I am a avid Clutch City fan who reads every post and will post/reply on a few occassions. I've been a little disturbed by the tone of numerous postings over the past 3 weeks. I have seen where fans actually cheered about Hakeem's injury. Yes, Rudy drives me nuts about milking a play until the other team adusts. However, with all of our BASKETBALL knowledge, how many posters have played/coached in the NBA? How about College? Can we see a show of hands for High School? UHHHH Junior High? I have 4 questions. 1) What have Charles Barkley done for the Rockets? 2) Now that the Rockets are 2-0 without Steve Francis, are you guys about to kick him the way everyone seems to kick Hakeem? Was Francis dominating the ball and not getting Anderson involve? 3) The people who are wishing Hakeem would retire this year so we could sign Grant Hill next year. How do the Rockets sign him if his salary still counts against the salary cap? 4) How did Kareem run the fast break with greyhounds like Magic, Worthy and Cooper? Did he slow the game down? The Rockets will get better. Fans don't need to trash players to make a statement.
1) What have Charles Barkley done for the Rockets? *Well, he is benefiting our running game A LOT more than Hakeem was. he gets rebounds and runs with the ball. He tries to get different people involved and seems as if he WANTS the rockets to have a diversified the offense. hakeem, on the other hand, was seriously slowing down the running game. Charles is also a much better passer out of the post, so that gets other people involved. So, to sum it all up, charles is promoting a running/diversified offense, while it seems Hakeem is slowing us down. There are ways to help hakeem adapt, but we haven't utilized them(like for instance, utilize hakeem's 15-18 foot jumper more). Now that the Rockets are 2-0 without Steve Francis, are you guys about to kick him the way everyone seems to kick Hakeem? Was Francis dominating the ball and not getting Anderson involve? NOPE, i sincerely hope not. Francis is the perfect example of the rockets' new offense. Hakeem is the old version, and that's why everyone's "kicking" him. I am not glad that hakeem's injured, but our offense has picked it up a notch while he's out. I would really look forward to Hakeem's return, IF ONLY, we don't use hakeem to post up so much. Like i said, we should play hakeem on the high post.
I will attempt to answer some of your questions. I did not cheer when Hakeem got inured, but I did point out that it might be beneficial to the team as a whole, if Hakeem watched a bit. He went out for 25 games or so in 93-94, and the team won a franchise best 16 games in a row. Hakeem learned to trust his other teamates, and the Rockets benefited by winning 2 championships. In addition, Hakeem will be out all of Ramadan, which will help his conditioning. 1) What have Charles Barkley done for the Rockets? Charles was brought here to get the Rockets past the Sonics..he did. 2) Now that the Rockets are 2-0 without Steve Francis, are you guys about to kick him the way everyone seems to kick Hakeem? Was Francis dominating the ball and not getting Anderson involve? Francis can certainly learn from these 2 games, Bryce did a better job of getting everyone involved. 3) The people who are wishing Hakeem would retire this year so we could sign Grant Hill next year. How do the Rockets sign him if his salary still counts against the salary cap? I don't want Hakeem to retire, I want him to accept a lesser role on offense. 4) How did Kareem run the fast break with greyhounds like Magic, Worthy and Cooper? Did he slow the game down? Kareem rebounded and threw the outlet pass, Hakeem still has not mastered the pass, it is not the running that Hakeem is slowing down, it is the 1/2 court set that bogs down when Hakeem and Charles are both on the floor at the same time. I hope I explained how some of us on the board view the injury as a chance for the team to grow. DaDakota [This message has been edited by DaDakota (edited December 04, 1999).]
DaDakota, Hakeem 92-93 played 82 games 93-94 played 80 games 94-95 played 72 games He missed 12 games in three years. ------------------ I have a dream.........his name's Hakeem.
DaDakota, Thanks for the insight. However I respectfully agree to disagree on the Barkley point. We beat the Sonics but started losing to the Jazz. One step forward, two steps backwards
1) What have Charles Barkley done for the Rockets? Barkley fits into this teams future (ie, running game and not a post-up offense) better than Hakeem. Barkley is willing to accept a diminished role and be there on an "as needed" basis for offensive punch. He has stated that he is there to rebound and scores when he can. He has told Steve Francis this basketball team is Steve's team, so take it over. Hakeem is still living in the past saying the offense should start from the post and then go out. If that's the way it is, then we signed a bunch of runners for no damn reason than what Scottie Pippen said "to stand around and jack up open 3's". 2) Now that the Rockets are 2-0 without Steve Francis, are you guys about to kick him the way everyone seems to kick Hakeem? Was Francis dominating the ball and not getting Anderson involve? You could be right about Francis not distributing the ball well enough. However, he's young and inexperienced; I can accept his greediness. I can't accept that from a veteran like Hakeem. Francis is the team's future so he should get minutes even if it means on-the-job-training via mistakes. 3) The people who are wishing Hakeem would retire this year so we could sign Grant Hill next year. How do the Rockets sign him if his salary still counts against the salary cap? I don't want him to retire if it means we don't get salary cap space. I definitely don't want him to be traded. I respect Hakeem for what he helped bring to the city, but come on folks, this was 4-5 years ago. Quit living in the past. 4) How did Kareem run the fast break with greyhounds like Magic, Worthy and Cooper? Did he slow the game down? Kareem was not the focus of the offense in his later years (unlike Hakeem still wants to be). Since the old guy wasn't the focus, this allowed the team to run like greyhounds instead of trotting down to set up an offense that ALWAYS starts from the left side of the court for the post position. Magic was quite possibly one of the 4 best players ever to play the game. Worthy was one of the most explosive and better small forwards of the day. Cooper was an incredible defender. His defense led to fast break points. They also had Byron Scott who was their designated gunner who was among the better outside shooters of his day. The fact is, they didn't gear their offense around the post, they had 3-4 times the talent the Rockets, they were unselfish, and their veterans were leaders who not only led by example, but by their actions (especially Magic). ------------------ Rocket fuel pumps through these veins... [This message has been edited by Dr of Dunk (edited December 05, 1999).]
3rings: The way the Jazz played proved they were emerging these years, first of all, their key players like Bryon Russel(93, sat on the bench for several years),Howard Eisley(94 pick) and Shandon Anderson(95 pick) blossomed after the 96 season, especially Bryon Russel, 96 was his breakout season. Combining their efficient offense system they went to the finals twice in a row. Look at the Rockets, Hakeem was getting old, CB had some injuries, and what we got from the draft only the Big O was playing his position in the top. So it's natural for the Jazz to beat us, one of the major factors is their bench has got better than ours. [This message has been edited by Finalfantasy (edited December 05, 1999).]
DAMN I never knew Bryon Russell was picked in the 1993 draft. That is pretty amazing to what he has turned out too.
