Rudy has made some questionable moves this season. The biggest (IMO) has been to stick with Kenny Thomas in games for the first qtr., then the first 10 min of the second. Then the entire 3rd and 4th , unless he gets into foul trouble. I get so frustrated watching him make so many bone head mistakes on offense and then get consistantly taken to the rack on defense. I really believe he is a liability on both ends. We have a really good backup 4 in EG that we traded 3 FIRST ROUNDERS for, so Rudy, please use him. The guy was projected 1st or 2nd in most draft polls, and he is backing up freakin Kenny Thomas! Com' on Rudy, there is a difference between loyalty and stupidity. On another story, I'm sure Rudy is kicking himself for putting Tierre on the IR. That means Cat and Mooch will man the point, which isn't that bad as long as Cat looks to pass first and Mooch doesn't think he's Francis and try to score everytime down the court. We have a good bench that is capable of producing, we just need to give them some PT. When we started winning the second half of the preseason, it was because we were utilizing guys like Torres, T-mo, and EG for a fair share of the minutes. When the season started they were ruduced to bench warmers. Some young legs would make this team alot faster, while the legs of Walt and Rice could use some rest. I know this team is lacking in alot of areas. The obvious one is the front court. With guys like Cato, Taylor, and K9 the Rockets will have chronic pain up front for years to come. I'm sure alot of us will be asking ourselves why we didn't even try to talk to C-Webb in the off-season, especially since we did have cap. A player with that kind of talent doesn't come around very often. Sure he would have made this team a lock for the postseason , but I'm sure we can find reasons to justify it. Well guys, lets brace for the worst and hope for the best.
El Amin was a college star for UCONN, because he played with Jefferson and Voskuhl. El Amin will never make it in the NBA
What are you talking about? If not for Willis we're lucky to have 2 wins. The guy is a big time rebounder averaging close to double digit boards, and he is actually a good scorer through his career and scored pretty well this season until the recent slump. The guy has a few bad games and people want to re-write everything that has happened, Willis is capable of stepping it up offensively.
I have to admit I never truly got the picture on how the Rockets would be suffering because of Steve and Cuttino playing too many minutes, as many people on this BBS forewarned. Now we know. Well, we knew we couldn't go through a season without setbacks. I'd rather have the setbacks sooner when there's time to recover than later. If the Rockets can stay at or above .500 up to the All-Star break, I imagine we should still have a fairly decent shot at the playoffs. At least other guys will be getting minutes. I think some will truly step it up. I hope Rice is one of those guys. Hopefully TMo can make his first NBA basket and Griffin will demonstrate why he needs to get minutes.
Great, Houston can build the first house in the sky with all of the air balls he shoots. I really hope he proves me wrong.
This plantar fascitis, is it going to hamper Francis for the rest of his life? I have no idea what it is. I mean is it completely cured after a few days rest or is it one of those nagging injuries (ala Penny) that stays with one forever? Also is there any chance he might be out for the year or anything like that? I hope Stevie is not in too much pain Why the hell are we hit hit with so many injuries every year?!?!?! I bet its one of those freaky Jazz fans playing with Rocket voodoo dolls or somethin.
Needless to say, this sucks. I would agree with Hottoddie's assessment - sit them both out for a few games and hope for the best. Personally, I'd rather do that on the tail end of a stretch where we'd expect to lose a few anyway... better to have them back against easy teams and get wins than aggravate injuries against good teams and still lose. I think Steve needs a vacation. I'm more worried about his head than his feet. Mobley... I'm more worried about his feet. Er, ankles.
I hate to be the provider of bad news, but Matt Jackson on 610 said that Steve could be out for a month with this problem... The best teams in the league learn how to play without their superstars, I remember back when Dream had some bizarro injury, we had to rely on Larry Smith to take his place. We played pretty damn well too if I remember correctly. The Kings are also winning without Webber. Seriously, if we're going to be a great team, we'll have to learn how to play without Stevie... Also if we manage to find a way to win without him, then when he comes back, we'll kick that much more ass!
According to ESPN Insider (for whatever its worth)...The MRI revealed some damage to the Fascia. Maybe Doc Rocket can help us with what that means exactly for the short and long term. Is damage to the fascia and swelling the same thing? Is it worse?
BGM - I agree but I'd be more optimistic if there were a way to get Moochie to give back his membership to "Little Dribblers". If Mooch would pass the ball around like last season and RT would be more creative with lineup mismatches, we may be the better for it in February.
