After watching the poor display again tonight from our "leaders", one has to wonder if they will ever get the concept of "team"ball. I'm not really here to single out Francis and Mobley, but it still seems to me that they still play a lot of buddy ball. I know most players have another player whom they trust more than others, but it has to come a point when the trust has to be spread equally to the other teammates. I counted on many times tonight where there were chances to get the ball inside after a pick and slide, but a long jumper was launched by our leaders. It was one time in particular when Ming got the rebound or someone got a steal, it was Nachbar and Francis on the break and he didn't even look to see him filling the lane , instead waiting for Mobley to trail. I don't think Francis or Mobley does it on purpose, but subconsciously? Even though he's gone now and hasn't really been a key player, but its pretty much the same thing i saw when anderson was here.Before all the Fans Against Steve Hating people come out or whatever you want to call the mobley haters,honestly, do you think our backcourt has the iq to make good decisions in the latter stages of deciding games? I know its preseason, but to me it seem like the guys with the highest basketball iq's are players other than our leaders. How many times are we going to see the attempt to dribble through a press? How many times must we witness the going in between the legs when a guy is standing wide open under the basket? All of this isn't Steve or Mobleys fault either. I want to know the advantage of posting up Mobley on Iverson. I want to know why do we have Ming making a linear entry pass to a guy who is a inch or so taller than the other when we have 6'9 Art Long on 7'6 Ming. I don't want to get worked up because it is preseason and i know alot of posters will say we didn't have this person or that person, but i believe you practice like you play. 9 asst is 9 asst no matter if its streetball, or organized ball and that is totally unacceptable. Of course winning cures temporary insanity, i'm just worried if the season is hanging in the balance and Cat or Steve has the ball, will either be able to mentally make a play or not. I guess we'll see in a later time.
Don't worry...it's only preseason, they haven't had enough time to practice on this year's version of the "new" semi-motion offense, the team is still very young, stop hating, you are not a true Rockets fan, you are not an NBA coach, you don't know the difference b/t a streetball iso and a "24high shakes" called play, at least our guards are better than the Chinese NT's, uh...nevermind....actually, I think you're pretty much right.
Tsk tsk! Mobley is a shooting guard and a sg's job is to shoot! Francis is a shooting guard playing pg so his job is to shoot too! Get the picture?
Lee, I agree with you that the people with highest BB IQ are not the leaders of the team. I was disaapointed with us reverting to ISOs. IT f***ing kills the game...and sends half the compaq center crowd home. Of course winning will cure. I think the bigger question to me this year is NOT whether MING plays to our expectations or not, NOR is it whether MoT and Rice can contribute, but reallly can Steve and Cat be THE ON COURT 'leaders' of the team, NOT stat leaders. Actually I am pleasred with the way Steve adn Cat have been behaving off court..supporting Ming, wanting to win, wanting to invovle otehrs etc...but in the last couple of game we are starting to revert to our bad habits on the court.......too much ISO, high turnover, and now getting outrebounded by a large margin. Having said all this I certainly hope that we will be playing in May and june, rather than starting to look forward to the draft in February. I also wish the Rockets players who drop by here can pass the message around!!
I didn't get to watch the game, but 9 assists surprised me as well. Don't you think part of the problem is our guys running around on the court glancing at Yao and being distracted? They must be going- "What the ****... I can't believe we've got this guy!" - instead of being into the game as much as they normally would. It sure would flip ME out. Christmas came in October for the Rockets this year. As for Yao, he's only been here a couple of days, moved into a new home, met 2 presidents, played against Duncan, Robinson and Iverson, and has to be dizzy from his schedule the last few... hell, forever is what it must feel like, despite what Yao says. I'm amazed he's played as well as he has. I bet the team is as well.
Yes, I have noticed this one-on-one play more often as the preseason has gone along. It seems like the pattern is early in the game they tend to execute the five man offense well. As the game goes along especially late in the game Steve and Mobley tend to regress and play one-on-one type ball. Even Calvin Murphy mentioned this after the game and gave the Rockets a 'B' grade for the preseason.
I could walk out onto a floor of strangers (of similar ability!) and play team ball. I don't buy this "it's just preseason" excuse. Playing team-oriented basketball is natural if you seek to play it.
I was wondering when these "they're not leaders" stuff would pop up again. They lose two games by a combined 5 points and they're not leaders. People have to be patient, they're are going to be nights when the team loses focus for a bit. People hate saying they're young, but when it comes to playing playoff caliber basketball night in and night out they are. Only Cat has had a real role on a playoff team.
