I'm curious. It seems like we've always criticized/been criticized for our reliance in the past on 3-pointers. It seems like the strongest teams in the league right now have some awesome 3-point threats. Have we under-estimated the impact of it in helping light-up the offense? It seems like we really don't have a reliable 3 threat this year. What'cha think? (I know this may not be the most material issue confronting the Rockets right now. I would just like to discuss something other than firing, trading, or burning in effigy )
well if cat was able to keep up the near 40% 3pt% like he did last year then that would have given us two great 3 point shooting guards. but alas he wasn't able to. anyhow outside of steve, cat, and rice we really don't have any other players who can shoot the 3. cat can still shoot the 3 good when he is feeling it even though he is around 31% for the year, but when he is off he is off for a few nights at a time. i added up 3 stretches where he was way off on 3's and he shot 3 for 37. Nov. 19 to Dec. 7 0 for 7, Dec. 21 to Dec. 29 0 for 14, and Jan 20 to Jan 29 3 for 16. Dunno just bored and felt like looking at that.
That's why we need Glen Rice. 3 point shooters are very valuable. The Lakers... besides Shaq... have Kobe...who can go crazy shooting 12 3's in one night. Derek Fisher just shoots 3's. Rick Fox is a fair 3 point shooter. Robert Horry is another 3 points shooter. All 3 point shooters! The Kings... Mike Bibby can shoot 3 pointers. Doug Christie can as well. PEJA STOJAKOVIC IS THE MAN of 3 pointers. Chris Webber can make a few... Vlade Divac can get lucky sometimes. The MAVERICKS...THE OUTSIDE CRAZY OFFENSIVE MACHINE 3 POINT SHOOTING TEAM. Steve Nash...SWOOSH Michael Finley...NOTHING BUT NET... Walt Williams...the Wizard can shoot 3's. Adrian Griffin...Can make treys. Raja Bell...the defender who can shoot. Dirk Nowitzki...EUROPEAN ROBOT. AUTOMATIC 3. Raef Lafrentz...SWEET 3's. Every single player on the Dallas Mavericks can shoot 3 pointers...except Shawn Bradley. Mark Cuban did an excellent job and finding all these great players. They fit so well together... We need Glen Rice. Although he doesn't really make too many 3's anymore, he still shoots it better than anyone else on our team. Terence Morris can shoot, too, but is terrible on defense. Steve Francis can make 3's too, but...not often. We need a shooter. Badly. We really need one when Yao develops and is triple teamed later on...
robbie380, Steve's about it right now, sometimes, eh? That just won't cut it. LiTtLeY1521, Exactly. Kings and Mavs just rip you up from the 3-point line. Didn't Stojakovic have like 32 the other night? The Mavs widespread threat from long distance might just be enough to compensate for the missing body in the middle.
Remember Mobley when he was a rookie was the second in 3pt % among all rookies after Dickerson who was also a rookie for the rox at that time. But that's when he was spotting up for Hakeem and Charles. Now that he "expanded" his game his 3's are falling as much because he takes 3's off the dribble which is a bad shot. If he spots up more he'll get better at it, IF he spots up more.
Even if Rice was the answer (and he isn't) he's a defensive liability against the Top 4 WC teams. Posey is the man unless the rules get changed to allow 6 on the court. Rather than go searching for another Holy Grail, why don't we just learn our defensive rotations (or play those that do know them) and not leave the Mavs wide open for 32 trey attempts? Tonight, the TWolves with such stellar defensive stars as Troy Hudson, Wally Z, Joe Smith, Rasho Nesterovic, Anthony Peeler, Kendall Gill, Marc Jackson and Igor Rakocevic limited the Mavs to 19 attempts of which the hit an earth shattering - 8.
The inside-outside game is important to all NBA teams. A team must have credible players both inside the paint and outside the arc to spread out the floor and keep defenses honest. In the 2nd half of the Mavs game last night, it was obvious that once the paint was shut down around Yao with 2-3 Mavs players clogging the middle, the Rox had to go to an outside game. Unfortunately, it seemed like players were hesistant to shoot. They still tried to penetrate and dish inside, which resulted in TO's and crazy shots. Although Rice is a defensive liability, he's needed as a credible threat. Although his stats are down this year, the Rox really need to prop him up and give him touches to become credible again. The Rox will just have to compensate for his D just like every other team compensates for their offensive player poor D. You gotta give up one for the other sometimes. I hope Cat and Rice really pick up their game and hit wide open shots when available. Franchise's dribble-drive penetrations will be even more effective with credible shooters. He can dribble-drive and: 1) dish to a wide open shooter as 2-3 players collapse on him, 2) curl a pass to a wide-open Yao or EG coming from the weak side, 3) or take it to the hole if guarded singledly. Seems like Franchise has been doing #2 or #3 these days. What happened to 1? Lack of confidence? or just CLANGGGGGGGGGs?
Tonight, the TWolves had absolutely no problem solving the Mavs gimmicky zone. In fact, it was so bad the Mavs at one point had to play Nowitzki, LaFrentz AND Bradley to get any defensive boards. The problem is getting the ball into the Mavs zone. The problem is not being able to make good post entry passes from the top of the key or FT line. The problem is not moving the ball back to the weak side (away from Nowitski) for the post entry pass forcing the weakside defender to play some D against Yao who can easily shoot over Finley, Bell or Walt Williams). Joe Smith...that's JOE SMITH got 18 points inside the Mavs gimmick zone tonight. And Garnett had 31 without even taking a 3pter (and only 3 from the FT line). The Rockets are in a world of trouble if Glen Rice is supposed to be the answer.
I agree with some of your points, but look at how Hudson lit it up beyond the arc. The T-wolves would not have been in the game w/o Hudson going off like that. I'm not saying Rice is the savior. We just need consistency beyong the arc with Rice, Cat or Posey to have a credible threat to avoid clogging the middle. (EG shouldn't be shooting 3's with that fundamentally poor shot of his.).
mackomon - Hudson and Wally Z together accounted for 45 points - just about what Steve and Cat average. I admit to being hard-headed on the subject but the reasoning is thus. Everytime the Rockets lose a game, there are a great many threads which popup extolling that the Rockets need whatever the other time has. Screw it. We got Yao (plus Cato among the league leaders in rebs/min). Let's get the ball inside where we have the advantage. Let me be even more simplistic. If you coached a bunch of grade school kids who had a player 6" taller than any other kid in the league and only one player on your roster who could shoot from any distance, would you spend your entire time developing an outside shooting game? Francis gets alot of defensive attention when he penetrates. He needs to stop and pop or dish to Yao. The Rockets have enough decent mid-range shooters, but they never get any (or not enough) shots. I just get burned out on the routine of team X has this so we need it too. Next game, team Y has this so we need it, too. And so on and so on... If we execute the game plan, play solid D and take the game as it comes (not forcing the action), we have enough talent.
GATER you dont give up do you? Lol, we finally agreed on something so I'm not getting involved in this thread.
. JamesC - 5-15 vs TWolves. May I safely assume we agree on pounding it inside, playing solid D and not forcing the action but letting the game come to us?
Yes. We were much more patient. If we are calm and not worried, then we can succeed and everything...EVERYTHING goes in. But usually on the road, we look terrible.
