Enough is Enough!

I know a game like this can be painfull to watch , but we must press on . I still have hope that we can get into the playoffs , but it's going to take some heady play the rest of the way.Go Rockets!!

 

leebigez, I agree 100% with everything you said.

 

I've been trying to contain myself as well

i love the rocks but they've just got to stop ****ting themselves with players that can't bring them to the NBA finals

i'm tired of seeing people have hope for cases like glen rice or mo tay and even KT. there's too many players on this team that jsut lack the room for improvement... either dynamically before game time or spontaneously during game time. lack of characteristics of either intensity, intelligence, sheer athleticism or a combination.

the championship years had mad max, cassell, horry.. all at that time willing to give it their all on the floor and intelligent enough to adapt in situations. does that mean i would get them now? no, they're starting to lose those characteristics that made them and the team so successful then.

it's not like we don't have those types or didn't have the opportunity. the rocks have made a few acquistion errors
and the players can be downright stupid sometimes.

it's possible to say Rudy is making huge coaching mistakes. or simply not coaching at all. i have a hard time determining that... i can't tell whether he's some times making a player motivional change during the quarter or what. or he might be waiting for a healthy roster... but i do know Rudy is a listener. if we had a decent support staff, we'd be getting better offensive and defensive setups - so either way, Rudy isn't our only source of concern.

but good bball-smart players can make the worst plays work - and we don't have many of those.

 

LBG,

I basically agree with you. Even when we were 5-1, I felt like our records was a house of cards:

** our #1 center can't catch the ball, and can't hold onto the ball half the time. If he could convert 50% of the time he gets that ball less than 4 ft. from the basket, he would get 10-15 points per game. But he can't, and he won't. You can't teach "good hands," not to mention his p*** poor attitude. With Cato we have bought the farm. Willis goes when he can, but he is 39 for cripes sake. We should be asking no more than 15 min./game from him. And if Collier can't get any PT among this group, well that speaks for itself. Don't give me this "chronic leg problem!!" Let's either trade for a real center or letter EG man this position the rest of the year. What the hell do we have to lose??!!

** EG is a superstar just waiting to happen. I wonder how little he would have played if RT's hand had not been forced by injuries? EG needs to start and play 35-45 minutes a game. Walt is a one dimensional player who is only a plus if shooting over 50% because he is such a defensive liability. Why is he playing instead of Morris, or even Oscar. They represent our future. We're going nowhere with Walt. And Rice's legs, and his shot, were gone long before his knee injury; I'm really fearful that we have bought a second farm with him.

** This team is developing a "me first" culture. Look at our assists....worst in the league. KT has become a black hole and Mobley simply forgets about his teammates and forces up bad shot after bad shot!! Willis doesn't even have the word "pass" in his vocabulary. There is only one "me first" player who deserves the ball and that is Francis; he needs 20-25 shots/game a la Iverson. For RT to put the ball in the hands of anyone other than Francis at crunch time is idiocy. Last nite we simply pulled defeat out of the jaws of victory. The coaches are to blame at least as much as the players. Indiana was ripe to lose....and we didn't know how. It should never have come down to any last minute shot or non-calls.

** The new defensive rules have hurt us badly. We haven't figured out that iso's against amoeba zones won't work as our bread and butter offnese. I hope our coaching staff can be more creative rather than continuing to live in the past.

It's pretty ugly now. So let's move on and begin developing a team that has a chance to compete rather than the same old same old.

This is really frustrating, so thanks for letting me vent.

D R

 

Leeg = Caveman.

DD

 

I do not always agree with Leebigez, but he and Dallas Rocket are right on. We will go nowhere with no defense. We need to play Griffin. Steve Francis and he are our future. We have other role players that can come along. I hate to give up, but we need to blow up the rest of the team. WE have players that are selfish and will grow no more:

Cato is a lost cause-no trade value, but maybe draft picks-buy out the contract-he is not even an effective warm body to put in - his hands and attitude are a liability. Buy out his contract and sign Pig Miller for the league minimum- he will rebound and hit a free throw.

Cuttino Mobley - I love the man's quickness, but this is a team sport-he has become a tunnel vision-selfish player--his trade value would be high

Kenny Thomas- he is not tall enough- I like his hustle, but he needs to be at the 3 due to size and most small forwards in the West are too quick and he cannot compete-trade him now

Glen Rice- collect the insurance money for this season and appeal to the league for some kind of relief- I know it's too late for some kind of trade or injury based exception- we really got killed in this trade- we should have let Shandon walk- we could buy out the remaining 2 years of the contract at a negotiated value based on his lameness-this was a terrible trade. This is a totally lost cause taking up 9 mil in cap space. We have nothing to show for Hakeem's available cap space. This is pathetic.

