The theory of being a "ballhog" isn't limited to JUST shots. Rather, dribbling the ball for 20 of the 24 seconds on the shot clock, would be considered being a "ballhog". Sam Cassell doesn't shoot the rock that much, and averages 8+ dimes a game, but is among the biggest ballhogs in the league. Why is that? Because he has to have the ball in his hands 90% of the game, or he'll pout. I'm not saying Francis would pout, but he's not free of the "ballhog" tag, until he shows more of a willingness to give the ball up to other teammates. We shall see this year if he can do it.
The idea that Steve and Cat didn't support Ming was because they didn't want to change their status is just an assumption people make. They never said that and nobody really know. My guess is that they are more worried about Ming not good enough to make the team better than Ming taking over as the franchise player. Also, I don't think Ming will take a lot of shot this season. Unless Rudy can convince all his players to significantly alter the offensive focus, which I doubt, Ming will not be one of the main shot-takers. We have seen that he is the kind of player that will look to pass rather than take a low percentage shot. I also believe that Steve and Cat's fga will be lower this season simply because there are more capable scorer on the team now. Look at Dallas. They have 5 high-caliber scorers on the team. But nobody is complaining about not getting enough shots. Finley is shooting less. But nobody is saying that his worth to the team is reduced. I don't believe a bit that you can have too many scorers on the team. A great scorer's value is not just scoring but the ability to take opponent's defensive attention away from his teammates. Having one more scorer on the team makes everybody else's offensive job easier, not harder.
Macbeth You made some good points; but no thank you. I know you weren't saying trade Mobley or else, but he brings alot more than scoring to the table that doesn't show up on the stat sheet, like chemistry. Before you think thats not that important here me out, because many teams have that problem now where there back courts don't get along among other players. To even bring it closer to home, Clyde Drexler said it himself that having Charles Barkley on the team made it an easier decision for him to retire. We all know they didn't get along, hell they were arguing on the court on national T.V. once. My point is that right now our back court get along better than ever, and is one of the better one -two punch combos in the league.
Our 'chemistry' was a big reason people were against going after Webber last year, and a big reason for overpaying for Taylor and Norris...not to mention the Morris trade. Question...How much did our much ballyhooed chemistry help us last year?
how much did injuries help last year too. Anyway i am really upset about people who bash aour players for reasons that are out of there power. They have no idea what our players are thinking so they assume that they will take so x number of shots. But they don't know if they are thinking "hmmm this guy can score and make my job easier and we will win more cause we have more weapons" Simply just broaden your minds and think of all possibilities before bashing a player. Especially a good player.
We have a very talented team and there is nothing wrong with that. We have some guys on the team that may not get off the bench. Injuries give shot opportunities to other guys. Why on Earth would you change this team? Why all that stuff about Mobley? What happens when Mobley matures and becomes a better passer? How about Steve Francis being top in assists instead of top in scoring? Having a lot of options is rarely a bad thing, especially when you have experienced guys like Rudy T running the show.
what's the problem with mobley shooting? who are we positive has a better chance of scoring than mobley himself? he'll probably increase his assists becuase there are more options but he's a "shooting" guard and a very good one. if he takes 15-18 shots and makes them at a 43%+ clip than i'm more than i'm happy. you can probably count on 2 hands the number of games steve had 18+ shots in. HE IS NOT A SELFISH PLAYER, though sometimes he definitely should be.
Why are you bringing this up? There really is a simple explanation about who's taking the shots, and there are three parts to this explanation and heeeeeerrrrrrrrrreeeee they are. 1. Ball Movement - swinging the ball in and out to find the the open man. Good things will happen. 2. Confidence in their teammates- if you believe that the guy who is wide open can hit the shot you won't hesitate to pass him the ball. 3.He's on fire!!!- Feed the the ball to the man who is hot, it doesn't matter who if it's the 12th man, he is on the team also. Basically, what I'm saying is there shouldn't be a set number of shots for a player, it is a team sport, one player can't win it by himself, ask Kobe.
Steve Francis last year took 1, 007 shots in 57 games, which works out to an average of 17.7 fga/g even without factoring all the games where he only played for a part of the game due to migranes/injury, etc. So those would have to be some crazy hands you're counting with... I don't know where people are getting the idea that I think Steve is a selfish player..I have never said that, and have actually denied it earlier...I'm saying he took @ 18 fga/game last year, period. If you take that to mean that he's selfish, that's your assessment, not mine...
Mobley and Francis are far and away our best offensive players. There attempts should stay about where they are until Griffin, Ming, etc. develop more. I think 13 shots is a little high for Ming and Griffin this season. Ming probably won't be rushed, and Griffin probably won't get more minutes this season due to Taylor's return. I don't see Eddie's shots increasing much. However, his points per game should go up. I think he'll improve on his 36% shooting.
It is still obvious to me, that there are many posters, that dont think much of Yao Ming! You are still thinking in the PAST. This is the new Era for the Rox. The Rox are once again going to become a CENTER oriented team within two sesons.I consider the guards accuracy and shooting percentage must improve, especially if they are to continue to score 20pts/gm. From this season on Team Basketball will be the name of the game. It will require sacrifice from all quarters,if it is to be a success and lead us upwards,first to the Playoffs,then the Western Conference Finals and lastly to the Big One.Our Leader Steve Francis is the one on the court that will make or break the new path.He will need to help and encourage our young Stars Nachbar,Griffin and Yao Ming so that they learn how to be part of the team chemistry and contribute to the best of their ability,especially doing what they do best. This means as they become NBA worthy scorers and defenders then the point position, must move to a role, more like Jason Kidd plays. All this indicates that the guards will be taking less SHOTS than previous seasons but getting MORE assists.
