I think that really is a good way to utilize Cuttino. Hes a good shooter and would do wonders with constent wide open looks. The only problem I see is, since he has become such a one on one player, would he be willing or able to accept that role?
Just realized this: Cato shot at 50% last season. MoT shot barely less than 50% HIS last season. Ming is a high-percentage scorer. Rice is a pure shooter. It's nice having such high percentage players in the team, coupled with a brilliant backcourt. But, and I think everyone would agree, we have too many TO's. But I think once the offense sinks in, those will go down.
Agreed,,,,,,I think inexperience and lack of continuity, rather than greed are Cat and Steves big problem. Last year we only had one retutning starter and this year we still havent got a rotation. When our guys get back, if you count Rice & MoT, we have five starters and a sixth man with starting experience. Once they get a few practices in the team play will improve...
I too agree with Dada (which may be why we're getting so much rain in Houston ). Steve and Cat appear to have improved with each game at looking for their team mates. Steve more so than Cat, but this is to be expected since Cat is a "shooting gaurd". What impressed me the most about the Toronto game, however, is the fact that Rudy ran much more of the movement oriented offense, there were not as many pick and rolls into the ISO and he actually called a few (at least three that i counted) plays specifically for Yao Ming. Like what i'm seeing Rudy. Keep it up.
Huhhh? So he makes two more shots and he's 10 for 20 and then he is magically awesome instead of horrible? That makes little sense. He had an average to slightly below average, for him,, shooting night, not an Eddie Griffin-like 1-11 clunker. After all, he is a SHOOTING guard, not a passing guard,, and is one of exactly two rockets who can create his own shot. Maybe he could pass it to Steve to shoot, and then people could rag on steve for be selfish and not being john stockton. LIke it or not, Francis and Mobley are in another stratosphere offensively as compared to their teammates. Do they tend to get selfish at times? Sure, but come on. They are options 1 and 2 for the time being, and at this stage in his career, Ming is simply not ready to join them. I would rather have them winning games for us. I am sick of the lotto.
Cat and Francis have improved from last year and they are much better at what they do, One on One Basketball! Unfortunately the rest of the team is developing the habit of standing arround and watching the Mobes and Francis Show. I just wish they could mix it up a little more! For instance I think Steve could take less shots in the first three quarters and be the playmaker,then in the fourth he could build up his stats. Mobes as a shooting guard should keep on shooting but only high percentage shots.
Steve has been just incredible. With skills like this 5 years ago he would be tied with MJ for best in the L. It seems though, talent has improved a lot, now you have Kobe, TMac, Paul Pierce... I just wish his A/TO would improve. Also, I don't mind if every single play goes through Steve. Screw team ball, the Nets and Sacramento. These teams have nobody of Steve's caliber, so they HAVE to play motion offense. Rockets can win if they run everything through SF, and that's what I care about. However, in order for this to work the other players must know their roles. When SF gets double and triple teamed, the forwards should be able to make shots. So far that hasn't happened. EG at PF has been horrible, and the small Fs that we have used so far (Nachbar, J-Hawk and Moochie in the 3-guard format) have been almost as bad. Also, when Steve attacks the basket and their 4s and 5s get drawn in, our bigs should crash the board and get the off. boards. This is how 76-ers went to the Finals with AI's FG% in the 30s. Most of his shots were in fact "well disguised" assists of the rim/backboard.
Steve has been fantastic, I agree. But whether you want to take notice or not, Steve is the point guard, and anytime you have a point guard with more turnovers than assists your team will eventually suffer for it. The Rockets are hanging in there with great defense right now but when we play the better teams in this league, those high turnover games will be magnified and looked upon as crucial wasted possessions. Hey but if Steve improves in this area, the Rockets will win more close games than they will lose. But they way it looks right now, Steve has 15 tunovers and 14 asissts...thats horrendous for a point guard! If he doesn't cut down on the turnovers the Rockets will come up short in a ton of close games just like the last two previous years. Other than this one major problem, Francis has been killer, so far.
Ron Harper, "point guard", 5 time nba champion, about 3 apg, 1.5 tpg during hiis championship runs. Not to say that Francis shouldn't be more careful, but you don't need bob cousy or johnny (no rings) stockton running the point to be successful. Getting too caught up in orthodox roles and not playing to players individual strenghts can be counterproductive. As long as Houston has the five best available guys for the situation on the floor thats fine with me, I don't care what position you call them.
I hate to rain down on anyone, but when 2 guys avg 48 out of 75 shots per, there shouldn't be many turnovers. Like last yr when i said i still don't like the way the offense is still a 1 or 2 man show, its kinda like that right now. I know we are missing players, but i would like to see more meaningful passes and the Rockets starting the offense quicker than they do. Teams are putting token pressure, but the Rockets think the best way to defeat this isdribbling when really if they advance the ball with a pass, it would help out a lot. I may get bashed as usual and of course I don't care, but its hard to beat good teams the way we are playing right now.2 players taking half the shots is a recipe for disaster.
This habit is EXTREMELY hard to break. The 15 TO's and 14 assists is horrendous for a point guard no matter how you look at it. Do you know why its so high? Most of the time, he looks to shoot first, pass second...that's a mentality that's extremely hard to break.
We're talking about two completely diffrent breed of players here. Ron Harper was never labeled "The Franchise." Ron Harper was a nothing but a coat carrier for the best baskeball player in the world. The success of the Franchise was not riding on the abilities of Ron Harper. A fairer comparison to Steve Francis and his responsibilites to his team would be Isiah Thomas or to a lesser degree Stephon Marbury... or Baron Davis. These guys are in Francis's realm of talent, they are big time scorers just like Francis, but they never had the turnover problems Francis has. You say, 'not playing to a players individual strengths can be counterproductive' but to that I say: "playing to a players biggest strength and not recognizing and dealing with that players biggest weakness(which in Steves case is high turnovers) is counterproductive." the fact is I hate wasted possessions, especially looking back on how many close games the Rockets lost the last two years. Im not saying I dont recognize Steves strenghts, I do, but Steve will be a truly extraordinary player when he stops wasting so many possessions with turnovers. thats all there is to it.
I am glad someone has seen an improvement in the two, I have failed to see it. When Ming is open in the paint and Francis passes to Mobley with two men on him for a turn over is not what I want to see. I wonder how many turn overs are because one of the two can not find the other to pass to and are afraid to pass to anyone else as they may not get it back for the shot? If we only need role players to go with the two, then we have no need for Ming, Griffin, Mo Taylor, KT, Rice, ect. Too much talent there to be ROLE players.
I wasn't comparing players at all. Steve is a thousand millioin times better a guard than Harper, I was just making a point about how the point guard doesn't always have to be pass first-shoot second. I think that there is no reason for steve to turn into John Stockton when it it not his game. So he shouldn't. No one wants turnovers.
