Before the Rockets start to think about trading anybody they need to experiment with their starting line up and who comes off the bench. It's Obvious the Rockets need a true point guard & some fire power & defense coming off the bench. Here's what I would like to see Van Gundy do: Starting Line up: Yao- Center Mo Taylor or (E. Griffen if he ever comes back) - Power Forward Jim Jackson- Small forward Steve Francis- Shooting Guard *Mike Wilks *- Point Guard (He can handle the ball & pass. Don’t really need him to shoot) Rockets haven't been doing well when pressured and I believe Wilks has handles. Bench: 1. Cato can substitute for Yao or Taylor to give them a breather. (He was doing well coming off the bench last year.) He might be decent as our starting power forward but we need someone that can score so we can jump on early leads. 2. Cat can come in for Wilks or Francis. (To provide a spark of the Bench and to keep him from trying to do too much on the court) 3. Pike, Boki or (A. Griffin) can come in for Jim Jackson (Pike is a pure shooter) 4. (E. Griffin) or A. Ford or even Cato for Mo Taylor (depending on match ups) 5. Cat or (Moochie) can substitute for Francis (to give him a breather) Francis can't be on the bench for too long. Call Me Crazy but Wilks might just be that point guard we need, it won’t hurt to try it. The less Moochie plays the better we are off. (Sorry Mooch) At this point I don’t think Wilks can be any worse. He has some experience starting at the point and we can move Steve to shooting guard (his natural position) and have Cat come of the bench. Moving Cato & Cat to the bench and Pike & (A Griffin) coming off the bench also can produce the firepower & defense we need coming off the bench. We also need a decent bench that can score & play defense!! With Cato, Cat, Pike & (A. Griffin) coming off the bench that could be one of the best benches in the league. The Rockets are struggling right now. Why not try to experiment???
I would replace both Cato and Jim Jackson with Taylor and Pike. Cato and Pike have been such huge liabilities on offense. I'm willing to trade their defense for offense. I can't take any more ugly-ball.
I don't think that switching up our lineup would really greatly improve the team. But maybe JVG should try to play Taylor and Pike more minutes and see. PF -- we're screwed either way, Cato can't score, MoT can't defend. I still say we stick with Cato for the rebounding, plus Mo Taylor is incapable of the pass. He just can't do it. SF -- it's too bad Jackson's lost a step, he used to be much quicker and could explode to the hole. He's not what he used to be. But still he makes smart basketball decisions on the court. Pike hasn't shown me the ability to do anything except shoot threes, I think JJ has the other aspects of the game better. PG -- Wilks isn't being played for a reason, there's not that much talent there. I really don't know what to do here. Mark Jackson is out of the league for a reason too. A real poing guard is difficult to come by these days.
Stupid.. I know Cat wont be benched but he needs to be. He needs to sacrafice for the team and provide that spark of the bench. We are being killed by the other teams bench. Like I said why not experiment??!!! When Cat & Cato were coming off the bench they were great!! Wilks maybe be a scrub or may not be. Personally if he is in the NBA and getting paid he has some game. Scrubs never make it to the NBA!!! Besides how do you know his a scrub when the guy hasnt played?? I just dont see Wilks being worse than Mooch. Give the Guy a chance. He might not turn the ball over as much as Steve or Mooch. With Steve at Shooting guard, Jim Jackson, Yao & Taylor on the floor all we need him to do is run the plays, handle the ball and pass to the guys. Staring him at PG will move steve to his natural position and Cat to the bench to have the firepower we need coming off the bench. If Cat would play against any other team's second unit he would have a field day every night. Just something VanGundy should think about. It sure wouldn't hurt us the way we have been playing lately.
I understand your point. I don't know for sure if Wilkes is the man for the point but I am think that stupid guard play is a major issue on this team and Steve is just not a reliable point guard.
I agree with that, but I would put Mobley on the bench and see if he can go back to being a quality 6th man. He was great at it when we had Shandon A. playing the 2. I think putting Mo, Pike, and JJ all in the starting lineup would increase the overall Basketball IQ of the starting 5. More veterans would (hopefully) lead to smarter play. IMO, I think that Mobley and Steve are basically the same type of player, having them both on the floor at the same time isn't working.
This should be the lineup: Francis-Norris (until a better backup can be found) Piatkowski- Mobley Jackson-Nachbar-Piatkowski Taylor-Padgett Yao-Cato This would be a much better offensive unit. The defense and bench would suffer, but the starting offense would make up for it. The idea would be to never have Francis and Mobley on the floor at the same time, unless they were both on unbelievable hot streaks.
Crash... I don’t know if Wilks is the man at the point either but why not try it?? Nobody knows what Wilks can do yet. Now if he plays worse then Mooch then keep his @ss on the injured list for the rest of the season. The whole point of trying Wilks at the point is to move Francis to shooting Guard and Mobley to the bench. Like Fever said... having both Francis & Mobley on the floor at the same time really isn't working. Having a well balanced Starting 5 and a bench that can provide that spark on defense & offense can really help the Rockets out. We hear all this stuff about Francis scarifying his game (big reason why he is not doing so well this season) but in reality maybe Mobley needs to sacrifice his game for the Rockets and come off the bench.
That means that they would combine for 48 minutes, or about 24 minutes each. I don't think that is very realistic. The problem the team has is that Steve can't play in an offense where he is not the primary scoring option. Instead of trying to shift the whole team around and trying to work out rotations to help him and giving extra time to scrubs like Wilks, the solution is very simple. Just trade Steve to a team where he can happily lead them as the number 1 option right back to the lottery and the Rockets can go about the business of building a championship contender. Finally, Cat does not need to be benched. This year he is outplaying Francis, and really if you take things like defense, shooting, and turnovers into consideration, he has been at a level equal to or above Fancy for the past several years. Maybe we should experiment by moving the malcontent that can only thrive if he is moved to SG to the banch and let him see what he can produce against the second team. At the very least, we might not be killed by every starting PG we play against.
Hmmm... i know.. how bout this. Mobley/Francis Pike/Francis/JJ JJ/Boki MoT/Cato/Ford Yao/Cato IMO Cat is not the problem. Even if Mobley is benched Francis would still have problems. Mobley is fitting in better than Francis is at this point. So.. we bring Francis off the bench and let him go crazy with Cato, MoT/Ford, Boki, and JJ/Pike/Mobley with him. That way Francis is locked for the 6th man award. There, happy ya'll? Yao and Francis will never see floor time together, thus in one scenario Yao is the man and will get his touches, in the other Francis is the man and he'll take just about every shot. But seriously I think the starting lineup is fine. Francis is just too confused about his role right now, he needs to get fired up again and take it to the rack more. One change that might be good though is starting MoT instead of Cato against the pf's that don't post up as much and can shoot. It may not help much on D, but at least he might be able compensate a little on the other end by either keeping defenses honest or scoring a whole bunch himself.
