Eddie Griffin, Maurice Taylor, Kenny Thomas -- The Rockets deepest position is without question the power forward position. How should minutes be allocated here? Below are statistics of the three players in games played in which the player played in more than 35 minutes of the game. For Griffin and Thomas, the games were played in the 2001-2002 season, for Taylor, the games are taken from the 2000-2001 season. Eddie Griffin (15 games): 15.9 PPG 9.2 RPG 3.3 Blocks/Game Kenny Thomas (36 games): 17.3 PPG 8.7 RPG 0.9 Blocks/Game Mo Taylor (11 games): 19.5 PPG 6.9 RPG 0.7 Blocks/Game How does this influence your opinion of who how the minutes should be allocated? I personally would like to see EG in there. Our lineup will not have problems scoring with a healthy Francis, Mobley and a healthy Glen Rice. What we could use is some strong interior defense and rebounding, which EG provides.
The key thing to bear in mind is that EG is getting older and with each day gets much better. His confidence will be much greater too with a year under his belt. There is no doubt that he will have the starter's job by the middle of the year. With those stats as just a rookie it should be much better as a sophmore.
Kenny Thomas, Tierre Brown, and Jason Collier for a really good backup 2. Then Mo and Eddie can really get some minutes.
It doesn't really impact how the minutes should be allotted, as there are many other aspects to the situation that are misrepresented (or not represented at all) in the data. For one - you really can't compared 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 numbers because the setup of the team was completely different between the two seasons. In 2000-2001, the Rockets had a healthy Francis but no Eddie Griffin. In 2001-2002, the Rockets were missing Mo Taylor and Francis was injured, but did have Eddie Griffin. Another thing to note is the relative direction of the team. Are the Rockets going to go for it now, or play the young players in an attempt to speed up rebuilding? If the former holds true, Rice and Taylor will see the majority of the time at SF and PF respectively. If it's the latter, Griffin or KT will see the majority of the time at PF. It's a question that really can't be answered until the season starts. How do each player's skills complement what is already on the court? Griffin brings rebounding and shotblocking, but he's inexperienced and not necessarily a great scorer yet. KT brings a little bit of everything, while Mo brings scoring and experience, though he's not the best rebounder or shot blocker. Considering Francis and Mobley will be the ones to penetrate (i.e. the focus of the offense), Ming will likely be in the middle to high post, and Rice or Nachbar will be the beneficiary along the 3pt line...what player brings the best skill set to complement that? Rebounding and an interior focus are musts, although shot blocking isn't one. This player doesn't need to be a great scorer, but to maximize the offense, he needs to be experienced. Based on all of those factors, KT is probably the best option...but who knows what'll happen? The age old adage goes that you can manipulate stats to show whatever you want them to, while another person can take the same stats and tell an entirely different story. It's a nice analysis, but doesn't tell the whole story.
I agree , I believe Mo T should start, but EG should have the starting position by the middle of the season. Those stats on EG are scary for a 19/20 year old rookie.
mfclark -- I agree completely. It's impossible to adjust for all of the different variables that exist in a basketball situation. What was striking to me was the clear upgrade in rebounds and blocks that EG provides.
Numbers aren't really a good determinant of who should start. Among questions to answer are, what is the team's W-L record in those games? Which PFs did they face against? How many ppg/reb did the opposing PFs average? Which other Rockets were in the lineup at the time? Do the other 4 starting players fit in well with the PF? In other words, does the PF have to do his own thing (KT) in order to score? Or is he able to score within the flow of the offense (EG and Mo T)?
The defensive end is more important than the offensive end. We have plenty of offense options. We have a suspect defense. Hence, Griffin is the man. Rebounding, shotblocking, multiple positions. Taylor should get the balance of min at 4. Kenny should get some defensive opportunities at 3, where both Rice and Nachbar are suspect.
Griffin definitely needs and deserves big minutes this year, not just because of his youth and improvement over the summer, but also because he has a chance to be a much better defender than either Mo or KT. I hope Rudy doesn't decide to bring him along too slowly. Offensively I think KT and Mo are pretty equal, with KT getting an edge for more defensive hustle. Despite the logjam, it makes sense to keep all three on the team this year unless a really good trade pops up for Mo, which I doubt.
If Rice is healthy, then he is going to get 30 minutes at SF - he's that good healthy, and simply costs too much not to use him or trade him. Nachbar and TMo are going get some limited time, but I can see KT getting some of those SF minutes and even EG in certain sets and against certain teams. We have great depth and versatility. I really think they are going to make a multi player trade for a single good player and/or draft picks. I don't think it is a good idea to have really good talent sit too long each game, but it is also tough to balance that against depth and versatility. The only weakness right now for the Rocks is inexperience and at backup 2. But then again, who knows how much Oscar has improved?
I still think that Griffin is the best all around player among them even at this point of his development. The only thing he lack is experience. That's why they should start him as soon as possible so he can get the experience and be a major contributor comes playoff time.
Trader_Jorge, if possible could you please post the wins/losses from those selected games as well. I realize that the wins/losses will not necessarily reflect entirely on these individual players b/c of injuries, opponent matchups, etc. - but I'm just curious. Thanks if you can.
The Fact that KT had over 36 games with those type minutes and Mo only had 11 . . . . .. makes one wonder about stamina Rocket River Eventually - Griffen, KT, Mo Tay
I haven't looked at it directly, but Mo had KT backing him up, who was a 2nd year player out of college. Both would probably get some good minutes. KT had Griff at backup, who was just barely more than a high schooler. IMO, they would have wanted KT to play, bringing Griff along slowly. But I'm just basing this on first thoughts. And its JMO, also. edit: Was Carlos Rogers a C or PF? I can't remember. This may have effected the minutes.
Throwing some more stats at you. Per 48 minutes. Even though it is not very fair comparison, but it gives you a feel of strong and weak points of each. MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG MoT 48 48.9% 0.0% 73.5% 9.23 2.52 0.69 0.92 3.04 21.82 KT 48 47.8% 0.0% 66.4% 10.02 2.64 1.64 1.28 2.77 19.62 Griff 48 36.6% 33.0% 74.4% 10.52 1.29 0.42 3.40 1.18 16.25 Note that percentages are unchanged based on the regular season. To previous poster, while I agree tha Griff will surpass both, as of last season he was a little below them. Specially, in FG% and Ast while he shined in blks. However, for a 19 yr old rookie that was very good.
If you do not need to score from the 3 or 4 and can turn EG loose on defense, rebounding and blocks................ Look Out!!
The year before, Mo was very good at getting us going in the first quarter offensively. I wouldn't be surprised to see them use him that way this year to get a quick lead, then bring in Griffin to rebound and block shots defensively, and use KT to wear the opponent's PF out and create quick fouls ... he has that quick first step. The three of them should absolutely exhaust anyone they play...