Your thoughts / comments / suggestions at the 20-game mark?

DearRock,

I have no idea what your logic is from reading that post (it was like trying to pull teeth), but I will expand on why I think the Rockets will not be in the top 4. Lakers does not require much expanding, its pretty obvious they are the best team in basketball. Also, jumping from 9th seed to 5th seed in one year is a very good improvement. Lets not get carried away with this top 4 stuff like we did last year otherwise you will have to find someone else to blame since Rudy is gone.

San Antonio - The Spurs have had a very rough early schedule by already having faced the Lakers 3 times and the Mavs twice. In addition, Duncan and Parker missed time early contributing to their slow start. The Spurs had a pretty sizable overhaul over the summer, and it takes time for the pieces to fit together well. Also, under Poppovich, San Antonio has always gotten off to slow starts and has usually been able to turn the corner and get things going. Last season, they started out 18-13 and were written off by most only to start dominating and end up with the #1 record in the league. Despite the slow start, the Spurs are only 3 games in the loss column back of the Rockets.

Dallas - The Mavericks also had tons of change in the offseason. Effectively fitting all their new offensive talent like Walker and Jamison into the system will take time. Also, despite all this, the Mavs still do have the same record as the Rockets and have shown over the last two seasons they are capable of winning 55-60 games.

Sacramento - The Kings right now have the second best record in the West WITHOUT Chris Webber. Do you think they will slow down when he returns? Also, they play their best defense when Webber is on the floor with the others as opposed to being on the injured list. C-Webb is a very underrated defensive player and will help them reach the level they were at defensively the last few seasons. (And yes, despite what the media shills say, Kings were one of the top teams in the NBA in terms of FG% against the last 3 seasons).


One other point on the Rockets. If this team can keep up this pace (ie .650 winning pct) that will be one heck of an improvement. That being said, its much of the same on the offensive side of ball, this team simply is not going to be an elite offensive team with Steve Francis running the show. Steve Francis is hardly better now than he was 4 yrs ago and is actually much worse offensively than last season. To be in the top 4 of the West the way it is now, you absolutely must be great on BOTH ends of the floor. The Rockets are an elite defensive team, but the offense is mediocre and will continue to be that with Steve Francis running the show.

 

Talking about Boki, is he in the dog house? JVG should give him a chance to grow himself. I thought he was playing pretty well at least for a couple of games.

 

Let's set Pike down so Boki can learn how to play...

 

I agree that our rotation of 8 is too short but I don't know where we can find the minutes?!

At the 2 and 3, Cat takes (40 mins), JJ (35), Pike (20), Steve (5). The total is more than the (96) mins available, (this is dued to JJ and Pike missing games and some OT games).

Boki won't have but the garbage minutes now. He has had enough exposure in real games to be able to come in for 10, 15 mins should 1 of the other guys go down.

When AG comes back, I think Jeff will steal 10, 15 minutes here and there to train him. Once he gets enough exposure like Boki, he will come off the bench as defensive specialist.

Our 4 and 5 consist of Yao, Cato, MoT. I suppose Padgett and Ford will have to step in if the need arises.

We do have bodies at the 1, but ... sometimes I feel like that is all we have.

 

I tend to agree with most of this (except moving Mobley to the bench). A steady veteran PG that can play 20 MPG would do wonders for the offensive execution of this team. Someone that could step in and take Moochie's 15 MPG along with picking up a few MPG from Steve and Cuttino. The only names I can think of tho that could be had w/o breaking up the core of this team are Mark Jackson or Charlie Ward. Jamaal Tinsley isnt a vet but maybe he could be had on the cheap as well since he is buried at the end of the Pacer bench.

Also, as the far as the PF part. I think this is much less of a glaring need with Mo Taylor rounding into form and Cato having quite possibly his best season. If the Rockets could pick up a Charles Oakley for the stretch run then that could work. However, with the way Cuttino is playing, dealing him for a serviceable PF is a bad idea imo.

 

Oh I forgot, who can fault the always great and consistant, "franchise"?? He's not the reason behind our stagnant offense. It's the coach's fault!!!

We would be great if we just let Francis have free reign!

Oh that's right!! We did that already. And look where it got us!

Perennial Losers!

 

13-7, first place, and perrenial losers....

 

Single biggest problem -- turnovers, solve that, and things will be pretty good.

Can't trade Mobely now... if we do, we won't be able to score enough points. However, his trade value is up now that he's playing well...

 

What's wrong with Francis shooting? His FGP is only 40% now, very iversonesque.

 

Manal, I am sorry that you were not able to follow my last post. It essentially said that we, after 20 games, have areas of the game to correct/improve that are easier than those to be improved/correctd by the Kings and Mavs.

Regarding your most recent post, if we are going to sight the schedule for Spurs then we should talk about the cream puff one that the Kings have had.

