I think that was a little too harsh. I mean, not worth the price of admission, without injuries? The team was 45-37 last year. That's highly respectable. Poof! Injuries occurred, and they suck. Now, one could argue that the absence of Hakeem and Shandon Anderson made all the difference. Forgive me if I have trouble believing that. The Rockets have been terrible. The offense has been stagnant. They lost far too many games. But I'm not smart enough to say definitively what would have happened without injuries... and Dale Robertson certainly isn't either.
Haven, No he isn't but he IS smart enough to see a team that does not pass the ball, has no committment to defense, and is DEAD STINKING last in the league in assists. This team has had injuries, for sure, but they could still have pulled together and played as a team. Dale understands that winning basketball is passing and sharing the ball. The Rockets DO NOT play winning basketball. DaDakota
Now that the season is closing, I am facing an off season of reruns. Since I have taped the majority of the games, I will have the opportunity to go back and pick up things that I missed. This pass weekend I looked at two of those games: the Dallas game and Toronto game. Having done that I am more confident about the prospect for this team. I am really not worried about the defense since we played better defense before with less talent. I also fully expect us to run more. I have no gripe with the tone of the article. Some of it is true. We will see if Rudy's exclusive concentration on offense, at the expense of defense, will pay dividends down the line. I take comfort in the record amount of close games.
haven, The underlying motive behind saying 'not worth the price of admission' is to produce public clamor for a decrease in ticket prices. It's not so much about degrading the team, since he reserves the rest of his article for that. As for the article itself, I'm not impressed. The basis of his central argument is a fallacy- that the Rockets would still be a bad team when healthy. He loses a lot of credibility by doing this, and he doesn't help himself by saying 'that misleading 2-0 start.' Well Dale, I guess you would have to dismiss the obvious for your editorial to be immaculate. Why mention this, and his contract specifically? How in the hell is it relevant to anything he's talking about? It just seems like an out of place interjection needed to complete his list of people to blame for this tragic season. Another assumption. He, nor anybody, knows what will and will not happen between now and then; no need to be so definitive. People who do not see that 99% of this season's problems can be attributed to injury are blindly leading themselves to faulty conclusions. Some people can not fathom how truly decimated this team has been, and the limitations it's put on the coaching staff regarding the offense. I also love the petty arguments against such claims I see frequently- "Kenny Thomas outperformed Maurice Taylor. His loss wasn't that great, and his return won't impact this team that much." "Kelvin Cato is putting up numbers that are comparable to Dream's." "Walt Williams gives us as much, or more, than Rice could have." People who say these kind of things are "missing the point." A lack of depth has killed this team, so, yes, those who downplay the return of a Maurice Taylor or Glen Rice are wrong in doing so. Their presence will be beneficial. The article is a series of half-truths disguised by resentful language. I don't buy into his argument, and you shouldn't either.
ummmm...the rockets two best defensive players last year were Hakeem and Shandon. those players are gone now. yes..injuries hurt...but I think the loss of the players was every bit as much the problem (note that I think the loss of these players was inevitable, one way or another)...but this is the realilty the Rockets live within. they're not a very good basketball team. I don't think Glen Rice makes much of a difference. As for Mo Taylor, he might have made a difference...but does anyone honestly believe that the combination of these players being healthy would have equaled even 10 more wins??? 20??
tpl - the most glaring statistical weaknesses which the Rockets have are assists, rebounding, and poor defense. I'll probably take alot of heat for this, but I just don't see that Taylor or Rice address any of these deficiencies. The Rockets were headed down a bad path as soon as they signed Rice instead of a defensive stopper. This is what haven and DaDakota have been discussing and although my crystal ball is broken, something tells me that a healthy Taylor and Rice wouldn't have made the Rocks a lock for the playoffs. The Rockets have some fundamental defensive problems that will still exist unless they draft/trade accordingly.
