Here's my question: Obviously the Rockets need to get better. Some of that includes adding new, talented, lottery players, but some of that includes the players that the Rockets have getting better. Who, on this Rocket's team, do you think has or doesn't have room to improve, and do you thnk they'll do it? Example: Kenny Thomas is a player whom I look at who has very little room to improve in many areas of his game. He'll never be a great defender because of his lack of true height, and he gets all he can out of his rebounding with his hustle. I do think, however, that offensively he can improve his game greatly by spending time developing his 'J' technically. Given the fact that he has improved his game every offseason, I have to believe that he will. Steve Francis, IMO, is a player who gets most of what he can out of his talent. Offensively, he isn't a true 'classical' point guard, not having the court vision of, say, Jason Kidd, and so I can't see him improving on that end of the court. He could, however, stand to improve defensively. I don't predict that he will, however, as I'd imagine it'd take someone getting in his face on the subject and, given how much he does for this team already, I don't see it happening. Anyway, you get the general idea of what I'm asking. I'd appreciate your responses. Thank You.
Eddie Griffin: This summer, he needs to put on 20-30 pounds. He has major potential in the post, and can eventually average 10 boards a game. We've already seen his monster shot blocking skills. EG without doubt has the absolute most potential on this team.
Rudy Tomjanovich: Needs to develop a new offense that doesn't consist of 80% dribbling and 20% passing.
Kelvin Cato: He has quite a bit of athletic ability, so I think he does have room to improve. Will he? who the hell knows? What made him start to play better in the latter part of this year, after his effortless performance in the rest of his Rocket career? Will it continue in the offseason, or will he get lazy again? I think its impossible to say, since it all depends on his head. The bottom line, though, is he needs to get better. He has very little offense, and has improved to become a mediocre rebounder. The biggest thing, though, is his defense. Nobody is afraid to go down the lane because Kelvin Cato is waiting for them. He has shown improvement, but he needs to do more to be the starting center on a top playoff team.
Eddie Griffin is kinda in both catagories. He needs to Improve, but the question is how fast. If he can get us 10 boards and 12-14 points a game with 2-3 blocks a game next year we should be in the playoffs. Francis will Be Averagine his usuall 22pts 7rebs 7 assists. Mobley should stay at about 20-21pts with 4rebs and 3assists. MoTaylor should be expecting the season he should have had this year. I feel hell get about 16 pts a game with about 7 boards. Glen Rice is on the freefall of his career so at best he will get us 12 points a game and will play a crucial role player kinda guy, a clutch guy (ala Robert Horry '94, '95). If thats how our season pans out we should be Top 6 We are better than Utah, Seattle, Portland.
This may seem like a silly comment, but to me, improvement next year is more of a question of improvement as a team, team chemistry, etc. than it is one of individual player improvement. For instance, I hope Eddie becomes more of an offensive force inside, but if the team can improve in areas which many BBS members have pointed out the team needs improving, that'll help the Rockets much more than any individual player improvement in my opinion.
Top 6 in the West? or in the L? I dont see the Rockets being better than the Blazers next year. After a rough start the Blazers have become one of the hottest and most feared teams in the league. Next year their momentum should carry over and, barring injury, I feel they will be a major contender next year. I do admit though that the Rockets will be stacked next year with many offensive weapons to choose from, and if they play their cards right they could set up a potential title run 2-3 years from now. NO matter how much offense a team has though they still have to play defense and I think this is where Houston really needs to improve. But what do I know right?
Why do people continually say that Kenny Thomas can never be a good defender because he's 6-7? Rodman was roughly the same height and he did just fine.
I think, more than in addition to his height, its also his body type, etc. When ever I see some big guy posting up on him, it looks to me like a SF has a mismatch on a PF. You would admit, wouldn't you, that size does have some relevance in being a good defender? It would be impossible, for instance, for me to match up with Shaq, at all 6'3" of me, no matter how much I tried, nor how much I prepared my self in training? For example, Chucky was always overmatched when he played the bigger forwards (a playoff series with Karl Malone comes to mind) even when he actually put forth the effort. Physically, KT looks to me more like a SF doing his best not to loose ground vs. PF. Go back and watch the games against the Spurs, or the T-Wolves. Again, I want to make it clear that I'm not faulting his effort. He really does work hard, and is supprisingly intelligent when it comes to his post defense. I just think there's some kind of unwritten belief that defense is only a measure of effort and it's not. IMO, KT, no matter how hard he tries, will never be able to 'shut down' any of the star PF's in the league. I also want to say that I really like to watch him play, and think he deserves major minutes. Also, I say unequivocally that Rodman was the most overrated 1 on 1 defender in the league, once he moved to the Bulls. In his Piston days, he was a truly great defender as a long, lanky SF/PF combo guy, but by the time he got to the Bulls only positive was using his strength to fight for position in the post. Also, note that he was probably 2x as strong as KT is today.
After a achillies injury, Taylor will come back and avg 17? He avg 17 & 7 before the injury on the clipps. I think they have to play him mainly because of the money, but if Thomas is traded and the competition is between him and Griffin he will play about his standard 20 minutes per. Player come back slower and less explosive from that kind of injury so I don't expect much out of Taylor.
Jason Collier: Jason needs to keep making strides in the areas of strength and weight. (However, JC, if you're reading this, please jump rope and do as many other agility drills as the coaches can dream up. You can do it! ) Jason was the only one to set some really mean picks this year. Everyone else just got in the way of their man and thought that was a pick.
Cuttino Mobley: Actually, not much. He's as well-rounded an offensive player as there is at the G position, eventhough he's being poorly utilized in the current offense (he would be absolutely devastating playing off the ball and coming off screens). As with all of his teammates, he needs to improve his intensity on the defensive end and take better care of the ball. Terence Morris: Continue to do overall skill improvement and strength work. But most importantly, gain more confidence in himself and in his abilities, a lack of confidence is understandable in one's rookie season, but its time for him to act & believe that he 'belongs'. If he does, he'll be in the NBA for a long, long time.
When a team has as many losses as this one, everyone needs to improve. Coaching needs to be improved. Anytime your team is last or next to last in nearly every offensive and defensive categories and you lost you 3rd or 4th options is not good. Team defense was horrible and so was team offense. You don't need a good shotblocker to be a good defensive team just like you don't need John Stockton to have good offense. I could go on and on, but this team has a long way to go to be even a .500 team.
Player Can Will Amount Wink Y Y some Cat Y Y some Thomas Y Y some Grif Y Y some Cato Y N same Taylor N N less Rice N N less TMO Y N same Torres Y Y some Mooch Y Y some Collier Y N min Langhi Y N min Willis N N less Walt N N less Need help.
I second the motion. There aren't many Collier fans here, but as far as the physical aspects go, I think he's going to surprise us. And it's not all physical or athleticism which I'd like to see addressed. How about some improvement in the area of on court BBall smarts? Better decision making (read fewer turnovers) is an attainable goal.