We have made as many changes as Dallas has and we are entitled to a transition period like they have. I would like you to appreciate that the Mavs have serious defensive problems which will not be easily corrected. I think you are judging our offense harshly when, outside of FT's, we score 71 ppg and give up 64 ppg, for a 7 point gap. The Mavs score 82 and give up 79, for a 3 pt gap. So you expect our gap to vanish and the mavs to expand theirs. One last thought on our mediocre offense, we are ranked #4 in the league in points per shot at 1.17 trailing only LAL, SAC and Utah. We are also #7 in adjusted fg% at 47% just ahead of Dallas and way ahead of Spurs at #22.

Regarding the Spurs we could lose both upcoming games or win both for that matter. I would like to think that it could be a while before we lose 10 games. Our last 4 games were not against weak teams and in my opinion the scores do not reflect how much we controlled those games. Especially in the last two games there were time when offensively we made the defenses of both Larry Brown and Cheeks look laughable.

I totally disagree with everyone's take on SF and the direction of his game. To me he is the one forced to make the biggest adjustment this year and I can see a clear improvement. First he dribbles less and more and more we are getting into our offense earlier. Jason Kidd has the misfortune of not playing with a dominant low post player much less having two. SF on the other hand has two dominant low post scorers how much your passing skills on that really need to be. When Ming scored those two last hook shots how much passing did we need SF to be for that. MJ went far with subpar PG's.

When SF breaks down the defense with the dribble and routinely finds Mobes, JJ and Pike for jumpshots, how can I go overboard and proclaim this team is forever doomed.

 

Sane the beautiful thing is that you are more willing to discuss top 4 potential that you were 20 games ago.

 

DearRock,

Just curious. If/when this team is not top 4 in the West will you admit you overestimated them? I remember last season you also said they would be top 4 when in the end they finished #9, pretty large gap no? Do you feel you overestimated them last yr?

 

Sane, DavidS, DearRock, et al,

Just out of curiosty, if the Suns called and offered Stephon Marbury for Steve Francis, would you do the deal? Clearly the Suns are in a transition phase right now, Frank Johnson just got fired, and they are seriously underachieving after last yr's improvement so I really would not rule out anything with them.

 

Yes I would only because Stephan can create and make other players around him better. SF can create, but often turns the ball over or takes horrible shots.

I really don't think they consider themselves in "transition" period. After all, they did make the playoffs last year.
I believe that they simply are having a slow start, and that for the next 4 weeks Amare will be sidelined.

The one team on the come up is MEMPHIS. They are starting to put all the pieces together.

 

Manal, I underestimated the Spurs last year. I do not think it was crazy for me to have expected the rox to be in the top 4 last year. I think it was appropriate for me to blame Rudy as it seems the owner did. He essentially saw it the same way I did at the start of the season and if I was the owner, at the end, I would have fired Rudy T too. I see JVG as almost exactly what Rudy T is not. The differences were numerous but I am confident that the no nonsence approach of JVG is good enough for at least five victories, by itself. A night like last night you could see us losing that last year. If there is juice in the orange, JVG will get every bit that is left. Rudy is not like that and that is huge. SF game is changing and you can rest assured that every small change in his game is going to have gigantic effects on the team's results.

Manal, the easiest thing to do is say we are not good enough. I am just not able to see it other than to just throw my hands in the air and say we cannot compete. Is this team as fragile and JVG thought a month ago. If the answer is no then I expect us to stake our claim. I just wish EG was here.

Regarding the suns calling, if it was a straight up trade, I am 50/50 on whether I would do it. Marbury is a better point guard but I am one of those who believe this team can and will florish offensively with SF. The exciting thing is that in the month of December, Sf has been responsible for as many eye-popping pg play as anyone in this league. If that was a preview then I can wait for the feature.

The Suns can go on a run but right now my money is on Memphis to be the Suns of last year. If fact it is safe to say they will not be in the playoffs.

 

Francis has been taking 15 shots per game with Cat at 13 and Yao at 11. Obivously, Francis has taken the highest number of shot on the team. He didn't score that much because he didn't make it. His FG% is 40% while Cat at 45% and Yao at 50%. If Francis had taken more shots, we would have lost more games.

 

I agree. But it's important that you realize that the way that Francis is playing right now, is the best/only way he can play on this team, while manning the PG position.

The only way that he can get the green light and start "scoring" more would be to get another starting PG. That would mean that SF would not have to worry about PG duties. Just scoring duties.

 

Yes. I'd take that deal. But also....

I'd be interested in seeing SF at the 2 spot exclusively. But we can't just have a serviceable PG, we'd have to get a very good PG; Barry? I'd also like that PG to be at least 6'5" No short PG. Not if we are going to be running a 6'3" SG (Francis). It like to off-set that size difference.

I think there are come combinations that we haven't looked at. But we can't win convincingly with the currently line-up. There are too many holes. At least the team is fighting back after a turnover. They used to just get down and down and down on themselves; last year.

But like Gene Peterson said. This team is just hard to watch. Sloppy and out of sync, and just generally lack of maturity in execution. Too many unforced turnovers.

 

Looking at our past couple of records, we were not perenial losers. We didn't win enough but we did have a winning record (as long as steve was healthy) for the past 3 years. That doesn't = loser.