Player ratings Cato: F, the boy is mentally ill and doesn't have clue about being a professional. He ganked the Rocks for $42 mil and is living the life in beautiful Houston. I would trade him for Felton Spencer and Othello Harrington. At least they hustle. Rudy's motto for Cato, if your not hustling, rebouding, and playing D, let's have a seat next to Keith (what does he do) Jones. Rice: D-, his body is BFI (garbage co.), his lateral movement is shot and his moves to the bucket are in slow-mo. Rudy's motto for him, if he's not shooting well, he's sitting!! Kenny: C+, He's the only guy that thinks he plays good D and the opposing players scores 28+ and has 10 plus boards. His jumper is getting consistent, which set's up his only move (spin and hope nobody is waiting to block his shot). Rudy's motto for him, hit the shot, your wide open dude!! CAT: B, Up and down like the Dow Jones, can score 12 in 87 seconds and go invisible the rest of the game. Cat add some more D to you game and our victory total wil increase. Rudy's motto for him, pass the ball to someone besides Steve, because they are wide open. STEVE: A++, I get excited watching this baller carry the Rockets, he should have an Advil commercial on back pain, what is agent doing on the commercial scene. The Rockets only go as far as Steve can carry them. If can add psychollogy to his skills, Rice, Cato, and Walt will give us something. Willis A: No doubt we would be sucking up L's at this point without his presence. Very professional and hustles at age 39. Rudy's motto for him, Keep it up because we need EVERYTHING your giving us. You know what's up with Cato. Griffin B; The rookie jumper is pure and has great defensive presence on the floor. Please move him to the 3, he has shoot the ball better than Rice or Walt. Rudy's motto for him, keep learning and improving, someone is borrowing your starting spot on the team. Walt C: Only because he got hot against Dallas, if his jumper is not going, he is invisible at best. Rudy's motto for him, check Glen Rice's motto. Moochie D+; I'm not sold on the 3 plus mil man. Several turnovers early in the Dallas and he only has one move to the hole. Hesitate and go left. Rudy's motto for him, Do something, anything, I need to get my money's worth. Terrence Morris Incomplete: Should be Eddie's backup with Walt and Rice backing up CAT at the 2. Rudy's motto for him; keep up the hard work and your future is bright. No mention for Oscar and the rest.
What does KT need to do to get respect from people like you? You say the guy plays no D.......he has improved alot since last year and he atleast HUSTLES for the rebounds. KT desserves a B
Only a C+ for Kenny Thomas? Slightly above average? A 3rd year undersized PF who was an unheralded #22 pick and allegedly had no work ethic? Mo Taylor's backup has saved our butts plenty this season. Eddie Griffin a B? A number 7 pick who the Rockets may have selected even if they had the #1 pick. A player with (arguably) as much potential as anyone on the team. A player whose play thus far is less than spectacular except for a display of range when left wide open and an occassional weakside block.... man532, I think you are displaying a lack objectivity and some of your personal bias's are showing in favor of potential. Forget about potential and reverse the scores and I may be inclined to agree with your evaluations.
CAT: B, Up and down like the Dow Jones, can score 12 in 87 seconds and go invisible the rest of the game. Cat add some more D to you game and our victory total wil increase. Rudy's motto for him, pass the ball to someone besides Steve, because they are wide open. Dude, Cat has played through pain just like Steve. He's also played much better individual defense than Steve has. Yet, you leave out the first and don't mention the defense complaint when talking about Steve. Sounds unbiased to me...
Cat is playing through injuries, that's why he's up and down. That's common knowledge. He's played through hip and ankle injuries and he's still our number 2 scorer. And no way is Francis an A++. An A-, he struggled in the early goings this season, but he is turning it on now, as is Cat. To say Cat scores a few points and disappears is crazy. You were at the game, Cat scored 16 of his 20 points in the 2nd half. Francis defense also isn't exactly A+, Nash blew by him several times. Kenny is an easy B maybe even an A. He is playing solid D and is rebounding the ball, all while undersized. How can you give Griffin a B, he is more of an incomplete. He has his moments, but isn't getting the time yet. He had a few good moments in garbage time last night.
Tired of Folx Dogging KT He has been great this season considering all the expectations Man, You seems to be a Stevie Fan maybe a Willis and Griff Fan but you are obviously not a Rocket Fan. Rocket River I give props to all rockets [CATO AIN'T A ROCKET DAMMIT . . he a uhm . . .. UFO - USELESS F*CKING OBJECT!!]
KT : A Who expected him to be on this level? with MoT out of the line up, 4 spot could have been diseaster for Rockets.. and he has been responding pretty well competing. Steve : A I will give him A+++ if he actually makes his teammates better .