Couple of things: 1. Rice and Willis looking glum coming out of an impromptu team meeting does not mean they had a rough time of it. They are veterans and quite possibly decided to say some things that were right on the money. Open meetings like this can be tense and cause some undo criticism, but in most cases they clear the air. I know Willis. Well … not really know him … I met him a couple of times (he’s funny as hell) … but I mean I can imagine him speaking very matter of fact, down to earth, no BS and settling some players egos/criticisms/pessimistic comments/complaints into their proper perspective. 2. Keith Jones has on-court, pre-practice, training room and classroom sessions with all the players concerning conditioning, stretching, etc … . If you will remember the three guys who not only worked on their game all summer, but also were tireless scrimmagers all over the country this past off-season were: Steve, Cuttino and Kenny Thomas. I think your missing the boat if you think the “blame” for these recent injuries rests at Keith Jones’s feet. 3. If we are a team that cannot weather at least some of the recent storm of injuries …. well, we may as well fold the tents right now, folks. Larry Smith, Mark Bryant, Chucky Brown and Kevin Willis successfully picked up the slack for Hakeem when a season’s success was on the line and fans were running around screaming “the sky is falling, the sky is falling!”. Most of us have lived through the Matt Maloney/Brent Price/Emmanual Davis/ Eldridge Recasner “Jeopardy” experiments (“I’ll take … Last Hope Hail Mary Point Guards for $50, Alex”) without succumbing to seppuku. Relax. This is the natural order of a team learning to be successful. (Painful as it is sometimes.) 4. Personally, I thought both Cuttino and Steve should have been sat down at times and their minutes shortened a long time ago. Their unforced errors and aches and pains were all indications that they were trying far too hard. The philosophy of ANY player that “just give me the ball and all this bad will go away” attitude cannot be sustained from first to fourth quarter in game after game without something giving out. It is a “superstar” athlete’s short sited-ness. His/her desire to jam a round peg into a square hole despite the odds, that cause longterm TEAM difficulties. We just happened to have it rear it’s ugly head a little early. That’s all. Relax. This will have some silver lining to it. 5. Better get used to RT’s game plan. He is long sighted. Platooning Cato and Kevin with some spells by Collier will be the game plan. When everyone is healthy again get used to him using Griffin gradually and only at specific times. Yes, Griffin and Torres are going to get some quality minutes due to this latest development. TMo has been quiet and prudently has NOT asked for more minutes. But despite a poor performance so far this season, RT will give him some better slots. But you are going to give yourself appoplexy if you continue to scream and think the game plan is to rest the season on these three guys’ shoulders. 6. I know this is not popular but I thought Cato, by-and-large, did well in the last game. Not superlative. Not superstar. But maybe more “relaxed but ready” or “slow but steady” than I expected. He also looked tentative at times, almost like he was afraid to commit fouls, “mix it up”, but he never hurt us much during these occasions. I kept thinking he was concentrating more on trying to play within himself. Don’t underestimate the effect the advice from both Glen Rice and Kevin Willis is having on his game. He had some stops and changed (actually I thought quite a few) shot attempts by the big guys opposite him. Kevin Willis by contrast, looked more out of place a lot of times and well, kinda, showed less effectiveness. He looked tired. I kept asking my buddy “… does Kevin Willis look hurt to you?” He may be getting tired. 7. Last thing. Short Observation. This team can beat any other team on any given night. They have the talent. They have the drive. It requires more than the collective effort they have been giving as of late to do that. But they are capable of dragging a victory out of any team …. kicking and screaming the whole way … LALA included …. .
#4 is spot on....excellent. I agree; I honestly believe Stevie is looking to involve the whole team as plan one, but he just hasn't let go to trust completely, yet. He still will go through 2-3 sets in a row beating his head against the wall and try to take a defense designed to get it out of his hands. Isn't this pretty much the same knock on Cassell after he became a starter. If anything is most obvious to me this year, Rudy has given the ball to Francis. He is running the offense. There are few Mobley sets until when Francis rests and in the 4th quarter. imo, Francis is seeing a lot of new defenses, and falls back on SG mentality when he feels uncomfortable. Stevie needs to learn that to beat these defenses, he has to let go and allow his teammates to penetrate, slash and pass as well. Growth in Stevie will be found in his maturity to let others grow and make mistakes, too. If he doesn't, we can toss on-court team chemistry to the wind as the defenses will just get tougher on corralling Francis. (btw: I do not advocate giving many low post opportunities to Willis/Cato...they get points in the flow, eg open 10 footers due to collapsing d.) And dammit, we need to be across the line and set at around 18 seconds a little more often...that can't hurt.
