Watching another game, it seems the Rockets still makes the game harder than what it should be. Theres a reason why the T' Wolves make the playoffs and we didn't, turnovers. I'd rather have a bad shot than no shot. The Rockets had 5 turnovers in the 4th which is highly unacceptable to be a playoff team. Whether it was Francis, Norris or Cat, the turnover was there. The lack of movement is also killing us for as offensively. We are struggling everytime down the floor to get a good look at the bucket. Of course a team will give you a 24ft shot, because its not a high % shot, but for us to get anything else, is remarkably hard. Glen Rice: I know its early, but couldn't Shandon score what he's scoring? Maybe NY knew something and to advantage of Rudy's desire to have Rice. If you look at our team, we are getting nothing out of our 3 spot between Walt and Rice. Homer can point to the fact that its early, but what do Walt and Rice bring to the table if they can't hit the open shot? Neither defends or rebounds well, but they both are on the court contributing nothing. When are we just going to give Morris a chance and see what he can bring, because from the looks of it, Rice is another stand still Bullard type. The difference is at least Bullard hit his shots.
Although the 5 TOs in the 4th quarter are not good, the game total of 13 is well below the team average for this and the last few years.
Of course Shandon could score what Rice is scoring. How hard is it to score nothing? I am all for letting Tmo get some time - just let him replace Walt and not Rice. Rice is wayy better than Bullard. Even though Rice hasn't been hitting his shots, I've seen him drive and score inside a few times, which is a few times more than I've EVER seen Bullard do. Rice is one of the best shooters in history - just in terms of shooting alone, I would take Rice over Bullard. Then factor in the other things that Rice can do - he was the main option in Charlotte, he knows how to work a double team, how to post up, how to score, etc. as opposed to just shoot like Bullard. It is frustrating right now, but there is a reason Bill and Calvin always defend Rice even after he misses.
Yeah, but that was 4 yrs ago when rice was the man. $ yrs ago Hakeem was still good and we were a playoff team. It doesn't seem like it, but 4 yrs ago was a loooooonnnnnnnggggggggggg time ago. Hell, the Bulls won the ring 4 yrs ago.
leebigez - agree about the late game TO's. Better get your flame protection gear. Out of the thousands of posters at CC, there where maybe 7 of us who would have rather let Shandon walk than take on Rice's $8m+/year. (I can only recall Thanos, Will, Det the Threat, Shanna and myself). You will get taken to task if you bad rap Rice! I would love for Rice to succeed and help the Rocks, but I've been a skeptic from day one. Anthony Mason was ALOT cheaper.
Personally, I thought we should have just let him walk and saved the money, but Rudy has been in love with Rice for a while. If we don't set picks and get Rice coming off of them, its very painful to watch him put the ball on the floor. Everyone got on my ass because I thought we should have went with Morris and Griffin and just see how it works. Looking at it now, they couldn't do any worse than what we're getting from thomas and Rice. Its a long season, but I just have problems with guys talking their way off championship teams like Rice did. Here he had 2 of the top 10 players in the league and him and his wife crying about shots. Guys like that pisses me off.
You never lose your shooting touch, but you do lose quickness and ability to score. $ yrs can be an eternity in the nba, and maybe that was glen's peak, but since then, he has been very avg.
Picture this: You had three injuries in the offseason, one of which is still slightly bothering you. Due to this, you were unable to play or hit the weight room. You join an up-tempo team from the NY Knicks. It's your third game, and your playing the best "Small" Forward in the league. Forget the fact that he's faster, he can jump higher, he's MUCH taller, and posseses skills adequate enough to play any of the 5 positions. Did you really expect anything else from Glen? Honestly, I love Glen, and once he gets into shape, he's gonna adjust perfectly, and make the Rockets better than .500. But even I, a Glen Rice fan, didn't think Glen had half a chance tonight. It was just too far-fetched.
I said it b4 and I'll say it again....Walt is better than Rice. At least walt can take it to the hole, Rice is so god d#mn slow and he lives and dies with that shot which he couldn't even do. Put Walt in place of Glen in the starting lineup.
