Link --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rockets return as enigmatic as ever By JONATHAN FEIGEN Back when the Rockets left Houston, when they were making their shots, when they were winning, Jeff Van Gundy openly lamented how they were playing. They were 8-3, in first place and had not lost consecutive games. But Van Gundy said he knew what a winning team looked like, and he wasn't seeing one. Some of the problems were obvious, but the tendency then was to think the Rockets were just getting their first taste of the famously dour Van Gundy, the pessimistic coach who could see chapped lips on the Mona Lisa. Even his "bloody stumps" address, when he said the Rockets were shooting themselves in the foot so regularly that they would remain on the fence between being a playoff and lottery team, seemed to inspire little genuine cause for alarm. When they returned to Houston on Sunday after four road losses in five games, the swagger was long gone, and the question had become whether the Rockets slumped on the road or were revealed, whether they were struggling as teams do with such schedules or had been exposed. The question is not, however, whether the real Rockets are the team that left town or the one that returned. They are both. This season's Rockets could be just what they have shown so far: capable of playing well enough to overcome flaws, build a solid record and compete for a playoff spot and too fragile to avoid road losing streaks. After 16 games, this season's Rockets are generally last season's Rockets, with the same 9-7 record, the same strengths and the same shortcomings. "I can't emphasize enough you can only go so far in this league if you don't play smart," Van Gundy said before the trip. "Heart will only take you to a certain level. That's up to me to get us to where we're smarter consistently. "We've got to get to be more disciplined, so our energy can be rewarded with some good results." The Rockets' plays look a bit different and have different names. The coach is shorter. The uniforms look like uniforms. But some things just don't change. The Rockets still limit opposing teams' shooting percentages. But their offense still bogs down under the weight of inconsistent shooting and terrible passing. "They were further along defensively than offensively, and I think we're still that way," Van Gundy said. "I think what any coach wants is to be a well-balanced team. You want to be able to win in different ways. Those are always the teams that are ultimately the real good teams in this league. That is ultimately what we're trying to do -- be a real balanced team. "You've got to be able to play well offensively in this league if you want to do anything of significance. You're not going to win in this league, not win big, being anything but balanced. If you try to be one-dimensional, you're not going to be successful." The Rockets' defense, though capable of falling into bad stretches when other things go wrong, is solid. But offensively, the Rockets have obvious problems to solve. As a starting power forward, Kelvin Cato has been effective in most defensive assignments but unable to score consistently. A 55.1 percent shooter in his previous four seasons with the Rockets, Cato is making just 34 percent of his shots. Small forward Jim Jackson is also effective in a variety of ways but is making just 35.4 percent of his field-goal attempts. As he has in each of his five NBA seasons, Steve Francis leads the Rockets in scoring, but he is shooting 42.1 percent, slightly worse than his career figure of 43.8 percent, and averaging just 4.7 assists. The bench has received a boost with the return of Maurice Taylor. Eric Piatkowski seems ready to provide another much-needed perimeter shooting threat. But the third regular off the bench, point guard Moochie Norris, is averaging just 2.9 points and 2.3 assists. The offensive breakdown has limited the Rockets to fewer than 20 points in eight of the 12 quarters in their losing streak. They failed to score 80 points in three of the five games on the road trip and in four of their past seven games. They failed to reach 80 just five times all of last season. In the three-game losing streak, the Rockets averaged just 10 assists per game. "From our standpoint, we need to be better against those teams that don't play us straight up, whether it's not guarding our (power forwards) or double-teaming the post or zoning," Van Gundy said. "Those things we have to be better at. We have to become a little less hesitant, more confident and more efficient. Our turnovers are so high that you go on the road in Portland and hold a team to 34-percent shooting and lose. It shows you're putting too much pressure on your defense because you turn it over, give up second shots and foul recklessly." The Rockets also have been unable to support their halfcourt offense with any fast break. In the five-game road trip, they scored just 17 fast-break points. Van Gundy said the big men have not run the court, ball handlers have not run the break efficiently, and the problems with rebounding have forced guards to help on the boards, stalling breaks before they could begin. "There's a lot of things we have to work on," Francis said. "We were 1-4 on a road trip in which I thought we had a good opportunity to beat some teams. It definitely hurts. We had eight of 10 (games) on the road, so that was tough. We have to suck it up, get some rest and then get some good practices. They need to be training camp practices. That's what I'm looking forward to and then getting back to ball at home." The Rockets could use the work. They have not held a practice since Nov. 23 and have had just two since Nov. 10. But as much as Van Gundy saw the problems coming, he was not sure if they could be solved on the practice court or if the Rockets would need to make more sweeping changes in personnel or schemes. As poorly as the Rockets played, at 9-7 with a three-game losing streak they have not done too much damage overall. For now, the Rockets are most likely to find out if they can repair themselves by doing what they have been doing but working to do it better. "It's early in the season," Jackson said. "You can't throw everything away early on. This is part of growth, part of being a team that wants to be good. It isn't always going to be good. It's not always going to be pretty, but you have to bounce back." Former Pistons coach Chuck Daly said he never really knew his team until after 20 games. Van Gundy said that number sounded about right and that for now, he is still learning. "There are many different reasons why we lost," he said. "It's not like one person or a one-item correction. We came out west, (played) better teams, and so we learn about ourselves. "It's a difficult league. It's hard to win. You know you have to do certain things to win. We're capable. Hopefully, we can get our spirit back about us and play real hard. "When you lose a couple in a row and you don't play well, it's like this: If you beat the quote-unquote teams you're supposed to beat and you lose to the best teams, then you're no good. If you beat the good teams and you lose to the not-so-good teams, you're no good. So if you ever lose, you're no good. It doesn't matter who you lose to. "The more games you play, the more you get a better sense of who you are." If they didn't know before they hit the road, the Rockets are getting an idea now. No wonder Van Gundy sounded frustrate ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A lot of people around here are saying the same things....the part about changing personel is interesting to say the least. DD
Interesting bit about other teams not guarding out power forward. Of course the article is referring to Cato. When one of your starting five is completely incapable of providing any offense you are going to be in trouble. I would really like to see Maurice in the starting lineup. Our defense will suffer a little bit, but offense should be much much better. Also, JJ needs to break out of his shooting slump soon. Or else bring Pike into the starting rotation, or even Boki.
