Considering how this season has gone, I want to know why Oscar Torres has not been getting the minutes he deserves? I know, I know....Francis is back and we have seen the emergence of Eddie Griffin. But why in the hell is TMo getting more minutes than Oscar? I just can't fathom this. Yea, yea...I know all you TMo supporters will tell me stuff like "he does the little things so well" or "he plays great defense" or "he really goes after loose balls." All of this is a nice way of saying "he can't shoot and he can't score." I know that Oscar is not shooting as well as he used to, but damn, give the guy a chance. At least he has proven he can shoot. Also, I don't think that there is any one player on the Rockets team who works harder than Oscar Torres. Maybe Rudy feels that he needs to convince himself that TMo was worth a 1st round draft pick. Hell, after all, Oscar didn't come with that price tag. I know that I'm dumping on TMo, but I'm frustrated to see a talent like Torres being buried on the bench along the likes of Boney (Langhi) and Dead Man Walking (Collier). Here is the real question: who will still be in the league 5 years from now....Oscar or TMo? I think you know who I would say.
I personally think Rudy is hiding Oscar for this next seasons contract negotiations. If Oscar continued to prove himself, he would get large offers on the open market. I think Rudy wants Oscar to stay, so he is downplaying him right now. Just my 2 cents. DD
I think there are quite a few reasons. One of which DaDakota has mentioned. Maybe Torres has had some poor practices recently? It's a pretty bold assumption to say he workes harder than any other Rocket. I haven't heard anything to support or deny that claim. I also think it comes down to the fact that Oscar isn't a SF. He's had the majority of his scoring success as a 2 guard if I'm not mistaken. I think playing against taller small forwards causes more difficulty for him when he's on offense. Lastly, I think his time is being eaten up by the 3 guard offense. Rudy persists in using this down the stretch of games. Torres is supposed to be Mobley's backup, but when you've got Francis taking a signifigant portion of those minutes, Torres gets the shaft. I think this is the most signifigant thing taking away Torres' minutes per game. As for who will be in the NBA in the next 5 years.... I'd like to think they both would. If Morris can start shooting at a reasonable percentage he'll have a long carear as a role player. If Torres can get signifigant minutes, I think he can be a very productive 2 guard. The bigger question is will either of these things be able to happen while they're with the Houston Rockets? I think that depends on the coach more than anything. Rudy's got to put them both in a position to succede.
No way...Its Steves influence. He wants to see if Steve and TMo have any on court magic together. I personally would like to see Oscar start also. I do like TMo. He has shown me enough that he is a solid bench player that should get 20 min a game. He does the little things well like Najera of Dallas or JYD of Toronto. Oscar needs to start at the 3. Every game he has started he has scored more than 15 pts.
Although I hate to admit it, Woodlandsboy's reason is a VERY good one. DaDakota's is good too. Me, I think Torres can't communicate with our players, so he finds it hard to play with the other guys. This very well might be a problem for him. I think Torres is gonna come out a VERY good player next year, purely because I know he's working on his game right now, and will continue to do so whether he plays or not. he doesn't have that much to work on. Very little ballhandling and defense. Language skills too I guess.
Oscar Oscar Oscar Dude has been bench warming way too long. Once he gets in a groove.... look out. Problem is, we have been leaving him out of the rotation TOO much for reasons I will never know. As I have said before, T-mo has done nothing to prove he is more than an average bench player.
Oscar should start and Cat should sit. Oscar Torres is a fantastic supporting player for Francis-Griffen. Cat is not. He would excel from the bench. Tmo is good for helping us pick up ping pong balls. Scratch that first sentence. Fine, if we can re-sign Oscar now, let Cat iso to the # 1 pick. We're gaining on Chicago! Look out, lotto competition, iso comin' at ya!
Excellent points by all. Yea, I forgot about the 3 guard line-up that Rudy loves so much with Moochie. However, Oscar is like 6-7 and I think that he could handle the SF spot. Maybe they think he is not strong enough to stay with the 3s of this league. The language thing is probably definitely a problem, too. If the reason for sitting him is really because they don't want to have to pay him a big contract, then if I'm Oz, I would highly resent the Rockets for doing that to me & I would be looking to go to another team.
Wouldn't lowering the guy's market value make it easier for other teams to offer him their exceptions? I mean, you're Oscar Torres, and you know you're good, and other teams know you're good too, and if everyone's offering you the same crappy contract, wouldn't you go to the place you'd get the most playing time? Especially since you're stuck behind Cuttino Mobley? This market value thing is dumb in my opinion, other teams know that Oscar has a lot of talent, and they also know that he has a high following in Venezuela, I'm sure plenty of teams will offer him their exceptions.
