I don't understand those who blame Steve. I've been at two games in the past week (Golden State/Sac), and I've watched the rest of the road-trip on TV. In those games, Francis has played solidly. He's jacked up a few idiotic outside shots, but more often than not he's played within the flow of the offense... either dumping it low to Yao in the post, or penetrating and dishing. I'd say I'm content with at least the *style* of everyone's play (although I do wish Hawkins would hit a few more shots, and Griffin would post up more).. .. all EXCEPT Kenny Thomas. KT is, without a doubt, awful. He's been the blackhole, devoted to taking shots regardless of consequence. A pass that goes in has no chance of making it back out of his grip. He was a god-awful 2/9 tonight, 2/7 against the Warriors, 2/6 against Portland. On this 5 game road-trip, the guy is shooting 37.8% from the field. And worst of all, over that time span, he has 7 assists. KT needs to sit. Of all the forwards the Rockets have available, he has to be lowest on my scale of favorites.
yea in my opinion, everytime Kenny Thomas touches the ball, he screws up the flow of our offense...he's like a big piece of crap clogging a septic system...
I have been pleased with KT's progress as a player over the last couple of years. Having said that, I would agree with the opinion that KT seems to be on a slightly different page. I've noticed when he comes off low screens and gets the ball at the elbow, or on the wing for that matter, he is settling for outside shots. He has a really good first step, but is not utilizing it as much as last year. Has anyone noticed that there have been several occasions where KT will set up on the wing, Yao will flash across the lane from the weakside and have his man posted deep, yet there's not a pass? Instead, we get another jumper from KT. I notice Hawkins and Mooch seem to look for Yao. Mo Taylor, also. Then again, maybe KT is just a 'black hole' in general when he gets the ball. Maybe it's just that I've been watching Yao's performance more closely, thus noticing when he gets good position, calls for the ball, yet doesn't get it. If the ball is not in Steve's hands, I want it in Yao's because he is showing he makes intelligent decisions with the ball. What I don't want is a 43% shooter going 2 for 9 on a night when our big man only gets THREE FREAKIN' FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS.
when pisses me off with KT is that he will get the ball at the elbow and hold it and not do anything with it for like 5-7 seconds and then try to make some crazy stupid move where he ends up losing the ball or taking a really bad shot. At this rate KT will have less assists than Yanke Dare (is that spelled right?)
ok...serious question to think about: when was the last time kenny thomas hit that face up jumper off the post? i know for sure he hasn't hit one the past 4 games. does anyone remember the last time he DID hit one??? and why the hell does he keep shooting that dumbass shot?!!
I could not agree more. Kenny Thomas just does not pass, but forces shots when it's not there. Francis does this too some times. I've seen Francis drive in with Yao or Griffin right behind him and won't dish the ball. Get the big guys involved with easy baskets first. And the times he does pass ,it's out of desperation. Getting back to Kenny, he has no idea of team basketball. I don't mind the post up moves, but he has missed most of his jumpers. If you can't make it pass it to someone else. He needs to understand his role and realize he is not the first option.
what exactly are we blaming a guy who shoots 8.6 times per game for. This is like blaming Shandon for clanking jumpers and driving in for strips. I thought Shandon and many here blamed Steve/Rudy for not playing a Utah game that allowed Shandon to be a slasher. Cant' we say Kenny is a quick slasher, too?? Shandon was a shooting guard who couldn't shoot. Guards who can't shoot cause more collapsing of defenses than PFs without range. Plus, SGs that can defend are not as much as an advantage as frontline defenders/rebounders. "Blaming Kenny Thomas" is weird. Let's say you get the chance to slap him upside the head and turn him instantly into a junkyard dog who only plays off the ball, and always either passes or penetrates when he gets the ball, like a motion player is required to do. What then? Are we instantly a 55-win team? We are all frustrated with Kenny's offensive shortcomings, but the guy is a defensive captain for our 2-3 zones, plus a consistent rebounder. Watch him direct traffic and notice how his side of the zone denies penetration, entries and perimeter shots much better than the other side of the zone. bottomline: the Rockets are winning with their defense. Blaming the offensive woes on a guy who shoots 8 times a game is trying to deflect blame, just like the first sentence of heech's opening posts clearly attempts to do.
Everyone seems to agree. I disagree, COMPLETELY! I don't like Kenny's play either, but to suggest he's the guy to blame for all of our problems is outrageous, egregious, preposterous! The current problem with the Rockets is a combination of so many different things it's uncountable! You say your content with the *style* of everyone's play. I'm only content with the style of two people's play right now, and that's Yao Ming and Kelvin Cato. I'm also content with Rice's play as long as he's hitting his shot As for the others: Steve - Move the ball around more. Cuttino - Stop taking shots where you try to maximize the degree of difficulty! Eddie - Don't jack up so many 3's. Taylor - Stop playing so damn soft! Kenny - Don't shoot jump shots, period! Moochie - Don't dribble so much! Hawkins - I wish you had an offensive game! I wasn't a big Shandon Anderson fan! I don't see how you can be content with EVERYONE'S play but Kenny's.
Kenny is not to blame, but he also is not a good player. Offensively, he either throws up bricks, or turns the ball over on some stupid move. Defensively, he is okay, but I have seen him to many times foul when he shouldn't, let his man blow by him, try to foul and cause a three point play, etc.. As long as KT is a starter, or even gets significant minutes on this team, we will go nowhere. Not because of him, but because if we have a player of his calibur starting, then we are worse off then most people think.