When i made the statements about the team even when they were 5-1, people jumped on me and i was public enemy on the board. People called me negative and everything else that i fail to say, but i have thick skin so it doesn't fade me. Very few people on this board watch as much basketball as myself. When i watch other teams that had equal talent, i said the rockets were boring and no fun to watch. Take that and mix in the losing and no you have a recipe for poor attendance. It wasn't the matter that they were not healthy the entire season, but when they were beating so of the bottom fedders in overtime or getting trouced by teams without their best players, I knew it was going to be a long losing season. Actually, the season was lost in preseason. The same stupid plays they wer making in preseason carried over into the season. The same to's and poor defense and isolations just snowballed into the piss poor season that we had to witness. How many preseason games did you see Francis and company throwing ally's into the first row? How many iso's did Rudy run even after teams in preseason gave glimpses of how they were going to defend them? The rules wer basically in place at the end of last yr and the rockets had plenty of time to adjust just like the other teams but didn't. Not only did they not adjust, they didn't take advantage of the tools they had in place. The press should have been a big part of the Rockets defense just like the zone, but Rudy declined to use his team length and atheleticism to their adavantage and they expect people to pay to watch this trash? I normally take my 10yr old daughter to about 10-12 games per season, but after watching 1 or 2 games she didn't want to go anymore because she said they were boring. Its pretty clear just like the last summer that its very important to upgrade the talent and move some of these overpaid medicre players. The only positive the Rockets have coming out of last season summer was Eddie Griffin other than that , all we did was blow up our payroll and cripple our flexiblity. As bad as they are, the Rockets are 1 good player, Odom,Lewis or Marion from being a good team. The healthy return of 2 mediocre players won't get it. This next offseason is vital, especially if you want people to come to your new stadium. Its only so many ways to split a dollar and Houstonians don't support losers. If the Rockets want support, they're going to have to win and win quick.
GATER, I mentioned the limitations that a bad supporting cast puts on a team's offense. Calling some of the players on this roster role players (ie: implying that they can play a role) is an injustice to role players everywhere Your criticisms are valid. I just don't think this team is at a point where such problems are irreparable. You do not need an inside presence to be a good, cohesive defensive team, though it doesn't hurt to have one Seattle is a good example of this, and yes, they do have Gary Payton as a defensive anchor, but it's their collective effort on that end that makes them successful defensively. The frontcourt is exempt from serious analysis, since the majority of our players up front are inherently bad defenders. You can chalk it up to natural limitations, not a lack of effort. Mobley is solid defensively...the only thing I would tell him to do is put his hands up on defense! He obviously takes pride on that end of the floor, closes out, moves his feet, etc....if he would only put up a hand on defense, he would be twice the defender he is. It kills me to know he's not self-conscious of such a fundamental concept. I'm straying off subject though..... If I've been encouraged by anything of late, it's been Francis' effort on the defensive end. He shut down Van Exel in the Dallas game in crunch time, made Stoudamire, who has burned him in the past, a non-factor, and is just limiting penetration from his man on a consistent basis. That is growth; that is learning how to win, and it's nice to see, because effort like that from him on the defensive end has been missing for the better part of the season. Outlook on next season.... My point is that the situation is not as dire as Robertson makes it out to be. Rice, even if he never regains his old form, is intelligent and at the very least, a quality bench player. I won't be mistaken for a big fan of Mo Taylor any time soon, but he is a gifted offensive player, and adding a double digit frontcourt scorer, who's proven he can score like that on a good team (no offense Kenny), is HUGE. If you're looking for a silver lining, it's the boon to this team that is the draft pick. We should feel lucky that they fell this far, given the unfortunate circumstances.....it would be a lot more painful if we had wound up as a high 30 win team like a Phoenix, positioned in the latter part of the lottery. This draft is an opportunity to address, at the very least, one obvious weakness of this team. All is not lost
I never had you figured for a pessimist. There are many times when my posts are born in frustration. I (like JAG, leebigez, Will, Shanna and a few others) was very much against the Rice trade. Couple this with the fact that my favorite style of BBall is lockdown D and racehorse to the offensive end of the floor and you can see why I might relate to the frustration evidenced in Robertson's article. I am also an optimist, but right now the Rockets are not a very good bang for the entertainment buck. Spilled milk is just that, so let's keep our hopes up for a productive summer.
That article is right on... However, I have a little more hope for next season because of two words: Eddie Griffin.
tpl is absolutely right. Saying this team would be unsuccesful even without injuries? Lots of things can be attributed directly to injuries, or, chemistry. Can you honestly say we wouldn't have so many more assists had Glen Rice and Mo Taylor been added to the team, KT and Griff to the bench, plus there are the 20 games Steve missed. At soem point our line-up looked like this: Mooch Cat T-Mo Griff Cato That's horrendous. This isn't the East. Even if you don't think much of Rice and Taylor, they do provide offense. If you like the other starters, then insert these 2 into the bench. We still have offense. I'd like to see which starting line up this year was used most times untouched. I don't think we have 5 or 6 games straight without losing a starter to injury or SOMETHING. Give them a chance. If Ming joins us this offseason, the little impact he'll make as the very temporary backup will be enough to launch us into playoff contention. Jazz, Sonics? We can do anything they can. Phoenix is gone. We can get 48 wins, I don't doubt it one bit.
Robertson's editorial is perceptive, insightful, realistic, and accurate. I am in complete and total aggreement. This is not a matter of optimism vs. pessimism. Happy thoughts will not take this team to the playoffs. Granted this team is very immature, but maturity will not put this team into serious contention. Personnel changes, adjustments to the "system," and, in general, a more team oriented concept (motion, defence, passing, better shots, etc.) COULD. I know many on the BBS disagree, but the editorial speaks for loads of fans. It is essentially a matter of changing the product or facing the consequences. I hope the powers that be are listening.
