Ok some points Id like to make. If Hakeem back in his heydays went off for 30 points, did anyone ever cry about how many shots he took? Of course not. So why does it matter how many our current best player is taking? Is dumping the ball down to Hakeem and watching a dreamshake any different than watching Stevie break down his man at the top of the key? (Assuming similar shooting percentages which IS the case) Did Hakeem really ever go off for 30 and still have 9 assists other than a few times in his career? Point is, who cares how often your best player shoots as long as he makes a decent amount of them. Ive been the biggest Mobley "Basher" the last few years, but his last game was much much improved, he just didnt hit the shots....stuff happens. But he looked for team mates more often which is a huge step for Mobes. What Im not doing is defending the offense. Which as a team is absolutely terrible. But instead defending Steve. When our players learn the concept of swinging the ball around and moving without the ball (Finger pointed right at Rudy) then we will be worlds better even when Steve decides to dominate the game. Problem is that very very seldomly when the pass from Steve occurs does there become a chain of other passes (finger right at Mobley-for the most part, but it was better last game, and Moochie, and KT) As a team its ok to have one superstar that can go off for 30 on any given night, regardless of Position. As a team the Rox must decide if they can live with that. Too often I watch after Francis makes a nice run of points next time down Mobley waves him off when he gets the ball to ISO (IVe seen this many times this year) Or KT wants to clear out ISO to "Get his" The same can go for Francis too. If Mobes is destroying the competition on a given night, live with 12 points that night and change your concept for the game. As a whole we just are NOT playing as a team. Coaching needs to fix this. Rudy HAS to stress to the guys that we are going NOWHERE untill they make sacrafices to their games in order to win games.
Good post, Dreamshake. I'll just add that I think one reason why so many people get up in arms with Francis scoring 30 compared to the Dream going for 30 in his heyday, is the position they play. I know that you said that shouldn't matter, but the perception of many people who follow basketball is that you want your big man to touch the ball as much as possible on offense if he is as talented as Hakeem. Of course, this thinking doesn't go for guys like Cato. Hopefully, Yao will become more like Dream than Cato in this respect. However, the 1 is looked differently. It is looked upon, fairly or not, as the position to get everyone else in the offense involved. When your 1 is scoring 30 plus points a game, then it is only natural for people to assume or think that he is not doing his main job of distributing the rock and getting his teammates involved (how could he..right? he is scoring all the points!). But I agree with you unequivocally that Rudy needs to stress to everyone to play as a TEAM because like you said we will never go anywhere playing like we are now.
that's all fine and good, but Hakeem had to have the ball PASSED to him in order to do something with it...
His position makes a HUGE difference... One point I'd like to make, when Hakeem gets doubleteamed give me a percentage when he passes out versus when he tries to score by himself? MOST of the time, he would pass out to an open teammate. If you get doubleteamed, you shouldn't try to dribble pass it and try to score youself, you should automatically pass it to the open man! That's not smart basketball...the PRIMARY objective of a PG is not to score but to get everybody involved first..
look at it this way: if francis is scoring 30ppg, every time he goes to score no one else touches the ball. no one else gets involved. no one else. and in time, no one else expects to touch the ball.
Do you guys remember how the dump it in worked? When Hakeem wasnt double teamed or his move beat the double team how many other players touched the ball? Zero. If he missed we had almost no shot at a board because everyone was standing outside the three point line. When Steve takes his man off the dribble he has looked to pass when the defense collapses down on him. We are just not making the extra pass or swinging the ball around. I will admit that He needs to make his move sooner in the set, and he needs to look at the roller in the high pick and roll as a serious option more often, but all in all he's doing just fine. Is he dominating the ball more than KT? Watch KT once he receives the the pass, it almost never comes back out...or how about Moochie, moochie pounds the ball into the court till time almost runs out then either makes an ill advised pass or jacks up some rediculous shot. Mobley hasnt been any better either. You dont get 9 assists (many more blown by bobbled passes and missed wide open shot) without involving your team mates. So If our best scoring option is a PG we should treat tell him to pass first????? Is there any doubt that Steve isnt our best scoring option? Get off the fact that he is a point guard. He passes enough, we just dont have finishers. Steves career assist numbers would be much greater if Cato alone could learn how to NOT bobble passes.
Dreamshake: are you sure you watched the hakeem years. it was not until hakeem started passing that we starting winning championships!!!
and it DOES matter that he's the point. don't you get it? when hakeem would get the ball, at least 2 other people freakin' touched the ball. with steve and the isos, NO ONE ELSE DOES. do you know what that can do to a player? it makes him miss shots when he does get the ball with a man rushing at him and only seconds left on the clock. it disturbs their rhythm. and it makes them very inactive.
It wasnt his "Sudden" passing that got us any where. It was his team mates finally hitting the shots on a consistant basis that made teams respect the three point shooting and less adamant about doubling Hakeem. Hakeem always passed out of the post, he just didnt have any kind of consistancy behind him for years.
IT doesnt matter in the big picture. Tell me what difference Kenny Smith made making an entry pass to Hakeem???? So freaking what, he passed it to Hakeem and watched him make his moves and everyone else stood at the three point line. How is that worth even mentioning. And please remind me how getting 9 assists (Jason Kidds, and John Stocktons career averages) isnt getting his team mates involved? Only difference is that Steve is relied upon to do some scoring in between. To me a guy who can score 30 and dish 9 assists is much more accomplished than someone who scores 17 and dishes out 9 dimes.
His passing skills got so much better during the championship years. His ability to attack the doubleteams by swinging the ball out and passing to open guys is what took us to another level....
Had nothing to do with the Rox being one of the best, if not the best 3 point shooting teams in those years then right. Teams didnt have to respect the 3 point shot and the D wasnt spread out more either.
Many of those assists were in the first quarter, and we did great as a team in the first quarter when we got everyone involved... I also want to say that he's sharing the ball more and more each game...if he shares the ball more, there's no doubt we will make the playoffs with our talent...
Dreamshake....do you play basketball? i mean that in all seriousness and not prickness... i mean, how many shots do you think you'll hit if you don't expect to get the ball? and how many do you think you will hit if you know there's a good possibility of getting the ball? just because you get 5 shots, doesn't mean squat. it's the style of ball that's being played. it's having confidence that you will be involved in the play. why do you think phil jackson called out kobe? because he didn't pass AT ALL? no, it's because when he did pass, it was desparation bailout passes. IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE. it's psychological, not numerical...
Dreamshake. Back when Hakeem was getting doubled.....We did have better personnel. I mean we had Mario, Horry, and Maxwell to hit the 3 for us when we needed it, but Hakeem took alot of shots Mainly to get their big guys in foul trouble to make way for our guards to penetrate, And that is what we are missing, Our opponents hardly ever get in foul trouble so it doesnt make it any easier on are slashers to take it to the hole. Just my input on this matter
Maybe I was wrong about Rockets fans. It's not that they dislike Steve and Cat, but maybe most Rockets fans just don't like guards in general?!?!
BTW, i happen to think that steve francis is talented enough to look to set his teammates up first and STILL hit for 30. he's that talented. right now, though, he's looking for himself first. and that is a problem coming from the man that brings the ball up court (aka: point guard).
Not sure if you are being sarcastic or not, but its their selfish, boneheaded style of play that upsets people, not their position..
