Is it just possible that this Rockets team missed Mo Taylor WAY MORE than anyone would have imagined or predicted? I still see Taylor bashed relentlessly because he grabbed 6 boards a game rather than 8. Big whoop. He is a versatile offensive player but not selfish and not prone to bad decisions that I could tell in my few opportunities to watch the team play. We can't say that about our other 2 scorers, can we? What I am really wondering about is the <b>leadership</b> that, perhaps, he afforded us last year and is so sorely and obviously missing from the team this year. He came in under a cloud of suspicion and was well-received and -respected last year. He wanted to remain here so badly, go the good contract, and then came the Achilles injury. Who can honestly say that they were disappointed by MoT's play last year? Is this a possibility? Give this some thought rather than a one line sarcastic dismissal. I have the advantage of some objectivity necessitated by remoteness!
He certainly led us into the first quarter of games last season. Taylor of the last 30 games or so gave us a taste of what he could do... as has been noted before. Hope he gets healthy and consistent. Some of our guys are rarely one and never the other. Oh, and howdy folks... I will now return to lurk mode having finally made the dreaded first post.
Taylor's 1st quarter outbursts would have been useful this year, seeing how we got off to so many bad starts. If we had Mo, we would be a .500 team or so.
Talk about grasping. Mo Taylor's absence has not adversely impacted the Rockets. Personally, I think their record would be even worse if he had been playing because Kenny Thomas brings a little more to the table than does Taylor. I'd like to know why you say Taylor provided leadership last year. What did he do exactly besides feed the media a bunch of cliches that made him sound like a real committed guy (remember, he was playing for a contract last year)? Taylor's a mediocre PF. His absence is not the problem, the problem is the Rockets reliance on a 1 on 5 offensive system, the fact that their team defense is abysmal (and Taylor is a matador defensively) and Rudy T has regressed into basically a horrible coach.
MoT is definately missed. I don't know to the degree that we're missing leadership. If nothing else, MoT adds size to our frontcourt that is sorely missing. Even though he isn't a great defender, he does give us a bulky option to match up against certain teams. Not to mention his 1st quarter offensive prowess. I saw somewhere that the Rocks have had something like 18+ games decided by 6 points or less. Any added offense would have made a difference. Then KT adds real depth. Yes, MoT was missed.
I have no proof. I'm just conjecturing for the sake of discussion. Leadership is not a numbers thing. As someone pointed out, Kenny Thomas pretty well replaced Mo's numbers. I'm not entirely keying on what Mo said, I'm thinking more about the things that Rudy and CD said. I am under the impression that we got more than we expected from MoT from the aspect of being a "professional." That does translate to leadership. Face it, something is missing. MoT, Dream, and Shandon are the pieces missing from last year. Francis has missed a lot of games, but when playing he seems to have regressed from a team standpoint (no pointguard mindset and matador defense) and is the target of much criticism here. Intellectually I'm left with Mo T. It's a worthy discussion.
Giddyup, Interesting points. I think the biggest issue with the team is a lack of trust in passing the basketball. Steve and Cat do not pass to all of their teamates unless they trust them. You can see them freeze out EG, or TMO, or Cato when he gets good position. But, they do have that trust with MoT, so you may have a point, perhaps when he is in there, the ball starts getting passed around much earlier and thus makes the team better as a whole. Interesting !! DaDakota
Would we have been better with Mo this year? YES why? Because we would have had a third frontcourt Player KT, Mo and Griff If KT was out and Mo was in . . would we be better I doubt it Rocket River
This is so classic. Everyone b****es about our lack of front court depth, but when rudy and company decided not to pursue CWeb in the off-season they were basically saying they decided to set our team back several more seasons. You don't draft a rookie and sign your mediocre 4 and say you're set if you want some post season action. You go out and get the talent you see in the post season. And the funny thing was some people here praised rudy and co. for not going after any talent in the off season.
Rocket River hit it right on the head. If anything, Mo was another decent frontcourt player, as was Dream. Their absence made the Rocks very thin up front, and the West is the wrong conference to be in with a thin frontcourt of underdeveloped players.
DrPepper, Another interesting take, however, the flaw in your argument is that Cwebb might not have come here, and probably wouldn't have come here. So, the Rocks would have pursued him, and lost MoT to Seattle or another team. I think they took the safest route possible, and they are a classy organization. Other players see that Mo signed for less and the Rockets rewarded him with a good contract. They see that Mobley did the same. Not to mention, if the Jackson thing would have worked out the Rocks would have been ENORMOUSLY better. DaDakota
Lets see, SA rountinely guarded the best SF/SG. Played excellent on the fast-break. Was able to handle 40+ minutes a night, and pretty much had excellent chemistry with CM and SF. He was content with his role on the team as not being a scorer,and also passed extremely well .No he wasnt a great 3 point threat. But whats to expect on this board. If your PG isnt avg 10 assists per night, trade him. If your PF isnt 6 10+, trade him. If a SF can give you every ingredient require in a SF game, but yet doesnt measure up to McGrady, you trade him. Your remark is laughable, becuase your a typical nintendo playing GM simulation machine. KT IMHO has played well at the PF position, and has increased the productivity at the PF position. The lack of contribution at the SF position has been crucial this year, with the Rocks pretty much rotating 3-4 players at that spot, with the hopes of finding a fit. But anyways, whatever right. its all opinions
NC While I agree with your assessment of the demanding nature of most posters, where did you get your info about Shandn last year? He was NOT content last year with his role. He even became vocal about it and it was documented in the Chronicle. He wasn't happy with how the guards never looked his way downcourt. Which leads to your second point: He played well on the fast break? We fast break? Shandon was not a bad player. He did play good defense. But if keeping him meant paying him what he's getting paid now, no thanks.
If he was vocal, I never read it nor seen a display of displeasure on his face watching him play on the court. Yes, remember that nice little run the Rockets ha at the end of the year when they seemed like a legitimate team, everyone was running including Hakeem. Shandon always appeared one of the first guys downcourt either looking to hit someone with a pass, or on the other side of a pass. Now I posted originally a response contributing Shandons efforts only after reading several posts stating MOT is the Rockets saviour. No, SA is not worth the money, and neither is a one dimensial PF worthy of being creditted with the late run last year, and the Rocks demise this year. Basically my feelings are SA absence this year was harder on the team than a finese PF that plays like he is 6-2 guard, rather than 6'10 PF.
