With the addition of Kevin Willis and the glut of players at the 3 spot does Dan L make this team? The way I see it the following people are locks to make the team: Cato Willis Collier Thomas Griffin Rice Walt Morris Mobley Francis Norris That leaves one spots on the active roster for the following people: Oscar Langhi Jones It appears to me that the orginization is sold on Oscar T plus he gives us a 4th player for our back court and someone that could move over to the 3 spot if needed. Jones is another back court player that can play either the 1 or the 2. Langhi is someone that would almost certainly never see the court unless the game is over or someone gets hurt. So does anyone think that Langhi might get stuck on I.R. most of the year, could there be a trade in the works, does he make the active roster and stay there all year or could he be cut? As of now I see him spending most of his time on I.R. and getting even less of a chance to play than last year.
Langhi will more in likely be traded for a 2nd rounder I'm assuming. His skills - shooting the 3 or shooting period are thin. TMo can shoot and is more athletic than Dan. Dan was playing well. It was unfortunate he got injured early on in preason and thus didn't get to showcase or hone his talent more.
I saw Langhi for the first time in extended action last night. While his touch was on, he has NO court vision whatsoever. I'd like to introduce him to a pass.
I expect the team is going to go with 15 players including Taylor. I do not expect Collier to make the 12 and will be on IR; and I expect Langhi and Oscar to be in the 12 with Collier, Jones and Taylor on the IR. In last night's game Griffin played a lot at the 5 and Morris a lot at the 4. That will not be normal in the regular season but I would not be surprised if Griffin and Morris get spot duty at those position. What that does is truly reduce the need for Collier at this time who for various reasons is not ready for prime time. Langhi on the other hand is ready and is simply in need of playing time. There is not much he can get now but look for him to be used in blowout situations as I am sure Rudy T will look for ways to keep him involved and keep up his confidence. Rudy T should be real excited to have this kind of talent available to him. He has depth, he has flexibility, he has speed, he has size, he has chemistry, he has scorers and he has defense. Oh la la!
While I think Langhi is better than Collier I don't think he fills a need on this team like Collier. No way Rudy does not make Collier part of his active 12 man roster unless he is hurt. Collier fills a roll on this team and adds a lot of bulk in the paint. If either Cato or Willis gets nicked up Collier will see signigicant playing time and will probably get his minutes regardless. It would require at least two injuries at the three spot IMO for Langhi to get any kind of playing time. If Collier's shin spints are as bad as Bill and Calvin suggested last night that might get Langhi on the active roster to start the season. Either Jones or Oscar will definitely make the active roster and my money is on Oscar. The I.R. IMO will be: MoT Jones if he wants to stay a Rocket Collier to start the season or until his shin splints are better Once Collier is healthy though I fully expect him to be on the active roster. Jones might be released if he thinks he can make another team. I don't think Rudy T would keep him on I.R. against his wishes. I think Langhi will find himself spending a lot of time on I.R. this year just waiting for Walts contract to expire at the end of this season or dreaming of free agency next summer.
Langhi makes the team while Collier goes to IR. IMO, Langhi has much more potential than Collier, and thus he will be given another year to try to crack the rotation and prove his value.
Uh, no. I'm just saying he missed open players consistently. How many shots he takes is partly irrelevant. He didn't get that many touches.
Tmo just wants to off Langhi so Tmo can get any minutes he may be thrown... I think Torres fills that last spot before Langhi. I wouldn't be suprised to see Collier on the IR with Jones to start the season and Langhi on the team. Rice is still iffy, and may need a stint on the IR. Tmo should get a lot of minutes with Rice and Williams until Rice's back comes around. Langhi would be insurance until Rice is healthy. Place Jones on IR for insurance that the Francis knees thing may take a turn for the worse. Let's hope not, that Rudy is just being super cautious.
Did you watch the game? When he did get touches, he only passed when he was forced to. It doesn't matter how many touches he got. It's what he did with the touches. Which was shoot, successfully (and impressively, mind you), and pass only when forced to, thus disrupting the offense. He was as bb say below, like the benchwarmer who gets in the game and sacrifices a good all around effort to force his way into the boxscore (I know this feelin)
I agree that I think Langhi is better than Collier but Langhi just does not fit a position of need and Collier does.
