I have been waiting for a year for Langhi to start performing and he doesn't seem to respond. Morris seems to be the answer off the bench. Who should get the minutes? Morris or Langhi.
Give Langhi a bit more time...he might still be feeling after-effects of his injury. You will probably end up seeing both players used off the bench, but in different roles. You'll see TMo come in to play SF maybe add some instant offense and you might see Langhi come in to play SF to create some size mismatch problems for Houston's opponent. Any way you size it up, both Langhi and Morris are athletic guys that will help keep the tempo of Houston's running game up. If they both can fit into the mold of the team, the Rockets will benefit greatly.
You hear a lot about how good Langhi is, but when it counts, he hasn't shown up. Morris is a rookie who has shown his ability to make a contribution right away, albeit in preseason. Based on the preseason games, I'd prefer to see Morris get the majority of minutes off the bench. I'd also like to see Langhi perform in an NBA game instead of just summer leagues.
I think Tmo will produce at least as much as Langhi as-is. However, it makes sense to go with Tmo, for he has much more potential. This is someone who was thought of as a lottery pick (in the beginning of his junior year, he was projected to be the #1 pick!), and respectable coaches, like Dave Odom, were saying that he would be like Scottie Pippen (one-time MVP), but better. No one has ever said anything like that about Langhi.
Well, maybe he never was MVP, but he may as well have been. He was considered the league's best all-around player and getting all the magazine covers one year when MJ was gone. And when MJ came back, he used to say Pip was better than him. Not to say he was ever, ever as dominant as Hakeem. Forget that, I'll slither out this way: Named MVP of the 1994 NBA All-Star Game, posting 29 points, 11 rebounds and 4 steals
It is a scary day when I log onto the BBS forum summary and ROXRAN is the last poster for every forum.
Morris looks like he is going to be a nice nba player. He passes well, has a nice shot, and he can block some shots. He remindes me a little of Robert Horry. If we can get another Horry from a second round pick then we should all be very happy.
We will see who comes to play when the season begins. TMO may out perform Langhi in the preseason. Langhi may have out performed TMO in the summer leauges. Let the season begin.
I'm the biggest Langhi backer ( cuz he's my BOYA), but I gotta give Terrence Morris his props. He's been strokin the 3 very well, been playing pretty good defense, and generally doing all the little things well. In regards to the topic, we still have to wait to get a more accurate judgement of both players. Langhi's first game was coming off an ankle injury as we all know, and his second game, he didn't get enough PT to do much (although when he was given the ball, he drew a foul and made 2 ft's). I still believe Langhi to be the better shooter and general offensive player, and he should bring it out sooner or later. Everyone speaks of how Langhi needs to bring it in real games and not summer games... well he's only played minimal minutes in 2 games comin off an ankle injury so far, so I would not judge him on that. The way Morris is playing right now however, would justify him getting more minutes this season, but I think Langhi is still ahead in the rotation simply because of Rudy's loyalty... Langhi, and Langhi only must lose his spot. Either way, we should see both of them playing this season depending on the circumstances... if we need offense or have a mismatch, bring in Langhi... if we need defense, bring in TMO.
For a 2nd round pick I always liked Langhi's potential but the last two preseason games, this year's second rounder Morris is looking like a steal. Langhi looks stiff when he first gets into a game. Morris on the other hand, goes right at it. I pick TMo but I haven't given up on Langhi as a role player.
If Steve, Cuttino, Moochie, Oscar, Glen Rice are healthy, put in TMo. If they all go down, then I'd look at Langhi. We all overestimate Langhi's abilities, imo. He was great at Vandy. Yippie-whoop-poopoo. He was great when he was the primary option. He will never be the primary option on this team... and he's apparently too timid to figure out how to fit in with this team. Short of an injury to Steve and Walt and Glen and Morris and Oscar and Cuttino.... maybe DJ (okay, not DJ ), Langhi will never see more than 5 minutes in a game this season. Morris has had success on this team playing with Steve. I don't know if Langhi has ever been able to say that. Morris, imo, is climbing back up to the 'complete player' label that he had at Maryland when he last played with Steve. As a matter of fact, if Rice sits down a few games, I'm actually comfortable with that position. Heck, the rest of Morris' game seems so superior to Rice's I'll take the difference in shooting ability NOW. Sorry I'm babbling, but I'll just finish by saying... imo, Langhi will never displace Terence Morris.
