http://espn.go.com/magazine/vol5no23rockets.html Houston Rockets ESPN The Magazine IS THIS THE MING DYNASTY? Only if Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley refrain from jacking shots like they did last year. Otherwise, Yao Ming might never touch the ball after the opening tip. Rudy T hopes to take advantage of Ming's diverse repertoire with a motion offense that spreads shots around. Good luck. The Rockets should improve on 28 wins. But only a cockeyed optimist could say Houston's glass is half full, which is what Ming's pockets will be after the Chinese government takes its cut. STARTING FIVE A top five center by default, the rail-thin Ming must prove he's durable. A top seven pick in 2001, Griffin must prove his shot (36.6%) is curable. Scouting Report Index Kenny Thomas, PF: Shooting jumped from 39.9% to 47.8% in 3 years Eddie Griffin, SF: NHL netting should be installed when he lets fly Yao Ming, C: Greatest thing since Rik Smits? That would be a good start Cuttino Mobley, SG: 1,358 shots last year, but who's counting? Steve Francis, PG: 3.88 turnovers per game, but who's counting? BENCH Bostjan Nachbar, an emerging star in Europe, could grab Griffin's spot. Glen Rice, Kelvin Cato and Maurice Taylor are on the mend. GLOBAL VIEW Ming (China) shot 75.3% at Worlds, but had 3.6 TOs per game. FREEWHEELIN' WITH WALTON Where are the brutes to protect the big guy? Not Taylor and Griffin. Midwest Division 1. Mavericks 2. Spurs 3. T-Wolves 4. Jazz 5. Rockets 6. Grizzlies 7. Nuggets #### Good grief! As an ESPN Magazine subscriber I was very disapponted with this preview! Not much positive here at all! Chris
Not much accurate either. Boki take Eddie's spot? Bwahahahahahahahah! Cuttino and Steve taking too many shots? Who else was going to take them? Yao will only touch the ball after the opening tip? Watch at least one game of the Rockets before commenting on our team, ya dumb yutz! Even Cato got fed alley-oops last year. I can't believe he got paid to write that crap.
I would say these are the positives from the article. It was obviously written from the point of view to dog the Rockets. Top 5 centers are always good. Griffin possibly curing his shooting woes is positive...since he should be making at least one more shot per game or about 2 pts in the final score, at least. KT...great improvement. Mobley's 2pt% and 3 pt% are good so him shooting a lot is good.
Out of all the previews and predictions Ive seen, this is the most laughable. Plus the fact that they have Thomas and Griffin's positions switched.
Just goes to show ya...even morons can make a living at writing about sports.. Where da hell did the national media get the idea that EG is a freaking small forward??
Because last year he played one by spotting up for three pointers most of the time on offense. This year will help change everyone's mind about Griffin as a 3, and they will realize he is a 4. B
<b>E</b>arly <b>S</b>eason <b>P</b>athetic <b>N</b>onsense Someone save these so we can make SURE and let people know just how idiotic these predictions are and have been. What is it about east coast writers? Is it just a contest to see who can be the biggest loudmouth with the ****tiest commentary?
Like someone said, who else was going to shoot? Rice? MT? Collier? Langhi? Rudy is already starting to take advantage of "The rail thin Ming", all 7'6" and 300 pounds... This cockeyed optimist says the glass is a hell of a lot more full than half MOFO... Probably some Knick loving MOFO that's still pissed we kicked their ass for a championship. He's hell bent on showing everybody how horrible he is at what he gets paid twice as much as he should be.
I've often wondered about the NYC vs Houston thing. They have a Houston Street in New York but they pronounce it "HOW-stun". Maybe that's it! Seriously, though, I remember reading the "Hellhole" stories out of the NY Post during the championships and even seeing national commentary after that championship that "well, the Rockets were just lucky Olajuwon blocked that shot at the end of game 7 because the Knicks were clearly the better team..." Wierd.
Wallace Matthews ...his team was punked by Houston and his media name was punked by Jim Rome couldnt have happened to a nicer guy
lets not give espn magazine that much credit. the preview in the new SI has us ranked 6th in the west and 10th in the league!
I think 6th is a pretty fair assesment. That's around where I see the Rockets finishing this year baring any injuries etc. Plus SI put Ming on the cover! Everyone has a right to an opinion but looking at that ESPN preview it has me shaking my head. A real downer of a preview which is very odd since the Rockets are definitely a franchise on the "way up" with a lot of positives coming into this season. This write up makes us look like the Knicks! Chris
After watching the way SportsCenter pounded on Ming after his first ever game I don't have much use for ESPN's opinions right now. It's like they'll do anything to get on Ming. Last year they thought we were a potential playoff team. Now the Rockets draft a Chinese center #1 and all of a sudden the Rockets are ball hogs and glory hogs.
I think it depends on who is anchoring the shows because I have seen them say some nice things as well. And this is from SportsCenter and ESPNEWS. So it is a mixed bag. Chris
I love Griffin, but he needs either to learn to shoot better or shoot less. The 2-10, and 5-14 nights do not help the team a lot. Also the point about SF's TOs is legit. His assist/TO is close to Dikemebe Mutombo's. I agree that Cat may share the ball more with better talent around this year, but you can't blame ESPN much. The burden is on him. Last year he WAS taking a bunch of bad shots.
Last year Eddie was learning as he is this year so he is going to take some time. This year he is taking less 3pt shots and more 2pt shots. I don't have a problem with him taking those shots in the pre-season because he is learning. I haven't been able to see any of the games so I don't know the KIND of shots he is taking, only whether they were 2 or 3s. He definitely needs to improve his FG% but I think what irks me about the preview is they did not touch on AT ALL Eddie's shot blocking ability which is a huge asset! They had a chance to focus on positive and negative elements of the Rockets and chose for the most part to focus on the negative. Very odd. Chris
