this league as far as what separates teams, so we have a lot of bad habits individually and as a group that need to be broken to win." No need for panic No one is panicking because of the turnovers at this point. After all, few NBA teams don't have similar problems in the preseason. However after last season's constant troubles holding on to the ball, the Rockets know they will have to work to turn the pattern around. "I feel that we'll get better," guard Tyronn Lue said. "I know we can take care of the ball. We're just learning a new system, and when you're playing so hard and so fast, sometimes you tend to turn the ball over." megan.manfull@chron.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rockets Summary Back to practice Power forward Clarence Weatherspoon, who missed the team's first three preseason games with a strained right calf, participated in his second full practice Wednesday with the team. He expects to be available for Thursday's game against Chicago. "I missed a great trip, but things happen, so you have to get ready and move forward," he said. "This is my second day of practice in about 13 days. I think I've had two great practices, so we'll go from there. Tomorrow we'll see how strong it feels." Familiar faces Eric Piatkowski and Adrian Griffin will make a return trip to Toyota Center less than two months after they were traded to the Chicago Bulls. Mike Wilks also was included in the trade that brought Dikembe Mutombo to the Rockets. Wilks was released by the team Wednesday after playing only limited minutes in three preseason games. Piatkowski started one game for the Bulls and is averaging 3.3 points per game. Griffin is averaging 3.3 points per game and 2.3 rebounds. -- MEGAN MANFULL
I'd like to bring Wilks back, but maybe he can find a better situation elsewhere. Any reason to think turnovers will still be an issue once this team gets used to each other?
Hope not. Most of the guys we brought in don't have a history of high turnovers (i.e. T-mac, Lue, Ward). JJ will still TO it a couple times a game. And Yao will be Yao. He gets flustered sometimes on the double teams, but in his defense, a couple of his turnovers from the other night was when he was playing with our borderline guys like Hawkins and Gaines. Seemed like he played much better with our starters (well duh). At this point, I'm cautiously optomistic. And am hoping for the best.
It doesn't seem like the "same old problem" to me. The Rockets (after traveling half-way around the world) are tied for the 9th fewest TO's/g. There are 19 teams making more preseason TO's than the Rox who also have the 7th best TO differential.
Yeah, focusing more on the play on court when the starters and upper tier bench players are on the court, I have noticed a significant drop in boneheaded mistakes and unforgiveable turnovers. I think once they get used to each other, JJ's TOs will go down. Yao's will likely stay about where they were last year, but that doesn't bother me. Our combined guard TOs will drop dramatically from last year. Overall, I think that area of the game will be drastically improved.
i don't think i would so POOR WILKS.... he signed a guaranteed contract before he got traded... he is still getting paid...
Anybody know how many turnovers the Rocketrs averaged in the first few preseason games last year? BTW, if you do, you are hardcore!
We averaged 18.3 TOs a game in last year's preseason. We had 30 TOs in the first preseason game, Moochie had 8 all by himself. Yeah, I'm hardcore.
Wilks is so lucky. He wasn't coming back to the Rockets because of Ward, Lue, Sura and Gaines. But, he gets a guaranteed contract for the year for nothing. Plus, he gets some exposure in Chicago and still preserves the opportunity to catch on with some other team. If I just got the deal Wilks got, it'd pay my salary for a decade.
The good thing about it is that the team is still winning in spite of the extreme amount of turnovers. Just as long as they are not dribbling the ball off their foot or losing the ball because of traps or pressing defense, I can live with it, for awhile. I expect them to decrease though. We have three turnover prone guys on this team from what I can see so far. They are Yao, Jim Jackson, and Taylor. Yao's turnovers come from his indecisiveness and lack of aggressive decision making. Jim Jackson turnovers spring from poor pass attempts. And Taylor, his turnovers are created by his forced shot attempts and unwavering desire to isolate and score every single time he touches the ball. I expect these turnovers to decrease when Yao gets more aggresive and comfortable as the season goes along, when Jackson learns where his new teamates like to move and cut, and....well...we'll just have to live with Mo's isolation blunders every now and then.
Chronicle is really just making up "problems" that don't exist. This is a brand new group of core players playing in PRESEASON. They're suppose to be learning right now, and everyone makes mistakes when they're learning new things. I wouldn't even be all that concerned if we have some TO problems at the beginning of the season due to our roster shakeup. Just as long as we click on all cylinders going into the playoffs.
I agree. This is a "jump the gun" article. 3 preseason games, lots of new faces, lots of odd rotational lineups. Turnovers are bound to happen. I think the author is getting ahead of themselves.
It sounds like Van Gundy thinks turnovers COULD be a problem this season and he's putting an emphasis on keeping them down. I agree! Break them habits JVG!
Megan has a loose association problem. It's called bad memories. It's also *bad* because she's linking the last five years to a few preseason games.
i wouldn't count on that. they were all very turnover prone last year. mo because he forces passes like a madman, jj b/c he steps out and/or makes the weirdest "i'm just dribbling down the court and lost the ball" TO's and yao b/c he gets stripped or falls down a lot. i don't expect either of those guys to go down much. the only turnover prone guy we lost was francis. mobley was pretty decent for a 40 mpg guy who was the 3rd option. and cato, well he didn't touch the ball much. turnovers should be down with the tmac for francis switch and they better be down, but i don't think it'll come from those 3.
