Taylor may have more potential, but Croshere hustles much more (and Taylor came cheap this year). I would rather have Croshere but he is too expensive this year, just like Mo will probably be next year! ------------------
I really think that Taylor has much more upside than Croshere. Austin had a nice finish last year, but he still has alot to prove. Mo Taylor, at 23, has the ability to be as good as he wants to be. This kid has limitless potential, and I hope he finds the necessary desire to make himself better. ------------------ Nice guys finish lunch. - C. Chase
Croshere is a role player, you play him according to the team your playing. He cant gaurd the 3's and is too small for the 4's. ------------------
I would rather have Croshere, to me he is a more polished player, who hustles all over the floor. Mo may be good, but he has shown nothing to me yet. I would love to be wrong DaDakota ------------------ All you MO-FO's better stop ripping off my lines !!
One player has worked hard all his career and it is paying off and the other may well have more talent but thinks hard work is sitting on a bus crying. Croshere hands down, he plays with his heart on his sleeve and works damn hard, unlike the cancer man. ------------------ Discombobulation Imminent
Croshere will be overpaided role player. It makes me wonder why on earth Pacers signed him when they've got Bender, Al Harrington and now Jermaine O'neal. That was a huge mistake by the Pacers' front office. ------------------ Hack a Shaq you'll be winning Hack-him you'll be dreaming.
Croshere is as big as most of the 4's running around - plus he's faster. He's already a better defender than Mo Taylor by a LONG way. I'm not certain that he'd be a better offensive player than Mo, but he hustles WAAAY more. I think Croshere fits this team better too - a genuine inside/outside threat who's not going to demand the ball. BUT we do have Mo, so GO MO ! ------------------
Croshere didn't do jacksh*t until he met the Lakers who had no legitimate pf's and Horry trying to fill in. That means Croshere can only really be effective vs. certain teams depending on matchups which = role player. Come on, can Croshere really be effective offensively or defensively against Malone, CWebb, McDyess, Wallace, Kemp, Brand, Campbell, Duncan, Martin, etc., etc., etc.?? Hell no. ------------------
Thank God you guys aren't scouts for the Rockets. We would be worse than the Clippers. How in the world can anyone say Mo Money is even close to Croshere? Croshere plays the Total game. Mo Money plays when he Feels like it. Oh he has a pretty good shot, but he doesn't rebound, is afraid to bang with the big boys and loses his cool when fans boo him for his lackluster play. How else do you explain the interest in Croshere this offseason as opposed to the lack of interest in Mo Money? ------------------ In order to be a success in life, you need 2 things: 1. Don't tell everything you know.
gimp, I won't even respond to that rediculous post. Ooops guess I already did ------------------ In order to be a success in life, you need 2 things: 1. Don't tell everything you know.
Bob- Taylor was offered a 6 million per year deal, similar to Croshere's. His agent just didn't choose to take it. And by the way, it's the Pacers fault for overpaying Croshere. Trying to be as unbiased as I can, I still would rather have Mo Taylor than Austin Croshere. Croshere may have a slightly better attitude NOW, and he may hustle a little more. But from my perspective Croshere is not as great a player as some of you are making him out to be. He disappeared for long stretches in the playoffs, and was almost a non-factor in every other series except for the one against the Lakers, who have virtually no PF's. In the 3 playoff series' before the Finals, he averaged 7.3 points a game on 36% shooting. Also only 4.6 rebounds per game. His shot is not that consistent or good as some of you claim, and he is not by any means a true PF either. We got our outside shooting big man in Collier in the draft. Kenny Thomas to a certain degree also fits this role. We needed a power forward that could go down on the low block and put the ball in the basket, and score at will. An outside shot is ok, but after the acquisition of Collier that is NOT necessary. Croshere's offensive repetoire on the low block does not rival Taylor's at all, and his athletism also falls short of Taylor's. While Croshere is obviously right now a better rebounder than Taylor, he is more of an SF, and IMO Taylor has more potential to be a better defender on some of the Western Conference PF's than Croshere would be. Can Croshere, who most consider to be an SF, really bang with the Duncan's and Webber's of the world? Most likely not, and I understand Taylor can't either at this point. However, with work (and in this organization I believe it will happen) Taylor can get to be a decent defender on some of the tough PF's in the West, simply because he has the physical skills. Can Croshere? I seriously doubt it. For this Rockets team, I personally think Taylor will be an excellent fit, and I would rather have him than Croshere. ------------------ Looking for next year's Dan Langhi? Draftsource.net ClutchTown.com 4th Friday of August= Rocket Day 1999-Steve Francis 2000-Maurice Taylor [This message has been edited by The Cat (edited September 07, 2000).]
Cat, I respect your opinion, but I disagree. Croshere is hard nosed, not afraid to mix it up and is an excellent passer. He does all the "little" things that don't show up in the stats. The object of basketball is to win. In my opinion the Rockets would be a much better team with Croshere simply because he has more to offer. ------------------ In order to be a success in life, you need 2 things: 1. Don't tell everything you know. [This message has been edited by BobFinn* (edited September 07, 2000).]
