ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Grizzlies 11/13/2007

That is not and will never be rafer alston

P.S.
first post, really excited to be here!!

 

Mike James can just do that...but he chooses to shoot over double team or in the traffic, or with eyes closed. he hates to be open. He just can not calm down.

Rafer can knock down all open shots consistantly at 20%. Here is our guy.

 

Aaron Brooks can shoot !

 

f*ck it we need a swagger and attitude trade the battyman for artest then trade rafe for wilcox or something the frontline is really thin last nights game showed that big-time

 

After the month of November, I suggest that we should just start Scola so that he can get acclimated to the game and let him make the mistakes - Its hard for him to learn the game in spot minutes. If we aren't a team ready to compete for the top 2 spots in the Western Conference, there really isn't much of a difference of +/- 5 games when that doesn't cover the ground we need to make up. I would rather sacrifice some games to develop the team than the other way around. Reminds me of last year when everyone was calling for JVG's head for not developing his bench.

Luther was also horrible on defense and offense.

 

There are a few subtle differences, such as the coexistence of both Yao and Bonzi on the court at the same time and the preservation of energy for both our star players to finish the game.

Boston is playing good, but I'm still not convinced that they can beat out the current big 3 of Dallas/Spurs/Suns. They can afford to play their 3 stars 40 minutes a game right now, but let's see what 82 games will do to them.

 

In Morey's recent interview, he stated that half of the league can't be traded for at least another month. So, we will have to stand pat at least until then, maybe all the way out until mid February...

The Rafer thing is not working obviously, he's becoming more and more of a liability out there. Read Clutch's recap of the Memphis game on the front page. Even Adelman doesn't really trust him as he gets pulled for MJ in the last minutes of every single game. Isn't that when you would want your "starting floor general" on the court the most?! Granted we are 6-2 with him starting games, but after 2 sqeaky road wins vs. LA and Charlotte, is that record misleading? If we were 4-4 instead would it be time for a change? Could we possibly be 8-0 with better PG play? I say absolutely.

We need to swipe another teams "could-be-starting-but-not" PG ala, Calderon (great idea), a healthly Chuck Atkins, Watson, Ridnour, Duhon, etc. and start over with our starter. We need a PASS FIRST, DEADLY SPOT-UP SHOOTER. The only PG on our roster that mixes both of these attributes is Aaron Brooks. Unfortunately, he must be deemed to green for him to start. Maybe his D needs major work? Would it be better then watching Skip and Head play "ole!" with the other teams guards? Let's see! Is Brook's size a problem? No, he tore up the summer league's NBA-sized players.

Outside the big 2, I say leave MJ, Hayes, Brooks, Landry, Scola, Deke, and Bonzi on this roster. Each bring unique attributes, value, and/or young talent to this team. I say our trading chips lie with Skip, Francis, Head, Snyder, Novak, and even Battier. If any combination of these guys nets us a bonafide starter, that's better than Skip, I think Morey's listening. However, I think that Battier might be a bit "untradable" this year as the front office is still looking for the Gay-Battier trade to pay dividends, beyond the number crunching of course...

 

we lost a game, this is not the end of civilization.

 

wouldnt you think if the guards arent doing so well that the coach would switch it up put francis in the mix with rafer or maybe brooks with james, we have optionsjust to see what works.....

 

I agree with what you are saying. Once again, I have been very disappointed in Rafer after he had a supposed good training camp and seemed to be running the offense. The last few games, we have degraded back to McGrady having to handle 80% of the time and initiate everything with the rest of the guys standing around, not creating enough space and not moving and cutting enough while McGrady drags 2 and 3 defenders around the court. That's not what I want to see. I want to see the ball moving around the court on a string. Bang, Bang, Bang. With fast, hard cuts and players spreading out all over the court.

It is just not clicking right now. And that is why the offense looks vaguely familiar to last years with us winding up with a kickout from McGrady to some stand still shooter who clanks it.

Rafer's shot has been absolutely horrible. He's not even close, banging the ball off the glass and rim. It doesn't even have a chance to go in and most of the time bounces out long putting us in a bad position in defensive transition.

James has been disappointing as well. I absolutely hate it when he pulls up on the break and launches and nobody is under to board except multiple defenders. That is a fundamentally bad basketball play that is taught against in grade school and Adelman ought to stop him from taking it and hold him accountable for it. In addition, James looks horrible against any kind of pressure. He simply cannot break the press and stay under control. The only thing he can do against pressure is run out of control with the ball and launch some ill fated garbage shot or throw the pass at somebody's feet.

In my opinion, one very simple way to gauge how well we are running the Adelman offense is to compare dribbling to passing in our offensive possessions. In the ideal Adelman offense, the ball is moving, and dribbling is one or two dribbles max, with a lot of passes swung with no dribbles. When I watched our offense last night, we had hesitation and multiple dribbles with very few swing passes or short dribbles. It basically means guys aren't moving around, and the ball handler is trying to figure out what to do, or in James' case, is trying to create and looking for his shot everytime he touches instead of looking for the pass.

In the Adelman offense, guys have to look for the pass first. And right now, these guys don't. They are still stuck in "stand around and wait for the pass from 111 so I can shoot it" mode.

 

tell that to the guy in China who is remote controlling Yao.

 

Free Francis!

Unleash Luther!

Seriously, we need someone that can hit an outside shot, put Head in at point and let McGrady bring it up. I don't know, you can even let Head do it sometimes, he seemed like he had a better handle in the preseason.

 

sacremento is going into rebuilding mode so bibby and artest are obtainable....but if we want any kind of decent CONSISTANT 3RD SCORER we will have to sacrafice shane.....which i dont think the rockets are willing to do

 

Yeah, but the loss was to memphis, one of the worst teams in the league. I thought that Adelman should've definately put in Francis or Brooks, considering how terrible our guards were playing. Everyone is saying Francis isn't a playmaker, but how would we know? We've only seen him in the preseason. And what harm could it have done to put him in??? Our guards were playing as bad as you could possibly play, so what difference would it have made to put him in. Its just stupid having a 3 time all-star on the bench when we need him the most.

 

Why did we get rid of Azukibe or whatever his name is.. I'd rather have him coming off the bench for mcgrady... He would've dogged them grizzlies out... Did you see how aggressive he is when going to the rim. Especially, against The Mavs...

 

Rockets will always struggle against athletic teams.

 

Better words cannot be said....Rafer is horrendous

 

It will take until Xmas to get this offense in gear, just like it did every year with JVG. Too many new people trying to rectify the sins of Rudy and CD.

 

Bibby don't fit in with Tmac and Yao. He fits with the Kings cuz they need him to take a lot of shots. Houston's guards are not allow to do that but rather stand and prepare to shoot 3s.