I'll give the post an "A" for raising an interesting point. but agree more with :I'm so sick of hearing about the Portland Trailblazers effect.... Griffin, Boki and Ming are not the kind of players that will demand the ball. To suggest we drop players for less talented players will make us better is just silly. PLEASE STOP! How could we solve this premature and I believe also artificial problem of not enough shots? 1) Cuttino. Abandon the false assumpion that all he does is score and shoots too much. The shooting too much has been disproved numerous times. His defense and ball handling and , leadership are underated. Once we abandon the false Cuttino assertion we can then divide the shots a little more evenly partly by cutting down on the excessive minutes he had to play. However, if you must. An easy to solve problem. SA would trade Bowen a non-shooter for Cat in a second. Most non-shooters usually don't play shooting guard, so this is a bit tough, but there are others we could get in a heart beat. Shandon is another possibility. We could trade Cuttino and Taylor to NY for Shandon who won't shoot and a bench player who won't get a chance to shoot. Think of how many shots could be eliminated by that one trade!! I'm sure NY would go for it. 2) Small forward. Start Morris. 2 or 3 shots a game on put backs or a fast breaks is the ideal for him as that is all he is capable of. He seems to be afraid of shooting. Under the need to eliminate the desire to shoot as a prime goal he is he best possible forward. As many have said, the rest of his game is good. 3) Glen Rice is gone in two years or less as his value as a cap room clearer is going up monthly. Elimination of the dreaded shot problem. 4) Bokki could just sit on the bench as a Langhi type who likes to shoot but can be limited by sitting on the bench. 5) Ditto, Cato. However, under the new shot reduction standard he is one of the most valuable players since he doesn't shoot or score much. In fact he probably will demand fewer shots than Ming, so up Cato's pt. 5) KT could be readily traded for a deep bench player who never plays and therefore never shoots. Alternatively we could get another guy who can play, but can't and won't shoot. But how would we find playing time for so many guys who don't shoot at once???? This could create great dissention mong the non-shooters. As far as he Trailblazers,. they are unhappy because they have a bunch of whiners and complainers. Pippen, Kemp, Stoudamire, Wallace etc. They failed to win a championship because Sabonis was too old to play Shaq, and their numerous power forwards too small. Their go to guy Pippen choked in the clutch as he is only a second fiddle type guy. It remains to be seen if Ming is a championship center (I'm very optimistic) or Cuttino, Steve, Eddie or Ming can deliver in the clutch. Merely trading for role players who don't like to shoot will not cure choking if that becomes our problem. In the Finals your stars carry the lode or you lose. As far as Dallas and Sacramento, they have a lot of shooters and do fine Let's just assume that we can do likewise. As far as the Lakers, role players like Horry, Fox and their short point guard (Edwards) are excellent shooters. They just give the superstars the bulk of the shots. Hey, I have an idea. Maybe we can do that, once we find out who our "superstars" exactly are. In short, the too many shots problems is an easy one to solve assuming it should ever arise.
True. Maybe I should have replaced "ballhog" with "seflish player." And there's nothing you can say to convince me that Steve was a selfish player his first two seasons when the team had more options on offense than they did this past season. I have to ask, did your opinion of Steve change after this past season or did you feel this same after his first two seasons? What about after he led them to an overachieving season in his second year? I think you and other Francis-haters are just putting way too much stock into the joke that was last season. I have never seen a team so decimated by injuries as the Rockets were last year. Really, I would like to know if you always felt this way about Steve, or if this is just a knee-jerk reaction to the doomed 2001-2002 season. Can someone who was around during the 2000-2001 season tell me if there was this much negativity about Steve at that time? I'd have a hard time believing it.
Macbeth makes some valid points though I think the numbers will add up differently and see no reason to trade Cat. -I think the argument that Cat and Steve will average 18 shots it flawed. The only reason their numbers went up is from the fact that there were not very many shot-makers on this team last year due to injury. I also believe that we will see more FT opps from penetration this year, so Cat and Steve can still hit their numbers doing 15 shots per -Griffin will end up being a defensive minded type player who cleans up the boards, gets the loose ball follow ups and knocks down a few jumpers. -As far as the extra cast members getting their shots, unfortunately, there will probably only be 15-20 per night for these players and guys like Mooch and the rest should not be taking alot anyway. -Rice and Nachbar will get their combined shot totals. Nachbar is a rookie and Rice is on the edge of his career, so you can combine their numbers and estimates -There will be some adjustments and some soul searching required on this team to work and Macbeth does bring up some interesting developments in training camp and early in the season. Thomas/Griffin/Taylor....someone will need to be moved because the shots are not there nor the time
Earlier in the summer, once I saw the depth we were going to have I called for certain changes to our mindset and approach. We are going to have a roster of 15 players and with the exception of Maddox, all the players are ready for minutes. We are so deep that Collier will have to be on IR. Given this depth, I suggest the following: > lengthen the rotation to 10 or 11 > Increase the tempo on both sides of the ball. That would mean almost full time pressing on defense and aggressive defense since fouls are less of an issue because of the depth at all positions. Fast break all the time. > Only Wink and Cat should play 32 minutes with most players at 24 - 25 minutes The objective would be for each player's minutes to be down but their output per minute to be up. Our back to back record should be one of the best in the league. That should increase the total shots taken and ease the pressure of guys not getting enough shots.
