why would you even discuss this? Once francis grows a brain the rest of them will and well make the playoffs. francis next year either grows up or gets traded.
No last nights game did! What the Pacers did was made a big trade and spared Isiah for another year. So like I said, trade or Rudy goes...its plain and simple. Do you honestly think that Les with his best team ever assembled will sit there and do nothing?
Don't get upset!! Look at the bright side though. If one day, NBA changes the format to 1 and 1 play, just like the shoot out in NHL all star. The ROX will be the champ.
I think we were around .500 without him and just started to gel when, like the Saddam Hussein, he came back and ruined everything.
I agreed, there is no place for name calling, it defeats the purpose of open discussing. The only person who is legit to criticize the players should be the coach. Perhaps, it was the coach idea to let him shoot every time he touch the ball, who knows! Instead of criticizing the player, we should express our concern to Rudy. Rudy is the one who make sure the player perform. Rudy need to find a way to win the game. If he can't, then he should take the heat.
I made a post early in the season saying what I thought the Rockets needed to do. I believe Steve Francis is the best all around PG in the league, behind Kidd. He may take a few too many shots, but hes great. I certainly agree Yao doesnt touch the ball enough, and the key is when he touches it and hes up against the shot clock hes put in a bad situation. The Rockets need to get into their offense faster and dump it in to Yao and move off him. Steve should have ISO's during the course of the game because he is next to impossible to guard. I dont think that Steve and Yao are problems at all. I do think Yao should be used more and in a different way. BUT as for Cuttino.... Dont get me wrong...I like the guys desire. But I had posted that Cat thinks hes better than he is and boy has be proven my point to be right or what? He is a player that truly is frustrating to have playing on your favorite team. There are fast break situations where he should clearly pass and he takes it himself and turns it over. In half court sets it seems as if they are running back screens for Yao to get good post position and they swing it to Cat and the ball stops. I HATE when Cuttino gets the ball and puts his head down and looks at the defender. He ends up taking insanely stupid shots. Stupid shots like step back fadeaways off the wrong foot with like 15 seconds on the shot clock...shots like these dont make sense. Steve is guilty of settling for that pull up jumper a little bit too much. But Steve's quick shots are better shots than the garbage Cat is throwing up. He too has to find an equal balance of ISO and Yao. I would look into trading Cuttino for sure at this point. He is the biggest hater on Yao. He does not give him the ball at all. And when he does he seems pissed to do so. His D isnt very good at all. He surely hears the critics out there and I highly doubt that Rudy T is yelling "Good shot" when Cuttino goes 1 on 5 and shoots ****ty shots up. And dont tell me Yao isnt getting pissed by it either. Because in every game recap I have read after a Rockets win lately its been Yao saying "We moved the ball, we passed well today, open man got the ball" These are subtle remarks that leads me to believe that he is frustrated by the lakc of ball movement by the guards, and I really think hes talking about Cuttino a lot more than Steve. Yao is all about the team. I believe Steve is all about the team as well and that a lot of his bad shots come because of his desire to win and his compettive nature, his shots are much higher percentage than Cats. Cuttino I think shoots because of his ego. He takes "I think im the man" shots. "**** the offense Shots" "Without me, the team is nothing" shots. Those are shots like pull up 3's with a man in your face with no men underneath. Step back fadeaways with 15 on the shot clock. Breaking down offensive sets to go one on one, Not passing on 3 on 1 breaks. These are not 'basketball' plays. There is no place for it on any level. Its just being selfish. Steve does these kind of things very rarely. Cat makes a habit of doing it. I definitely think its time for Cuttino to go. I would love to see a deal for a Mike Miller type player. Mike Miller would be such an amazing addition to our team. Or a player similar to him. Such as a Wally, or Girciek. Lets keep our fingers crossed that the Rockets GM is thinking like some of us are. Enough is Enough....Cats gotta go.