The one thing that is overlooked the most, is the hardest to teach or develop and the the thing that usually drives an emerging professional player to his knees is the blend of confidence and PATIENCE. Last year, Steve used to look twice then shoot. Now he looks maybe three times (real quickly) then moves. His biggest problem is when it gets tough, when the defense is tightening, the passing lanes are narrowing, the look-in opportunities are rapidly covered by defenders .... the time when real patience should be grabbing hold ... he (I hate to use the word,but...) panics and forces the entry, or carries and drives where there is no percentage, or inadvertently (or by design) overplays his position. It is almost as if he decidedly picks the worst time to do the most implausible thing. His raw talent allows him to be successful sometimes with this type of decision making (whether it is a basket,or an assist) but if anything, it reinforces his decision to do the same damn thing next time. He definitely pushes the odds on his plays. He frequently does not "smart play" the possession. Makes for great highlights but impairs the overall effectiveness of team success. I also hate to say this but ... John Stockton has the patience of Job. He'll hold, he'll test his position, he'll wait, he'll feint, then .... he either snaps a pass, starts the drive, slides off a pick or whatever ... but in most cases his mind has made the decision after an experienced and careful (and sometimes rapid) consideration. Execution is the only remaining obstacle preventing him from being successful everytime he makes that key decision. Keys as I see it: 1. Steve, and to a larger degree Moochie and Cuttino also, need to develop confident patience. (Note to Mooch and Cuttino: that is not patient confidence, but confident patience.) 2. The one startling thing that seperated the Jazz (I know, hate using Jazz as an example again, but you have to recognize what is important here) from the Rockets,is this: When John Stockton has the ball and he is running through his play choices while he looks over the field ... while he's attempting to decide the next step .... his teammates are moving, changing passing lanes, changing angles, setting a pick, drawing a defender away, etc ... . they are in motion and Stockton is waiting PATIENTLY for something to develop. The non-ball carriers are assisting his decison making process. Eliminating the defenders who are trying to dictate/focus the play to a certain spot. The Jazz teammates are helping him decide. Even a slight improvement in that area by Steve's teammates would allow Steve,etc... the opportunity to broaden the ball carrier's choices. BTW: (Cassell, by the way, had that one-look and a way we go" attitude which hampered his PG duties considerably. By and large, he still has it, too.)
Confident patience...I like that. Allow me to describe "Confident Trust," which is somewhat tied to patience. No need to apologize for using Utah as an example. I think they are the best example for our current system. There is a big difference I see in how defense approach us versus Utah of past. Stockton rarely ever got trapped aggressively. And that is because of Malone's one-on-one abilities, and because illegal defense prevented a trap from being accompanied with a rotation man sliding over to cover the roller out of the trap. That pnr defense is now much tougher on the strong-side, and probably is evident in Utah's current record...although I'm just guessing here having seen no Utah games. They seal the strongside and use the trap to prevent Stockton from getting around the corner into the middle where he is deadly finding the cutters. With the traps, the defense is dictating Francis...I don't think Stockton can dribble around or through a trap anymore than Francis can. (Mobley can...hehe...and he has an uncanny way to dissolve them, too.) So the patience is not really an issue when a trap takes away your dribble, and dictates a pass. That is where it turns into "confident trust." Francis isn't displaying the q.u.i.c.k choice between "confident patience" (holding the ball against passive defenses) and "confident trust" (passing early in the clock against aggressive traps). He'll back up, and maybe turn to try the pick again the other way. And then when he does pass, sometimes that trap was a fake, it was a switch instead. He seems to still be working on reading and beating the traps like Cat. Give it up Stevie. You can't get through a keyhole like Mobley. I don't have an answer for this one. The reads are missing on whether they are trapping or not. Right now I'd offer, when in doubt have "confident trust" in your teammates and do the swing pass early out of the trap. We have people who can score. If they score, the traps will go away and then Stevie gets more honest defense to be patient with like Stockton.
This thread in general but especially the latest dialogue between OP & crispee ought to be required reading for anyone joining CC in the next three months (maybe more). So much good information I can easily overlook the Jazz/Stockon examples.
Furthermore, check out Oeilpere trying to stop Crispee run the 24 high PnR on the playgorund http://www.adcritic.com/content/yardfitness-coverage.html
“ … if they score, the traps will go away and then Stevie gets more honest defense to be patient with like Stockton … “ Agreed. That is the absolute kernel of it all right there. Regardless of what is done to achieve a basket, if it can consistently confront the defense that was thrown at them, and in spite of that defense, still score …. then that will eventually force the defenders to play the game you want to play. Example: if the defender’s stance is a standard box (which is what most teams have used to interpret the open zone ruling), the ball carrier can either: 1. Shoot himself or break through drive (which Francis attempts far too often unsuccessfully as you pointed). The defenders have been allowing that move. That is their “give-up”. they collapse to defend, and if Francis or whoever scores .. okay. But in the meantime, that type of mono-dimensional offense eliminates the other four offenders from the play for the defense and the option itself has had such a low percentage of success with us that they'll give us that almost everytime with only minor adjustments. Last game we were zoned, then when a driver with a probable higher degree of probability had the ball (either by positioning or talent), they went man to man defensively, and even extending that by doubling up on Mobes (only). 2. or, the ball carrier can pass to the perimeter. Now…. now ….. if these perimeter shooters can consistently hurt them from outside, the defenders have to abandon their game plan. Advantage Rockets. The end result is: If they can score consistently the traps are less effective. If they score consistently it opens the middle. If they score consistently in the middle(paint,etc) it opens the perimeter. Etc …. Etc … Etc ... .
Try this link if Smeggy's doesn't work. <a href="http://www.flashlings.com/images/crispee-24-high.mov">oeilpere was spanking me, until I pulled out my 24-High.</a>
Completely inappropriate and visually offensive once you have seen the footage (mental not to self, do not let that image get into head!!)
