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Terence: rotation player?

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Tmo, Mar 25, 2002.

  1. Tmo

    Tmo Member

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    I know his %'s have gotten better, but is Terence a better player now than he was the first half of the season? If so, will he be in the rotation of a healthy rockets team next year?

    Let's assume
    Francis
    Mobley
    Norris
    Griffin
    Cato
    Taylor and
    Torres
    are all back and healthy next year. That's 7. Let's say one but not both of Williams/Thomas is gone. That's 8. Healthy Rice, although unlikely in my opinion makes 9. Drafted player, if ready for immediate minutes, makes 10. So there easily could be 9-10 players ahead of Terence. Is there any room for him in the rotation next year?

    Things that could make it possible:
    Rice unhealthy--9 ahead
    supplants Torres--8 ahead
    rookie not ready for minutes--7 ahead
     
  2. pasox2

    pasox2 Member
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    Rockets rotation is already 9 men, cause we don't have a player who is a lock for major min. in the frontcourt.


    Steve - 40 +
    Cat - 40 +
    ? / ? 20+/ 15-18
    ? /? 20+/15-18
    Cato/ ? 20+ /15-18


    Steve
    Cat
    Rice, KT or trade player (Odom!)
    Tayor/Griffin
    Cato/ Taylor? other big man (Kandi)

    1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9

    We also need pt for a lotto pick., and I hope we keep Torres. and then..then... there's Moochie Minutes.

    10, 11,12.

    TMO is in spots 13, 14, 15, along with Walt or TBrown or whoever they want to get (hint...Chucky Brown! hint hint...sell tix with Bull! - or w/a Bob Horry?). That much shuttling in the frontcourt, with achilles taylor, bum knee rice, cato (cato) and second-year 20yr old griffin, etc does not give me a lot of warm fuzzies for significant improvement. I do like KT in the Elie role. I really want to see a
    guy that deserves 40 min in the frontcourt (Odom, etc). I think we really need it. I'm not satified with marginal improvement and I'm looking for a real contender. Don't tell me Cato, Taylor and Rice are going to beat Shaq, or even Sacto. No way.
     
    #2 pasox2, Mar 25, 2002
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2002
  3. haven

    haven Member

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    I think it's less important to count the # of players who are "better" than Morris on the roster than to assess if he has any specific abilities that the Rockets might find valuable.

    I think that he potentially does. Morris has looked pretty decent at the defensive end, and if he can use his defensive ability to stay on the court for some minutes, it's possible that his offense could blossom, a la Artest. With Mobley and Francis being defensive liablities, it would be nice to have a swingman who could compensate. Morris just has to improve his O enough so that he's not too much of a liability.

    That's possible.
     
  4. Sherlock

    Sherlock Member

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    Francis/Norris
    Mobely/Torres
    Rice/Morris/rookie or player in trade/Griffin
    Taylor/(Thomas)/Griffin/Morris
    Cato/Griffin/rookie or player in trade

    I think we'll pick up one center and one SF via draft and trade this summer. We might pick the best player available in the draft, and if that is at the PG,SG, or PF slot, we'll use them as trade bait later. We will probably let Williams, Brown, and Langhi go. We might trade Thomas.

    That leaves Morris as our backup SF behind an aging Rice, who should get moderate minutes, in a 10 man rotation, and hopefully give him a chance to mature next year. The following year, Rice will be on his last year, and will be good traidbait for someone looking for capspace. I expect Morris to step in as the starter then.

    I believe that Morris is our SF of the future, and so do Stevie and Rudy, from what I've heard.
     
  5. haven

    haven Member

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    Jeez! I finally say something positive about Morris, but now I'm going to have to argue against the guy...


    what on earth makes you think that Morris is a starting-caliber SF? Has he shown anything to give you evidence of this? He's a good defender. Not excellent, good. He can't shoot. He looks lost on offense. He has very few ball skills.

    Francis has said positive things about him. Yep. He's his boy from Maryland. So has Rudy... but what could Rudy possible gain from saying anything negative about him? Rudy doesn't do that to his players (go Rudy!). Rudy's loyal (in the best sense).

    Even if by evaluating Morris this year, you think he has a place o nthe Rockets... I just don't see how it's possible to think a four year senior who has played as Morris has, so far, is more likely than not a future starter.

    Could he be? Yes. But I just don't view it as a likliehood. I think of him as a defensive substitution, right now. Someone who could be good... if he gets a shot. But there's no reason to assume he will.
     
  6. Tmo

    Tmo Member

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    Yes there is--2-4 from 3pt range last night!!!!!!!!!

    seriously, Tmo shoots ok from 2pt range (like 45%) ....unfortunately I don't know if those are mainly dunks/putbacks or midrange jumpers....
     
  7. Fredterp

    Fredterp Member

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    Haven, you mention TMo can't shoot. I guess you haven't seen a trend in his shooting percentages in the last month or two, as compared to his dismal start which was 1-20 or something comparable. That he is "Francis boy", what is that supposed to mean? I guess Steve was twisting Rudy T's arm and is the real coach. Give the guy some credit, he has improved his "O" recently, check the recent stats for the last two months. You mention you finally said "something" positive, but it was a backhanded compliment. FREDTERP
     
    #7 Fredterp, Mar 25, 2002
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2002
  8. DearRock

    DearRock Member

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    As I said in another post, our best acquisition in the off season could very well be acquiring some hunger and aggression. That is all Tmo's game needs and we would forget Odom in a hurry. His potential is off the charts as he has little physical limitations, and if he had the mental profile he could really put his stamp on this team like Horry does on the Lakers. He has the ability to make the players around him better.
     
