Anyone care to articulate how Bryce Drew has earned more playing time than Steve Francis who I believe is the Rox top rebounder tonight? Not to mention that Francis has 12 assists, only 4 times as many as anyone else on this team. Am I the only one who thinks a little less Mobley might actually benefit this team. 4th quarter after 4th quarter its: Clear out Iso for Mobley, clang, clang, clang. What does Rogers have to do to get more time too? Steve Francis is so terribly underused its pitiful. I realize he is having an off shooting night, as is Anderson. But if Bryce Drew can get this amount of time with the eggs he throws up game after game (excluding his miraculous 3 game stretch) then why in hell can't Francis get 40 mins ever????? What exactly is the problem with having a triple double threat in the game at crunch time??? Truely pathetic. Im seriously thinking Rudy is tanking it. Never did I think it would come to this.
Rudy should of put francis in. I understand that he had a tough night shooting but he was passing the ball so good and finding open players for easy buckets. He should of played, But Drew wasnt bad tonight either. Mobley should of been taken out. He is such a damn ball hog. I think we need to teach his sorry ass a lesson. Make him sit out the next game.
I think Rudy also took out Francis because his defense was pathetic. He constantly lets LESSER players play with him. He could be so dominant on both sides of the floor. Also, I think the reason Rudy wants Cuttino ISO plays is that he is a good foul shooter, and late in close games this is crucial, Francis is not that good at the line YET !!! However, all that being said, I would like to see more Drew and Francis at the same time. Cut Cuttino's minutes and let Drew feed off of Francis' sweet passes. DaDakota [This message has been edited by DaDakota (edited December 28, 1999).]
I know Ive ranted about this before, but its becoming more and more evident that Rudy just cant put together a solid game plan, or adjust to whats being thrown at him from game to game. I truely think that Francis has the ability to be a better player than Marbury, and Iverson. Maybe not quite the scorer (but I think It COULD be alot closer) but definately a better all around player. Da...I get your point about benching him if his D is terrible, but then that would mean every Rocket player besides Cato and Anderson should be benched, because their all terrible at it. That would mean that Barkley should of been benched for it also. I know, I know Barkley is a HOFer, but if your going to treat players differently then youve got a possible bad situation a brewing. The way I see it is the Rox play well enough to win games through 3 quarters. Rogers usually plays well (at least to the point now where I kind of expect his 17 point 8 boards a game while shooting over 55 percent) then sits for the 4th quarter. No one on gods green earth can tell me Drews play deserves to be seen in cruch time over Francis. Over any of the Rox current guards right now. But we always get a heavy dosage of Drew in the 4th quarter. Shandon, who I think you were absolutely correct in saying plays the best team ball, is sat mercilessly if he isn't having a great shooting night, and almost never seen in the 4th. Just let the young core learn out there. I want to see Francis average about 40-42 mins a game, I want to see Rogers get at least 35 mins a game (or at least until he proves he doesnt deserve it) not sitting when he has a good game going on. I want Cato to start and finish games. So what if he fouls out, let him learn. Let Cato play about 40 mins until Hakeem gets back. Why is it that now that the Rox are actually a young team, Rudy pulls players who are having good games? BTW: Dear God someone impress on the Rox the need for at least decent free throw shooting, and proper rotation on D.
Dreamshake, All I can say is AMEN brother. Your last 2 paragraphs are exactly what this team needs to do, I have been saying the same things. You can't learn from your mistakes if you are not in the game making them. DaDakota
Rudy's an idiot he kept Drew out there too long especially when he can use a 6'3'' Franics as a post up threat against Mugsy. We should have exploited that matchup right there.. hes a ****ing moron....and so is mobley..damn how many shots does he need to take. Our games are all dependent on Mobley's play which is something we cant count on.
This is that core that should be played the most. That's because these are the guys that most likely to be in the plans for the Rockets future. Steve Francis Kelvin Cato Cuttino Mobley Shandon Anderson Carlos Rogers Bryce Drew Kenny Thomas Throw in the #4 pick (seed I think Rocks will end up at), hopefully Kenyon Martin. And a free agent power forward of high caliber and this is my short sighted "rockets future" core.
