Savvy players on the Rockets?

Youre kidding, right?

 

Yes sir. But don't worry... we only merge threads that need to be merged. Thanks for finally understanding what does and doesn't belong in the game thread. I was beginning to wonder if you were the Steve Francis of the BBS and never understand the GAME of posting.

As for your topic, I've come to the conclusion we're a team of dummies and people that just aren't ready to play. I honestly believe that now.

Moochie - double-whammy : a dodo and can't run an offense.
Steve - dumdum
Cuttino - dufus
Cato - I'm pleased with whatever we get out of this guy. I don't expect much, so of course I'm going to be pleased with whatever he's able to give
EG - can't play down low because he'll get abused and can't shoot worth a lick except sometimes out in 3 pt. land.
TMo - not sure why he's on an NBA team at this point, but I'll give him time because I do see some defensive play every so often.
MoTay - reserving judgment as he's coming back from a major injury.
Boki - not ready, but what the hell, give him some playing time.
Tito - I'm jaded by what I saw of him in the summer leagues, and it wasn't pretty. But hey, he's a rookie, so I can wait.
Collier - haha
Collier - sorry, had to do this twice : haha
Hawkins - has good games and bad games, but he should be a bench player anyway. Does play good defense.
Rice - the slo mo bro is producing more than I thought he would, but I'm not counting on much from him. When he's on he's on and when he's off, I wish he was out.
Ming - great player when it comes to finding open men and passing the ball. I love this the most about his game. He makes cross-court passes that are dangerous seem easy because he's so tall and can see over the defenses. He's an intelligent player. I'm just waiting for his stamina and NBA-instincts to eventually kick in. He still hasn't learned the finer art of blocking people out or knowing when to jump for a block. I also don't like how he slaps at a ball over an opposing players' back. He's going to get called for fouls more often than not for that. He also did that tonight and just swatted it out of bounds.

 

DaDakota, playing heady and savy in a contract year would mean playing good team basketball. Other coaches and scouts recognize the little things in players like Thomas and don't look for them to play outside of themselves. I agree he knows the most post skills of our forwards, but I would hardly call him the most intelligent. This is no way to get a contract from any team, much less the Rox

 

The good thing is that Francis, which was not true in the past,
realizes his limitations. He knows that he has a low BB-IQ.

This wasn't the case in the past. He just thought he could
take over a game at anytime, and he thought that this is
what it meant to be a "leader."

He knows now that, this is not true.

He KNOWS, that he doesn't "know the game."

This is good. He's trying to work on it now...

I don't see many ISO from him anymore. Cross-overs are fine.
But, not dribble-dribble-dribble, ISO, every friking time down the court
(1999, 2000,2001).

 

That's the perfect nickname for Rice!

 

I know KT understands his position probably better than anyone on the team but I don't see him with the Rockets in the future at his size. And that's just an insult on Steve. I don't think Hakeem was the "savvy" player in his first 5 seasons. He was a blocking, scoring, and rebounding machine but it took him nearly 10 seasons to become what he was. Steve is in a harder position at PG.

 

(Disclosure: I couldn't bear to watch more than two and a half quarters so my comments are based on that.)

There is plenty of blame to go around:

I've been wondering so far this season just WHO are our shooters? I don't recall any one player as impressing me as a "money in the bank" jump shooter when you give him the open shot. Although it was beginning to look like Glen Rice might become what we wanted him to be... don't know why he didn't play tonight. Just think -- who do we keep putting on the perimeter to take passes for outside shots -- KT, Mo and Hawkins and Norris when he is in the game. Are these "shooters"??!! Maybe their stats would change my mind. Mobely is a bit better shooter but not as team play oriented as we need. Francis is almost as streaky a shooter as Mobley. He gets a lot of his points from driving to the rim.

Turnovers... many poor passes and a lot of "no passes" resulting in turnovers and difficult play.

Lack of ball movement.

Shooting and turnovers are largely on the players shoulders. Ball movement is as much on the coach's shoulders as the players. In other words, "no pass, no play".

At this point it appears we got too athletic over the last 2-3 years and we got a center this year that will make us regret not getting/having shooters. Since I don't expect our shooting percentages to improve very much on a player by player basis, (excepting that Nachbar can be gotten in the rotation and can live up to his billing) I think there may be moves made before the trading deadline this year to bring in a quality shooting threat, assuming one is available, to complement Yao in the middle.

 

Yep, SF's 5th and 6th year. We'll start to see it.

 

Fully agree on the Yao Ming point Dakota. I fully understand that it will take Yao time to run any type of high post style offense where he is hitting slashers and cutters with pinpoint passes, but the Rockets definitely need to run more dump it in through him. Dump it in is a basic play that Yao has no problem whatsoever running. Its funny b/c Calvin Murphy keeps screaming "Pass it in to Yao". Im thinking no **** Murph why dont you explain that to the team esp KT and Steve. I really dont know if Rudy just likes to let things develop and not force the issue (ie. not forcing the likes of KT and Steve to dump it down to Yao more) or if he just feels Yao isnt ready to have that much of a role in the offense. My guess is that it would be the former of the two.