This was one of my concerns with Van Gundy. He'd be great on the defensive end, but can he cut it on the offensive end. It's not like NY put up much points either. It doesn't matter how good your defense is, if you can't score much yourself. That puts too much pressure on the defense to win the game for you. You can get away with that sometimes, but our offense is horrible. Sad to say this, but I'd be surprised if we got the 7th spot. Maybe the 8th spot and get destroyed in the first round. I have defended Steve and Cat for awhile. It's clear to me now that Steve is not going to cut it as a PG. I still think Cat is a great value, but Steve seems like the biggest of the teams problems. He's heard it from Oscar Robertson, Calvin, JVG, and who knows who else. I don't see why he'll ever learn. Look at Baron Davis this year. They were pretty even a few years ago. Parker will/has surpassed him. Marbury passed him. So which PG's are better? Kidd, Payton, Davis, Marbury, Parker, Nash Bibby fits well in their system. Miller is/was overrated. What makes the Suns and Hornets better? Teams with comparable situations with PG's. Cuttino's better than their SG's. Yao's better than their centers. Suns got Amare and Marion. Hornets got Mashburn. So is it that they have much better talent surrounding them or is it the PG's or what? What about the Sonics or the Jazz? There is no reason why we shouldn't be better then them. The Jazz play better basketball then us. Okay, sorry I started ranting.
I noticed that Steve, Piat, Jackson, Taylor, and Yao on the court looked the most fluid in the Sonics game. I'd like to see it used at least once for a starting lineup.
If Mo Taylor is inserted into the starting lineup, he has to be forced to pass the ball more often. Nomally the passing will stop right after he gets the ball, he intends to play ISO too much and for whatever reason he coundn't finish it and get blocked a lot. If he and Yao are on the court at the same time, they should pass to each other more, since they both have a decent 15ft jumper. I prefer Yao does ISO more and if other teams double him, kick the rock to Mo and let him make the jumper. Mo's jumper is not bad, at least way better than Cato. Only allow him to do a little bit ISO there. But Mo T has to improve his passing skill and pass more.
Change the lineup to Francis, Pike, Jackson, Taylor, Yao, and bring Mobley, Cato, Padgett, Nachbar, and anyone but Moochie off the bench. That team would be far better.
I think Steve would be fine at PG if he was paired with a SF or SG who could share the playmaking load . . . or, if the Rockets can hold out that long, when Yao is able to run the offense out of the high post the way that Divac or Webber do for Sacramento.
The problem with Cato being in the starting lineup is that the starting lineup should not have players like him (decent on defense, but BAD on offense). That's too much a hole in his game for him to be in the starting line up. If are going to have a player that is BAD on offense in your starting line up, he better be ONE OF THE BEST defensively in the league! But he's not. He''s just good on defense. Not great. Add that to BAD offense, well, that just weakens you starting lineup by 1/5.
What happened to Cato to have him not be able to finish the dunks now? He bricks free throws too. I remember when a dunk from him was automatic. If Cato can't dunk, he's a serious liability.
I thought for a second that the title of Feigan's article was "JVG and Clutchfans.net agree." That would have been cool. I have a feeling that MoT will be starting the next game for the Rockets. Cato has been exposed.
Yeah it's a big IF that Yao would run that type of offense under the offensive genius Van Gundy. That would be the best fit with his complacent pass first mentality. Steve wouldn't be a PG if he had a playmaking SG or SF because Steve is basically a playmaking SG right now. If he had another playmaker, then he's completely a SG instead of sort of right now. So we need a point forward if Steve's going to stay? Odom...eh. Walker...blah. Lebron...I wish.
This might sound weird and sad from some perspective but MoT had the most assists than any other Rockets player during the Sonics game...He was towering above the rest with 3 big ones..
I like that line-up. Second line would move Cato to center, Nachbar & Nachbar as wings, Cuttino as primary scorer, and get a solid PG like Eric Snow. Mooch is so, so bad. How is he still in the league?
If the Rockets pay another big money contract to a weed smoker, the GM making that move should be canned. Odom to the Heat for that much money was a joke. Pat Riley's penchant for giving out big contracts for guys who can't get it done is stunning. Van Gundy needs to ask Rick Adelman for help on offense.
I agree with the part that says this years team is no different than last years. There is no difference so far this season than last season under Rudy T. I hope things will change and the Rocket's will improve. Taylor has a jumpshot, and I hope to see him play more.
If it were up to me I'd rather clone Yao than Nachbar. Honestly, for the point forward position, if they let him JJ could do a decent job at it.
Good point. The thing worries me is JVG's tendency to hate zone defense. It tells you that he is not familar with how to attack the zone. He was out of the league for a couple of years when the league started to allow zones. So he has some catchup to do. In the game against Dallas, Steve Kerr overheard JVG telling players to attack as usual against the zone. Kerr said, well, zone is actually a little different, so you do need to attack it differently.