On the radio post game report Francis said some stuff about why he was taken out. It was pretty much a combination of his back stiffening up, his poor hustle/defense, his bad shooting night, and the fact that Bryce was playing well at the moment. I agree with Dakota when he said that Drew and Francis should be on the floor at the same time instead of Francis and Mobley.
RUDY is stinking up the joint.....same complaints as usual!DS99,I never thought it possible he would tank,but now either he's doing that or he in fact DOES need to become GM after this year.
I think if Carlos Rogers can add maybe about 30 or 40 pounds of more muscle on his body in the off season, then we really dont need a power forward. But thats a big if. We need 2 positions sf and pf. By the way, where is the draft held this year?
Good post Freaky Deaky. Francis stated after the game that he wasn't playing well, his back hurt, and that Drew was playing better than him. Personally, I would rather have Francis taking all those God Awful shots at the end of the game rather than Mobley, and it is the coaches fault for that happening. However, did anyone see the look on Rudy's face after that shot? He was pissed . I really don't think that was the call. Did you see the looks on the faces of Rogers and Cato? They were glaring at Mobley at that last timeout. Rogers was saying something to him as Mobley brushed by him. I think he's got a bit of an attitude problem myself, and it's Rudy's job to control it. Anyway, back to the original topic. Like Will stated before, it looks as if Francis has hit that rookie wall. I don't think it's Rudy being an idiot coach. It will never stop though. If we lose, it's because of Rudy. If we win, we won despite Rudy. At least be consistent.
Somebody throw me a bone here. I though I saw Mugsy take Drew off of the dribble when Drew tried to go behind the screen. Francis is an unselfish player, Rudy isn't used to that. I am burnt out on Drew/Mobley taking ill-advised shots when they aren't even open. Steve played a good game, Drew's D bites as well. Why didn't we keep Brain Shaw, what baggage does Drew have on Rudy(tapes of him drunk at parties or something)? Anderson also had a good game last night regardless what anyone says. Half-Man didn't torch him and he created some plays as well. I was impressed with his play. No he wasn't hitting then again neither does anyone else on our team. I don't want to hear about the 3 for 3 crap for Dyce Blew! He SUX!! Matt Bologna didn't think that he had to take a many shots as Dyce Blew does.
Freak Nasty: true. rudy does have something to do with them being in the game for the first 3 quarters. for the most part, rudy does a very good job in preparation for teams. the man must be a video freak! ask yourself this question, though: what makes the 4th quarter different from the 3rd quarter? aside from the sub pattern, which i despise, the main difference is execution. now, it wouldn't be rudy's fault if he drew up a few different 4th quarter plays and the players simply weren't executing. that would be no fault of his. however, i can't and haven't been able to count more than 2 plays rudy runs in the 4th quarter. even more disturbing is they are plays which were run repeatedly the first 3 quarters. here's another question to ponder: how many times, in the first 3 quarters, did you see the play for oakley where he got that kick out jumper? i'll answer that one: 2, maybe 3, all in the first quarter. and guess what? he hit those shots, too. so as a coach what do you do? as vanessa williams said: save the best for last. but i do agree with you that 100% of the blame cannot and should not be placed on rudy for every loss. though he must shoulder a good % of it, he can't control cuttino's decisions on the court. he can, however, control whether cuttino's # is repeatedly called
Does Rudy have nothing to do with the fact that we're even in these games for 3 quarters? Toronto is simply a better team than us. They've been together much longer, and have some very solid, rugged vets like Oakley, Willis, and Christie to step it up. I don't understand why people get so mad that a team full of rookies who has been thrown together for the first time is losing to good teams. We shouldn't even be in most of these games to begin with. The reason we are even close in the first place is one of two things, a)this team full of youngsters that was thrown together for the first time and most of which has never played consistent NBA minutes really is a good team, and should be beating all these playoff teams, or b) this is an overachieving team that somehow stays close in almost every game they play, against tough competition. I've been critical of Rudy before, but this is a little ridiculous.
