No Moochie,no Ming...very little Hawk and Rice, and Lots of Cato, Griffin, KT, Mobley and Francis. And the team responded fairly well, outside of the few minutes that Rudy had a flashback to his drunken stupor days and put in Glen Rice for Cato and the small ball experiment worked so well that the warriors closed a 10 point game to 2 in a matter of 6 or 7 possesions. I think we are seeing the real 7 man rotation here, only one more addition MoT and this could be it for the season. I think that Rudy is getting a feel for what he has this year, and I like the way the team is executing. Now if we can get Yao Ming to play like Yao Mean we may have something. DaDakota
I screamed in the top of my lungs. I agreed. Rudy was trying to get this rotation kicking, so Yao can merge in a lot easier.
That Rice for Cato sub might work against some teams, but the Warriors actually have a decent center in Dampier. Eddie just can't guard him. I couldn't believe how long Rudy stayed with that matchup. He must have absolutely no confidence in Ming yet.
I actually like a more stable rotation, and would not be surprised to see Rice taken out of the mix at some point for TMo. I just think this Rocket team is an athletic one, and Rice's wheels have lost their tread. And once a tire loses it's tread, there is no going back. DaDakota
I couldn't agree more. I certainly hope TMo is getting healthy hasn't lost the shot he found in the pre-season. Rice is just too old. When MoT and TMo get back I just don't see a need for him in the rotation.
I agree. Maybe when MoT comes back he'll be able to put up a body on the Dampiers in the league. Otherwise, we are stuck with Cato/Ming rotation at C which is not a good thing. Ming is a 2 year project at best and Cato can't go for 48 mins, plus his offense is very weak. On second thought, MoT playing physiscal??? Naaahhh
Well, after this game, I think it will take a major funk on Kenny's part to be left out of the rotation. So, if Rudy wants to cut it to 8 players, as he's said: Locks: Cat, Steve, Moochie, Eddie, Cato, KT We have battles for 2 more spots in the rotation: 7th man: Ming vs Maurice 8th man: J-Hawk vs Rice vs TMo IR/deep bench: Creampuff, Maddox, Nachbar, Mickael
Those are the players who will win games for us this year. They have some experience, talent, athletic ability and can all score and run. It is just hard to keep them all healthy. Man is Eddie really developing, can he buy beer yet?
I agree Da. I found that rotation to be interesting and work well. That lineup plays great defense and as long as they move the ball around, which they did really well at times tonight, they can be very good like this. As others have mentioned, Francis, Mobley, Thomas, Eddie, Cato and probably Taylor will get plenty of minutes. Rice and Hawkins will very likely exchange minutes depending on what they need - offense or defense. Yao will get worked in slowly and Moochie will still be out there at times. When Taylor gets back, we'll probably see more of the Rice, Griffin and Taylor frontcourt, but that will work on most nights considering the dirth of centers in the league. Overall, there are going to be 8 or 9 primary players and Yao will be given more time to grow without as much pressure. IMO, that's a good thing.
i love any rotation that plays moochie 15 minutes or less. tonight steve and cat played alot of minutes but with so many days off prior to this game and another 2 before tuesday it's understandable. in a normal week's load i'd like to see hawkins get some more minutes behind cat. his defense is exceptional and it just seems to rub off really well when he's in the game. look at the second quarter when we went on that run. fastbreaks started by defense started by hawkins entering the game. coincidence maybe, but he definitely has intensity.
I was very dissapointed with Rice in the GS game. I thought he was going to prove to the team that he's an option, but instead he went 1-6. Maybe there's a chance we unload him just before the deadline to a rebuilding team? Denver, Memphis, Cleveland? At that point he'll only have 1.5 years left on his contract, so he may be more appeaking to other teams. How about Rice and KT for Posey and a contract? Posey would look good at SF for us. They probably wouldn't do it though (Denver). On a side note, I think that if T-Mo's shot is truly improved, he's the best candidate for starting SF of the near future. He has everything else, fundamentals, energy, athleticism, reabounding, defense, blocking...If he brings scoring into the mix, I think we'd have a very solid rotation for the future: Ming Cato Griffin T-Mo Boki Mobley Francis I'd like to add Mo or KT in, but I think KT will be gone this season, and Mo will be soon too. We pay him to much for him to sit on the bench. Maybe we can get a Tyrone Hill type player to complete the 8-man rotation for next year.
You really think we are going to dump both KT and MoT? If KT works out at the 3, he will be the perfect 3/4 for our team and we will definitely want to keep him. I've always thought that we are going to keep one or the other, unless the team really needs a jump start in a year or two.
I really love how the "rotation" of the second half becomes the "rotation". Absolutely ridiculous! The rotation is the list of players who play regularly. Moochie did not play in the second half, so he is not part of the rotation! What a joke? A game is 48 minutes. Moochie played very well in the second quarter and in fact we scored 29 points with him at the point. One, it improved the team's performance compared to the 1st Q and, two, it helped serve as a springboard for Francis' second half performance. Do not get caught up in who was in at the end because if we had 10 highly skilled players, only five can play anyway. The point is Moochie's play and contributions is too valuable for some to suggest he is not part of the "rotation" There are a number of factors that affect how much minutes a player gets in a game. Also, the coach's secondary objectives like getting injured players back in and building chemistry are also factors. The schedule of the next game may from time to time be another factor. How close a game also affects the minutes. Last night we were working KT back in and building chemistry. Also we never did get enough separation in the second half, so we went with our primary players, Wink and Mobes who both played more than 40 mins. If we fast forward 20 games and we had been able to build chemistry and increase the overall confidence of the team then you should find that the number of players who would be playing regularly will be much longer than 7 or 8.
DearRock, I thought the real momentum changer in the second quarter was a combination of Eddie Griffins block that started a fast break and ended in a Steve Francis ally-oop; Kenny Thomas providing outstanding low post scoring and G.S. clanking their outside shots. I never saw Moochie as the catalyst for our second quarter turnaround. I personally would like to see Moochie's minutes go back to where they were his first year with the team and that was only about 15 minutes a game.
Yes, crach5179, you're right. I tend to lean on the KT's low post scoring. He really made GS's defense work and created open shots for other guys.
