Collier fate is silled. He has been in street clothes for the last two preseason games. This is all a precursor for him being placed on IR to start the season. The Rocks roster should look like: 1: Francis, Norris 2: Mobley, Torres 3: Rice, Williams, Morris, Langhi 4: Thomas, Griffin 5: Cato, Willis IR: Taylor, Collier Damon Jones is good enough to break into some team's rotation, so the Rockets will set him free. Langhi's role on this team will be to take over for Bullard, i.e. play the last minute or so of periods and jack 3s.
For a forward: 'looking for your shot'-look first for opportunity to score, then look to pass if the opportunity isn't there, pass if opportunity is very questionable and a teammate is open for a gimme/garbage basket (usually soon after drawing a double team, picking up dribble). Such behavior is often accompanied by easy body language and generally elegant comportment. 'passing only when forced to'-look first for opportunity to score, then look again, try to force shot through double and triple teams, hold onto ball after picking up dribble, pass only when not to pass means turning the ball over/embarrassing oneself. Such behavior is often accompanied by intense, strained facial expressions, vigorous shaking of the head, and perpetually downcast eyes.
No, you did a good job explaining it. In fact, Collier had alot of success with it last year with Mobes, in particular. However, I think you overlooked Langhi's ability to do the same thing. If Thomas can do it, then Langhi can.
If any of you have ever seen LANKY play you would know that he sucks. The fact that you would even compare his game to TMo's is ridiculous. Langhi is a shooter Terence Morris is a basketball player. As a shooter he isn't even that good. I miss ya Bull. rotation should be: WINK/Norris Cat/Torres Rice/Morris/the Wiz K9/Griffin Cato/Willis/Nwankwo IR: Collier/MoT
Hey Crash, my only disagreement is that the way Collier has been shooting his outside shot, since joining the rockets, nobody is going to care if he goes out to set picks. I know he is suppose to be a great outside shooter, but he has never brought that game to the table.
FLAGRANT1, While reading the responces between TMo and myself you may have noticed that there was no name calling or disrespect. It is vary simple to question or measure a players ability to another without name calling. Keep in mind anyone of them are a heck of alot better then any of us. So next time you have the urge to say one of them suck, think about what that says about you.
Couldn't agree any more than that. ZHAR, I was watching the game last night, and it's really hard to describe in words why Langhi sucks. If you just watch him play for more than 5 minutes, then you will see what Tmo and B are talking about. He seems very uncomfortable with everyone else out there and he just didn't seem to fit in. I would say that maybe that's an isolated incident, but considering the fact that someone mentioned that he averaged less than 1 assist per game his senior year at Vanderbilt, I would say it's not isolated. And I don't care if he made 4 out of 5 shots..if they are all forced, then the odds are that he won't be going 4 for 5 very often, maybe more like every 1 out of 10 games. We have too many other good players that deserve playing time than someone who's always forcing shots.
Tmo, please stop. You have dug yourself a hole that you cannot get out of. Tmo: 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'm just saying he missed open players consistently. He didn't get that many touches. 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.
Langhi will not be cut or traded, because Walt's contract expires next year & Rice will only be here for 3 more years. That would leave you with Langhi & T-Mo at the SF position. However, Langhi will probably spend the majority of this year on IR. I wouldn't be surprised to see Walt get traded by the end of the year, unless he's an integral part of the rotation. Collier will probably start the year out on the IR, along with Jones & Taylor, but as soon as his shin splits heal, he'll be back & Langhi will go on the IR. Jones, being a true PG, is too valuable to cut. If anything, he'll be kept until December 28, when he can be traded. Given the right situation, the Rockets might be able to get a future #1 draft pick for him. The interesting thing next year (& possibly this year) is, when Taylor comes back, who do you let go, trade, or put on IR? If Willis contributes to the team in both his play & mentoring of the younger players, I'd like to see the Rockets resign him for the rest of his career (2-3 years & hopefully cheap). With the return of Taylor, we'll have: C: Cato/Willis/Collier PF: Taylor/Griffin/KT SF: Rice/T-Mo/Langhi SG: Mobley/Torres PG: Francis/Moochie One of these players will have to go on the IR, but that's a pretty good team with a great mix of youth, veteran leadership, & quality depth at every position. Rudy & CD are an awesome tandem. That team (assuming Cato continues his improvement) could dominate for several years. THE ROCKETS ARE BACK!!!
All I can say to that is that Collier still has a reputation of being able to hit the outside shot and has a past that indicates he can. Having said that I think you might be on to something, if Collier does not find his shot then he will become totally useless.
