I think Houston's defensive intensity dramatically improves with Juaquin Hawkins at SG instead of Cuttino. When Juaquin steps onto the floor he uses every inch of his 6-7 lanky frame to stop whoever steps in front of him. His effort not only deters the opponents but seems to be contagious to his normally lackadaiscal teammates. I hate to use stats but we've played GS, Seattle, and Portland with and without Hawkins in the starting lineup and the stats clearly showing us giving up about 19 pts less against these same teams with Hawkins starting. Though I know some people will dig up some crazy stat to prove me wrong, I need to know just by watching the games, do you think our defense is better without Cuttino?(rhetoric) If so, is it b/c of Hawkins' tremendous atheletic ability over that of Cuttino's, or just that Cuttino treats defense the same way A.I. treats practice?(The real question) P.S. Please stay away from the Cuttino hating comments. And no I don't want to replace Cuttino with Tito Maddox or Pete Mickeal.
Our defense may be better with JH, but without Cuttino we are worse because we don't score as much, JH isn't a threat on O which allows teams to come off him and hurts the team O, and the lack of points in the lineup and Cat's O threat isn't good...
I think you are exactly rigtht. When Hawkins comes into the game and makes a steal or dives after the ball it inspires the whole team defensively. He is the exact kind of player you want coming in if you need to slow down a team that's on fire. Hawkins is a definate upgrade to Mobley on the defensive end but clearly doesn't have the offesive game to hit the open shot on a consistent basis and because of this his man is being used to double up Ming. We need Mobley back now so we can kill that double team.
I agree our offense does miss Cuttino now and then...but don't you think it's better to start Hawkins and put that defensive intensity in initially to give everyone in that state of mind and let Cuttino come off the bench to give us that boost now and then like Cassell used to?
I watched the sonics game last night and I saw no D from Hawkins. Desmond Mason was schooling Hawkins. At least Mobley brings scoring to the team. All Hawkins brings is fat bricks.
Hawkings brings that veteran leadership (on the court) that we lack with such a young team. He's like Eddie Johnson, or Glen Rice. They have a way of just playing decent because their experience takes them through bad games. They find ways to contribute (other than scoring). Mobley, when he has a bad game he really stinks. Add the fact that when he has bad games he compounds it by NOT playing defense. He pouts and complains to the refs. See, playing defense to Mobley is not "cool," it's not what "gets him the babes" or "shoe contracts." So, his youth is tugging at him to be "like Mike." In my dreams I want Mobley to start, but to also play defense. Then, we'll have the best of both worlds: offense and defense from ONE player. Specialist (Hawkings) *should* come off the bench. Should! Your best players should start (Mobley). Should!
hama-It was a way to get Steve more time to catch his breath (maybe only 2.4 game seconds, but it was probably an extra 20-30 seconds added on to the 1st-2nd quarter break. And also keep him from picking up an extra foul.
I agree that the defense is much better with Hawkins in the game. I have been a proponent of moving Mobley to the bench as the sixth man because of this. Don't get me wrong, I would still like Mobley to play starter minutes, but if you can begin the game by stifling the opponent and then bring in quick offense in Mobley you give yourself a great advantage. Subtopic; would Mobley feel comfortable coming off the bench and realize it was not an insult and maybe even a compliment.
I believe Hawkins played Brent and Gary most of the night. So I guess you are waiting for Cuttino's return against 76ers, You are not the only one, A.I's been waiting a long time to up his Career High.
Problem 1 is that Cuttino's talent is many time offset by the fact we have Steve Francis and Problem 2 is the fact that Cat'll give up more points then he scores. though reality is not as simple, I'll ask anyways: Is it better to have someone who scores 10 and gives up 10 or someone who scores 25 and gives up 30 consistently?
Yeah, that's why I want Mobley to learn defense. But, more yet, here's what can happen NOW... I want Francis to make Mobley a better player. See, if Mobley has the ball in less one-on-one situations, then he has a lesser chance of ISOs. But, if he was to learn how to move without the ball, he would become a Reggie Miller shooter, which Mobley can do! Now once Francis can do this with all his teammates, we we wont be able to pick out the flaws in Mobley or any other players games as much as we do now. By the way, does Mobley really give up 30 points? I really want Mobes to change his game from a ISO type guy to a moving without the ball screener...
I dig what you say, but I've been waiting for 4 years!!!! I prayed everyday last couple years that Cuttino will just take more shots courtesy of SF or of a pick, cause the guy CAN shot. But he loves iso...its that street mentality, of course being scored on so many times also take its toll on wanting to iso. And BTW, I don't believe Cuttino plays bad D b/c of his athletic limitations but b/c he chooses not to give an effort and that's what pisses me off most....he wastes his hard earned buckets by giving up easy ones to the opponents And yeah 30 is an exageration more like 29.1
I have often imagined Cat to play a bit like Reggie does. Catch and shoot...run behind the screens...and make the defense really send guys out at him rather than just having a guy with a hand in his face all the time. I like Hawkins defense...I assume he influenced the final shooting stat for Payton yesterday. But common on guys, if his offense was much better than what it is, he would NOT played in 7 leagues in 7 years. I really think he is a Mario Elie type Rudy gem who doesn't need the ball all the time while making crucial contribution. I hope when Cat comes out of the IR, they dont put Hawkins out there.
By the way, does Mobley really give up 30 points? the fact you even asked that shows how ready you are to disparage cuttino's game at every turn. 30 is almost good enough to lead the league. do you notice lots of shooting guards having near league leading games against us?? the best scoring game i can think of was jason richardson who scored 28 i believe on cuttino. of course he had to go 8-26 to do it and cuttino's D was directly related to that horrible shooting game (even by j rich standards). if the search function was working, i could look up that heyp thread where he showed cuttino's average versus our opponents' SG's average. as shocking as this may be to you, cuttino won.
Now that zones are allowed, defensive specialists with no shot are becoming more and more useless. Unfortunately, we fuond Hawkins one year too late to use him fully. Players like Outlaw, Hawkins, McKie, Tyrone Hill..... Players have to be really really outstanding to stay on the court without being a liability...Like Ben Wallace....If you are able to grab 20 rebounds and block 6 shots on almost any given night, then you can play... Once a zone defense is able to lay off a player to a certain extent, then you become a liability to your whole team.
Uh...go back and re-read everyones post. Again, re-read everyone's post. When I asked, "By the way, does Mobley really give up 30 points?" I was talking to madmaxu, because I was telling him that he was exagerating on how bad Mobley's defense was. It wasn't as bad as he said it was. madmaxu's post was that Hawkings should start. My point was that Mobley should start, but change his game by going off of Francis's lead, and that he should improve his man-on-man defense. Not just concentrate on ISOs (babes, shoe contracts, and "be like Mike"). So, go back an read. Purdy please, with sugar on top. Thanks.
hell yeah the rockets are better defensively. yall must have forgot that game when kobe damn near dropped 50 points on cuttino. cuttino is too small to be at the shooting guard spot. mobly cant handle players like mcgrady, kobe, finley, or even allan iverson on the defensive end. hawkins has a better chance of completing tasks such as these offense threats on the defensive end. and even though hawkins is 29 years of age i still think he is gonna have a lil stint in the nba just because of his defensive tenacity on the court, and he can also hit the open jumper. I wish other rockets players could have his work ethics when it comes to defense.
Maybe it's b/c he plays 42 minutes a game while a lot of other SG's don't need to pad on their already 30 pt games. I still can't believe you are arguing this point....so by watching the game against seattle you don't concede our overall defense is better with Hawkins?
