Chronic: Scola says Adelman forces players to think

am I the only one frightened by this?? Unless ofcourse Francis' minutes go to Aaron Brooks... or unless he's somehow increased his basketball IQ... hopefully he'll hardly ever top 20 mpg and be closer to Cuttino than what we've seen from him in the past.

 

I agree. That's what came to my mind when I first read it too.

Basketball IQ and Steve Francis don't go together.

But who knows. Maybe if Steve's the finisher, he needn't kill the offense with unnecessary dribbling, just catch passes from backdoor cuts and jam them home.

 

If there's one thing I DON'T want to see the Rockets do, it's have Steve Francis make decisions! Mainly because he'll make the same choice each and every time.

 

PG is the one area I am concerned about, as we do not have a Mike Bibby style of playmaker, or one that is a heady ball player at that postion.

Heck, Rafer is probably the best at this (Need to wash my fingers off for typing that), the others James, Francis, JL3, do not exude BBall IQ....maybe Brooks or Head .......will fit in, but I am worried about our PG being able to execute a screen and roll and to hit the cutters at the proper time where they can do something with the ball.

DD

 

man this is really getting me pumped about the season. i can't wait to see yao, scola, and tmac in this offense.

 

I do not think Rafer has it too. Only PG who has a high B IQ is AB, but he is rookie.

 

This is precisely why Coach A is giving Harris a good long look

And why Kirk's role is in jeopardy

 

looks like luis will do will in the motion offense that adelman is trying to instill onto the team. the argentinian team ran a lot of cuts and motion so he is probably already accustomed to moving without the ball.

should be exciting to watch

 

James, Francis, JL3, Head can't run the pick and roll. Brooks maybe, but he's done it in the past as he is more of a scorer of the pick an roll in the past.

Rafer can do it 1/2 way but since he is not able to score himself, the opposing team can concentrate more of their effort on the picker and making it harder to complete the pass.

IMO, only 1 player on the rockets can execute the pick and roll and hit the picker and that is Mac.

Last year, there were no effective picker where he can finish the play. Yoa was too slow, Hayes can't shoot, and Howard can't do anything other than spot shoot. This year it's Scola. He can catch and shoot or take it to the rim or pass effectively.

So... Without further adieu, I present you.

The MAC and CHEESE combo as the most effective pick and roll combo this year.

 

He will be the Bobby Jackson here. So I don't see that as a problem.

 

HaHaHaHa

 

these are words im looking for

 

Kirk is our Gerarld Wallace.

 

OH G*D . .the return of the dreaded BASKETBALL IQ

Rocket River
the most overused and B.S. Term in Basketball today

 

it's ok. Accept it DD, Rafer can help this team and as unpopular of an idea it is, he can fill a role. You said it yourself, james/francis aren't great basketball thinkers and especially when it comes to getting others involved.

Head has to significantly improve his ball handling before he's asked to think about distributing it. He has got better and im sure he is improved this year but i dont think he will be there yet.

Brooks, i like. Loved watching him in the pac10. Im optimistic he will at least be a solid NBA guy for years to come, but... well let's just say a particular pg has ruined me from expecting any significant contribution to a playoff team.

Rafer is the best ball handler and the best passer on the team next to tmac. He sees the floor the best and is also a better defender (albeit, marginally) than the others. We all know that the lack of proven offensive threats last year forced rafer to take on a larger scoring role than whats appropriate and it was a bad position for him.

I'd really like to see Rafer running the point with 4 guys around him that can score (francis, tmac, scola, yao; for example) so that he has a minimal scoring responsibility. Of course, compare to last year...he had 2 scorers on the floor with him (tmac and yao).

 

I totally agree.

sincerely,

 

There's some truth to that. I think the bigger problem here is that a lot of folks have cemented some baseless attitudes about the intelligence of the various players.

 

Uh, I think we have plenty of evidence on file re: Francis.

 

Well let's just hope that Francis can adapt. What was he required to learn before? Under Rudy, I'm pretty much sure it was give the ball to Steve and get out of his way.