Why do we have to choose? They're completely different players. If you need some offense, Langhi might be the better coice. Need anything else, Morris is the better all-round player. Morris' Godawful senior season shooting statistics make me at least a little hesitant in handing him the inside path to the rotation between the two of them. Maybe it was just a funk. Maybe he couldn't handle being The Man. I don't know. But I'm not quite ready to write it off. If I had to guess, I'd say it's more likely that Morris will become a legitimate NBA player. He seems like the better athlete, and Langhi certainly didn't do much in his first year. I hope both work out in different ways. Honestly, I don't see either ever being more than a bench contributor.
Bima Thug, Langhi was a dominate center in college? I did not know that. Anyways, Langhi seems like the odd man out. Morris can hurt opponents in many more ways; Walt is more experienced; Rice is a better shooter; even Torres is more of a threat so far it seems. I say trade the guy and give him a chance somewhere else.
Jaybird, I like your assesment of Morris, and I agree that he would not make a good leader, but he can be a great team player. He is quite soft spoken, and reserved from what I have seen so far. That's fine with me as long as he can produce on the court. As far as Langhi goes, I don't know what to do about him anymore. His time to prove himself is quickly running out. I hope he can pull something off before the regular season starts, otherwise I feel his role will be quite similar to last year, garbage time. B
As far as I know, Langhi did not play center in college. He played power forward and some small forward. I think it is great to have both Langhi and Morris on the team. As some pointed out, Morris has a nice all-around game, although not dominant, and is a much better defender, including blocks and steals (valuable fantasy player in a few years! ) than Langhi. However, I would still like to have Langhi's offense if he can develop a rhythm where he can get into the flow of the game quickly off the bench. That was a nice thing about Bullard. Although he was one-dimensional, you could throw him in there and he would do his thing without needing 15 minutes first to get into the game. Langhi has good potential to be a good scorer and decent rebounder, he is athletic and quick. I would use him at the SG/SF position. Sooner or later, Morris will get many more minutes than Langhi, though, just because he can do more things and defends better.
Just to clarify a few things-Tmo never (not for a second) played sf in college. He was a pf from the first day he stepped on campus. I agree that his junior season was, despite what idiot sportswriters say, his best season, though his confidence did begin to drop. And yes, the collapse was a direct result of the Duke/OT loss. But he did still hit big shots down the stretch and in the tournament against Stanford and Duke. Part of this was Tmo's fault. It is also true, though, that his personality just did not fit well with the coach, Gary Williams. As he has said, now basketball is fun again. He is happy to be out of college park. He is confident and his range, enthusiasm, and comfort level are improving.
I really think Morris has more up than langhi. My patience for langhi has really grown thin and comparing. from what I saw last season of langhi to this season is not impressing me at all one bit. I truly believe this year's t-mo is already better than this year's langhi and last year's as well. i think we have enough offensive power and t-mo brings a great all around player that'll complement franchise in both offence and defence. in other words i believe pippen is to jordan as t-mo is to franchise. if ya thinkin of a scenario where we want a big lineup that'll play some straight O as well we can slide griffin at the 3. I'm for the trade Langhi movement already
Ditto. I've said it before and I'll say it agin. Langhi has shown nothing and most likely never will. I predict he will not be with the rockets next year. This assessment has rewarded me with comments from pro-langhi posters like "You obviously know nothing about basketball" . We shall see.
double ditto: I hope he isn't with the rocks next year, as much as everyone wants him to do well, he isn't doing the job. I know, I know, he doesn't get the pt and making a transition...I hear these things but after 2 years he still doesn't look like he has anything to offer that a damon jones or other do. Langhi is tall, but isn't quick enough on defense to guard the sg on the opposing team, so why put him at sg? Mismatch? The only mismatch we would be creating would be on our team. He's too small to play pf or center, and sf is pretty solid already, with rice, tmo, or mobley(if rudy wants to use his speed over slower sf). I don't think more time will make him into what everyone thinks he could be, hell, he's progressing so slow that at this rate he'll be an allstar...maybe at 40?
