DavidS, I'm not comparing Mutumbo to Cato, or Pike for that matter. I simply made a prediction based on the player he has been, a slow footed, defensive specialist at his prime; not much offense if there is any at all. Now, near the end of his caree, many here started talking about the title? This just doesn't sound right. The Rockets might be a higher scoring team than last season before traded for Mutumbo, or even after traded for him. My point is that they become a less offensive team with him than without him. If you don't agree with that, then there is nothing I can say about it. Who was he back up with the Nets? Collins? I think he barely got any minutes as a back up for Collins, now we are expecting him to do better as a back up for Yao?
He got 21.4mpg backing up Collins. More than we'd expect him to play backing up Yao. Simply put, when Mutombo's in the game we'll be just as bad offensively as we would be if Cato was playing center, but surely no worse. With Mutombo in the game we'll be much better defensively than we would be with Howard or Taylor at center.
My bad if he actually got 21.4mpg backing up Collins. I didn't think he played much because he constantly b**** about his playing time. I'll give you With Mutombo in the game we'll be much better defensively than we would be with Howard or Taylor at center, but he surely is worse than Cato on the offensive side. I know stats might support your argument, but with Cato, the offense is more moble (did I just said that?) than with Mutumbo, which won't show up by looking at those two individual stats.
Well, I think it'd have to depend on the players out. Cato was fine with all the lobs Steve and Cat gave him. We all know Cato's main offensive move was the lob. I don't really see us doing that as much with Yao or Deke, but then again we don't have Steve or Cat to throw them up (they were the ones I usually saw who threw the lobs). By taking lobs out of the equation, I know Deke used to have some sort of hook shot (problem is here is that he was so slow going back and forth). If we're truly a half court team now, we'll wait in any case as most of our possessions will take a lot of the shot clock down (hopefully by 15-20 seconds he'd be able to get back and maybe get a rebound every once in a while). Take what you can get for whatever their offensive abilities are. I don't know the point guard abilities of Lue or Ward as well, except for some games I saw and their stats. If they are the no-risk, do as their told kind of guys, then we should just be giving it to Yao or T-mac most of the time anyway.
did you guys seem mutumbo on offense last year? he had trouble catching the ball. cato definitely had a better offensive game. even when mutumbo scores it's pretty ugly. he should still be good for rebounds and defense.
Rockets are worse off slightly without Pike since Pike plays a position that is manned by TMac and JJ. Both those guys are workhorses who play big minutes. However, the Rockets without a decent defensive backup center become matador central when Mo is forced to become the backup center. Who is not going to try and drive into the paint when they see Juwan and Mo there? Dikembe would at least make the slasher think twice before driving into the paint. Also, Pike's defensive weakness on the perimeter would have allowed for more driving into the paint which would further make it an out of control mess on defense until Yao comes back in. JVG would be forced to utilize Yao for 40 minutes. If Yao plays for 40 minutes having to be the primary scorer, rebounder and shot blocker, he will have a heart attack right there on the court. Pike might add 3-4 points to the scoring average of the team, but Dikembe might subtract 5-6 points from the scoring average of the opposing team. JVG is from the Bill Parcell's school of coaching. It's ball control and defense.
Mutombo is a better offensive player than Kelvin "hands of stone" Cato. At least Mutombo has a baby hook. Cato has a baby air ball! The issue here is not that Deke is/is not a offensive player. It's that we'd rather have Howard at the PF than Cato. And Deke at backup center, than NO BACKUP CENTER! Our team is being built for next year. These are short term solutions. Also, winning a title has little to do with Deke's offense. It will be in spite of his offense. Our championship hopes rest on McGrady/Yao and everyone else playing as a TEAM. Not if Deke has 1.1 less ppg or 38 years old, etc, etc, etc...He'll help defensively; any points are bonus. This can't hurt.
damn you know it's a long off season if this what we are debating.... the offensive skills of Deke and the Hallucination.... please season start.. my guess is will be able count on one set of male genitaliar the number of times Deke touches the ball on offense per game, what about starting a Deke drinking game.. a pint every time he touches the ball on offense and a jug if he scores
Five jugs per game! At least you'll be a "happy." By the way, it's not about "debating the offensive skills of Deke." It's about poster that say, "Bad deal, we're sunk, CD must be fired, dumb trade, our offense will suffer, the sky is falling, blah, blah, blah..." All for what? A backup center? I mean, come on! McGrady/Yao will be our offensive force. Not Deke. And this wont end. You know that CD will be looking for other FA/trades next year. It's not over.
dharocks, Surely you missed a decimal point here. 5.8 million is more like it. For 58 million we could have signed Fisher, Okur or Barry. CD may not be the smartest GM around but he's not r****ded.