BRIAN KRAGY, Hakeem and the Big "E" came from "Cougar High;" you should have done so well! Tell us about your school.
ABOUT DAMN TIME SOMEONE SAID IT. I know I haven't been the only one from these boards that can't stand the way the Rockets play. And someone please explain how having an old and fragile Glen Rice, and a non defensive playing, non rebounder like MoTaylor would have helped us get into the playoffs??? There isn't a single person on the Rockets that actually plays professional basketball........nothing but dribbling, ISOs, and kick outs for "3s". Mobley's plays -ISO right -ISO left -ISO middle Moochie's plays -dribble for 15 seconds -dribble for 20 seconds -dribble into traffic and either throw it up, or make a wild pass Stevie's plays -dribble between the legs for no reason and shoot a jumper with a man in front of his face -dribble into traffic and force the shot Eddie's plays -Just stay behind the 3 point line The rest...Morris, Torres, Collier, Langhi, Brown, Willis....when y'all get playing time, just stand around and watch the others. Rocket's defensive plan -??????????? -??????????? -??????????? As I've said before, everyone do themselves a favor and get the NBA League Pass so you can watch other teams play and see what Pro basketball is supposed to look like.
I think that all this b****ing about the Rocket's offense is a McGuffin worthy of Alfred Hitchcock. About half of the good teams in the league run either an ISO, or a really basic post up play (which basically amounts to an ISO) more often than not. What do you think Philly ran every freaking play down the court both last year and this? Now the defense? The defense sucked. But one thing I've been thinking about recently: Remember how around the beginning of February last year everybody was afflicted with the same malaise which hung over this team all year long? If not for the sudden resurgence of Hakeem around the middle of February, we'd have entered last ofseason with the same negative vibe and sense of directionlessness that most of you feel right now. My point? The difference between the sense of direction and momentum many of us felt entering last ofseason and the general floundering helplessness many of us feel now is really not as great as we'd be led to believe. Think really hard and can't you imagine, through a minor reversal of fortunes, a Rockets team where Mo Taylor came back strong for the last month of the season, and Glen Rice never had that knee injury and finallly worked himself into shape around the beginning of February? Then, can't you imagine a team in which no body could sag off their men to double on the ISO's, because the mid-range jumpshooters would eat your lunch, and the Rockets would be entering the offseason with an offense that moved like clockwork? Entering this year, the one thing I gave Rudy credit for, was that he always manage to make a team in which the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. Even in the championship years, I can remember thinking about how the season was over even before the playoffs had started. Chucky Brown a starter on a NBA Champ? Come on, you can't be serious! But, the team was always better than the players, and my projected win total entering the year was always about half that of the final number. This year, that mojo wasn't there. I, for one, am willing to accept that the magic isn't gone, but rather was obscured and obfuscated by the injuries. I don't think it's unjust to allow Rudy at least one mulligan.
Some of you homers just crack me up. Glen Rice would have made a difference? Like hell he would have. The guy was shooting 38% before his injury. He's been on the decline for years and is completely washed up. Spare me the "he was working himself into shape" BS. He was working his fat, lazy, overpaid A$$ into shape for the past 4-5 years? PLEASE. He's garbage. Defensively, the team would be even worse had Rice stayed healthy. His loss cost the team absolutely nothing. Mo Taylor is another mediocre, overpaid, overrated player who plays absolutely no defense and can't buy a rebound. Kenny Thomas played better than Taylor this year. This team completely sucks A$$. Robertson is dead on the $$. The problem is not injuries to a 36 year old, slower than molasses, 38% shooting SF (SLOW Forward) or an injury to a soft, no defense, no rebounding PF. The problem is a team that plays 1 on 5 every time down the court, a team who's coach stopped coaching years ago (or is just a useless coach who was made to look decent by the 2nd best Center in NBA history), a team which plays no defense, a team who's star player is too busy dribbling between his legs and trying to show off instead of actually playing his position, etc, etc.
I still think Maurice's ten or so points he managed to get in the first quarter of several games last season would have helped more than you realize. Eventhough he disappeard for the rest of the game, it would'nt have mattered because our other players seem to pick up their game in the second half. I don't know how many games this season the Rockets came out of the first quarter losing by twenty, only to come back and tie it and then lose it at the very end. Having Maurice get us off to a good start would have helped.
Solid, WELL SAID. Unfortunately Robertson is right. This is about as poor an excuse for a professional team as I have seen in a long time. If the inmates are running the asylum we have problems. If the head guy is running the asylum we have maybe worse problems Dallas Rocket
