At Seasons end we should see some major changes in the Roster of the Houston Rockets. The fact that they are finishing up the season so poorly illustrates that nothing has been learned by the Coach or the Guards. This unfortunate down trend has only one positive conclusion and that is change will be fortcoming before the Team moves into the new Arena.
Yes. I like how it's all bold. It's like Revelations.....I hope there will be changes that will benefit for the Rockets.
I agree, time to bring fresh faces. Parker as point guard. Arenas as shooting guard. and Brend as Power forward, sounds like a big improvement over this year. We want championship. NOT STATS.
I don't think major changes need to be made except perhaps at the power forward spot. We are getting nearly everything we can out of players whom the oldest of which is a 26 or 27 year old guard. We must remember that we are depending on a 21 year old rookie center in Yao Ming, a 25 year old pg in Franchise, and a 20 year old pf in Griffin. I know the expectations are high since the talent is clearly there but i don't see these guys as being anywhere near mature enough to compete for a title. Just look at guys like T-Mac and Jermain O'Neal as 20 year olds. They were riding the bench and being called busts. If we hold on to what we have and continue to develop the sky is the limit.
I don't really see Les firing Rudy right now. I mean he's had a couple of brutal seasons, but this year is the first year that his coaching has not been very good. Rudy is kind of lost this year, judging from his comments and the way the players play on the court. Remember at the beginning of the year he was like "I am still getting a feel for these guys, I just don't know much right now about how the playing time will go." I think Les will see that and give him another chance. I am interested in what changes Rudy will pursue in the offseason. Will he try to trade Cat? Will he move Stevie to SG? Will he listen to offers for Stevie? Rudy's comments show that he is not happy with Steve's decision making (he's said stuff about how our decision making has been good, and specifically how a timeout should have been called against Washington). And when his job is on the line, I think he will realize he HAS to do something. This team is going NOWHERE right now. The lack of progress is just disturbing.
I think the thing that needs the most overhaul (besides PF) is our identity. Right now we're just "that team with the really tall chinese kid"
ahh Yetti again with the misconception that our guards are primarily to blame for our problems. there are 3 people who i don't consider weaknesses on this team, yao ming, steve francis, and cuttino mobley. everyone else has multiple or major flaws. yes the other 3 have things wrong with them, but they do much more good than harm to this team and are the primary reasons we get W's when we get them. we have an all-star center, an all-star pg, and a just below all star sg (on sg's, there are elite sg's, star sg's, then the group with mobley in the 10-15 range). what we don't have are a sf or pf who do us any consistent good. how anybody on this board doesn't think our forwards are our primary problem and the biggest reason we lose is beyond me. for sf, we either put in a guy with maybe slightly above average defense but who can't hit the broadside of a barn in jp or a guy who has no defense and can't hit the broadside of a barn about 60% of the time. the other 2 out of 5 games he has a decent night and maybe an above average night. at pf, we have griffin who is good for weakside help but can't guard people one on one (except of all people kg it seems) and has the flattest shot anybody has ever had in the history of basketball and it never goes in. then we have mo tay who can't guard people one on one or provide weakside help or rebounding, and who for about the first 45 games had no idea how to shoot either. that's 4 people who have a huge chance of sucking ass on any give night. that's bad. then we have moochie who is complete crap, cato who can't shoot, hawkins who can't shoot, nachbar who can't get off the pine, and tmo who can't guard pf's and isn't quick enough for sf's for the most part. the main problems on this team are not our guards.
We have a player,playing Point Guard that wants to shoot the ball, and that is what he is best at. He is poor at passing and setting up his players, he dosent trust anyone on the team outside of Mobley. This player is realy a Shooting Guard not a Team Leader.
Well, Clippers fans always said they can change and make the playoff in recent years. All the guys in their team have talents. But what can you see now? Man, anticipation is not easy. Wait and see. All we need to do is to support our team, no matter what's the result.
You can support your team even if you see problems and know a solution. There are positives and negatives to every Game!
With all due respect it would take quite a bit of maneuvering to get Elton brand, Tony Parker, and Gilbert Arenas. I think the Spurs have long range plans for Parker. Which player do you trade to get Parker???? How do you attract Brand here. with the sea change you are talking about, would Brand even be intersted in coming here???? Have you thought about chemistry? I think it would take at least a full season for the new players to mesh. You do not address our serious problems at small forward. You do plan to play Brand at the 4 right? I am reluctant to blow up the team. I went to the San antonio game tonite and saw many mis fired plays. Throwing the ball away, inconsistent defense, and general confusion trying to play against the San Antonio defense. In all fairness, the Spurs are a well oiled machine. the Rockets are still learning who they are. Whether you blow up the team or leave it as is, we need 2 years minimum to compete with San Antonio, Sacramento, or L.A. I do not have the answers, but I hate to blow up the core of Steve, Yao, Cat, Posey,or Boki. I could care less about Rice, Moochie, Terence Morris, Tito Maddux, Jason collier.
