Rudy T's strategy for becoming consistent has always been to field the players that he envisions as his permanent starters. When these guys are experiencing difficulties or not playing to their potential, Rudy T sticks with them anyway. I give Walt Williams as the best example of this. Maybe the Rockets feel a little too comfortable. Maybe we could get some "contract year" type performances from these young guys if playing time was assigned based on practice and game performance. I think that some urgency and discomfort would do them a world of good. I was blown away last night when Bob Knight benched his highest scorer against Texas (almost guaranteeing the loss for Tech) because he missed the shootaround. Another benefit of this would be getting Nachbar and Hawkins on the floor some.
They just need to settle down a bit during crunch time. listen to what the coach is trying to tell them and execute the damn play. Speaking of Bobby Night, I would love to see him as an assistant to Rudy. It would be like good cop, bad cop. Bring down Bobby Bad Cop!!
The Rocks are just trying too hard, they don't UNDERSTAND the game yet. Francis looks out of control because he is..and Cat still can not make a good decision when passing the ball. The Rockets lack experience and smarts, and one they can get...the other...well...... DD
Get better players...... Sorry for the over-simplistic opinion, but that's what we need......better players. We need players that complement each other, and have an understanding of how to play basketball. It's one thing if everyone on the team was 20 and 22, but I haven't seen an improvement in Stevie or Mobley's game that's worth mentioning since they entered the league. A lot of the people on these forums tend to think we are a good team, or even have talent......but that's BS. We're an overrated team that won't be making the playoffs again.
Getting young and inexperienced guy like Boki on the floor will only make us more inconsistent. Plus I believe that you are only as consistent as your best player. So if we want to be consistent, we need Steve Francis to become more consistent. And I am not talking about his points production (in which he's fairly consistent). I am talking about his overall handling of games (like getting people involved, decision making).
The way I see it - the problems of the Rockets offence: The Rockets ranked 21st in both points and filed goal % in the league, which by no means good enough to be considered as an elite team. Some of the obvious reasons for INCONSISTENCY are: 1. The starting guards are too often the focus of the offense & that is a major problem: Francis and Mobley are playing a similar style of offensive game (lots of ISO) & they are the only two player who averaged more than 10 field goal attempts per game -17.4 & 15.1 respectively (that's a lot more than Yao at 9.3). They are considered the vets on the team that CONSISTENTLY averaging 41.6 & 41.9 minutes per game respectively and CONSISTENTLY having the greenlight to jack up their shots even if they they are not playing well (e.g. last nights game - Francis 4-19 & Mobley 5-15). They seems to have difficulties stop jacking shots up or having trouble effectively passing the ball to get others more involved. As a result, the win/loss is often determined by whether the guards are having a good/bad day. This could be the major reason for the teams INCONSISTENCY considering the large amount of minutes they played & the enormous amount of shots they put up, how well these two performed could very well determine the outcome of each game. Unfortunately, both guards are neither high percentage shooter (Francis .436 & Mobley .424) nor good passer/decisionmaker (Francis 6 & Mobley 3 assists/game). By the way, the newbies on the team e.g. Yao & Griffin would less effectively contribute to such inconsistency since they would either be benched (e.g. Griffin at last night's game) or not getting the ball (e.g. Yao) when having an offensive off-night. 2. There are not enough high % shooters on the team that can CONSISTENTLY knocking down shots. Besides Yao ( 0.524 FG% at 9.3 shots per game), other players getting significant playing time are not high % shooters - Francis .436%, Mobley 0.424%, Griffin .398%, Rice .404%, Posey .399%, Taylor .413%. So even when Francis/Mobley generously pass the ball to someone other than Yao to shoot, don't expect high percentage of them will go in. The possible cure: 1. Running more organised plays/system with players didicated to follow them. Besides the ovious of playing the ball inside-out instead of ISO (give the ball inside for higher percentage shots), the guards should discipline themselves to jack up less shots when they having an off-night & should making a conscious effort to get others more involved & create better ball movement for higher percentage shots. 2. Trade for consistent high % shooters that can knock down shots when opportunities are given. Let's face it: the vets caused more problems on the Rockets offense than the newbies on the team!
by the way, more to add to the above: 3. Bench Francis/Mobley if they consistently having difficulties control themselves to follow the game plan.
EG should not be starting. He has turned into an offensive liability. Also, he gets pushed around by the Duncans, Malones, and Webbers quite frequently. Until he proves that he's ready to play starter minutes, he should come off the bench. Mo T put on a shooting clinic in the 4th quarter last night.
Bobby Knight and the Rockets is a comical premise. The Rocket's players are the opposite of what Knight wants. He is all about pattern, system, discipline, team. He would likely strangle Francis and Mobley at center court. Of course Knight is not a rational person, just a very good basketball coach.
No way! Knight doesn't have near as much "video coordinator" experience on his resume to even get a look, unlike our CURRENT assistant coaches....
This is the exact type of discipline the Rox need... and I don't think Rudy has it right now, but... Get rid of some players and get some that believe in the system, then we got ourselves a playoff team...
You forgot Moochie! But I like this idea best. We need a set roster that can build a solid chemistry with the team and make them more comfortable. Someone said it earlier that they need to calm down, and if they trust each other more they can play a more relaxed and well-paced game.
