Though his contract is oversized and his rebounding average undersized, Mo Taylor serves an important purpose and should not just be thrown away. Despite the addition of Tracy McGrady and Juwan Howard, we can't rely on the starters for all of our scoring. Right now our other backup PF is Weatherspoon, who at this stage in his career is no longer a legit scoring threat. Our backup G/F is Piatkowski, who's terrible defense and decision making keeps him off the floor. Our starting PG, as of right now, is Tyronn Lue. Unless Boki speeds up his development quickly, the only scorer we have off the bench is Taylor. If all we can get for him via trade is a backup center who can board and block shots, but can't even pretend to put the ball in the basket, it's not worth it for us. Unless we can get a deal in which we land some legitimate talent, Taylor should remain a Rocket. He's still valuable to us; probably moreso than to any other playoff team in the league.
I disagree. Taylor is so streaky that you can' count on him. He can come in and hit 4 straight or miss 4 straight. His contract is prohibitive - and as addressed in a previous post - his contract removes all cap flexibility because it expires in 2007 when all of our other contracts (except Tmac, Juwan) expire in 2006. I would deal him for A N Y T H I N G (except a worse contract unless it was actually attached to a player that can play)and I would include a number one draft pick to see him go!
He was the only player that made any kind of impact off the bench, and since the bench is exactly the same I wouldn't let him go for nothing.
considering what scrubs are getting paid these days...I wish some of yall would get over the tired..."Mo's contract is waaay too much" schtick.... For what he brings(scoring, little D, little boards)....his contract is not that damn bad. and for the record....aint no way in hell he will get discarded..you dont just cut a guy that brings you scoring off the bench....and could start if necessary... I hope you are the same guys that are applauding the Rockets for not overpaying some scrub this offseason since contract sizes are such an issue for you.
I agree that he should not be traded away for just anything. His scoring is valuable. However, I do think that we should not simply over look the luxury of a backup even though we still have no starter at the point.
I don't mind Mo on this team. He does do SOMETHING when he is in the game. I agree with an above post that he is a key part of our team because of our lack of bench scoring. The problem with trading him is that we would only get another big contract back and he is just not good enough to bring in another player that would do any better. It's just like the Moochie for Spoon trade last season. All we got was another bad contract with a player that didn't do much more than what we gave up.
I disagree. I intensely dislike Mo T and his "game" about as much as Tinman dislikes Howard. I think he's a terrible fit on a team with Yao. However, I am becoming resigned to the idea that he is untradable, and so, am looking for roles he can fill on the team. I would like to see Mo T show he can play the pick and roll. If he can work with Tmac or JJ, that would be helpful.
I would argue that a guy who can hit open jumpers all-day long from the PF position would be a great counter-point to a team that features two players who will see a great many double teams. Cap Space is overrated - which I think Rockets fans would understand more than most, considering the big trade we just made this summer.
Cap space is overrated for bad teams like Chicago, Atlanta, Clippers, etc. For teams that look like they have a bright future (ie. Denver, Utah, Phoenix), it can be very attractive to free agents and help put a team over the top.
I can't believe people still defend this guy after he was completely ineffective against a 40 year old power forward who didn't even make it through the playoffs. But he hits jumpers. Who cares? He's such a liability in every other part of the game. Terrance Morris could hit jumpers.
We are in full agreement. I suspect Mo will bale out the Rockets more than a few times next season, just like he did last season.
come on, yao isn't that bad. taylor is definitely not someone to just be tossed aside. while he has a big contract, he at least gives you something when he's out on the court. he can hit open jumpers, he can face up and drain jumpers all day, he has a very good hook shot, and he even has a spin move that's he's pretty good at (though he gets called for traveling on it a lot). he's very bad at rebounding, he's not an interior defensive presence (even though he's good at taking charges) and he throws away more passes than anyone i've ever seen, but big men who are gifted scorers are definitely not something you throw away as soon as possible. and for whoever made that comment, i don't view taylor as streaky at all. his jumper seemed to be money almost every game.
It's interesting that everyone is counting out Taylor so quickly and Howard is just the superior man. IMO Taylor will beat out Howard for the starting spot / he will be finishing the game.
i think many of the bbs members don't give MoT enough credit. He's an excellent low post scorer and while he doesn't put up big rebounding numbers but I don't think he's a bad rebounder. I think he does a good job of boxing out and keeping track of his man. I've never found myself thinking MoT is getting killed out on the boards out there. His defense is not strong but again I don't remember him as getting torched either. In any case I think he's a very good scorer and a overall good player.
He's a threat to score every night off the bench. A specialist. Which is what you want coming off the bench in my book.