Well here's my look on our team... we'll go with 15 players : PG Francis/Norris SG Mobley/Torres SF Rice/Williams/Langhi/(Morris) PF KT/Griffin/(Morris) C Cato/Willis IR Taylor IR Jones IR Collier Don't forget that Rice is not 100% and Walt always gets hurt so I expect to keep Langhi for the season... Morris and Langhi will get PT as the season goes along, like I posted above if Rice/Williams get hurt enter Langhi and Morris... Morris can also play PF if need be... Jones is worth keeping especially with Stevie Franchise having soreness in his knees(it seems precautionary but it wouldn't hurt to keep another backup PG on the team)... I like this team considering what We, The Houston Rockets Organization and We the fans had to endure this offseason/summer... I don't want to bring that stuff up anymore... LETS GET THIS SEASON STARTED!!!!!!!!
Tmo (the player) seemed to move pretty well last night, but I agree with the posters who say that he needs to work on his shooting form. He missed some shots badly last night, including one that was way short and crooked - a sign of bad form - much like a pushed or pulled shot in golf. Langhi, in comparison, is a pure shooter - great looking shots that hit nothing but net most of the time. He's tall enough to get his shot off like Bull, but can drive to the basket or stop and pop. I think you can learn to have reasonable court vision, especially when teams start to respect your offense. They'll run to help defend you, leaving somebody open for an easy pass. Why did Barkley have 4000 assists? Because he forced somebody to double team him 8000 times. The difference is that Langhi likely didn't have someone good to pass to on his team - not a problem on the Rockets. The big question is: can he come off of the bench successfully? This is the most difficult adjustment to make, and Tmo's game will imo be easier to bring off of the bench.
Langhi does not need "court vision" when all he will be asked to do is stand on the 3 point arc and shoot. Court vision is usually needed by players who penetrate or who lead the fast break. Langhi will be asked to do neither (and should be sat down he tries).
Crash, this is a good thread. The topic has definitely generated some interest. I hadn't considered Collier and the 2/4 high pick. It will be interesting to see what happens with the IR. At least this year there will be some tough choices (given the depth on our roster). The health of Rice/Williams vs. Cato/Willis may ultimately be telling in the roster spot choice. Oscar Torres and TMo have hurt Langhi's chances, but I'm still guessing Langhi gets a shot due to versatility (2/3/4 Rudy loves that) and potential.
This thread is somewhat nitpicking about who will make the team based on their value in our rotation. What is more interesting to me is figuring out the rotation. We are talking about 15 players in this thread. The rotation will only be 9 and maybe 10 players. We are really only going to be cheering for 9-10 players on a regular basis. Everyone else is a small investment in the future or for injuries. The small investments in Torres, Jones, TMo and Langhi I think are keepers right now. But does that mean any of them are going to break into the rotation without injuries. For instance, what can TMo do that Griffin can't? Why would you give TMo any PT this year rather than just giving it all to Griffin? Are we really going to play 2 rookies at the same time as part of our rotation this year?? If so, are you going to give Torres any PT. If you say yes to all of that, you are describing an 11 man rotation, and you haven't even given Collier, Langhi or Jones any PT. Precedence of the Rockets and every team says that only 2 players outside of Willis, Walt and Moochie are playing, at most. It is doubtful there will be 3 SFs getting real PT, especially when Griffin can play that position. And the idea of Walt for a 1st rounder or a center is like the holdest rumor still riding at cc.net. Why not keep him for Rice injuries and ride his 39% career 3-pt shooting into next summer and cash him in then? Everyone mentioned in this thread can stay on the team, since we have a good reason to keep IR full this year. B and crash.... I'm with you on Langhi. Who here does not want a 6'11" pure shooter to succeed? But at what point do we say that he is trying to do more than that, and his skills are not there....except the spot-up shooting...which he eventually will nail more consistently. It is a sweet stroke. But he can't dribble like he thinks he can (exposes the ball too much it seems), and he can't play D worth a damn (spreads his legs way too much which prevents perimeter lateral mobility). I can buy B's idea that a lot of this is because he doesn't have vision or a feel for the court. As for feeling the court: You know, I saw him stub his toe 3 times during stoppage of play...just walking. What? Are you shoes too big Dan? crash, You do a good job of explaining the purpose of Collier. I didn't know about his shin splints, so I guess he'll start on IR. But, when he is on the active roster, Rudy will use him specifically to run 24 high with Mobley. This might be done 2-4 consecutive possessions until the D stops it. This might be done for 6 consecutive possessions like when we destroyed Indiana with it last year. imo, until we see a change of system to pull one of our weakside threats on the pick-n-roll like Rice to come pick for the guards, we must assume it will continue being a PF or C doing this, as is traditionally the case in most all systems. I'll tell you what: I'll be the first to say Griffin can fully replace Collier's purpose, or to report that we've added new wrinkles to allow Willis and Cato to help get the guards loose.
