What happened to Good ol Oscar?

Point well taken.

Last nite Oscar showed more effort than anyone else!!

Oscar deserves time in the regular rotation from here on in, not just to let him develop, but HIS WORK ETHIC IS SOMETHING THAT NEEDS TO RUB OFF ON COACHES AND PLAYERS ALIKE.

Am really disappointed in RT's handling of Oscar. Early on he was lighting it up, then he disappears for games at a time. I expect more from our head coach during a season that is o/w going nowhere



Dallas Rocket

 

I think Rudy is trying to hide Oscar prior to resigning him. After his fast start I didn't think that would work. However it is working. It is raising doubts and will make it easier to sign him.

Arguing to the contrary, it seems that Oscar is having a harder time shinng coming off the bench as he has a more all around, go with the flow game, than a traditional 6th man. He has not shown too much at small forward which is potentially much more open than the two guard behid Mobley.

Oscar will be in the rotation after he is resigned.

Oscar is the new Mario Elie.

 

Maybe he´s trying to hide Oscar, and if that´s the case, we should sign him before the Basketball World Championship (August 29-September 8). Oscar and Víctor Díaz are the two scoring options for Venezuela, so he should have a lot of shots, and put some good numbers. If he has a good tournament, offers will come from a lot of teams. That´s what usually happens in this kind of tournaments, lot of scouts watching players. However, the media here says that it´s a good chance that Oscar will be back with the Rockets next year, at least that´s what he think.

 

Not only does OT have a great work ethic, he is very smart and knows how to get something out of nothing. He and Tmo give us the best shot at having a motion offense ever work in this town.

 

I think Oscar still needs to work on some parts of his game that need practice time more than game time.

Still, he deserves more minutes. There's no way we make the playoffs anymore, so we might as well limit Francis and Cat's minutes to 30/game, and raise Moochie and Oscar's minutes.

 

Glynch nailed it, and I have said the same thing before, they are hiding him, so that they can pick him up cheaper then anyone else.

OT will be a major contributor NEXT year, hopefully here !!

DaDakota

 

I really hope that there's more to it than that. Oscar Torres was playing exceptionally well in the beginning of the season. If the Rockets are simply looking to more easily sign Torres in the off-season, then what they're doing is unethical for three reasons.

1. It is limiting their chances of winning games now if they are not putting the best lineup possible out on the floor every night.

2. They would be intentionally lowering a player's value by not allowing him to prove his worth.

3. It hinders his development as a player and could create a lack of confidence in his own abilities.

If it is true that the Rockets are doing this, I hope Oscar Torres does walk to another team next year where he could grow as a player and get the respect he deserves. So, please, tell me this isn't the reason.

 

Cam,

And what is your point?



This is the NBA, it is a business, the Rockets are simply protecting their own investment in the future.

This season is over, they are not going to do everything they can to WIN this year? Come on, all they care about is building up for next year, and more specifically, the year after that where they have the new building.

It is just business, nothing personal.

DaDakota

 

I don't believe it. If they were benching him so that they could keep his value low and sign him in the off-season, they would basically be repeating the mistake Golden State made with Marc Jackson. Torres would resent it (because they are reducing the amount of money he could earn on the open market) and could likely sign with another team just to be away from the Rockets for screwing him over.

Plus, the historical pattern doesn't seem to suggest they do this. Not too long ago, Cuttino Mobley was approaching an offseason where his market value would easily exceed what the Rockets could pay him. They still gave him lots of minutes and the green light to shoot the ball. It worked out because Mobley -- by signing a lowball contract -- repaid the loyalty they showed him. Shouldn't they repeat this approach with Torres if it worked so well last time?

 

Hasn't Oscar been playing nearly a full year uninterrupted?

He's probably running low on gas. Which is why I think his playing time is reduced.

 

DaDakota, my point is that it would be unethical. If I was in my first year of working for a company and was coming up on my one-year employee evaluation, I would be pissed if they didn't give me any assignments, or menial tasks, just so that they could justify giving me only a slight pay raise.

In Oscar's case, they didn't stop using him last week or yesterday. They severely cut his minutes in December. There was plenty of time then to get this team back on track.

If you want, I can easily explain the apparent paradox with the monkeys, apes, and man.

 

I like how folks can put together solid, tight theories to explain classically bonehead moves by the coaching staff.

For the most part OT was sufficiently exposed. Believe all GM's know who OT is. He has not played recently for various reasons none of which is to hide him. Some of the reasons include his play went down somewhat, all part of the transition to the NBA; the recent play of Mobes; and of course RT's love affair with the gimmick: 3 guard lineup.

 

Thank you! Explain it to him and any bible-thumping creationists who might be out there.

Go Rockets!!! =p

 

Pued's right on Oscar playing a lot of basketball this year prior to the NBA season. He's just hit the wall and needs some time to rest.

As far as the Rockets hiding him on the bench to lower his value, I'm not buying that at all.

Teams in the NBA know how good Oscar is, hiding Oscar on the bench just to decrease value will do nothing but piss off his agent.

I mean the dude was being paraded on NBA.com for a good month, you think other GM's in the league will just forget that he showed those signs of brilliance?

Also NBA teams would love to have Oscar due to his "First Venezuelan Born NBA Player" label, imagine the extra revenue that streams in thanks to the Global viewers...

I'd like to think Rudy has more class than what's being suggested in this thread...

 

Guys,

My sig is meant as a joke, nothing more.


As for Oscar, I hope Rudy and Company are doing whatever is necessary to protect the Rockets long term interests, be it tanking or hiding a player on IR, or not playing someone to keep their value somewhere that is reasonable.

If you don't like it, fine...we disagree.

DaDakota

 

Dakota,

Don't you think that hiding Oscar on the IR would just piss him off and make him decide to go elsewhere?

How's that helping our longterm interests?

 

BGM,

I think Oscar feels fortunate to be in the NBA and is also grateful to the Rockets for signing him.

I think he is just happy to be here. I also think that the Rockets will sign him to a fair long term deal.

DaDakota

 

Well I mean it's not like the Rockets were the ONLY team interested in Oscar. If I remember correctly, it came down to the Sonics and the Rockets and Oscar chose the Rockets. Now more teams have seen what Oscar is capable of and might offer him more than what the Rockets currently are in the aspects of playing time and role on the team.

Someone's going to try to steal Oscar from us, and Oscar will probably go if we just sit him on the bench behind Mobley, Steve, and Terence Morris.

I think this is the perfect time for the Rockets to show Oscar what they have to offer. Give Oscar his role now, and I'm sure he'd be happy. Hide him on the bench, and he'll probably want to go to a team that promises to give him x amount of minutes.

If we lower his value, then more teams will be able to give Oscar offers, so then it comes down to "Where will I flourish the most?" It's going to be hard for him to say Houston if they're jerking with him now...

Oscar will probably stay a Rocket, but if the Rockets are actually benching him on purpose so other teams don't see him (which I don't believe is true), then I'm sure Oscar's agent and other teams will offer Oscar a better situation than the one he's currently in...

 

BGM, you convinced me, but something does seem odd.