I'm with Bob!! I saw quite a number of Pacers games, Croshere REALLY CAN shoot well from range! Plus he WAS a SF coming out of college - but if you'll note his first 2 seasons he didn't play much so he packed on 20+ pounds of muscle to play PF and bang with the big boys. At 6'9 240 that's plenty of size to bea guneuine PF - just because he's got an outside game doesn't make him any less of a banger!! Plus he's a much better shot blocker than MoT.... I wouldn't be surprised to see Croshere feature more prominently in the Pacers lineup this season - why do you think they were happy enough to trade Davis away? They lose nothing in the hustle and toughness department with Croshere!!! ------------------
Croshere is a good team player and I would of loved to have him but saying that I still would rather have Maurice.I think Mo is going to be a much better player this season.I also think the rocket fans that are talking down about Taylor now are going to be the same fans praising him later when all his numbers blow up this year and helps us get to the playoffs!Even though Mo had a attitude problem in L.A. I think he is going to fall in love with the Houston Rockets and form a tight bond with Cat and Steve. ------------------
Couple of Quick points Great work Bob* It was my understanding that if Taylor wasn't interested in the coming here for the exception then there was no real interest on the rockets part, whereas they were real keen on doing anything possible to get Austin. For those people who have actually ever played basketball at any level, they will understand the following comments (and also bob's previous comments), whereas those who have not can keep dreaming in "only-offense-is-basketball" land. We have Steve, Cat and Walt, all players who can light it up and play minimal Defense, Anderson is one unselfish player on the team, but Croshere would have been the perfect fit here, not another ball demanding sulking malcontent like Mo. Hustle, 1 percenters, setting screens, diving on loose balls, deflections, taking charges, boxing out, sacrificing your body, bumping cutters are all things Croshere does well and are things that Mo would say are irrelevent and probably have to ask someone what they were. If you argument is that croshere can't bang and fight in the keyway against the big players of the league, then the same holds for Mo, 6.5 boards a game for someone who is at least 6-9, what a joke. In the finals series Croshere continuously put his body on the line in an attempt to stop Shaq, now that shows his committment. Also didn't he hit the floor pretty hard during game 6, did he stay down or head to the locker room and sulk....NO he got straight back up and on with the game, and he certainly didn't sit on the bus and cry while a game was needed to be played. POints aren't everything Smeg of 1%ers ------------------ Discombobulation Imminent
I predict that Croshere will be beaten out next year by Bender, and Harrington will be a darn star. I also predict the Croshere will end up being traded, as the young guys will eat up all his minutes. Austin is a good player, but he is overpaid, imo. Taylor has a MUCH better offensive game, and Taylor is also longer defensively (which helps when playing good team defense). ------------------ Nice guys finish lunch. - C. Chase
Pacers are going to be sorry they paid Croshere 50 mill. While I agree that Croshere has a better attitude, Mo is definitely the better player and he has more potential. ------------------ Fun Police Says: 1. Stupid threads are not FUN! 2. Spelling, grammar, punctuation and sentence structure are not FUN! 3. Stupid BBS names are not FUN! 4. Conduct yourself in a FUN way! The Fun Police are Watching. Vote for the Rockets & Have FUN or be Assimilated.
Mr. Finn.... If you read my post you will see there is no mention of Taylor being better than Croshere...in fact there is no mention of Taylor. I agree that Croshere can be a valuable player on at least 25 NBA team due to his accurate outside shooting, hustle play, and good team attitude. However, it is because he will be unable to defend the top 10-15 PF's in the league that I would not want to start him. He is best suited to come off the bench or starting if the opposing team's matchup is favorable. He's definitely not worth $7 mil/year. He was lucky to get overpaid b/c the last showing everyone saw of him was against the Lakers and there simply weren't any big man FA's this summer. ------------------
Can anyone please give me some offensive numbers on Webber,Wallace, Garnett, Duncan etc, against the Pacers. The reason I'm asking this is because there seems to be a feeling amongst a few people here that Austin Croshere would be better suited to deal with these players than Mo Taylor would. I would be willing to bet that these players all had great games against the Pacers' PF's as they do with most PF's around the league. I will say this once again. Very few if any NBA players can stop another NBA player one on one. Just because a player shows a never say die attitude as he is getting lit up by his opponent doesn't make him the best player for that position. Mo Taylor has the ability to make any of the aformentioned players play defense. None of these players usually have to play a lot of defense against the guy they're guarding simply because they are normally the better player. Austin Croshere does not demand that kind of attention. He will not stop or slow down any of these guys, nor even get in their way. Taylor doesn't have to. This is a simple concept. Make the great offensive PF play both ends of the floor. Let's see how effective any of them are when they expend a lot of energy on offense and then have to come back down and play some defense. Example: Malone Vs. Barkley, Olajuwon Vs. Ewing, Webber Vs. Duncan, and the list goes on. My point, They usually cancel each other out. Croshere does not do this. Period. Sorry for the long post. I just hate comparisons when there is no comparison. ------------------