You guys are full of ****!!! What the *#^( are you guys talking about. I think Cat and Cato are tied for the most improved players on the team. Last year he averaged 18 shots a game with about 12 being forced, off balanced, iso shots. This year his shots are down and his number of bad shots are down by alot. He probably has about 3 bad shots a game, which I can live with. His defense is great this season. I put him up their with posey for defense. Cat steals a lot of balls. He also is great on the fast break. He makes mistakes and sometimes resorts back to his old ways. But I do think he is trying. Didn't you see him alley oop to Griffen against Sac. If he was so selfish, he would have taken the layup for himself. But I don't think he can figure it out by himself. He isn't the smartest person in the NBA. He needs direction. That is where Rudy T. comes in. Rudy T sucks and should be fired. The problem isn't Mobley. The reason he took more shots than normal is that he couldn't get it into Yao because they had great defense on Yao. Whenever he is interviewed, he never says, "I had a great game tonight, i was hittin shots, i was in the zone, i am the most selfish SOB in the world." NO!! He, as do the rest of the team, says, "I think WE moved the ball around well. I think WE shot well. I think WE got everyone involved." or "WE didn't share the ball like we should have. WE didn't get each other the ball like WE should have and WE need to work on that." So we need to fire Rudy, not Mobley. Mobley needs guidance. But he is the third best player on this team, and he is getting better everyday!!!! So you guys need to shut the *&^% up.
First I would bump Rudy up to the Rocket Office then trade Francis to the Sonics for Gary Patton. Francis is no Point Guard and hopefully we can get Gary and the Sonics 2003 first round pick. Wally Walker in Seattle is known for stupid trades. With the Sonics first round pick I would draft a true point guard for Gary to train and eventually replace him when he retires. If 2003 first rounder doesn’t work out then 2004 we draft another PG for Gary’s tutelage. All the other ducks are in row but we must have a True PG to fed Yao and move the ball around.
If the Rockets traded Steve at 24 for GP at 34, that would possibly be the stupidest trade in NBA history. I guess you are giving them a first round pick to make even more ridiculous.
Dear Franchise4Life--- though I am not the brightest human on the planet, I did not write the Rocket give up a first round draft pick. I wrote--- Francis to Seattle for Gary Patton and their First round pick. It’s not that I think Francis is not a good player but he’s no great point guard. After the last play in Cleveland, his bad decision to pass to Yao on the fly, was not a good move. He has talent but he has trouble passing the ball. Basketball is a team game.
Let's ship Cat and SF to China to play team BBall for 4 years. That's the only way they will learn it.
IMHO Cutino is a good shooter, but a terrible BB player. I think its a race to see who loses their job first: Cutino or Tomjanovich for keeping him. I have watched time and time again when in the last five minutes Cat has tried to take over a game the Rockets need to win, ala MJ, and dribbled into a crowd and lost the ball, thrown up a wild-ass air-ball, or a brick of the back iron with all the rebounders out of position. It seems Stevie just has to throw the ball to Cat where it stays until he gives it over to the other team. Does anyone think we could pick up a young PG for him. Francis would make a great SG, ala Iverson, etc. The new PG has got at least two years to mature while Yao moves ahead of Shaq and redefines the NBA center position. I like Griffin alot, he can rebound, block shots, has good shooting range and he's only 20, he sure could stand to bulk up a little. The jury seems to be out on Nachbar, but I love the athleticism of J. Posey. I hope we can keep him, because he is fun to watch. Cato if fine, for now, right where he is. We can only afford 2 maybe 3 superstars. Right now Stevie and Yao are them (future), soon Griffin is going to be very expensive; Cat has to go for a PG of the future. Maybe Armstrong could fill in for awhile, but I would love Gary Payton for MoT/Cat. Can Tito be the new PG, haven't seen him play. I am just dying to see Franchise turned loose to score at will. They won't put 3-4 people on Yao then.
Mobley needs to be traded and I think he will be unless he can become more of a spot up shooter and better passer. As for Steve Francis, I'm not convinced he can become an elite point guard. Steve is a great baller but not a good point guard.
