ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Grizzlies 10/22/05

My point is he cannot penetrate into the lane and finish - he's yet to show he can create for himself and score over/thru a defense inside. That was a dimension that Mike James certainly gave us last year. If you disagree, that's okay. But leave this "gimme what you smoking" BS for your shifts in the D&D kiddo.

 

Alright, who on the Rockets staff has a birthday of June 1st?

 

Seems like a hell of a claim to make after 5 preseason games, and he didn't even play in one of them. I haven't really seen him try to score inside, but that doesn't mean he can't. Maybe he's just doing what coach has told him to do. Tmac looked very mediocre last year until he got comfortable. It's just too early to proclaim what skip can and cannot do at this point.

 

I'm just a huge Rockets fan like you guys, I do not work for the Rockets. Although I am pretty sure quite a few people here are from Rockets organization.

 

This isn't Rafer's rookie campaign - he's been in the league for several years. The floater or pullup in the lane is not part of his arsenal and I just don't think he has the physical strength to attack the rim, take contact from a big man, and still convert on a consistent basis.

Mike James could do these things effectively. Mike James would have driven the lane and created a shot with 4 seconds left on the shotclock instead of passing to Yao on the 3point line last night. Of course, as I said, Rafer's interior passing is world's better than James' and this should help our offense (especially Yao) quite a bit this season. But against certain teams/defenses/players the passing game is not as effective and you need your perimeter players to just attack and get a basket on their own. I see TMac as the only player on the current roster capable of doing that.

 

rafer looked terrible last night.

 

Your plead still sounds fishy, it's okay Gundy, we trust you this year.. take us home baby!

As for the game... Stro still suprises me with his offensive game.. Bill Worrell even decided to say he is "unstoppable" near the hoop. The only thing that I see SS do that can be criticized is the way he carries himself on the court could look like he isn't interested in the play or playing defense, but I think he is just like Tmac (the orlando one), who looks like he's sleepwalking. Tmac looked like that at the beginning of last season as well, i have a feeling Stro will show much more passion out there when the plays and assignments come as habit rather than "thinking"

 

While Skip can get into the lane very easily, I'm also concerned some about his ability to finish his drives. But either way you look at it, while Mike James could finish his drives, he could not (or would not) find the open man. Either he hit or missed the shot. If James would have passed off of his penetration sometimes he would have more support on this forum. Basically all he could do was create for himself, never anyone else. So even if Skip can't finish well, he has already shown the ability to hit an open man when he gets into the lane. As the season moves on, he will get more used to where people tend to be and his drives will be more effective.

 

i been stressing this all summer long. wesley is crap.

 

Allright guys lets not go overboard... We have preseason games for a reason, to point figure out our strengths and weaknesses and to help fix our game

1. Wesley's shooting woes are obviously a problem but he's coming off major surgery. He's been a decent shooter all these years and there's no reason why it would just disappear. He'll get his touch back eventually but in the mean time we have to remember that we do have some good depth so Anderson can step in if Wesley isn't getting it done in the short term. But remember players may lose speed and agility but it's really hard to lose your shooting touch. Wesley will be fine after he gets his rhythm back.

2. Keep in mind Rafer is coming into a new offense and doesn't really know his role yet. T-Mac had all sorts of problems when he first came to houston but once he figured out what his role was in relation to the team, he became the guy we thought we got in the trade. We've played a total of 5 preseason games and already you guys are making it seem like a lost season.

3. We did solve our one real issue which was at power forward. Swift has been playing even better than I hoped and has really carved out an offensive niche. If he can keep averaging around 15 points and continue to play solid defense then we'll be set in the front court.

It's good that we lost because it was a wakeup call but stop turning this into a doomsday event that will wreck our season. I can't wait for you guys to start calling for van gundy's head and that we start trading all our players because they all are terrible.