Rice and Walt are going to get all the minutes at small forward anyway. When they don't, Mobley probably will. It's probably a moot point.
Walt is in his last year. I don't think the Rockets will be giving him minutes when he's not part of their future plans. Morris should receive as much or more time than Walt. They have to evaluate him against NBA talent to see if he can be a role player on this team. He's already a better defender than Walt.
True. But Rice and Walt very possibly could be injured for parts of the season. Thus I would not be suprised to see Tmo or Langhi, if not starting, then grabbing big minutes during certain stretches of the year.
Patience folks is a virtue. Everybody seem to be in a rush. So fickle. When we did not know how Morris was going to be and there was no Torres, everybody was excited about Langhi. In addition, no one seem to mention that the man has been injured. There is no doubt in my mind that Langhi belongs on this team and is a steal. In fact before this preseason ends, we will hear from Mr. Langhi. If Mr. Cato can be impressing now after years, then just please give Dan a chance. Also with the talent on this team we are not desperate, so give some time. There is no need to compare Morris and Langhi. In fact it would be in the Rocks best interest if they move to bring along both guys aggressively. (Mr. Zack, the summer league king has not done much since, but nobody is worried.) Langhi should get some time at 4. I fully expect him to be able to get points at that position in this offense.
That's not how Rudy works. If that were true, Langhi would have played more than Walt last year. Hakeem wouldn't have played at all last year. Cato wouldn't have been benched. Bullard wouldn't have started several games and played a big role last year. If Walt is on the team, and healthy (as Tmo points out), he will most likely get the minutes behind Rice. Morris or Langhi will have to beat out Walt, they won't just be given the time because they're younger.
Screw long langi! Put him on the IR and give Morris the minutes he deserves. TaMo rocks. Morris contributes the the Rox instantly, on LL, he cant buy a bucket. Everyone says give LL a chance, I say BS. If LL can not produce now, when? I loved it when we drafted him, and I love it now as everyone else see's what I knew all along. Ta Mo Rocks!
I agree with you TheFreak, right now Walt's more than likely to get the minutes behind Rice. There are a couple of things that could change this though. If Rice is able to stay healthy for most of the year, I think this helps Morris' chances of moving ahead of Walt. If you're starter's able to put up points in bunches, its not as necessary for his backup to do so as well. If Morris can prove he can defend reasonably well in NBA games, not preseason, and Rice stays healthy, I think he'd be the more valuable second string SF. Walt having nagging injuries, like his recent back spasms, would be another reason for Morris to get more PT than I think is being planned. The last and least likely way is that Morris will get much more accurate on the offensive end and just out play Walt on both ends of the court this year. It's possible, but I think Morris needs a year or so more to to really get his offensive game together.
What makes you think the Rockets won't resign Williams when his contract expires? And, assuming they didn't want him back, wouldn't they still want to let him catch the interest of other teams for the potential sign-and-trade? Besides, I don't think the Rockets work like that anyway. Rudy will put the guys on the floor that will win the game. Why would he pull a decent rotation player in Williams to play a rookie?
Let me get this straight. The team has a 23 yr old 6-11 marksman and we are treating him like chump change. This is not about Morris whose is an absolute gem; this is about Langhi. In his junior year he shot 47 of 122 3pt shots for 39% and, as a senior, 58 of 144 for 40%. His scoring average was 17 and 22 in those years. Now, watching this game on TNT tonight, shooting ability is going to be critical because of these new rules. It is no wonder that Rudy said he is considering playing Langhi at the 4, and I believe it makes a lot of sense. So I am not even viewing it as Morris taking playing time from Langhi but indeed it encourages the team to use him up front, especially with Jax out of the picture. In fact, the team's ability to succeed using Cato, Collier and Griffin at the 5 could partly depend on us using him up front. Yes it would have be nice to have a bigger body but hey, Rasheed Wallace is 6-11 225lbs, and Kevin Garnett is 6-11 220lbs.