Well said Achebe. At this point Langhi has barely shown flashes of mediocrity(Well besides that 10 points in 2-3 minute performance he put on last season)
I can't say I know a whole lot about Langhi's game, but from the comments made from the majority of what I've read. He's more of an offensive threat than anything else. That's where his game excells. I agree with Achebe that the team right now isn't hurting for offensive firepower. Morris can come in with a little less offensive potential, but a higher defensive ability and more of a teamplay mindset. I disagree with you Achebe about Morris' lable as a complete player. He was much more a complete player after his senior year than he was while he played with Francis. Everyone was disappointed with how he performed during his Junior year for the most part. Unfortunately they don't really see the value in what he did. After Francis, Profit, Ekezie all left, there was a large void in the Maryland offense. Everyone expected Morris to take up all the slack on his own, and talent wise I think he was capable of doing most of that. But one dimentional teams aren't as sucessful, especially in the ACC. So instead he didn't demand the ball like everyone expected, but rounded off his game, and allowed his teamates to develop with him. Juan Dixon and Baxter both got more touches in the offense because Morris wasn't taking all the shots. And the terps were a better team for it. Instead of one talented player, they had 3 that could kill you on the court. So his numbers improved, and he had his best season at Maryland in my opinion. His senior year was a problem though. It started similar to his junior year, until ACC play came around. He started asserting himself more and was putting up great numbers. It was something like 20 ppg and 10 reb, an estimate on my part. Unfortunately , he lost all confidence in his shot and I can show you the exact point where it happened, the first MD / Duke game in OT, he missed a wide open 3 point shot that would have given them the victory. After that his offensive game just wasn't there. So as the season went on he withdrew a from the offense more and concentrated much more on his defense. He's always been a complete player at MD, people just haven't realized it, or think that he did it in the wrong way. Mentally I dont' think he'll ever be a team leader, or demand the ball as the primary offensive threat. I guess that's what turned off the majority of NBA scouts, and I think now he'll be able to prove them wrong on the court. And hopefully Rice can help Morris with the shooting and TMo will be just deadly from three point land
langhi's got the reach and a slight edge on power, but morris has got some extra quickness and more defensive instincts...still I say langhi in 8... Oh basketball, okay...oops , in just a couple of pre-season games it's starting to look like Tmo is the more complete player offensively and defensively, he already has more blocks in a couple of preseason games than langhi has in his whole NBA career. Langhi always looks lost on the defensive(and offensive at times)end. Tmo's skills will probably surpass langhi's in this season alone, with a little experience and a couple years of the weightroom, he'll become a the perfect sf for our system...defensively great and a very good complementary scorer.
One thing people seem to forget is that Langhi is making a HUGE transition in his game from college to the pros. I mean, the guy was a dominant college CENTER 18 months ago. And now he is expected to play small forward in the NBA (and possibly a smidge at SG), where the players are MUCH quicker than college centers. Seriously, I am having trouble thinking of a player having to make more of a transition from college to the pros in recent years. Morris, on the other hand, has had the benefit of an ideal NBA body from the time he came to Maryland. He has played the majority of his minutes at small forward the last couple of years, so his transition will be much smoother. Again, reiterating what other have already said, Langhi will take some more time to develop into his potential than will Morris. I see Langhi as a poor man's Keith Van Horn. Give him time. I also love Morris. He was a steal and is one of the most NBA-ready players out of this year's draft.
