Will the Rockets be a better fastbreak team than '02-'03? 1)No. Not until the perimeter D gets better. 2)Yes. Steve found himself and will be a more complete PG. 3)No. Fastbreaks are not a part of "Rudyball". 4)Yes. They can't be any worse.
Here is a link that leads to highlights of every single Rocket game during the 2001-2002 season to get a feel for the play of last years squad. (Just in case people forget how things went down last season!) http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/0102.html#
That's fair. It only gave 4 choices, and I am assuming you feel that EG will get the majority or minutes at the 4 b/c Mo does not REB or block shots. Perimeter D is going to be important though. Yao has had foul trouble with lesser competition so if the guards do not stop people up top, then you are increasing the chances of him fouling.
Not until Francis is as comfortable leading the break as he is filling a lane on the break. We should be a better rebounding team which should help.
If Steve is in the top 3 on the team in rebs (like last year) that means 2 things: a) This team will not have a winning record b) He is not able to do his job as a PG (pushing the ball up) Me too, but if I say it people think I am negative. MAJOR ISSUE W/ STEVE LAST YEAR: When he had the ball on the wing and could have started a break, he would turn his left shoulder and start skipping/hopping up the floor as opposed to just pushing it up the floor and making the other team hustle back. Love him or hate him, that is one part of Nash's game I LOVE he gets the ball to the other end QUICK. You get an easy bucket or a foul most of the time.
We will be a better Fast Break team due to the fact that Ming/Griffin will be getting the rebounds to outlet to Francis to LEAD the break versus Francis getting the rebounds himself STARTING the break from the other end of the court. The lack of rebounding by our big guys and thus lack of outlet passes really curtailed our ability to even START a fast break. I love Francis crashing the boards and love his rebounding stats but it would help the team more if the big guys were capable of getting the boards and igniting the fast break. Chris
Francis crashing the defensive board is a hindrance to the transition game. Either he needs to trust more his big men to get the defensive rebounds or the big men need to show that they can actually get those boards. That said, Magic Johnson was a very good defensive rebounder. Yet he still managed to push it up the floor after getting the board himself. Everybody knows that Magic was one of the best fast break leaders. I don't think you can say that Magic has better speed than Francis. So crashing the defensive board is no excuse of not leading the fast break on Francis' part.
Just the fact that Yao Ming can hustle as good as he can for a big guy will mean great fast breaks. he can get the block and then run up with francis and mobley for a 3 on 1 or 3 on 2.
Clyde got lots of rebounds, but he would push it up the court even after getting the board. The Rockets can fast break if Francis would push it, but I doubt he will since he hasn't in the past. Let's hope that changes this year!
I agree with the "just push it Francis" contingent in this thread, not the "Francis rebounding is the problem." The first objective of an outlet is to get it into the hands of a dribbler as quick as possible. A lot of people seem to think the objective of the outlet IS the fastbreak, meaning hitting a runner who has a step on his man. That's football. In basketball, the defenses rarely allow you to get a step on them and long passes (even if completed) do nothing, so if you want a consistent fastbreak the best dribbler should do curl patterns (V-cuts in bball) and slants to come get the outlet...very simple, high success rate outlets. This action means that a long rebound by that dribbler is just as good. The dribblers Wing men need to be ahead of him anyhow, so where he starts the fastbreak is not as important as just getting the ball quickly and pushing his dribble. Kidd and Magic are/were big time rebounders, and Payton gets many, too. Further, the position of these guys and Stockton/Nash on outlets is not heading down court; they come get the ball around the top of the key or FT line extended. Rebounding by Francis as a cause of our very poor fastbreak is just an excuse. The time it takes a PG to grab a rebound and turn and push it is about the time it takes an frontcourt rebound to turn and find the PG and get him the ball at the top of the key. Plus, I've seen Kidd get picks after he gets a rebound and the have a wide-open court to operate in. I've seen Kidd come back and take the ball from the rebounder and still run. The problem, as stated in this thread, is Francis skipping and not pushing, or Francis release down a wing and expecting someone else to run the break. Francis rarely dribbles through the middle of the defense like Nash, Stockton, Payton, Kidd and even Moochie. I actually am beginnning to think that Francis is incapable of dribbling through NBA open court traffic, so I don't think we will ever have much of a consistent fastbreak. I'm settled on that fact. But we can still push it instead of acting like skip-hoppers.
I just hope the Rockets don't argue with the refs this year. They would stand around yelling at the refs instead of pushing the ball up the court or giving up a fast break the other way.
I agree with virtually everything, but I would suggest that you are better off getting the ball to the person running the break at or near mid-court to get up the floor quicker. Also since Steve is not that great of a dribbler (especially in traffic) that if he is getting the rebound under the basket or in the lane, that he will be forced to dribble that much more and will encounter more traffic. I think we have the same opinion, just a little different philosophy.
HoustonTX, I couldn't disagree more. I think you are contradicting my points, despite saying you agree. I'm not advocating Francis getting rebounds, just saying that is an excuse for why we suck. The reason we suck is because Francis refuses to push it consistently and doesn't have the handles to anyhow. Nor does he have a sense of timing and spacing on fastbreaks. As for midcourt outlets...it is the second pass that makes the fastbreak successfull,,,not the initial outlet. You cannot consistently run a fastbreak by trying to outlet to halfcourt. #1: that is a long pass and can be picked off, if the dribbler can even get open running that far. #2: if that dribbler is that far, then he often is leading the pack, which means he kinda has to slow down for his wing men, #3 a halfcourt pass is harder than you might think...basketball are not footballs, they have a characteristic of greatly curving on long throws. A long bomb from Barkley may have good results, but Stockton, Kidd, Magic, Nash, Payton and all the best come back for the ball. They don't need to be the first one over halfcourt...they only need their wing men to run fast. bottomline is: consistency is what makes you a fastbreak team. Releasing all the guards full speed and trying to pass to them in stride is will not get you consistency.
That is what I was referring to in saying I agree. He has no grasp of what to do once he receives the ball on the wing or at any point at the other end of the floor. Agreed, that is why I have a difficult time with him ranking high amongst PG's. He does not have a sense of timing in an offensive set either. A good PG paired with him (being the 2) would make him a much better as well as the team. That is the main reason Rudy had the 3 guard s in at the end of games last year. His slashing and speed could be much better utilized if he were not responsible for the ball handling, but there is one problem, then his buddy Cat would be moved to a reserve roll.
ok HoustonTx. I agree. I thought you were saying that Rudy needs to release him, which is what is already happening. It's a Catch-22; Francis can't lead a fastbreak, and if he runs the wing, no one else can either, except Moochie. What they can do is a structured fastbreak that relies more on passing and getting off quick sets, with less focus on making it all the way to the rim. This will take time, chemistry, and reading opportunities correctly, but is the kind of thing Francis, Mobley, Boki, Yao and the PFs would be great at. that is, getting quick-strike one-on-one opportunities or open Js in 3on3s or 4on4s before the defense sets. I think that is the best we can hope for, which is really just an "up-tempo" game versus the classic "fastbreak" teams. From what I saw, Yao is like Duncan at getting low post position quickly. I think this is what cc.netters like JR are expecting Rudy to do,,,that is, tire the other team out with a young legs, whether its a classic "fastbreak" or not.