Sane, i understand what you're saying, but what did the Rockets expect. We made excuses for taylor all of last yr and now we are starting with Rice. I was a Rice fan until he started crying with the Lakers a couple of yrs ago. Now we make a trade for an injured guy and he plays against Garnett, which most of the night played the 4 spot. i'm looking for all the Thomas fans after he was torched again by a 4 from the west. It doesn't get any easier because now Marion comes in for Rice and Googs for Thomas. This is what the Rockets knew the challenge was when they signed Rice and decided to start Thomas. This is a tough, power forward oriented conference, but if you ask gm's what's the next best position they'll probably say the 3 spot. If we don't stop making excuses and start getting something out of that spot, we'll be on the outside looking in again.
Leebigez: You have to be one of the most negative Rocket fans that I have ever seen here. How many games did Rice play in the pre-season?? One?? Zero?? It wasn't many. The guy is not in shape right now, but get off his ass already! I seriously doubt a rookie like Tmo could have hit that last shot as Rice had a guy draped all over him. I guarantee you that Rice will be averaging around 15 points a game by the time the season is over. Yea, it sucks that he can't get his shot to fall and no one else is able to do anything at the 3 right now as Walt continues to struggle as well. But have patience with Glen. To start suggesting Tmo to play over Glen is ludicrous and a LOL! I admit that maybe Tmo needs more minutes if Walt keeps sucking but Rice is not going anywhere. He will win some games for us this year. I don't think that you can say the same for Morris.
Out of those 2 for 21 - 3 pointers that Walt & Glen have combined for - what would that percentabe be if Langhi was shooting them (AND ONLY SHOOTING THEM - no slashing for langhi). Damn I miss Bullard, he seemed to always hit those shots last season - and saved the Rockets ass many of times. PS> FRANCIS SHOULD OF SHOT THAT LAST SHOT, FROM INSIDE THE 3 POINT LINE!!!! We truthfully do not have any solid (consistent) 3 point shooters in our lineup. Isn't Porter still unsigned? Damn anybody that can hit more than 2 for 21. I have faith Rice will pick it up by the end of the season, but the Rockets live and die at the 3 point line. With nobody hitting them consistently, its going to get worse, before it gets better.
What?? In case you haven't seen them play, Walt is just as slow, maybe even slower than Glen Rice - and this is when Glen Rice isn't even in shape yet. Whenever Walt drives, I cringe because I feel as if the broadcasters just switched the game to slow motion. Also, did you see Walt Williams today?? His "drives" barely got him anywhere, and he ended up forcing bad passes... something disastrous usually happens with Walt Williams tries to drive it to the hole. The few times that I've seen Rice drive, he's made better decisions and better moves than Williams. Walt Williams CANNOT drive better than Glen Rice. If anything they are equal in terms of driving. I think Glen Rice just brings way more to the table than WAlt Williams, but even if you compare shooting ability, I would take Rice over Walt any day.
Yes it has only been 3 games, no doubt, but how much longer of performances like this till will let T.Mo play?....I am not saying T.Mo should tear it up, nor is he supposedly a better shooter....what I do say is he showed alot more than Walt & Rice put together in the preseason!...Better court movement, more fluidity in his game. He showed himself to be a very poised player for a rook. Seemingly better defense and maybe, he should start this year? Blasphemy, you say? Well honestly if Rice doesn't improve (and he ain't showing me anything much.) then the team will suffer and it isn't fun seeing them lose. I know Rudy won't likely do this, but mow much longer of this till we all wonder?.....
The snow dude is rite on, williams was like the slowest person on the court tonite. He has no dribbles, hes 6 foot 8 and blocks a shot like once a month. He doesnt deserve to be on our roster, once rice gets going that will be all for williams cuz morris will have his time
Rice will have a big night for us soon. You guys are just looking for someone to blame. **** Tmo. Maybe he'll get some of walts minutes, but I doubt it. Rice is our starting sf for the season.
So what if Lakers fans cringed when Rice dribbled it off his foot? That doesn't make Walt a better driver How can you even judge Walt's dribbling ability - all I've ever seen him do is try to do some fancy stuff by dribbling between his legs but it almost never gets him anywhere. What good does any of that do if he doesn't have the speed to do anything with it? If you wanna go by statistics, Rice's career 3 pt percentage is 40.4%. Walt's career 3 pt percentage is 37.4%. Rice can't guard anyone... neither can Walt. It's just amazing to hear anyone put Walt above Glen Rice. Clutch even said in his recap, he use to call Walt Williams a poor man's Glen Rice. Rice will go down in history as one of the greatest shooters of all time (do u even remember what he did in a certain all star game?), Walt will just go down as a good shooter.
