The Real Problem...

I agree with a lot of things (but Ray Allen is above our realistic chances). I'm an out of state fan too. From the looks I've seen, I think Rudy's "motion offense" is still a work in progress. But we're not even through with 1/4 of the season. I'm very optimistic that we'll work things through.

Sterling would probably give us money for the good laugh we would give him by dangling MoT. Not only is Mo's salary above his "money threshhold", it was because Mo wanted more money that the Clips cut him loose. Not to mention former Clippers' trademark bad blood and bickering with management.

 

The real problem is that too many people keep looking for problems that don't exist. I don't mean to be harsh, you are new here, but during your search, I'm sure you must have come accross similar ideas to yours. People have started multiple threads on the subject of players not accepting roles and needing to be traded.

If there was a problem this year, we would have a losing record, am I right? Well we are in 3rd fricken' place in the West, how is that a problem? We're not going to win a Championship this year, to assume that is crazy. The Lakers will come around and be contenders, but the teams with the best shot this year are the Kings and Mavs. I'm going to point out something that I hope many alarmist will pay attention to because I think it explains our situation pretty nicely. The Lakers, when they first got Kobe, they weren't a Championship caliber team. He and Shaq needed to play together a few years to become 3 time Champs. The Kings got Webber in 98. They only finished 4 games above .500 that year. Every year since, they have improved steadily. The Mavs, with their big 3, have only had 2 winning seasons before this year. The two previous years, when Dirk was a rook and a soph, they sucked. Our rebuilding is in its fourth year now. The first year, Francis was a rook, Dream and Barkley were gone. The 2nd year, Mobley emerges, Francis is experienced, Taylor was a consistent scorer, and Dream had some flashes of his old self. That season, we won 45 games and barely missed the playoffs. Last year was an aberration, players were injured and missed lots of games, Mobley played on 2 injured ankles the entire season with little help. Now, this year we have Ming and a healthy team. People constantly point to the Lakers, Mavs, and Kings and say "why can't we be more like them?" They complain so much that they are blind to the fact that we are damn near exactly like those teams. We have the talent to be a playoff team quite easily, now we just need this year to let these guys adjust. They also need the playoff experience. I think it was maybe Doug Collins who use to say something about how before you can win it all, you have to lose in the playoffs. Please, I beg of all of you who continue to complain and make up trades, be patient, relax and enjoy the Dynasty that is being built. You guys don't realize how lucky we are to get to witness the birth and the growth of what could be the next great team in sports history. Enjoy this great oppurtunity.

 

While I agree with almost everything you said Oski I feel that the rockets do need a veteran that can control the offense and make it more consistent at the small forward spot not a great player just a good role player who plays hard night in and night out. Someone who can help the team win without scoring, but maybe with assists and rebounds and this is not Glenn Rice.

 

Finally,i'm getting tired of al the so called problems,when we got crushed by the kings i could understand a little bit.But the days after we crushed 1 of the top teams in the east there are still alot of problems acording to alot of people.I think this team needs to play togheter for another month,and then we wil make the play offs, we need chemistry ans we are getting there

 

Well, damn near every team in the league could use some veteran leadership. I agree with what you said in the sense that we could benefit from having a player like that, but does such a player exist? Besides Pippen, I can't think of anybody who fits that criteria.

 

Not sure if any people here knows about Hiddink/Cruyff/van Basten. This is America.

 

i'd be worried about veteran leadership if this i expected this team to win a championship this year. I don't. I expect progress every year but i don't expect we'll be a serious championship contender for at least two-three seasons. by then, Francis will be a six-seven year veteran and Mobley will be a seven or eight year veteran... Hopefully by then they'll be matured enough to be our veteran leaders by then.

and I agree with Oski. They've done an unbelievable job of rebuilding this team in a very short time. We may very well have the most talented young team in the league. I cringe every time I see suggestions like giving up Mo or Griffin for somebody like Tyrone Hill who will be retired by the time we can give the title a legitimate run.

With any luck our players will learn to be the roleplayers around Francis and Yao Ming. If not, I'm sure in time Rudy and CD will do what is necessary to have the pieces around them that are needed for a championship. They certainly made sure Dream had the right pieces around him. Have some faith.

 

The perfect 2 F's for this team are already on the roster. They just need a tiny bit of time to develop.

Eddie Griffin
Terrence Morris

Give them till the beginning of next season, and we won't have a Forward problem. Boki comes off the bench for long-range shooting. Here's how I see us contending:

Ming
Griffin
Morris
Mobley
Francis

Personally, I'd go after Lamar Odom if he comes back healthy for the whole season. Health has been a problem for this guy, but it's not your "getting fat, bad knee" problem. The guy tried to come back early to help his team, and he got hurt again.

