After watching Eddie Griffin play very good low post def on both Tim Duncan and David R. last night He has to start at the 4 and T. Morris was great off the bench at the 4. Let the rookies rock and roll T. Morris can also swing to the 3. Griffin is definately a major shot blocker and low post intimidator, he had Robinson and Duncan changing their shots. I am on the start Eddie bandwagon!
great, the arguments about starting Eddie are our new way to tell Rudy he doesn't know what he is doing. Did you see that offense? When we have both Francis and Mobley, we are a changed team. This is all fluid motion. But no, let's find a new bandwagon to march over Rudy's legacy. The coach has to be wrong about something, otherwise what is there to yell at the TV. I believe if Rudy has proven one thing, it is that he knows how to bring up rookies and when to start them versus vets. rhester, I'm just giving you the business. I'm with you. Griffin is all that was advertised and more. I am so thrilled. He'll get plenty of playing time, same with Morris. And with Willis playing like "we remember him" (jab Jeff ), we can go ahead and stick Collier way at the end of the bench. I've seen enough. I think Collier is losing his purpose fast. Now, when I take off my homer glasses though, I must admit that I saw Duncan just stroll to the rim for slams over Griffin a couple of times. Griffin doesn't have the beef to contain him, yet. Duncan (like Francis) just turned on a switch seemingly when he wanted to and rattled off 10 points at the end of the 3rd to sit down for the night. And I believe that was against Griffin. For those who didn't see the game, in the 1st Quarter, Cato was on Duncan and Griffin on Robinson. That was a better match-up surprisingly enough. Cato showed great lateral movement to contain Duncan on the wing. Cato really looked agile with great positioning. Cato definitely did a better job on Duncan than Griffin. Griffin blocked Duncan once, but that was help D against an anemic scoop move by Duncan. Does anyone recall face up blocks that Griffin had on Duncan?
Crispee, do you still see Morris getting minutes even if Rice and Walt are healthy? Because that wasn't what you were postulating earlier in a different thread. Why the change? I definitely think Morris should get minutes, but I don't know if Rudy would give him the nod over Walt if Walt can produce. But watching both the rookies almost makes me wet my pants. Eddie was great out there, but you're right, Eddie's most effective getting blocks from the weakside. I don't think he got any blocks on Duncan face-up. He's a good interior defender (I like the way he always gets a hand up in the face of his man as he's shooting), but I wouldn't want to rely on his one-on-one skills presently for any but a finesse big man. I'm glad we have Willis and Cato to put bodies on more powerful big men. I really want to see what Eddie's role will be with the team long-term. The Cat seems to see Eddie more as a 4, 3, 5, maybe akin to Garnett (Cat, come correct me in my interpretation of your views). I'm leaning more toward the present team stance that Eddie is a big man, and just a big man. So do you feel Collier will get little more than 10 minutes a game? Is he the lowest on the depth chart of the five big men on the roster? That would be disappointing, if understandable, if both Collier and Langhi only get garbage minutes this year. I really, really want to see them succeed. And I think the Rockets need what they can potentially bring.
Relativist, note some of what I was saying was before we landed Willis. After seeing Willis playing so young like, I can't see us using more than Cato and Willis at center. This somewhat changes the dynamics for me. I wasn't ready to measure Willis's offense until I saw it. He will be active in our offense which allows us to use Griffin or Morris for active defense at PF. I think Morris can play two positions in different situations. Rudy will get him out there somewhere. I don't view this as he must beat out Walt, anymore. He sure can snatch down some boards, can't he? He is also as good on defense as everyone's been saying. I think it will be one of the Rudy situations where he'll say...I have to get him in somewhere, but Rudy will have a hard time pencil-ing him in for a set role in the rotation. I'm with Jaybird that TMo needs to prove consistency on offense before he will displace Walt. I expect Rudy to keep Walt active with consistent PT so he can fill in for Rice anytime Rice needs a day off. It is very important for our offense to have a proven shooter at SF to keep pressure off of Francis and Mobley. I can't say that TMo is there, yet. He needs to be a threat that makes defenses guard him. It isn't enough that he is left open and makes the shots...the threat of his shot needs to keep the defense honest, so they don't sag off him like they did Shandn. Walt gives us that. We may not agree. We might say that overall, better defense is more important off the bench. And we may find that to be true. I am just postulating how Rudy is approaching his SF position, and how to use it to free up Francis/Mobley.
I haven't seen a preseason game, but i have seen Willis, KT, and Collier play. If there aren't any injuries, Collier will see less than 5 minutes per game. KT, Griffin, and maybe Rice and Morris will play more PF minutes than Willis. Cato and Willis should be able to play 48 minutes of center, and the above mentioned players bring more to the floor than Collier at the four.
Griffin held Robinson most the game. Griffins blocked duncan when he drove it inside once, also when Duncan slided away from Cato and went to the basket, griffin came from the weakside to swat it away. Also I loved Griffin when he blocked Robinsons 20 footer he takes from top of the key wide open. That was great.
Griff played C an awful lot. He started at the PF, but he played against Robinson, and Robinson guarded him most of the game. He looked like he was a bit timid at first, but after he got into the game, he was awesome! His post up moves were Duncan-like. The outside shots weren't falling for him, but he was excellent down low. His rebounding and defense can only improve from here. Same with offense. And that is a very scary thing - for other teams of course!
Speaking of Cato, did everyone see the play where Rice passed to Cato from the top of the key, and Cato was about 10 ft out right in front of the basket? Cato then completed the play with a sweet turn-around jumper. The collective jaws of Compaq center dropped to the floor as they witnessed Cato looking like an offensive threat farther than two feet away from the basket. It looks to me like Cato's been working on his game more than we thought. Btw, I love Griffin et al too, but you expect good things from everyone else
He doesn't have the power yet, but once he gains about 25lbs he'll be a monster. He contested shots welll and didn't let anyone blow by him except once. I think Griffin and Willis will be on the floor alot at the end of games because one gives you inside scoring and rebounding and the other give you block shot and rebounding.. All i know though is if you throw it to Willis, you might as well crash the boards or get back on d, because you're not getting it back.
