I've been reading all these post about how Rudy likes small ball. Personally, small ball is played when you don't have the good players needed to play legit basketball. I mean, you never see teams with legit big men go small. How many time do you see the lakers pull Shaq out and and put horry at center? In the championship years, how many time did you see Hakeem out there with 4 guards? Small ball was used, and still is by Don Nelson alot because he has never had good big men. Its ok during the regular season at times, but how many times have that small ball gotten him past the second round? Good big players, beat good small players, period. In the west, you need to have good big players either through draft or free agency or something. Of the Rockets 47 wins, how many came against the west? What did they go, 19 and 31 in the west? Thats what small ball will do to you in the west. Everyone is quick to say Rice and Williams will play alot of 4 this year. How crazy is that? Here are two guys who couldn't keep up with the 3 man, now you'll put them against a bigger stronger player? The zone will help, but I don't think teams will play as much as people think. If you're a bad defensive player, people will expose you in a zone. As for the thinking people will play the zone against the rockets alot this year, well most teams try to zone big men, not guards. The rockets had their share of illegal defenses called, but I bet the Rockets committed more than the opponets. Know why? Because taylor was torched by the other teams 4 last year and we were trying to give help. I'm very excited for the season to start as everyone is, I just don't think without the help of Jackson that we'll make the playoffs with our lineup. Small ball is cute to look at sometimes, but small ball got our asses kicked back into the lottery again. Until we're able to get some rebounding and consistent big man play, teams will basically run a 3-2 against us. I know people can't stand in the lane, but they can stand on the shoeblocks which is close enough. Imagine our guards trying to penetrate with David and Duncan chillin on the shoeblocks. That could make our team very, very poor. I'm excited, I'm just not a fan of this "small ball" concept and returning to the lottery next year.
I can see where a lineup of Mooch, Steve, Cuttino, Rice, and a motivated Cato (or Griffin if he keeps growing) could cause some major mismatches. I think that's what smallball's all about - mismatches. No one's talking about winning championships on it.
I remember Phoenix having a small lineup a few years back that was proving to be a potential nightmare to all the Western Conference playoff teams who might meet them in the first or second round. Granted, Phoenix did not make it to the Finals, but their style of basketball scared most of the major powers in the West. The Rockets will need to utilize this approach. Play within their means and try to create as much havoc on the standard defenses as possible. Houston should become that team that no one wants to face because of matchup problems. You definitely want some big guys on your team, but I've yet to see a big man want to chase a smaller guy around the court. This might give the Rockets an advantage in some cases...especially if the shooters have their touch on that particular night.
First we totally disagree with what legit basketball is, but disagreement is good. How many teams with good big men have the talent to play small ball at a high level? You are right about Hakeem not playing with 4 guards, I doubt you will see Francis with 4 centers either. You are comparing small ball this year with last and I think it will be entirely different. Most of the time we played it last year it was because Hakeem or Cato were hurt or not at full speed. We were not allowed to go to it all season as it would have hurt Hakeems feelings and Rudy did not seem to want to do that. No longer a problem. I also feel like the new rules can help with players that can shoot outside or go to the basket, the rules may have been made to stop isolation play, I have my doubts that they do that.
What was the Rockets' lineup during the 95 Finals? Oh yeah, Hakeem, 3 guards, and the perimeter-oriented Robert Horry. The only player to see significant time off the bench in that series was another guard, Cassell. It seems like that small ball concept worked pretty well...
SamCassel, don't compare 95's team with Rudy's small ball lineups of present. Mario Elie was a large man who thrived on defense while Horry was a 6-11 shot blocker and Drexler a 6-8 guard, and of course Olajuwon, well he was Olajuwon, enough said. That was not at all a small lineup. Norris, Mobley, Francis, Williams, and whoever else at center is a truly small ball at it's best or worst, depending on your perspective. Some say Rudy's small ball works to our advantage, i agree, it gives a sure lottery pick for next year. I mean c'mon, Moochie Norris at the 1 and Williams or Rice at the 4 will never work against the west. IT was kinda discouraging reading the front page today and hearing about how Rudy's gun-ho about using Rice or Williams at the 4. All this is not the way i wanted the team to go. Seeing how theres this great importance placed on signing a back up point guard, while we already have one of the best damn point guards since isiah thomas, really shows how dedicated this coaching staff is to this idea of small ball. It's a preseason bummer to presuppose this is how its going to be, so i'll wait and see how things pan out.