Walt Williams- explore trade possibilities- but I think he has no trade value - so let him walk

New Rockets offense able to attack the zone- get some assistant coaching depth for Rudy so that we can play the zone too, and get away from this Isolation based offense. We can and should run - we are not much older than the Clippers

 

DRocket I agree with you, and with Leeb*** orginal post, 100%.

HERE IS AN INTERESTING QUESTION FOR YOU.

If the Rockets had acquired Rashard Lewis, would he be one of the most sought after free agents next year? or would he be like Jonathan Bender and have taken 3+ years to make it off the pine?

Has anybody else noticed that certain events, usually change momentum in life. It could be two technicals in last nights game (to eventually loose) or ESPN ranking Griffin as a bust. I wonder if Leslie Alexander, or CD, felt insulted for trading 3 first round picks for Griffin (after that article). Maybe that is why Griffin found the motivation to take his game to the next level, or perhaps Rudy was forced (or encouraged) into giving him more minutes.

If Griffin was receiving the same heavy minutes today, he would probably be a front-runner for Rookie of the Year. (he still has an outside shot)

 

barb, Rashard looked like a bust his first year. I think Griffin has already had a better rookie year than him. Although, I'm sure Kt's injuries may have something to do with it.

 

I'm not as negative as leebigez, but I agree 80%.

I have to say Rudy hasn't done all that he's wanted to do. I would like to see Rudy placed in the front office and take a gamble that Mr. Mean can accomplish Rudy's plan for a more attacking offensive game.

I still hope Griffin can be the future 5. Griffin hasn't shown to have the foul problems Mo has at the 5, but needs to hold his ground better to be effective longterm. If Griffin could defend the 5, Mo's rebounding would be acceptable at the 4. It's a pipe dream, but I'm an optimist.

 

Can someone explain leebee's point?

You seem all over the map here. Are you saying giving Eddie 40 mpg instead of 33 mpg (which is pretty much his number now) is the key to success? Or are you saying we made bad trades, which is living in the past? Or are you saying trade KT and Mo', while other nameless people on this board are not agreeing with that? I am hearing some say that it is premature to trade KT and Mo' because you can't get their value back, yet, but by no means am I hearing anyone say never to trade them. Nor is anyone saying not to give Eddie 30-35 mpg.

relax. You don't trade KT and Mo' out of desparation in this injury-riddled losing season. Wait for the perfect trade. Remember, they represent probably the only trade value we can muster and thus the only significant trade we can make for years.

As for the Rudy comments, you said it best. Our SF and C position is sucking this year. If you can think of a better system to use when your center cannot catch the ball, pass or shoot, and your best 4 (Eddie) says he is not comfortable in the low post, yet, then by all means, name it.

Enough is Enough on the unconstructive criticism. If you think I (or other nameless on this board) are Rudy apologists, then I say that you bring interesting but unconstructive criticism. I say it is unconstructive because you seem not to try to understand want *all* our limitations in skill are, and why we just can't execute fancier offenses without a SF and Center. That is why Rudy played KT and Eddie the entire 4th quarter, and went with 3 guards nearly the whole time.

I respect your player evaluations, and I respect your vision of a better offensive system. But, I don't understand your "bottomline" point here, and think you are all over the map of suggestions (reaching for answers), because you point out only half of our limitations, and you assume a "different system" can hide them better. Systems are chosen to exploit strengths and hide weaknesses...a balance. Name me systems that will hide the fact we have no center and our SF often doesn't show up. The only thing left is to disagree with Rudy on when to yell at players and pull them. But if you don't think Rudy isn't getting Eddie consistent big minutes now, you are not being objective.

 

Interesting post Lee, but I have to disagree with you about Mo Taylor and KT.

Mo Taylor is a young man who has not been given a chance to prove himself yet. He still has 7-10 prime playing years left and he is the kind of athlete that can improve himself in several ways.

Kenny will be an excellent bench player once this team gets healthy and improves itself. He brings great energy, forces double teams with his penetration, and is underrated defensively.

The Rockets are poised to be a very good team in the future, provided they stay healthy and make some good personnel moves. I have not lost faith in Rudy and CD, and I still think a playoff run is not out of the question this year.

 

gr81, I agree about Griffin. I was looking at the point by Dallas Rocket about Rudy only giving Griffin the minutes (which he has proven to us), due to injuries.