Only problem is, we don't have anything the Clippers would want. Although, if we wait for the season to end, and then try to get him via sign n trade, Glen Rice could be a part of that deal. He'd be on the last year of his 9M contract. But Odom isn't worth 9M, so we'd have to do some swap. Maybe 1st rounder, Mooch and Rice for Odom and Dooling? Don't know if they'd give up Dooling though, he's showing some signs of tapping his potential. Maybe if we got a 3rd team involved that want MoT?

 

i just wrote some of the best athletes of Holland down.Cruyff is a legend here so is van basten.Hiddink less.but he is wel know in Asia.

 

I agree we do need role players, so that is why we need to do this trade.

Houston trades
Kenny Thomas SF\PF
Terence Morris SF
Jason Collier C (Utah has a thing for white guys)
Future First Round Draft pick

Utah trades
Andrei Kirilenko SF
John Amaechi C\PF

What do you think? Although Kenny has been playing well I would still deal him to get Kirilenko. Kirilenko is a do it all, never quit player that this team teams. He gives 110% everygame and would fit in nicly with this team.

C-Yao
PF-Griffin(or Taylor)
SF-Kirilenko
SG-Mobley
PG-Franics

That could be the best starting line up in the NBA next season if Griffin starts to play like he can.

 

Good first post the Guent. Welcome to the BBS.

While I see your point, I think that this team has the role players...they just need to gel.

Steve and Cat do have a chemistry, especially on the alley-oop play where Cat comes from the left side running along the baseline. That play bails them out quite often when the shot clock is running low. And even though they both demand the rock, I noticed that they are always aware of eachother in terms of positioning etc. There's enough shots between them.

The only time Rice demands the rock is when Rudy sees a clear mismatch. That leads to a more successful than not post up by Rice on a smaller guy...leading to an easy turn around J from about 5 to 8 feet. Other than that, Rice just shots open J's, usually 3's off of double team kickouts, penetration dishes, and transition.

KT should get less touches. Though he does warrant what he gets IMO because of his tough defense and great hussle. KT is the best Rocket at keeping the ball alive on the offensive rebounding tip outs. He might not get the board, but he'll jump in the mix and tip it out. He gets put backs too. His role should be like a Junkyard Dog Williams. The only times I want KT shooting the OPEN J is if it's at the end of the shotclock or he is on fire. Other than that, he should pass on the open J, or post up a smaller person and spin to the basket, or drive on a slower person if he is being guarded too closely.

So the way I see it is that the Rockets have 3 stars (defined by need a lot of touches) that could and should lead them in most games: Franchise, Cat, and Dynasty (Ming). Mo Tay can demand the rock coming from the bench on 2nd team. He will get his stroke back, and should be able to post any 2nd team opposing defender with ease. Griff has been posting more of late, but still no where near the point of having to have the rock. He is usually the recipient of the kick out on 3's and on swing the ball around.


The Philly game is basically the ideal game in which I'm basing my philosophy on how the Rocks should play. Just a few less J's by KT (even though he did hit a couple).

 

Why in the world would the Jazz trake Kirilenko for KT? Morris and Collier have just about Zero trade value, and a future non-lotto first round pick with KT doesn't equal the value the Jazz have in Kirilenko now.

 

Couple notes:

-pretty decent first post

-watching the last 2-3 games though proves out that the motion offense and the gelling is taking place. what is amazing is how Mobely and Francis can still like that and not played together for 6 or 7 games.....this is proof has to how Ming and Francis will play together after a few more month...

-KT was horrible in the first half against Philly. He shoots too many jumpers. His game is not hesitating for 10 seconds then shooting the 15 foot + jump shot. His game is taking slower position players off the dribble and to the hoop. He still needs to hone this in nightly because that J, while he think it keeps people honest, it really does more harm because he is wasting up shots that others are more likely to make and giving up the extra pass. There were 2 occassions the other night in which he gave up the jumper to Stevie and Cat, who both made their jumpers. So, he was more effective in this second half.

-Reality is that we are fortunate to have Rice fairly health right now, but rice will go down at some point and you have to have a true PF at the 4. KT is not a true PF, he is more of a Ruben Patterson type player. KT is more of the role player, but no one else will step up (Griffin or MT) to take on the PF role, so Rudy has to go with the hot hand...who knows next week it could be back to MT or Griffin.