Willis sealed the deal that Collier is not needed (at least this year). His only assett is to use his body to try to hold Shaq from dunking. Even though he is suppose to be this great outside shooter, as a Rocket he is usually shooting bricks from the outside. Langhi, is a sad case. He deserves a spot on the team, and he forced the shots last night, because nobody was passing to him!!!! He knows he will see limited time, if any, Friday night - so he wanted to at least have some points on the board. You cannot blame him for not passing to the open player, he was just working his own kind of isolation play like Cat & Francis do. I say Jones and Oscar make the team. Jones will go on IR with Collier and possibly Langhi. To bad were stuck with Collier, because IKE blows away Collier and has so much more potential (AND HUSTLE) in his game. I would not be suprised if Jones made the active roster at some point this season. His numbers showed last night, that he is alot more effective finding the open player than Moochie.
I liked seeing somebody who wanted to take the shot - Langhi is a shooter and a scorer first. He hasn't had time to jell with the team, so I wouldn't expect him to know where others might be anyway. Better a good shot than a bad pass - and I know we've all seen the rockets pass the ball beyond the 24 second clock a few times this year. Besides, you're begrudging him 5 shots when he hasn't had any playing time or a chance to prove himself? Give me a break!
Dan Dan Dan... Dan and his court vision... TMo, you are right on the spot in your assesment. When Dan is in the game for some reason he acts like he is the only one out there trying to make an impression. I remember so many times last year when he went into the game players tried to give him the ball so he'd get a chance to shine. What upsets me is that Dan has gotten used to this and is playing the same way when there are other rookies and inexperienced players all needing shots right now. Dan has ONE assist for the entire preseason, and 21 shot attempts. The only other player with stats like that on this team are Cato, Griffin and Collier. Dan is supposed to be playing like a SF and showing us his all around game, but he is forcing himself by just taking the shot almost every time he touches the ball. Last year Dan had a total of 4 assists in 33 games. He found a way to shoot the ball 99 times, but he just seems to be afraid that he won't get minutes if he ever passes the ball. Actually I looked up Langhi's college stats and his senior year he didn't even average 1 assist per game. My guess is that it's probably too late to ever hope for Dan to have good court vision/passing ability. He needs to learn this skill if he wants to make it in the NBA. B
I don't know if you have been reading HP's posts about Collier but he gives some very good insight as to why he is not going anywhere. Collier has the ability to move out high on the floor and set picks for Cat or Steve. You can't send Cato or Willis out there because no one will respect there outside shot and for good reason. 24high I think is what HP calls the play and it is one of Rudy T's staples with Cat and Steve. The only two players on the team with front court size that has performed that for the team is Collier and KT. Of course Eddie will probably be worked into it as well. If Cato or Willis run that play there is vertually no threat that the ball will be kicked back so the defense does not have to respect that option. It also limits Steve or Cats ability to succesfully drive to the basket or pass it back to the perimeter because Willis and Cato are not a realistic threat to make the outside shot from that distance. I do a poor job of explaning it but maybe if HP reads this post he will jump in and clarify it better than me.
Here is a part of one of HP's posts that explains why Collier will be a Rocket and probably see significant playing time this year. __________________________________________________ System Considerations for PT centers around who is going to pick for Francis and Mobley Rudy will insist on there being at least one big man to pick for Francis and Mobley in the game at all times. Cato has never been a picker, and Willis I don't think has the range to really be closely guarded off the pick and fade from 20 feet out that we love to do. Thomas, Mo, Bullard and Collier were the primary pickers last year. Note how those players were always playing PF or C when utilized as such. That is why the play is called 24-High....it is for the 2 and 4 and is high out on the wing requiring a good shooter as the picker. So far last game, I have seen Cato do a pick at the elbow and quickly (immediately) roll *to the basket*, which we could presume Willis can still do; but until I see it in the regular season, we have to believe that what we saw last game was more a decoy, since Cato's pick was immediately followed by another one from Kenny coming from the free throw line. I saw this twice. Until we see it regularly to call it a new twist to our system, I don't see Cato and Willis doing much picking for Francis and Mobley. So, that leaves Thomas and Collier and possibly Griffin to help with this key part of our system. I'd love to see Griffin play into this major role, but it takes too much reading defenses for him to do it just yet. ___________________________________________________ As you can see Langhi is fighting an uphill battle for a spot on the active roster unless you think Rudy T. is going to keep a 4th Small Forwards that will probably be the last player on the bench as opposed to a 3rd Center that probably figures prominantly in the normal rotation.
So what you'r telling me is that when langhi got the ball he looked to shoot, but if he couldn't then he passed? and B your saying that because he did this, he disrupted the offensive flow of the game? You guys are too funny.
I think you need to read a little more closely. I wrote that he passed 'only when forced' to. That's different from 'looking for your shot'. MJ looks for his shot, but he still makes passes when he's not forced to do so.