  9. haven

    haven Member

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    Oh really? You don't pay much attention to reality.

    Morris, thank god, has improved his fg % to a respectable point in the month of March. Unfortunately, it wasn't just the beginning of the year in which it was awful. He's shooting a very nice 49% this month. However, prior to this month, .41% had been his best month. The good news is, he's improved in every single month in regards to fg %. So maybe in some respects, he really is adjusting to NBA play.

    The bad news, is that his 3 pt % continues to be abysmal. And I'm having trouble believing that a small forward in Rudy's system can start when he can't shoot the 3. In March, he's shot 23%. His best month was in December, when he shot 27% from 3pt land.

    Also, his free throw % has plummetted in March, all the way down to 50%.

    These totals are confusing. On the one hand, he's featured steady improvement from within the arc... but stagnation from without and from the free throw line.

    If I had to guess, I'd say that he's starting to figure out the offense a bit better... but that he hasn't improved as a pure shooter, which I think is probably necessary, unless he can bulk up enough to play the 4... which right now, seems unlikely.

    Alas, you didn't read my post. If you had, you'd note my explanation for Rudy. Rudy doesn't say bad things about players. Not Matt Maloney, not Kelvin Cato, not Dan Langhi, Jason Collier, or Terrance Morris. I respect this. While sometimes negative remarks can motivate, I also think they can harm a clubhouse.

    Incidentally, why should I bother reading your remarks in depth, if you don't read mine? And I did check the stats. And of the last two months, his offensive statistics are acceptable only in one category in March. In february, they were all still putrid, except ft%, and that has regressed.

    Taking your dubious premise to its equally dubious conclusion, anything that isn't a full-fledged endorsement of a player is a back-handed compliment. Full-fledged endorsements don't exist. Shaq can't shoot free throws, Hakeem turned it over too much, and Allen Iverson has crappy Field goal %. Oh, and let's not forget... Larry Bird couldn't play D.

    If you wish to respond, please address my comments on a point-by-point basis, and make sure that I didn't answer your objections elsewhere.
     
    #9 haven, Mar 25, 2002
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2002
  10. Tmo

    Tmo Member

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    haven--Tmo has shot 6 free throws in March. I don't think his FT% is much of a concern for that reason. I don't think he's taken enough throws for his % to be abysmal. Does someone who goes 0-2 in a game have an abysmal shooting night? Of course not. He shot well from the line in college, and there's no reason that he won't shoot them well if/when he's given significant minutes over an extended period of time.

    The fact that he's not getting to the line, however, may be a legitimate concern...

    Like you said, Tmo shoots well from 2 pt. land. He just can't shoot 3s--and maybe he can improve that. To say that no compliment is pure is fine. But the fact is your posts betray a dislike of Tmo's game, at least for the rox--which is also fine. Just own up to it.
     
  11. pasox2

    pasox2 Member
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    Maybe Boylen's dog can bite him like it bit KT. RRRarr! Tmo-werewolf!
     
  12. haven

    haven Member

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    tmo - good post, let me go down the list...

    Probably true. Thought about mentioning this above, but decided it didn't really matter. My entire point was just that his improvement hasn't been "across the board."

    Maybe, maybe not... he's a rookie and doesn't get many minutes, so I wouldn't expecth him to get that many opportunities. Remember KT his freshman year? That was terrible. Couldn't buy a foul shot, some games.

    Actually, I didn't say that ;). I said that he'd shown steady improvement in his fg %. The difference being, that I'm not really sure what A. what type of shots he's taking and B. if it will continue. A, because I've only seen games this year in the beginning, when they were on national tv, and over X-mas, when I was at home in Texas. I would assume that, since he's shown continual improvement, he's definitely better than he looked at first.

    Heh... I don't think you really understand how I think of Morris. I don't really "dislike" players unless A. they're jerks, B. have wronged the Rockets in some way on court, or C. are way-overrated. Morris is really none of these things, though some people do overrate him... but certainly not the media at large.

    I think that Morris currently looks like a decent defensive situational player. I suppose that's "disliking" if you think I have to expect Morris to be a starter some day in order to "like" him. Truth is, I like almost any Rockets player... I just try to keep my expectations realistic.

    The fact that we gave up a 1st rounder has influenced my thinking in the past, because I've evaluated him by a higher standard that I otherwise would have.
     
  13. Hydra

    Hydra Member

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    *cough* *cough* Tmo *cough* FREDTERP *cough* *cough*
     
  14. francis 4 prez

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    Tmo, don't listen to haven. I know one time in chat he was going off about how much he hated his game. Now I didn't care because I happened to agree. Maybe it's becuase, like haven, I only got to see games during winter and spring break (League Pass here I come next year) and my only other knowledge of him is from chat play by play.

    I do know this though. One of the last times I saw Tmo play, he was holding his own personal brickathon. No less than 4 times francis penetrated and kicked out to tmo and no less than 4 times he bricked it. It made me mad cuz steve was doing everything possible to get assists and tmo just wouldn't hit the damn shot (if miller had people like tmo he could forget about leading the league). Now the first 2 were 3's, so I forgave those. But then he bricked a wide open 18 footer and a wide open 15 footer. So as best as I can tell, dude can't shoot. Now maybe I missed out on some of his defensive abilities, which from all accounts on this board he plays fairly well. Anyway, I just can't envision tmo as our SF of the future.
     

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