How much changing from the April success do you do in November, now that we have Mo? Disclaimer: I'm only talking about November. Obviously the season goal is Mo becomes a pivotman for the offense. No one argues with that. Do you continue the April 3 guard attack and hit the ground running with 3 guards, walt/langhi and Cato/dream sets getting significant minutes together (not as starters). Remember the coaching problem, you either have to sit the PF or the C in this attack. Sitting the PF is what really jelled in April. REASON FOR: November is crucial to season-long attitudes. Win now, and let Mo chemistry develop over time. REASON AGAINST: Mo's attitude needs stroking. You don't want him off on the wrong foot looking lost playing with 3 guards and a SF, not to mention that is really Cato's role. Or do you immediately get Mo in the Flo REASON FOR: Rudy loves to cater an offense to his starters abilities, and let them play themselves out of minutes should they fail. Case in point: Walt and Cato last year. Rudy has plays for Mo, I'm sure; let's get them going now, cause we may have to slap Mo in January for lack of trying, and it will then take till late Feb/March to play himself out of the doghouse. Just like Walt and Cato last year. REASON AGAINST: 2-10 really hurt the players last year. As a coach, I'd rather bruise one ego with limited play calls early, than have everyone bickering because I changed a successful system too soon. Winning solves everything. This is an Ugly, Ugly scenario. Feel free to yell at me for even posing it.<font color="dedfdf"> [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited August 29, 2000).]
How about a little of both. The 3 guard offense can still run a play or 2 for big Mo and they can still break down the defense , which in turn will open up the opportunity for Mo to get the easy buckets with put-backs and offense rebounds. ------------------ Houston Rockets Forever!! In Rudy We Trust
I am a big fan of using what works. This lineup worked late last year and I expect to see it more this year. Do y'all remember the rookie game last year? I could see Mo playing the center like Brand was doing in that game. His quickness made up for lack of height. I do expect to see this lineup less as the year goes on, but it will be used in spurts throughout the year because of injuries and effectiveness againse certain teams. ------------------ "You've got 6 fouls, use them well" -Derrick Coleman [This message has been edited by Joe Joe (edited August 29, 2000).]
My worst case scenario: Rudy, so thrilled to have a new post presence, reverts back to the dump it down offense and bases the offense on Mo, not Francis. I'm sure Rudy knows Francis is the better player, but afterall, he did run such an offense off of the talents of Hakeem for years... he might be all too eager to revert to it. Just a bit of paranoia to ponder . ------------------ Shandon Anderson rocks. The lottery sucks. Playoffs 2001.
My personal preference is to use less of the three guard lineup and go more with a bigger team out there. The three guard lineup in small stretches is nice for a change of pace, but I am hoping it is not used with such a high frequency as last year. I want this team to start learning how to play a solid style of basketball that can win long term in the playoffs instead of going with complete small ball. However, what I think Rudy will do is run out a bunch of different lineups and combinations in the preseason and see how quickly Mo is picking up the plays and such. Then after watching all the tapes and charting the success rates of the plays and such, he will go with what works. Rudy's style is to coach by the percentages, and I dont see him going away from that. ------------------ Check out the Best Source for Draft Info Draftsource.net
I didn't get to see many games last year, but listened quite a bit on the internet. I think the Rockets will still run the 3 guard a lot, but with Mo at the 4 more so than moving Walt or Langhi there. I don't think Walt will be as bad as he was at the beginning of last season, nor as hot as he was at the end. Hopefully, he will be somewhere in between, fairly consistently. With the 3 guards, Walt gives you a little deeper range on his jumper, but Mo has more versatility to the basket. I don't think Walt is any quicker than Mo. Probably just the opposite. With Mo in instead of Walt, the only thing that makes it a 3 guard, is that Shandon is a swing-man that plays the 2 at times. He may not be as tall as some of the 3's around now, but he can be as effective defensively as just about anyone by bodying up and using his strength. Shandon and Mario are two of the best in the league at this. ------------------
I didn't see the comment, but Payton at the 2 is frightening. There have been 2 players since I started watching the NBA back in 1978 that I thought would've been every bit as unstoppable as Jordan was from a scoring standpoint if they were selfish enough to do it. Payton is one of them. I still think he has the potential to rack up 28-30 pts/game if he wanted to, but in his "heyday", he could've lit up anybody if he didn't have the "point guard" mentality. I've always loved his game. Talks smack and backs it up like no one else. BTW, the other person was Magic Johnson. This guy could've played all 5 positions and done well, but he recognized his team's need more than his wants and championships followed... are you listening Steve? I think he is... P.S. -- Oh, and sorry for derailing this, HeyPee, but I just had to jump in on the GP comment... he rocks. ------------------ Falk that Mo Fo!!! [This message has been edited by Dr of Dunk (edited August 29, 2000).]
You mean he's actually going to play ball at both ends of the floor and play DEFENSE..................WOW ------------------ Discombobulation Imminent [This message has been edited by SmeggySmeg (edited August 29, 2000).]
GP, in my opinion is way overated. He had good players on his team and still couldn't get the Sonics to the finals. ------------------ In order to be a success in life, you need 2 things: 1. Don't tell everything you know.
Damn, I saw the title for this thread and thought HP was going to invite us to another game! =D ------------------ Don't you have anything better to do?
I'd spend the preseason trying to figure out how to best utilize Mo. Taylor. I would expect a health dose of 3-guard in October. ------------------ "There's 1,000 different things we're looking at, but there's not a lot of things there." -- Rudy T., apparently after taking a hit of acid.
Did anybody notice that Payton mentioned playing the 2 in Seattle if Hardaway would come & play the one? It sounds as if Coach is already playing again w/ 3 guard/fast ball attacks in the camps before the Olympics. I think November will look like September. So watch the games. The plays that you see may very well be in the Rockets arsenal this year. ------------------ I've posted so much that what I say must be true. The latest on Maurice Taylor
We have to hope that Mo is all about wining, no matter how it gets done. I think that it all depends on how fast he adapts to the team during the preseason. If he fits right and they do well then expect us to ride that wave. If it takes him a while (a la Shandon) then go with what brought us success at the end of last year. I think we're all gonna be impressed with the whole team. Keep in mind that we didn't need to pick up a superstar. We just needed a reliable scorer in the front court. What that means is that Steve has a new target. I also expect Steve's assists to rise this year with Mo being here. Think of all those turnovers last year because of great passes that were missed or dropped. I think that everyone will be more ready when Steve has the ball this year. ------------------ RocketFuel is dead!