Its not that they're not leaders. They're trying to lead and that is the problem. They feel that being the leader means they need to take the offensive load entirely upon themselves. This has led to numerous forced offensive plays where Mobley or Francis will drive into a crowd or shoot a long shot under pressure without even looking at the roll man. How many times on the pick and roll last night did the picking guy touch the ball? HeyP? Anyone with game tape? To be a leader you've also got to pass the ball. You have to make smart plays consistently. You have to read the defense and take what it gives you. We haven't seen it yet. Now they may come back and have a good game next Wednesday and be making a lot of these ill-advised shots and the Steve/Cat lovers out there will try to call us out but that is still not leading. They need to be smart, hit the open man, and play the percentages. It took Hakeem 10 years to learn that he had to trust the guys around him in order to win consistently. Hopefully it won't take these two that long.
I completely agree. The Team has shot poorly in the 2nd quarter last night and the 4th quarter in SA the other night. I will admit that the 9 assists last night has me a little concerned but considering that we do not have 2 players that were instrumental to the 4 wins in the preseason ( Tmo & KT) and teams have started to press hard at times... well, we have done alright( losing the last 2 games by a combined 5 points). Steve and Cat's game will get better the more Yao Ming works into the offense. Once the proper rotation gets set the better the defense and rebounding will get.
Agreed. We have to give them some time to get adjusted to each other and gel. Rudy T himself said that there is still some iso plays they will run. He loves the mismatch game and will still play it. However, I did not see the game last night, but believe that we will play more team ball as the season progresses and everyone gets accustomed to each other. Remember Rice, Taylor, Boki, and Ming were not around last season.
It's basic basketball. Pass it to the open guy. Take what the defensive gives. There's no getting used to each other. These guys continually make stupid, selfish decisions.
I think we should cut Steve and Cuttino a little slack. I mean how quickly can you ask the two guys who have bben our only offense whatsoever for the past 2 seasons to completly change their offensive demeanors and turn into a couple of John Stocktons? I really think they are both trying hard but they are both SO competitve and want to win so badly that they will probably revert to their old ways now and again. Give the team time to come together and gel and tell Rudy to not allow the straight up ISO's and by mid-season we should be fine.
I think we should be more understanding & give the team more time to work on their ball distribution. Afterall, its only the second game with Yao on the team. Besides, if someone like Iverson can have 14 assit in one game (yes, that IVERSON in lastnight's game), don't you think we should be optimistic about the potential of Francis & Mobley to distrute the ball more evenly?
it's scary how much i agree with lee Stylez, it's what AT said... anyone who's played any decent amount of basketball knows it should be a basic basketball instinct... see the open guy at the side of ur vision and pass it to em when he's open who cares how long they've been with the rockets, it's something that should be intrinsic to their game since they've been playin ball all their life. sometimes it's their bball IQ and other times it's the ambiguously hey! duo ... they get into their own little world with the buddy-buddy offense and exclude (maybe even thinking eveyrone's running the play wrong except themselves) the rest of the team from the flow. sure, maybe the rest of the team really isn't doing the right thing... all the time. it's franchise, mobes... two drops of oil in our rocket's water. learn the team game and use ur brain already "all stars"
I don't think anyone is asking them to turn into Stockton.....no other player has his abilities except for Kidd. Just try to setup different players. It is the preseason, there is no better time. You'll notice how quickly the players will stop movement once there's that feeling that either Stevie or Cat will attempt the famous one-on-one. You have to encourage players like Morris, Boki, and Ming to take the shot. Know that if they miss, they'll have another opportunity to make up for it. I think that's what's wrong with Boki currently. He takes one shot in the first quarter, and doesn't take another one 'til the next half. You won't EVER get into any comfort zone with that sort of play. If this continues, I don't know how long it will be before he regrets not ending up on Kidd's team. I thought the preseason was fine(minus a couple quarters) until that past 2 games where the ISO made it's return. There is no longer the excuse of "who else can score", there's plenty, more so than probably any other team in the League. Get the team comfortable playing basketball, and we'll easily win games. Stevie needs to understand that he doesn't need to average 22/7/6, and Mobley doesn't need to play 40 minutes a game while getting 20+ points per game. At least not anymore, not with the talent on this team.
Be Part of Something Big was on display during the second period last night. The last two periods were Be Part of Something Ugly and Stupid. Francis and Mobley say the right things to the media but contradict themselves with their play on the court. Say what you mean and mean what you say man. dont give us that "to be leaders we need to pass the ball more and we have so much talent on this team that we must share the rock more bull" and not mean it. If their recent play is an indication of things to come this season then bring out the singing fat lady because the seasons over before it even begins.
Watch the whole complexion change when the lineup and rotation stabilizes. Hopefully we won't be seeing Jason at PF or Tierre and Tito at PG. Boki will probably play some, but I bet we see KT even in game 1. They'll be all right. They did a lot of double 2 guard type stuff last night.
The game last night was very entertaining. If you notice the reason they got out rebounded was because when they revert back to one on one the wave off the big man to the outside and force and shot which leaves no body to rebound.