- MoT is not happy and is showed this last game. I watched him on the bench all night. He did not even warmup at halftime. and he just sat there during timeouts and anytime something good happened, he was glued to to the bench. He had towels wrapped around him all night, like he was sick or something. But, a friend of mine inside the organization said he was fine. This forward issue is going to get bigger by the end of the month is MoT sees more DNP-CDs....

 

The REAL problem is that this team just needs time to find its identity.

The players are adjusting to having a good big man.

This team only needs time....and the roles will be defined.

DD

 

You have a very young team feeling there way around the league. Why would you trade anyone unless you could get a major star in return that would make the Rockets a championship team immediately??? And none of those guys are AVAILABLE.
This team no matter who they get is not going to win them a championship this year. Why would you trade young talent for some old guy who won't be there 2-3 years down the road when the team matures enough to actually have a chance to win it all.

As for all the Rice detractors, what he does now for the team is help out a great deal in spacing. You need the threat of a guy going off on you from outside to keep the opposition from packing the lane on you. He does just that. His 10 quick points against the 76'rs did just that, opened up the court for everyone else. So what does that mean he is??????????? A FREAKING ROLE PLAYER.............. When he leaves at the end of next season his 9M contract will bring someone in who can fill an obvious hole the team has after you have a chance to see how the team develops.

Why don't you just let the team grow together and than maybe see where their weak points really are before you blow the whole dang lab up.

 

I agree with Sane. I like the lineup with EG and TMO. It's big and can defend. Rockets are winning with defense. Offense is Yao and Steve with Cuttino cutting; the 3 and 4 mixing in. They should help the scorers get good position, with just enough midrange or inside game to keep the defense honest. 3 and 4 should set good picks, move and make space.

I'd definately try to get Odom. Odom is a stud with # 1 pick talent that can board and pass. Ask Bill Walton. The notorious hata is has many good things to say about Lamar.

 

It will be great that somehow we can get Andrei Kirilenko at SF. This guy is very atheletic, a tough defender and very young with great potential. But I seriously doubt that Utah would like to give it up for KT + first round pick.

 

There are some things to consider when people start creating some of these inane trade threads I keep seeing (not this one, theguent, this one seems reasonable at least. Good first post, by the way) :

1) We have one of the best centers in the league already. Some may say that's because the center position isn't what it used to be, but who cares? The fact remains we have a good center in Yao Ming and a capable backup in Kelvin Cato.

2) We have one of the best guards in the league in Steve Francis. Some may say that he's not a "true PG" or he doesn't set up his teammates well, but who cares? The offense isn't necessarily run through him. As a matter of fact, you'll see Moochie running the point some with Steve at SG. Whatever the case Steve is an elite guard.

3) We have one of the best guards in the league in Cuttino Mobley. Some may say that he's not a very brainy player, but who cares? The guy can fill it up when he's on and there's not much other teams can do to stop it outside of playing a zone. At that point we get it into our human lighthouse and let him look at the the court for options.

4) Our forwards are average to above average as a whole. Yes, we have a cluttered front line at the 2 F spots, but we have various ways to attack people with them. We have KT who can slice and dice you to death. We have MoT who can score with many of the bigger-name PF's. We have Eddie Griffin, who can be a defensive presence. Are these 3 clicking right now? No. But if their games get back to where they were, I think they'll be dynamite for us in the sense that it gives us all kinds of versatility up front with KT being able to play some 3 and MoT and EG being able to play some 5.

5) This leaves us with the one thing we have sucked at. Defense. Oh, but wait... we're holding most teams we face to far below their usual offensive output, so we're doing that well, too? Wow.

What I'm saying is that the pieces are slowly coming together. People are getting over their injuries. People are learning the system. People are starting to understand the defensive responsibilities. Yao Ming is becoming part of the team. Every team doesn't have a stud at every position, and we happen to have studs at 3 of the 5 starting positions and we're having people play their butts off at the 4 to earn starting time.

I kind of like this... so what the hell are you guys wanting a trade for again?

 

Screw Kirilenko. Don't need him. Let the team be, give it the rest of the season at least. They been doing pretty good, 3rd in the west, 2nd (although barely) in the midwest. Time is all they need. And I love how everybody's coming around with EG and TMo. I've been saying all along, these two are good, and if they won't be great, they'll at least be very solid players, both with great defense and pretty good offense. With a lineup of Yao, EG, TMo, Cat, and Wink, who's gonna stop them after they play for a season? After EG and Yao both bulk up, they'll control they paint like nothing else in the league. Forget trades, yes Brand would be nice, but nah, we got the players we need for now. Let's see where they're at later in the season.. then we'll see.