I've been away, but I managed to watch the Dallas game last night...here's my thoughts. OVERALL: Rockets look young and promising. Steve Francis is playing like a team player, a leader, and is everything as advertised. I truly think his assist numbers suffer only because of his teammates, and that he is a great scorer, leader, point guard, passer. How far he will go is up to him and health. Yao Ming. Boy, this guy developed far faster then I thought he would. I'm extremely impressed, and happy to say that I was wrong to say it would take at least 2 years before he would be a starter. The kid has amazing shooting ability. His rebounding is not good, particularly defensive rebounding. Yes, I know, 16 boards...but I saw Narjera push in for 4 or 5 offensive boards against Yao. he must learn to box out stronger and attack balls. He also looks passive sometimes. Finally, he doesn't have a lot of speed and I'm not sure that will change. But geez, 30 points? Unbelievable. I was secretly hoping he'd do well even though I was skeptical, but this was shocking. Gotta love the two man game he got going with MING. what a great player francis is to adjust. He is the best player on the Rockets right now. Again, he's got to learn, but how scarey is it that a guy who is realy still rough in many ways can grab 16 boards and get 30 points. I would like to see him do this against a stronger body though before I am completely on the Yao Ming Express to greatness. Glen Rice: Nice recovery and he's doing little things that others aren't. Going for loose balls, steals, contesting shots...and nice touch. Way to go Rice! KT and EG: I have not seen these guys play well. KT looks selfish, like he needs to prove himself instead of trying to win the game. I think KT and EG were two big reasons the Rockets lost, their bone head defense and playmaking cost the Rockets dearly in the momentum department. They did not ajust. I hope they change their ways. I will give EG more slack because he's still a kid. But KT...he looks in over his head. Mobley: He had a bad night. But Mobley must realize he is more valuable as a penetrator and zone buster. Shooting hard shots isn't what the Rockets need from him, not with a center that is shooting 80%. He must change his game like Francis did. Mo T: I still can't tell. He looks ok at time, and rusty at others. I'll wait and see if he gets more comfortable with all the time he's been away from basketball. Hawkins: A consummate Team player. Norris: Showing signs that he can be a contributor again. I liked his play. Rudy: Clearly, he's doing the right things and this team is moving in the right direction. Winning again, and improving. If the other players outside Ming, Rice, and Francis could play a bit more professionally and show more desire to win, it would be nice. Ming though needs to show more heart on defense. Maybe he was tired, but I can see him becoming a leader. Yeah, ok, I'm more optimistic about these Rockets even though they lost. Ming had a game to wake us all up. I admit, I was wrong about the kid, and like I said, I'm very happy to admit that I am wrong since it's good for the Rockets.
Nice, positive assesment New Yorker. I only wish I could be as positive about Moochie and Rice as you are.
what i love about rice, is that he is a tough, grizzled veteran. he was jawwin' at finley, and talking **** to every maverick that could hear. i like that, we need someone who is not gonna back down, when he started talkin' trash (ala payton) he started hittin' shots and started bodying finley, and finley started making mistakes. that is what i like to see, then stevie said something to him about a play, and rice just nodded and listened. real nice to see that kinda team mentality.
Rice started slow, but then caught fire. I didn't think he defended Finley well at all. In fact, it seemed to me that Finley made all his shots when Rice was on him, but when Mobley guarded him he had a little bit of trouble. However, it was great to see Rice raining 3's out there. KT has definitely disappointed me so far this season. Maybe he's disgruntled about his decreased role from last year to this year? Or maybe he just can't get into a good rhythm since he's not on the court as much.