I know the stats look good but I consider them to be very misleading - especially in Mutumbo's case. For example, the stats would have you believe that they have replaced Cato with a guy who's nearly an exact clone. If you look closer you can see that this is not the case at all. What the stats don't show is that there exists a vast difference in effectiveness between Mutumbo & Cato. On PAPER Mutombo looks to be the perfect back-up for Yao. But that's if (and I mean IF) he's healthy enough to play. The fact is that he hasn't been healthy for the past two years. Compared this with Cato who has lost much much less playing time too injury. This is something that is not reflected by their stats. I really hate to admit this but Chris Ford raises an excellent point in his latest Insider: "There's a reason the 7-foot-2 former defensive player of the year has bounced around Philly, New Jersey, New York and Chicago in the space of two years. Teams aren't convinced Mutombo (who's generously listed at 38) has much left in the tank. Teams keep trading for him, hoping he still has some juice, but lately he has disappointed everyone. This is relevant to the Rockets, because they have no one else to back up Yao. Yao goes through a grueling offseason every year for the Chinese national team and has been incapable, in the past, of giving the team more than 30 mpg." Simply put, given his recent history, there is simply no reason to believe that Mutumbo can be counted on to do what you and everyone else here expect him to do that is stay healthy enough to make a true contribution and provide a realistic backup for Yao. I don't share your optimism on this guy given his recent history. But my real reason for not liking this trade is that Mutumbo brings too many physical limitations defensively to the table. Mutumbo lacks lateral quickness which negates his ability to close defensively on other centers and power forwards. JVG's defensive scheme stresses defensive intensity and quick reactions to the ball such as chasing or running out shooters on the perimeter. This is something that Mutumbo simply cannot do. Even if you plant him in a zone and leave him there, he lacks the capacity to move laterally within that zone (this is the same problem the Mavs face with Shawn Bradley). He also presents major problems on offense as well. I don't see him as the sort of player whom they can post up nor is he going to stand outside and stretch the defense with his outside shooting. With him on the floor, they can't run screen and rolls because of his lack of an outside shot and because of his lack of quickness and inability to move with the defender. At his age and with his limitations, there is only so much that JVG will be able to do to hide or compensate and you can rest assured that other coaches will definitely be ready to exploit these weaknesses when he is on the floor. All in all, this is yet another stopgap move (in a continuing series of stopgap moves) by CD.
Mutombo was relatively healthy last season. He played 65 games. Cato played 69 games. Hillboy => Regardless of his liabilities on offense/defense, we needed a backup center, so we went out and got one. He may not the be the best one available (although I think he's near the top of that short list), but bottom line is...he's off the books in a year, and his salary is only 4.5 million. We're not blowing a huge wad of cash on a broken-down center who's an "offensive and defensive liability." We're not shooting ourselves in the foot by signing a free agent center to a long-term contract. We're just getting a temporary guy who can spell Yao for 10-15 minutes a game. What would you have done?
Apparently Brian Fellow wasn't aware that the board's automated sarcasm detector was on the fritz again. Expect a lot of stuff going overhead for the time being.
We all have too much time on our hands --- 15 pages to discuss a trade for a back-up center where we gave up end of the bench players. The season can't start soon enough !!!!
Even if the season was started, we'd still have too much time on our hands. Right? That's why were are here. We're Rockets fans that like to talk about anything Rox related. The reason that this thread has 15 pages is not because of "wasting time." It's because it was *a trade announcement* it's a STICKY, and we wanted to talk about it.
When does the season start? I mean really start? 1/1? Trading deadline? Certainly the real season starts AFTER Game #82.