You are right, generally, the teams with the good big men beat the teams that run the small ball. But what do you suggest we do? Go get a good big man? Easier said than done. While it hasn't yet been proven that running a lineup like what Rudy will run can win a championship, teams like Phoenix in the past and Milwaukee of last season have shown that it CAN be effective.
When did phoenix scare anyone with small ball? They haven't been past the 1st rd since chuck left. Don nelson, the man who practically invented small ball hasn't advanced past teh 2nd rd since he had cummings, pressey, sikma, moncrief and those guys in the early 80's. These lineups don't scare good teams. Maybe medicre teams, but not good ones. People don't forget, WE ARE IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE!!!! Those trick lineups don't works because of whom we play every night. Other than the maybe phoenix or t'wolves, who in the west is scared by the small ball lineup? The legitimate teams will just pound it inside and kill us like they did last yr. People are quick to point to our record as an accomplishment, but I look at it in other ways. we went 19-33 in our conference and didn't do anything really to help ourselves against similar assults this year. The east is stronger than it was last year and I would be shocked to see the Rockets come close to do what the did last yr against them. The rockets are always going to be my squad and Rudy is a very good coach, I just wish we could get back to playing good team defense and good ball movement. Aside from playing g.s, or memphis, leave the small lineup in the closet.
The 6ers did pretty well with small ball all last year. They usually played 3 guards--with having the smallest 2 guard in the league out there--plus typically a PF under 6' 9" (Hill, Lynch). Also, the Knicks 3 guard line-up was fairly effective 2 of the 3 previous years. Small ball can create really big problems for slower bulkier defenses to contended with. IMO the way to make it really, really effective is to combine the speed on the wings with interior defense. Having the wing players overplay and cover ground quickly plus--and this is key-- having a guy to clean up on the inside can present quite a formidable defense (having Mutumbo, Ratliff or Camby back there). It is the last part that the best Suns or Warriors small ball teams never had that kept them from achieving more. I would also say the 95 Rockets team was also best though of a small ball team, our 3 (Elie) was a converted 2 and our 4 was a converted 3. What made it work was good overall perimeter defense (that is why we were the only teams to shut down Orlando’s and the Spurs’ outside shooters) and of course having a phenomenal guy in the middle to erase mistakes. I think Phily provides a great model for us to follow. We just need Cato or Eddie to become the next Mutumbo or Ratliff and get the wing players to collectively play a little more defense and no team will enjoy the thought of playing us in the playoffs. We might not be the best, but we would be darned scary. I personally think the Spurs should have gone this route--surrounded Duncan and Robinson with 3 small quick guys that can shoot and cover ground quickly, but they moved the opposite direction this offseason by losing DA and not trying to get a guy like McKey.
THE 76'ERS GOT MOPPED UP BY PLAYING SMALL BALL AGAINST THE LAKERS AND THEY HAD THE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR. PEOPLE SEEM NOT TO UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HAVING A GOOD BIG MAN AND A GOOD LITTLE MAN. AS GOOD AS FRANCIS IS, HE CAN NEVER DOMINATE A GAME LIKE HAKEEM OR SHAQ CAN. THINK ABOUT IT, ELIE PLAYED THE 2 THAT YEAR AND THEY HAD SOME GUY NAMED CLYDE DREXLER WHO FOR YRS WAS THE 2ND BEST GUARD IN THE LEAGUE. HORRY COULD GET BEAT BECAUSE HE HAD THE ALL TIME LEADER IN BLOCK SHOT BEHIND HIM. NORRIS,FRANCIS, MOBLEY WOULD HAVE GOTTEN THEIR ASS W KICKED BY SMITH,ELIE, AND DREXLER. NEED WE FORGET HOW GOOD A DEFENDER ELIE WAS? I'M GLAD AND HOPEFUL WE DON'T HAVE TO SEE THOSE BULL**** LINEUPS IF WE SIGN JACKSON. IF THIS TEAM WANTS TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN THE WEST, A REAL LINEUP IS WHAT WE NEED, NOT SOME GIMMICK.
leebigez, I agree with a lot of what you are saying about Big > Small, but Francis, Mobley, and Norris would whoop Smith, Drexler, and Elie. Steve > Clyde, at least while he played for the ROX Cat > Mario Norris = Smith
<B>THE 76'ERS GOT MOPPED UP BY PLAYING SMALL BALL AGAINST THE LAKERS AND THEY HAD THE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR.</B> If the Lakers are your comparison, every team -- big or small -- got mopped up by them. By that standard, playing "big ball" or "medium ball" are bad ideas also.