I'm not biased towards Kenny, I think he has done a decent job, however, look at the statistics of the power forwards that he has defended. In addition, he has hesistated on too many open looks and has failed to knock the jumper down consistently. EG has much better range and blocks shots effortlessly. In addition, Eddie was in the game when we made a run at the Spurs. Make no mistake about it, I'm a ROCKET MAN. My wife will tell you that I'm in a very foul mood when the Rockets lose to anyone.
Cato (D) - He isn't an F yet. He is still starting. Only the 34th best Center in the league... Thomas(B+) - How can he be a C. He is even hitting his jump shots. Playing good D. Francis(A) - A++ is too much. He is fumble fingers in the clutch. D is still a big questionmark. Mobley(A) - Still our clutch performer. Playing hurt. Playing alot of minutes. Our best perimeter defender. Rice(C-) - Unbelievablely streaky. Just like Walt. No postup game. Williams(C+) - Better D than last year. Still inconsistent. Griffin(C) - Good D but still lost. Needs more minutes. Willis(A-) - Unbelievable rebounder. Good defender. Bad hands. If he could just catch the rock on a pass. Moochie(C-) - Playing better but we need him to give Francis and Mobley breaks.
Disclaimer: small sampling of games 3.5, based on the West, past performances and expectations. Francis A to A+ Been great in the games I've seen, not a liability on defense. Mobley A to A- Been solid on defense. Been good on offense. really missed him in SA game. Rice F Based on past performances and expectations KT C- Based on starting West PFs. He's done a good job, maybe all star material in East, but he's around the 8th best PF in the West. Cato D Its Cato, do I really need to elaborate, but I will anyway. Each time I've seen him its been worse than the game before. Moochie C- Been inconsistent in games I've seen. Griffin C- Inconsistent as backup PF Willis B- Been both great twice and goat once when I've watched. Sometimes he has butter fingers. This compounds his small arms or may be a result of small hands. Others INC
Steve Francis: A He has been a force in every facet of the game so far. His D is better, his rebounding is at a ridiculously high level, and he is taking shots! Francis is simply incredible. Cuttino Mobley: A Cuttino has carried the Rockets in some games, and led them on comebacks in others. I happen to think that Mobley is playing much more intelligently this year, and his heart is still massive. Glen Rice: C Glen has done a lot of little things for the Rockets, like coming up with big rebounds and hustle points here and there. His shot will start to fall eventually, and this grade will go up. He needs to demand the ball a little more. The Glen Rice we have seen so far is nowhere near the Glen Rice we will see as the season progresses. Kenny Thomas: A Kenny has been a huge lift for the Rockets this year. He rebounds, he hustles, he plays solid (not great) defense, and he is finishing his shots. Kenny is providing an inside presence, and is holding his own with other forwards thanks to his quickness. Kelvin Cato: D I am one of the few that is still supporting Cato. I think his attitude has been much better this year. His play has been garbage, but his attitude is fine. Cato isn't a lazy slob, he's just a mediocre basketball player that got too much money. That is the fault of the Rockets. I still think he will end up averaging 7-8 boards this year. Kevin Willis: A Kevin Willis was the best offseason acquisition. It's amazing to think that the Rockets added him at the last second of the medical exception deadline. He is basically a double-double every night, and a great replacement for Hakeem, stat-wise. Moochie Norris: C+ Aside from a few huge shots, Moochie has disappointed me this season. The offense tends to stagnate when he comes into the game. I expect more as the season goes on. Walt Williams: C Walt hasn't been used properly this year, and his numbers have suffered. When he is left open behind the 3pt line, Walt is almost automatic. The problem is, he hasn't been getting many open shots because he usually only plays when Moochie is on the floor. Eddie Griffin: C Demand the ball in the post for once! I don't care if you're a rookie! And Rudy, put him in the game for more than 5 minutes now and then! Terence Morris: inc- not enough playing time Oscar Torres: D P-R-E-S-E-A-S-O-N Tierre Brown: inc- has he even played yet? Coach Rudy Tomjanovich: B+ The offense is getting better, and the Rockets are a great defensive team. He has the team winning games, and staying competitive in others. His lineups are still questionable, and I don't like the way he is using Eddie Griffin. The offense needs more creativity. Other than that, Rudy is doing a good job. Overall team grade: B+ They should be 8-2.
ZRB - your analysis is right on- I agree- keep up the posts. Watching this game -1:05min left in 3rd - I wish we had pulledthe trigger on the trade -Olajuwon for Doug Christie ( from Toronto at the time) - at least Christie wouldn't be pasting us now. Actually I am loyal to Hakeem- I did not want to do the trade at the time- and let my heart get in the way of improving the team.