This has been posted elsewhere, but I think Tmo is being given some chances to see if he's worth keeping or should be packaged as trade filler. Since it's already been established that the Rockets aren't going playoffs, and that Torres is worth keeping, I don't really see any problem with benching OT for a few more games. Also, weren't there reports that Torres was still tired out from the later-ending Venezualen season? Lastly, Torres is 6'6", and as he doesn't seem much interested in/adept at rebounding (and especially defensive rebounding), you could argue that he really isn't an SF. Though he does shoot the 3 well, which the Rockets like SFs to do.
From the beginning of the season I callled for a fast paced game, pressure defense and a long rotation. I also called for no one to exceed 35 mins per game. There is nothing about our team that suggest that I was crazy to prescribe these things. Still at this juncture, we are walking up the ball except if Moochie is in the game and we are getting no fast breaks and our defensive fg% and turnovers are among the league's worst. This is from a team that has Tmo, EG, Francis, Mobes, OT, KT, Cato and Willis. I cannot see why we are so poor defensively. In the meantime, Francis has migranes and Mobley has bad ankles, but Rudy is playing them 40 something mins a game. He also insist on the ineffective midget lineup, the dreaded three guard lineup that got their **** handed to them by Dallas. All this while Tmo, OT, Langhi and Collier should be getting full exposure. Who would have thought that with Rice and Williams out and with KT also out, that Langhi would not have played one minute even in a back to back situation. Limit players minutes, increase the tempo, play pressure defense and expose your young players. Given the product we have put on the floor and the performance gotten this season, the rotation below could not be such a bad idea. Let's see what we have. C Cato 30.............Collier 18 PF EG 35.............Willis 13 SF KT 33............ Tmo 15 PG Francis 33..............Moochie 15 OG Moochie 33..............OT 15 or C Cato 28 Collier 15 Willis 5 PF EG 33 Tmo 15 SF KT 33 Langhi 15
BGM, Oscar doesn't know how good he is, and a reason he'd stay with the Rockets is because he loves the organization for giving him a chance (oeilpere said it a couple of weeks ago).
So, in other words, you are saying that the Rockets have Oscar over a f*cking barrel? "Hey, Oscar....we really like you and we are going to show it by giving you a salary comparable to your average 12th man. We know that you aren't going to do anything about it because you enjoy being screwed. So, we are going to screw you and underpay you and underplay you." That is horses*it. I really hope that if the Rockets do something that callous that Oz will wake up and tell them to stick it up their ass. True, the Rockets can do this to him by not playing him, but I think that other teams out there know how good he is or can be and would be willing to give him the contract he deserves.
OP said something like the Rockets will offer him a 'modest but generous' sum. I don't think he'll be lowballed, or relegatd to the bench for the rest of the season. OT has at times been tired/injured, and now the Rockets want to try some things out with other players. I bet OT's minutes will be back up before long. Upon doing a search: the word OP used to describe the sum was 'decent.'
Terrance Morris have been quite awful until a good to average performance in the last game. Why is it if you want to play in The Rockets Frontcourt you have to shoot the three? Is This Rudy's thinking? Walt is fine yes and Griff can stroke it pretty well, But KT used to shoot a lot of 3's I just dont see why everyone but Cato is launching bombs. The Injury Bug has b****-slapped the ROckets this season, Our Forwards have been taken out like an AL-Queda Training Camp. Hell Maybe we should put Dan Langhi out there one of these games.
Sane, who cares if Oscar doesn't know how good he is? I'm pretty sure he knows how good he is, if he doesn't know how good he is, then other teams will tell him how good he is when they offer him a contract. I realize that Oscar loves Houston and his agent is in the area, but he has an agent for a reason, to help him find out what's best for him. If the Rockets seriously just keep him on the bench to try to control his value, then that's a load of horse****, and I'd lose a lot of respect for this organization. I'm pretty sure Oscar's going to re-sign, I'm just saying that the "he's not playing because the Rockets don't want anyone else to know how good he is" is a crap argument. Hell other teams (the Sonics) knew how good Oscar was before he even came to Houston, do you people honestly think that other teams aren't going to be interested in throwing an exception at a 24 year old SG/SF with serious talent just because the Rockets tried to hide him on the bench? And Jerry, Oscar averages only 2.3 turnovers/48 minutes on this team, I used the per 48 minute number because you'd think if Oscar is an automatic 2-3 turnovers in his limited time, he'd average close to 8-9 turnovers per 48. You want to know who has higher Turnover/48 minute stats on this team? Steve Francis Tierre Brown Kenny Thomas Moochie Norris Cuttino Mobley and Dan Langhi Try again... Oscar should be a part of our future, if he's a restricted FA or not. If the Rockets disrespect him by limiting his minutes so they can control his market value, well whenever Oscar finally can leave, he will...