I agree and disagree. I do not agree that the only one not playin well is KT. Everyone is suckin bad except for our centers. If you did watch last nite, then you must have been goin for beer when I saw KT pass as many times as he shot. I remember being surprised that he actually passed out more often than I could ever remember him doin before. So I wouldnt necessarily call him a blackhole..*nothing* gets away from a blackhole.. I wish he would quit forcing things, he has been stripped or lost the ball on more of his drives than he used to do...Someone get that man some Stick-Em...( what was that crack in the Replacements? something about what it made his hands look like?) One last thing..off topic Im sure...People need to get off Hawk for not shooting well...he at least plays good D, which is more than I can say for most of the rest of the team.
A lot of people are right in this thread, but HP's the most right. Kenny (like HP's other buddy Cat) is still stuck on the black hole, ISO mentality, but everything else he does for the team makes it WEIRD to blame him for our woes. And he is a very smart player who's improved with every season. He'll do it again. So will Cat. What we've got to do to improve our offense, as much as I hate to agree with Blinebury, is feed the damn post. If Yao's not touching the ball, why's he running the floor? And if he's tired, why not make use of him when he's in there? And if he's not ready, or strong enough, to post up right now (which I totally disagree with by the way), so what? He is our best passer right now. Our best. And he'd have about six assists a game if the rest of the team knew it and looked for his pass outs. There are two things we've got to do as a team: get used to sharing the ball (when we do we look unbeatable) and knock off the rust (Moochie, Taylor, Thomas, Cat are all coming off extended injuries of lack of playing time -- they WILL be back). Add all that to the emergence of Yao and the re-emergence of Rice and Steve and the sudden improved attitude of Cato and get ready to paint a toothy smile on your face by the all-star break. And by the way, Hawkins DOES have a shot. He doesn't look for it, but when he does it will become more consistent. Griffin's slumping now too, but he'll be back as well. I wish he wouldn't shoot that ugly, flat three, but his % isn't that bad so it's a little hard to argue with it. My brother's friends with a good friend of his from Seton Hall. My brother asked him why he kept jacking up threes and he said, "That's his game! He's too thin to post up. That'll come with bulk." Even so, I don't like it. Reminds me of a rounder (and louder) PF we used to have who never saw a three he didn't like (or miss). Cheer up, y'all. And lay off KT. It's all gonna work out.
KT actually sets his teamates up for scored more than Francis does and I have stats over a 6 game stretch to prove it. KT is also our best defender, aside from Hawkins. KT's one glaring weakness is his poor shot selection. I have no problem with him playing the minute he is. Steve gets blamed for losses just like he gets credit for wins. He has 2-3 times more touches than any player on this team, Mobley included. With that amount of touches, Steve is responsible for getting his teamates involved, not KT, even though he does more so than Steve.
HP, we all know that KT is your man!! but you have to admit that his shot selection sucks! As VERSE mentioned, I also cannot remember the last time KT hit one of those outside jumpers. If you look at KT's shooting percentage (from his favorite spot), he is probably shooting about 10-15% from the outside. So why does he even shoot ONE of those shots? I mean, if he can't hit them - he can't hit them!! Why don't we give Cato (5) 3 pointers a game, whats the worse thing that can happen? Its only 5 bricks a game! Its not like we have lost any games by less then 10 pts!!!! You have been bashing Griffin pretty hard on his shot selection and shooting percentage, but its not like KT has been playing that well (at least from the outside). Yes he rebounds (so does Griffin), he does hustle (Griffin hustles for rebounds), he defends (Yes, Brand schooled Griffin one game, but he can defend), he cannot block (Griffin can), he cannot alter shots (Griffin can). My opinion neither player has played well, but shot selection is the point of this thread (I think). Give those consistent bricks to Ming, and we would have won several of those games.
Good points all around. I admit it, I haven't watched KT on defense enough to notice his contribution. And yes, other players all need to improve their play offensively. But my point isn't that the other players played *well* offensively in terms of putting the ball in the basket, nor that they were perfect while KT is the only flaw, but only that KT's flaws are very noticeable compared to the others. My point is exactly those outside jumpers. The dribble-dribble-spin-dribble-in-place-forced up jumpers. Francis could dish more when he penetrates... but he's a pretty good finisher inside (even with 5 guys lying on top of him), and passing the ball in traffic might not be such a good alternative to putting the ball up and trying to draw a foul. Mobley forces up more than he should... and feeding the post is better than long jumpers, but at least most of his shots are open (and he makes a decent % of them). Look at the stats. Thomas is shooting, statistically, WORSE than even Mobley this year (.030 pts behind Francis). And this from a forward who's supposedly a monster on the boards? Forwards that shoot worse than the supposed crazy-shooting-guard should not be getting 9 attempts a game. Griffin's the worst shooting forward at all, but I'm not complaining about him because he's not shooting much, any more. In his last 5 games, Griffin is averaging 5.6 FGA. He's not hitting his shots, so he's getting much less playing time and taking fewer contested shots... and his FGA have dropped dramatically from the first week of the season. (And, presumably, he CAN make those open shots in practice.) Thomas? He's not hitting his shots (as we all agree) but over the last 5 games he's averaging 9 FGA. He hasn't toned down his FGA at all, even as he continues to struggle. He hasn't gotten smarter on shot-selection, and he isn't looking to pass. "Shooters keep shooting" (regardless of performance) is a good mantra, but that should be qualified as: shooters keep shooting GOOD shots, and their natural abilities shine through eventually. Keep taking contested shots in traffic, and you'll keep annoying heech. I'm surprised you say KT made good passes last night; I admit, I was distracted by the hottie with the blue string-thong (pokin' out over her jeans) sitting in front of me when Yao Ming didn't have the ball... but I really didn't see anything impressive from KT. The box score says he had 2 assists and 9 shots last night.
