OK, I know it is only half time of the first game since the Barkley injury, but here are some of my impressions. Cato needs to improve his hands, he is NO threat on offense as a post up. The only way for him to score consistantly is for a drive and dish type play. Carlos Rogers is not as good as Rudy has led you to believe. He is soft on defense and just seems a bit lost out there at times. He can play a bit, but if we are counting on him, I think this is as good as he will ever be, and that is a below average forward. Thomas Hamilton, simply put is TOO DAMN FAT to play right now. He can't move. He is so slow anyone can get around him. Walt Williams, is also too slow and can not create, and right now his jumper is suspect. Steve Francis, is too wild, he is not even as good as Iverson was in his first year. He makes to many crazy moves with no where to go with the ball. He has huge potential, but without someone to reign him in, he may take a long time to learn how to win at this level. Shandon Anderson is too shy about playing, he needs to be more agressive. Kenny Thomas has looked real good, I think he should start over Rogers, he is more of a threat on offense and defense. B. Drew runs an NBA style offense better then Francis right now. He plays team ball and that is a nice positive. He is also a role player who is only as good as the people he plays with. Cuttino Mobley, has all the heart in the world and wants to win worse then anyone I see on the Rockets. Don't let him get away. These are my impressions of the key players for the next 6 weeks or so, watching the layup drill in the first half is disheartening. I expect the OFFENSE to struggle, but it is far to late in the season for the ROckets to be giving up uncontested shot after shot. DaDakota "This is going to be a long and painful year, and we NEED big people with soft hands, HELP !!!"
I agree with your assessment of the guards. We have a nice, solid young core, but we definitely help for these guards to be successful. Shandon really poured it on in the 4th. Cuttino played a helluva game. Francis struggled to stay under control. I was really impressed with Drew's play at the point guard though. He didn't take any shots in the 4th (until the last play of the game) and instead fed it to the "hot hands." That is definitely what we need out of our point guards. I think Bryce ended up with 7 assists, a steal and 0 turnovers. Not bad!