Question is what would of happen, to Griffin, if he had continued getting limited minutes. Would he had become the bust that ESPN gave him at the quarter?....or look like a seasoned veteran? Part of the problem with Griffin, earlier in the season, was that his only FG attempts mostly came from the 3 point line. Of course when the only place your teammates (moochie & KT), would allow you to touch the ball is on the 3 point line, what do you expect?

 

I took his bottomline point to be this team is not as far along rebuilding as most think and should thus play Morris because he can do more for the team than Walt or Rice in the future and now.


I also took his post to imply KT was a crutch that helps the rockets to walk now, but will prevent them from running later.

Play the Rooks.

 

Rudy needs to realize that Steve Francis and Eddie Griffin, not Cuttino Mobley and Kenny Thomas, are the stars of this team. Mobley is a ROLE PLAYER, as is Thomas. The Rockets have all they need to challenge for a title in a few seasons, they just need to develop Eddie, and somehow convince Francis that he is a primary scorer.

And they need a coach who can teach defense.

 

I think Cuttino Mobley should be our sixth man, like Vinny Johnson did for the championship.

We have enough scorers with Francis, Taylor, Griffin.

I disagree with the person that said KT could not guard SFs. He can do it as well as any other Rocket, and I don't see us getting more help at the 3. We should go with

Francis
Torres
Thomas
Griffin
Taylor

bench

Cat
Morris
Rice
Cato
Moocie

One of the three big men is going to get a serious mismatch against almost every opponent, and this team is capable of playing good team "D".

The second 5 is pretty good too.

Add a good draft pick into the mix, and the Rockets are going to the playoffs next year if the team is healthy.

 

Gang:

We will not have to worry by the end of January about these conversations because we will be unofficially, officially out of it for sure. Steve Francis was limping the entire game last night. Steve needs to be sat for another 3-4 weeks to heal more. This will definitely accelerate our decent into the upper lottery. He is about 75%, which is why you saw him only shoot 8 times. He was standing around when he did not have the ball--not looking to get involved, more looking to rest his foot. I watched him on several plays just hang on the 3pt line watching the action.

I am pretty optimistic about this team should it have a health Francis, MoT and Rice and Mark Jackson...but, let's face it...things will be different by All Star break. Rudy will not be able to not start Eddie, because the current bunch is not winning. It is just a reality....

 

Add it up, Griffin is getting significant minutes. KT and Griffin are stealing center minutes, not each other's. The "play the rooks" argument is outdated, when referring to Griffin. Don't you believe that?

Also, for the future, featuring KT for 30 minutes at the expense of Willis time helps us a great deal, both in trade value and developing KT should he stay, and *should Mo never be the same again*.

As for Morris, Torres is a rookie, too. That is a really dicey argument considering there are many Torres supporters saying a 6'6 scoring/smart SF is better that a 6'9 defensive/rebounding one. The argument against Morris is that he can cause sagging-in on offense. This allows defenses to guard Francis better. That hurts Francis's development *and* system development. I don't want any sagging defenses that make Francis's life more difficult that it already is for not having a center. The more games we play with Francis not getting trapped the better. Walt helps beat those traps more than Morris merely by being guarded more honestly. Torres help more than Morris, too.

Saying that we should play Morris more now, because it will make us a better team in the future,,,is a marginal argument at best. Right now, I think the jury is out on whether he can hurt a sagging defense, yet. I'd rather that there be no sagging defenses at all. You do have to agree that makes it harder for Francis (and the system as a whole) to improve. That is why Chaney has reduced Shandon's minutes, because he is hurting Sprewell.

 

crispee, i don't really understand how pinpoint other player's posts and try to whittle them down. unconstructive criticism to me would be how you focus on directly disqualifying other people's posts instead of simply providing your own insight to the Rocks.

debate to reach a common understanding is fine... you're a smart guy and lee has posted here several times. i think you can come to a sufficient point lee is making.

the goal of every team is to contend for the title and at the moment, we haven't gone as close to that aim as everyone believes.

as you said crispee, we're lacking in the SF and C positions.

if we assume griffin can't play C and win playoff games because of lack of physical girth and KT for length, then we shouldn't give them minutes there.

why are people concerned of giving KT or Mo T more time and saying they have many years to develop. why don't we put our hope on Cato? he may suck but he's where development needs to come for the Rocks to win... he's also got years to develop.

no one seems to have faith in that (even with Cato's limited time in the NBA much like KT and MoT) so our second option is to trade for a C.