If the Spurs go and get Jason Kidd, I don't think they could keep Parker and use either of them as a 2 guard ( I think their both under 6'2"). I would trade them Eddie Griffin and a 2nd round pick for Parker, who may wind up with a better overall career than S.F. And, yes, Brand would be the ideal pick up for the Rox at P.F. Oh, btw, you mentioned the Spurs are a well oiled machine, and with the exception of Robinson, the Spurs are YOUNGER than the Rockets!!! The BIG DIFFERENCE is they have a coach who knows how to use his players and also a GM who knows how to manage contracts and how to get the right kinds of players to help his team win!!! Isn't it amazing that the Spurs will have $10-$15 million to offer Kidd or some other high level free agent while the Rockets are still paying players who aren't even in the league any more? (Matt Maloney) This team should have already been stocked with good perimeter shooters other than S.F. and Cat (that's obviously where our greatest need is!!). But we let Bull go (who would have given us at least as much as we have gotten from Rice) and never really replaced his 3 pt shooting. When all we knew was that S.F. and Cat were our starting backcourt and Cato was the Starting 5, there was NO WAY that we should not have made a hot shooting 3 our top priority (someone like Wally Z or Sean Elliot in his prime), but did the Rockets go and get someone like that? No! They traded for an aging, often injured Glen Rice, and then traded one of their better offensive players in K.T. for a guy that shoots worse than I do!!! Oh, and for someone who is supposed to be a defensive stopper, Posey sure has been getting lit up a lot lately!! I do wish Rudy would give the starting 3 job to Hawkins! He is the one guy who has consistentely hit at least 45% at the 3 and played phenomenal defense on whoever they put him on. The guy is a consummate team player, which the Rockets are sorely lacking (except for Yao that is...)
I think Rudy believed Nachbar would be the hot shooting 3 for the team. He must not like what he sees in practice though, because he would rather have people out there blowing by Glen Rice or Posey chucking up airballs than give the kid a chance.
If Kidd goes the the Spurs, expect a sign and trade with Parker going to Jersey. I don't really care because when it's all said and done, Francis will be held in higher regard than Parker. Seriously, why has there been a bit of an epidemic where people think Arenas is a shooting guard? If you can't tell the difference, take some time off and get that right before you give opinions about overhauling the team.
while i would kinda like to see hawkins at the 3 (though only for 25 minutes maybe), he doesn't shoot 45%. he shoots 38.9% which somehow is worse than posey, although i consider posey to be a far far worse shooter. right now hawkins is the better offensive and defensive option. hell i'd rather rice have posey's minutes b/c even though he sux, he sux at 37% on 3's while posey sux at 26% on 3's and posey hasn't been shutting anybody down.
I'm willing to give patience to our core group of guys in Steve, Cuttino, and Yao. Posey I'm not very fond of, other then the fact that he can rebound, and have the occasional good night where he hits from the perimiter. Griffin I'm dissapointed in, but MoT I'm actually growing fond of. I see improvement in his game on the offensive end. He'll never be a dominate Power Forward like KG, or Dirk, but he can score damn well, and knows how to pass. Much like how people love to criticize MoT and his defense, do you honestly think anyone could stop guys like Dirk, & KG anyways? If anything, I'd like to see someone atleast partially match those guys in points or productivity, which I think MoT can atleast do on the offensive end. As for the small forward crisis, I'd love to see a lanky pure shooter take that position. Someone that can use those long arms to atleast keep a hand in a defenders face. I really like Ginobli's game, and what he does. He creates shots, makes smart decisions, has great court vision, and is a pretty good defender. Ideally though, getting a guy like Turkoglu would be nice. He's got a soft touch, is a big guy, can run the floor well, and has a high BB IQ. Right now as it is, the more scoring threats on the floor the better, because our defense that used to be good earlier in the season has really let up.
Priority #1: I used to be one of these posters that defended them, but IMHO its time for the Rockets to address the backcourt, once and for all. I used to think that Cat & Steve would remind us of the days where there weren't PGs or SGs, just Gs with the versatility to score, distribute, defend, etc. Unfortunately, neither Cat or Steve has the mentality to be that versatile, and each is at his best as finishers. Remember, at one time the Sixers had a Iverson-Stackhouse backcourt, and it was disastrous. Cat-Francis has had much better results, but for this team to take the next step, the Rocks need a defensive-minded distributor at PG, plain and simple, which means a 6th man role or trade for one of them. Unfortunately, I really can't see either accepting a role off the bench. In all honesty, with the exception of acquiring\signing a veteran PF to buy Griffin more development time (Karl Malone would actually be perfect, will probably play 2 more years i.e. retiring by time Griffin is ready, physical and consistent, but he's looking for a ring), this is the one significant move I would make if I were Rudy & Co.
Yep, and he might actually be making his teammates WORSE because they have to bail him out of his poor shots, bad decisions, and turnovers. A great player makes the mediocre average players on his team look better than they are, and Steve isn't even close to being there.
