It is sad, but i have to agree with the comment of cuttino. To prove himself a key player, yao has to make clutch point at crunch time. At least 70% of the time. Dream did this, MJ did it, Shaq does it most of the time. Yao has to discrad the passiveness, ask for the ball and show his fellow teammates he can convert it.
Ergo, selfish play by Steve and Cat should work out for the Rockets. Because Steve and Cat are just as dominant on a nightly basis as MJ and Scottie, Kareem and Magic, and Hakeem and Clyde. And because Steve and Cat pass just as well as, play just as smartly as, and have as much trust in their teammates as Scottie, Magic, Clyde, and even Hakeem. And because the Rockets have a great system with lots of motion, and/or a great fast break, and/or a dominant inside game like MJ's Bulls, Magic's Lakers, and Hakeem's Rockets. Anyway, if the guards continue to dominate the ball, fine. The Rockets will be just as inconsistent as the guards' play is -- up and down, hot and cold, with post-game BBS posts swinging back and forth between "where are all the haters/homers now?" We don't have a great offensive system, we don't have smart players, we don't have great distributors of the ball, we don't have a good running game, we don't emphasize the low-post game -- so we have nothing to fall back on when the guards aren't making their shots. Sure, Yao hasn't proven himself to be consistently dominant on a nightly basis yet. But it hasn't been a full season yet, and everybody in basketball can see the possibilities -- both with scoring and sharing the ball. On the other hand, the guards have had four years to prove they can dominate nightly and/or lead the team -- and the only thing they've proven is that they can lead this team to mediocrity. Yes, we may be blowing Cat's comments out of proportion. But they show an unwillingness to defer to Yao. Whether that unwillingness is due to selfishness, hubris, or just annoyance with the media and fans who won't get off his back already, it doesn't matter. If the comments don't disturb you even somewhat, then I guess you're willing to accept Rockets mediocrity, as long as everyone leaves Cat alone.
May be in CM's mind the Rockets have "Many weapons". But what we are now seeing: Excessive dribblings and iso; Jacked up shots; Wide open shots gone elsewhere except the basket; Bad shot selections; 3-point shootings way off causing fast break by opposing team; ISO players falling on chest of collapsing defenders & ball TO; Lack of intense defense resulting in perimenter shooting at will by opponents, especially at the beginning of the game; Poor FT%; Low "Assist" figures; and High TO rates The only "Weapon" we saw lately is MT's hook shots. The other "Weapons" are yet to be seen. Stop making excuses for not passing the ball. You need not pass the ball to Yao every time. Playing with a team concept, you got to read the play and pass wisely, sometimes to Yao and at other times to other teammate in an open position. This would make the defense thinking in each of the offense opportunity. OK, the tendency of excessice ISO one-on-one would only make the defense life easy. In each and every game I saw CM playing, he seldom passed the ball, he's adopting the attitude of shoot-the-ball-first on most occasions. I think he responded to the question as if the media was critiizing his selfish playing. Haven't we seen enough of his slump shots in a game, though being in the 20-30% FG zone, he still didn't pass and just wanted to shoot out of his slump?
Originally posted by ragingFire Hey Stupid(Moniker, its StupidMoniker, or Hydra), 1) Nachbar can not get off the pine, how is he a black hole? He shoots nearly every time he touches it. Thats how. 2) As much as I hate Griffin's line drive shots, he took the shots the offense was drawn up for. He was opened 90% of the time on those J. Blame Rudy for not drawing plays to put Griffin where he is better suited. The fact of the matter is Eddie passes less when he gets the ball than Cat does. The excuses don't change that. 3) The only people who pass more than Mobes are Yao, Moochie, and MAYBE Steve? The others touch the ball but a few times a game. I am talking about as a percentage of their possesions, not as a raw number. I thought that was obvious. Although Eddie, Mo, Posey, and Rice all get significant minutes. 4) The offense seems to flow better with Cat bringing it up? How is that so? Did u see that in one of your dream? How is it so? It just is. Did I see it in a dream? No I saw it on NBA league pass.
You people, trying to create problems where there are none. Mobley said nothing about not giving Yao the ball. He said that the Rockets need to get everyone involved, and that's a fundamental of good basketball. You can b**** about Cat supposedly not passing the ball all you want. He passes plenty, 3 assists per game is pretty good for a *SHOOTING* guard. Not to mention that it's a career high. What's the most shots he'll take in a game? It's usually around 20 or so, which isn't that high a number. And finally, Mobley doesn't hate Yao, or vice versa. All the confirmation you need for that is in the picture of the both of them after the comeback win over the Celtics. As for his comments about Yao before we picked him? He didn't think Yao was a good fit for the team. (Stupid, I know) But get the hell over the grade school "he said, she said" mentality. There's nothing to what's being said.
"I don't want another project, having to be patient in watching someone develop. Me and Steve have been going through that long enough. If Ming is ready to come and contribute, I'm all for it. Even though he's skinny, he's got really thick calves and thighs, and I like that. Plus, he throws a tremendous outlet pass, which will help our fastbreak. But if he's not ready, we need to get somebody that's ready." There. That's what Cat said about drafting Yao. I don't see anything about "I don't want him at all."
In fact, I remember Cat said something like "I just absolutely love this guy, love to play with him..."
I would have to agree w/Mobley. Yao needs to be more aggresive. At 7'5 he should dominate more. -BottleRocket
Exactly... I saw Cat on Best Damn Sports Show when he said he and Francis were lobbying to trade the pick for Lamar Odom...because "Lamar doesn't need to shoot a lot and likes to pass." Championship team right there...
Yeah Mobley is very selfish! In that game after those comments, Mobley handled the ball a lot late in the 4th Q and proceeded to kick the ball down to Yao and Mo on EVERY possession except one, and on that posessesion he quickly blew past his man and scored a very important bucket...oh and we WON that game so please SHUT UP!
Ive got an idea.......why dont we find a topic.......and beat it to death over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again