Steve Francis has absolutely been driving me nuts the last few games. The job of the PG is to get others involved and start establishing parts of the offense ie low post, pushing in transition etc. Players should be getting the ball in the most comfortable possible positions to score on a CONSISTENT basis. Steve has stretches where he does ok with this (2nd half Seattle), but then he has complete lapses where he dribbles into a bunch of traffic and takes difficult shots or does a half hearted job of utilizing a screen and dribbles, dribbles, dribbles to take a tough shot. The guy is a phenomenal talent and scorer with a strong desire to win, but he just has not shown on a consistent basis that he has it upstairs. Its not a good thing when your PG has low bball IQ.

 

Fully agree Dakota. Its pretty sad when a rookie who is adjusting to the NBA as Yao has been shows more bball IQ than a player who has been honing his skills in the league for 4 yrs and is supposedly a PG. All three guards on this team (Francis, Mobley, Moochie) have shown awful knowledge of the game and just make completely idiotic plays and decisions large chunks of the time. This team had better continue to play rock solid defense like it has been for most of this season b/c if not, they will be a spectator in the playoffs again. The offense has continued to be a bunch of isolation or two man game crap with that 5 man play they try to run not being effective at all. As usual it is mindnumbing and predictable. The only daylight at the end of the tunnel is when Yao gets it in the post.

Btw, Boki needs to get more PT.

 

I agree with your post 100%.

What you said, is what frustrates me about todays players.

They come into the league raw and dependent on their athletic ability.

It's a cultural problem. That's why the international players are refreshing
to see. They learn the game first, then they work on their athletic ability.

 

I personally never thought that the players even on our Championship team were too savvy. The problem seems to be a lack of compatibility. If Yao had shooters surrounding him like Hakeem had back in the old days, the offense would run much more smoothly. But The current Rockets roster just can't do that.

 

I feel Francis is more of SG than PG, but I have no problem with him running the team. I am sure he is tired of his teammates from playing sloppy basketball and not helping much out there while he play his ass off every night trying to make a come back..ect..

 

Hey, I resemeble that remark!

You have some good points DaDakota, I do think of lot of players get to College on ability. There are things that make you go Hmm?

There are several things that you can refer to when saying:

I think Steve has a good understanding of the Tempo of the game and takes it over, but I look at something and wonder, why didn't he pass it, he had a double and tried to jack knife between 2 players. Which is something that you may see in back yard ball. Also remember this team has been ISO happy for a long time which depends mainly on individual contribution from your best players. Which is great when you are running 24 second clock down.

The biggest problem I have with the rox this year is rotation. The team isn't playing as a team only a group of individuals. Sometimes there are flashes but I do think that is a coaching issue.

I also believe that there are several games that we could have won because of lack of coaching. Our blow out tonight could have been a lot closer with minor coaching adjustments.

 

It's certain that we don't have the brightest players, so that partially absolves Rudy. But part of the coach's responsibility is implementing a system that fits the personnel's strength and weaknesses, and in that sense, Rudy is at fault for our offensive woes. If we don't have smart players, and in particular don't have a point guard with playmaking skills, court vision, and a predisposition to involving others, then we can't continue to run the offense through him. And the decision to do so lies with Rudy.

We often mention the example of Hakeem taking almost ten years to learn how to play a team game -- thus, we should be patient with Francis while he acquires the same type of smarts. But a center typically isn't expected to have the skills needed to run an offense, and thus should deserve more patience than a point guard. Moreover, I just don't think it's a matter of time and patience with Steve -- in spite of all his other talents, I don't think he has any aptitude at all for running an offense.

For sure he'll improve with time, but 1) I think it will take the Rockets a lot longer to become successful waiting for Francis to acquire those skills, and 2) there's a ceiling to how well he can develop those skills, and thus a ceiling to how successful the Rockets can be if they depend on Francis as the playmaker.

Another thing with the example of Hakeem -- the simple inside-outside scheme was a situation where Rudy and his assistants succesfully instituted a system that suited the personnel's strengths and weaknesses. So I don't think it was just a matter of time and experience on the part of Hakeem -- although that was certainly part of it. The system that was put into place made it easier for Dream to involve others and make good decisions, and accelerated Dream's acquisition of basketball savvy.

So now in Ming we have a center who shoots for a high percentage and demands a double team, while at the same time has great passing skills, good court vision, and a predisposition to involving others. It seems like a no-brainer that we need to run the offense through him -- in a system that exploits Yao's passing skills, relieves Francis from full-time playmaking duties, and allows Francis to focus on his scoring abiity (without moving him to SG).

Sure, Yao is young and still has to prove he can produce on a nightly basis. But our other options are 1) wait and hope that Francis can develop the requisite savvy for a point; or 2) move Francis to SG (or even away from the team altogether) and get a true playmaking point.

The latter is unreasonable. As for the former, you can't make a convincing case that it's any better than running the offense through Yao now. We've tried running the offense through Francis for a while now. And there have already been flashes in Yao's short career where other guys in the offense have been able to more easily contribute when the offense goes through him rather than Steve. We know that a big man more often gets a high-percentage shot on his own than a guard. We also know that Rudy has had success in the past running an offense through his big man. And that such a system can be simple (thus masking our player's lack of savvy) and successful at the same time -- even in it's degenerate DIT form.

The Steve fanatics -- and Steve himself -- may not like it. But if they really care about the team first, this really looks like the shortest path to team success.