When the Rockets lost Glen Rice in the offseason and acquired an old journeyman named Jim Jackson, I was a little confused. When the Rockets also traded to acquire the lankiest guy I've seen since good ol' Langhi in Scott Padgett, I was a bit more confused. And when the Rockets missed out on Charlie Ward to pick up a guy who hadn't played all year in Mark Jackson, I was just disappointed. All I'm trying to say is this: we can sit and bellyache about the bad front office moves this team has made in the past few years, but they HAVE made a few that WORKED, that I couldn't see working. Who would have thought Jim Jackson would become the major part of our team that he has? Who would have thought that Scott Padgett would EVER start in ANY game for ANY team, much less MERIT such a start? Who would have thought that 29-year veteran Mark Jackson could still contribute meaningfully to a team? I normally spare the BBS of this kind of thing, but I had GOOSEBUMPS last night when Mark Jackson threw a BEAUTIFUL fast break pass to Yao Ming. My heart literally JUMPS when I see Jackson receive a pass in the corner behind the three point arc. The same goes for Padgett ANYWHERE behind the three point arc. These are some players who you never hear about making a sizeable difference on a team--but think for a second, where would our offense be right now without these guys? With them, admittedly, we have a LOT we can improve on. But with Padgett and Jackson waiting out on the three-point line, think of the options it gives Yao in the post--how many of our easy baskets in the past few games have come from good ball rotation on the perimeter? Defenses HAVE to respect these guys from the outside, or they get punished. Granted, Steve & Cuttino still seem to be dribbling the ball a bit much--but it's so exciting for me to see Houston actually running some SORT of offensive scheming. I believe that Van Gundy is creating the PERFECT environment for Yao to progress, and we've seen in the past five games or so that when HE feels comfortable in the post, we're a dangerous offensive team. Memo to Rocket GM: I was wrong. Yeah, there are still some deals that have happened in the past that I still don't understand. But let's give a little credit to our front office for bringing in three guys who characteristically, well, weren't the greatest stars, but are contributing big time to this team. It's starting to be fun to be a Rockets fan again.
The moves are starting to show their worthyness. Mark Jackson is fun to watch, he has such great control of the ball. His passes are so beautiful, something we haven't seen here in Houston for many years.
Agree. Mark Jackson played amazing last night but he's not going to last 40 min every game and certainly not for more than 1-2 more seasons. I only hope his skills and vision rubs off on SF or any other PG the Rox eventually land.
1. Jim Jackson- I definitely knew Jim Jackson was capable of this kind of contribution. I'm not surprised in the least bit. I am sure there are plenty of rockets fans who were familiar with his game that knew what to expect. 2. Scott Padgett- While I did like Padgett when he was at Kentucky and was somewhat pleased with the signing for that reason, I definitely had no idea he'd be a contributor. He's played really well for us lately. 3. Mark Jackson- Hasn't half of this board been saying we need to fire moochie and hire mark jackson all season? it seems like i've seen it suggested a million times. However, being that he has only played 15 minutes so far it might be a bit too early to say that he's really a contributor. He's only contributed to one game so far. I didn't think that any of those moves were bad moves in the first place. I mean I can't say any of them made me jump out of my seat with joy upon hearing them, but I thought they were all solid moves, however, I'm very impressed that somebody around here is actually admitting to being wrong. You don't see that often. Thanks for the refreshing honesty.
I absolutely loved the Jim Jackson signing. I anticipated his contribution this season. I didn't know much about Padgett when we got him and honestly just figured he would be bench fodder...just 6 more fouls. He has proved me wrong. And when it came to Mark Jackson, I just hoped (and still hope) for the best. If he can consistently play to the level he did against NY, then that was a great signing.
I'm glad that JJ's found his shot lately. He's been shooting insane from the perimeter the past few weeks. If he settles down and continues shooting at a 40% clip, I'll be very happy.
...it takes an even bigger man to laugh at that man. ( classic snl ) MJ might be the most out of shape pg in nba (any association at that) but he has the experience and know how - looks like a great pickup. Someone who knows how to get Yao the ball - wow!
I still think this team could use one solid veteran up front, playing minimal minutes, mostly bringing motivation, experience and insight. I'd love to have a Popeye Jones just for the bench and garbage minutes.
The moves in themselves are okay, no great shakes in my opinion. All you need to do is look at what put the team in a position to make those moves. Bad moves put the team in a desperate position to pick up a bunch of rejects. Padgett is not a better player than Tmo in my opinion. MJ should have been picked up a long time ago. The team is not as athletic as it was last year. The bottomline is the team is playing great now and it just tells me how much better it would have been playing if we did not have to pick of the rejects like Padgett, Spoon and Pike. All we had to do is just get the Jacksons and keep Posey, Hawkins, EG and Tmo.
Well..........me.......and the majority of the BBS if memory serves. And are we really going to point to these moves as evidence of team management's prowess??? Come on, these guys are role players at best and while they contribute, these are not the kinds of players that will make or break a season. People who complain about team management have an extremely good point and their pathetic moves have been listed on this message board time and time again. If you want to dish some credit out for the Rockets recently improved play, I'm all for it, but let's credit the source of that improvement, not use the opportunity to give credit where it isn't due.
To amplify on DearRock's post I think it's important to point out that the so-called "success" we are now seeing is against many of the bad teams in the league. The recent personnel moves are based on money, not basketball and are the equivalent of going to an NBA garage sale. Everyone is in love with MJ now but he's a defensive liability waiting to be exploited when they play SA, Sac, Indy, Dallas and others with any team speed. Witherspoon takes on ManBoobs' job of holding the bench down. The acquisition of NBA rejects like MJ, Padgett, Pike, Spoon and AG is not the way to put together a championship club. I still consider team management to be a collection of dumbass clowns no matter what the team's record is at this point.
